CHINA
Country Overview:
“Love the food, hate the government”
I arrived in China in May 2013 and left August 2020. I taught English for awhile, did my master’s of politics & foreign policy at Tsinghua University, worked for a year at China Today, and then two years at Xinhua News Agency. I spent most of my time in Beijing, but also traveled to Shanghai, Wuhan, Inner Mongolia, Shenzhen, Panjin, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xi’an, Sanya, Macau, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Pools And Beaches
Leaving Beijing was the best choice I made this year. I flew to Sanya, Hainan Province to hangout until my visa expires, but also found out that I get an automatic 2 month extension because of the virus. So if need be, I can stay here through the summer. I’m hoping to leave here and fly to another SE Asian country, but it all depends on when/if they open or resume visa services. Hanging out with no plans is nice but I do miss the feeling of having a schedule or something to work on or work towards. My life, like many people’s these days, is up in the air with no real idea of where it will go. COVID-19 has uprooted what resemblance of plans I had after I finished my contract at Xinhua and now I’m trying to make new ones.
At this point, the most I can do is wait until June 1 and see if countries relax their lockdown policies. If not, I’ll continue to stay in Sanya, get some sun, and go to the gym. Not bad for the time being but I’m looking forward to having “the next step” in place.
Packing To Leave
I have 38 days until I leave, and I’ve already started gutting my apartment, selling off small things, and de-constructing my IKEA furniture so I can sell that too. It’s weird being in an apartment that now echoes when I speak.
I just bought my 2nd suitcase on Taobao the other day, and I now need to pack seven years of my life in China into two suitcases and a carry-on. Packing may sound simple, but it poses its own challenges, especially since I’m looking to move to SE Asia, I am only allowed 23kg in 1 suitcase. Lucky me, I get to pay for a 2nd suitcase. Thankfully it’s hot down there, so I won’t need to pack any winter clothes. I feel like a girl having to decide which shoes to keep and which ones to part with.
I’m still working from home and no foreseeable “return to office” date in sight. Gyms are still closed, as are schools. China just closed its borders to foreigners and limited the number of flights domestic and foreign airlines can make, so hopefully, that will curb the number of “imported” cases, and we can get back to normal. I feel like I have so much to do over the next six weeks, such as get all my paperwork in order, close bank accounts, go to the dentist, sell all my stuff, have my apartment inspected by landlord to get my deposit back, among a myriad of other things.
The other problem I’m facing is that I can’t get to my intended destination of Thailand or Singapore. Countries around the world have either closed borders entirely or won’t allow anyone who has been to China in the past two weeks. As such, the only countries I found that had no flight restrictions or quarantine measures for people who have been to China are Cambodia, the Congo, and Zambia. My plan is to find a country I can fly to, stay there for two weeks, and then I will have more options. Ultimately, I need to get to Singapore, so I’m just waiting for them to open up their borders, but since they just closed down all entertainment venues for a month, prospects aren’t looking too hot.
Trying to plan my permanent departure from China amidst an on-going pandemic that started in China is not ideal. I feel stressed, anxious, excited, and relieved to be leaving after so many years. My planned date of departure is May 4, with my last working day on May 3. I'm not spending any more time here than I need to. Hopefully, the world gets a handle on the virus over the next month, which will ensure a smoother “transition” from China onto the next chapter of my life.
2019 Spring Festival
Just got back from a three week trip with my Canadian friend and here’s how we did it.
Fly from Beijing to Hanoi. Drink beer from kegs on the street. Bus to Halong Bay. Stay the night on the boat. Laugh hysterically as a Korean sings Gangnam Style on KTV. Bus back to Hanoi. Eat Pho and Banh Mi. Sleeper train to Hue. Hostel party. Bus to Hoi An. Get Bronchitis, but see the Old Town anyway. Sleeper train to Ho Chi Minh. Check out Walking Street and talk to a German Michelin Chef. Fly to Siem Reap (now in Cambodia). See Angkor Wat. Bus down to Phnom Penh. See Killing Fields. Bus to Sihanoukville. Wonder why everything is in Chinese. Boat to Koh Rong. Enjoy the beach. Boat back to Sihanoukville. Bus to Koh Kong (border city). There’s no seats so we sit on a step-stool in the aisle. Tuk Tuk to the border. Walk across the border (now in Thailand). Taxi to Pattaya. Enjoy the beach and fight off ladyboys. Taxi to Bangkok. Fly back to Beijing. Complain about the cold.
All three countries, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand are all unique, and I liked each one for a different reason - but all three had great food. It’s easy for a tourist to say they liked the country they visited because they’re there for a short amount of time and often, the people you interact with are in the tourism industry and are being polite so you’ll spend your money. With that being said, I really enjoyed traveling to all three countries.
This year, I traveled without my computer, which was a choice I’m glad I made. I could still handle e-mails and flight stuff on my phone and saw no real reason to bring my laptop with me. It was a liberating feeling, mainly since I use my computer daily when I’m in Beijing, and before my trip I thought, “how am I going to go three weeks without a keyboard?” Overall, I’m happy I didn’t bring it with me, and I think having a travel buddy made it easier since there was always someone to be with, taking away the need to ‘kill time’ by surfing around on a laptop.
The more I travel, the more I realize there’s so much to see in this world, and no matter how much I enjoy the stability of my routine and daily life, I like bouncing around, staying in different places, and experiencing new things. I also really liked that the weather in Southeast Asia was around 30 degrees while Beijing was still -4. There’s something about sweating in a tank top that’s preferable to being bundled up in a jacket and scarf.
It’s tough to spend such a long time traveling and eating good food and being in a place you want to be, and then returning to the cold and the mundane and settling back into a routine. That’s life though, and I imagine if I lived in Bangkok, I’d have similar thoughts about having to return to the noise and the heat. “The grass is always greener” is something I’m always dealing with by acknowledging that nowhere is perfect and that instead, perhaps the grass is green where you water it.