Beijing - We didn't expect that...

Dear people, we are reporting from Vietnam with the first, hopefully eagerly awaited, blog posts from China. And you can look forward to some exciting and interesting reports...

Let's start with Beijing!

Nǐ hǎo everyone! We arrived in Beijing, China or also known as "Beijing" (... kind of sounding very French), after a relatively relaxed 3 1/2 hour flight. The time after landing was - well, let's say "not wonderful" - less than wonderful. The people in Beijing seem to be as proficient in the English language as the little Idéfix from "Asterix and Obelix" is capable of carrying an Menhir. Accordingly, the first getting around at the airport was quite lengthy. In addition, we quickly got to know the Chinese mentality: When we inquired at the ticket counter about day tickets for public transportation (in cities in Japan there were usually convenient 3-day tickets), the people waiting behind us seemed to be in a hurry. They complained loudly - the Japanese patience was obviously not present here. And we hadn't actually been there for long.
An hour in China's capital and another thought swirled through our heads:
We had apparently exchanged Japan's cleanliness and lack of trash cans for absolutely no cleanliness and trash cans on every corner.

In addition, our first impression of China was further clouded by the fact that we could not find our accommodation, even after an hour of wandering around the "most interesting" corners of the city (some people were living in medieval conditions). The GPS data given on Booking.com turned out to be incorrect. We walked at least 5km with all our luggage. Max eventually even put on Nadine's backpack. With the help of a taxi driver, we finally found the hotel after all.

If you spend several days in Beijing, you will wonder about the following two questions: Where has the blue sky gone despite the sunshine? Since a permanent fog is probably excluded, the only conceivable answer is: smog!
And where is the (familiar for us in Europe) behavior? People push without consideration, chew with their mouths open, talk while chewing, and - what really bothered us the most: young and old enjoy and regularly make an icky noise while pulling saliva and then getting rid of it in the middle of the street. We are still baffled by this. Culture or not - this is a really shocking experience for us and we cannot understand it. After researching on the internet, we found out interestingly enough that the Chinese government has been working on the issue of "behavior" for a good 20 years and is advertising for civilized behavior - unfortunately, without noticeable success, as we had to find out. So our first impression of China is quite disappointing.

However, we also wonder if our disappointment was really justified, because it is always preceded by a certain expectation. And we did indeed expect more civilized conditions from the capital of the "rising economic power of China", as it is often said in Germany's media.
But China is definitely still, as one can see in Beijing at least, as a developing country.

Besides these impressions that one learns in passing, our impression of a deliberately chosen tourist attraction in the north of Beijing was amazing: the Great Wall of China. The tourist magnet, called "the Great Wall" by the Chinese, is an ancient defensive structure that is also considered one of the new Seven Wonders of the World because of its architecture. We had booked a day trip where a part of the 6300km long wall could be visited in the morning and a typical Chinese meal was served at a nearby restaurant at noon. One could probably still continue climbing up and down endless stairs. Fortunately, at the location we had booked (there were at least three offered by local tour operators), we were able to cross a section of the wall that has not been restored to this day and is therefore still completely original.
So our culture shock was somewhat mitigated.

The Spätzle on the Great Wall of China - tired on the outside, but happy on the inside!

Let's see what awaits us in Xi'an. This is our second destination in China and was chosen primarily because of the famous Terracotta Army.