Some thoughts after visiting China

I was woken today at 6.20AM, so you get to hear my thoughts on a 2 week trip to China before breakfast. First, where did I go? It was a 2 week trip starting in Hong Kong, then flying to Beijing, then a train to Xian, then a flight to ZhangJiaJie, then a flight to Shanghai, then home. Yes, multiple flights, I know. I offset everything, and took the train for the one trip where it was viable. Anyway, here is my experience! Hong Kong! …was amazing and cool, but at the end of the holiday it became clear that Hong Kong is massively like the west in comparison to the rest of China (still). It reminded me more of South Korea than the rest of China. Its also a fairly ‘low-key’ city. I thought the skyline was impressive, and we went out on an old Chinese fishing boat on the river to see it (which was probably the highlight of that city for me), but later having gone to Shanghai, Hong Kong was ‘meh’. However it was a good place to start, to get used to using the payment system everyone uses…