East China

Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WjLehTeAsrdgMfrNA

So I started off my trip with 10 days in East China. I basically used Google flights to find the cheapest one way from JFK to Asia for early/mid September after Burning Man, and found a $180 one way from JFK to Shanghai on Sep 14. I was also able to use my United miles (credit card signups) to fly from Shanghai to Chennai (since Chennai will be my base for the first few months as I learn how to backpack and travel in South Asia), and only paid $75 in taxes for that.

Anyways, it was my first time in China and I absolutely loved it. Definitely will be back for around a month or so next spring (probably April to May). I stayed local in east China, and spent ~4 days in Shanghai, and then ~2 days each in Suzhou, Nanjing, and Hangzhou. Travelling in China was way easier than I thought…used Google Translate and downloaded Chinese offline, and the app maps.me and downloaded maps offline. Those two apps (plus Didi, the Chinese Uber, and WeChat, the Chinese WhatsApp/Insta/FB/etc.) are really all you need, along with a VPN.

In terms of total costs…I used 1800 Yuan in cash, spent around ~$20 in Didi, ~$75 on my trains, and ~$15 on Hostelworld down payments. The 1800 yuan covered all other expenses – food, booze, cabs (if not Didi), tourism sites, and hostel payments (~80% was in cash, ~20% was prepaid on Hostelworld). So I basically spent $36/day in China without even budgeting…I have enough money where I am not trying to actively budget, but it’s still good to know after the fact I think. Granted, I only ate street food so that kept the food costs drastically down…I literally didn’t even know what I was eating half the time but it was all incredibly delicious.

Shanghai

My friend Ben was in Shanghai last summer and he called it the most modern city he’s ever been to. Like him, I haven’t been to any other alleged contenders (Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong) yet, but for me Shanghai is most definitely the most modern place I’ve ever been to. It was an incredibly cyberpunk and dystopian city, with the imposing skyline in any direction you looked and the mix of historic old culture with the relentless pace of modernism. And yet, Shanghai (and China) was surprisingly clean given the population sizes, and there was no visible sign of poverty (this could be because of the authoritarian government and not because of any good policies for what it’s worth, but I actually don’t know here on this). Weirdly enough, Shanghai was like a cleaner and more imposing San Francisco to me…this might just be a part of my post Burning Man blues as those are the two most recent new cities I have been to and loved them both. While Shanghai did not have any visible poverty like SF, it was impossible to miss the contrast of the street sweepers and the food stalls selling 25 cent steamed buns (delicious!) with the Pudong skyline that puts NYC to shame.

My favorite area of Shanghai was the French Concession. It actually reminded me a ton of a much cleaner India, with the tree lined avenues and colonial architecture. It was fun just to spend half a day to a day wandering around and stopping at random bars and street stalls to drink and eat. The Tianzifang area in the French Concession was particularly cool, with the super narrow alleyways filled with random art stores (plus overpriced tourist food).

Suzhou

As much as I liked Shanghai, Suzhou (along with Hangzhou) was my favorite part of the trip. However, I think 2 days was the right amount here, since I sort of got garden’d out after seeing both the Master of Nets and the Humble Administrator’s Garden (especially after seeing the Yu garden in the historic center of Shanghai previously). The Master of Nets garden was tiny (just one central pond) but I spent almost 3 hours there just slowly wandering around. The Humble Administrator’s Garden was huge (at least 10x the size of Master of Nets) but also had obnoxiously large crowds. It was still a cool time but I definitely was getting tired of gardens by the time I finished it. As much as I had enjoyed the Yu garden in Shanghai, these two blew that one out of the water.

Suzhou also had a really cool oldtown area with canals that criss-crossed it. After Suzdal in Russia, it was honestly my 2nd favorite “town” that I have visited (though Suzhou would be the 2nd largest American city…), edging out Carmel in the Bay Area.

Unlike Shanghai, the hostel was filled with all Chinese tourists, though I did make my first Chinese friend, Zheng. We communicated strictly via phone translation apps and WeChat, but he showed me around to hole in the wall restaurants outside the tourist district, where 10 yuan (under $1.50) got me an entire grilled fish alongside a massive bowl of noodles. We also met up in Hangzhou again and hung out for one night there for drinks.

Nanjing

So overall, I’m glad I went to Nanjing, but it was definitely a distant 4th of the places I visited in this trip. The Purple Mountain tomb area was pretty cool, but I was definitely slightly underwhelmed given that I opted to walk ~5+ miles to save 100 yuan (in my defense, the bus would have taken just as long as the walk), so was pretty tired by the time I got to the giant mausoleum and sort of expected more. And after Suzhou, the old town area by the southern city walls was nice, but didn’t really compare. That said, I still did enjoy my time here, and I think it’s 100% worth a visit if you are in the area, though I wouldn’t say it’s worth going out of your way for. Nanjing was also the only place where I took public transport, and it was fantastic. Much like the intercity rail network, Chinese subways are fantastic, and really put the US to shame.

Hangzhou

Hangzhou is all about the West Lake. The “lake” (more like a super large pond) itself is pretty eh, but the landscaping around the lake is simply phenomenal. In many ways it’s like a large scale and natural Chinese garden (like the ones I saw in Suzhou). I spent an entire day biking around the ~15 mile circumference of the lake – I am 99% positive the rental bike I had here was the same exact bike I rented in Burning Man – and the coolest part was seeing the combination of ancient Chinese architecture with the lake view for super cool viewing spots. It was like the OG made-for-insta building design. Also, no joke, I met an Austrian kid in my hostel here who wanted to become a baker. There is actually a decent chance we might meet up in SE Asia at some point next February but we’ll see on that.

Overall, I really enjoyed my 10 day East China trip and can’t wait to go back and see the rest of the country next spring. I think that Shanghai (because it is super modern), Suzhou, and Hangzhou are the must see’s in the area if you are in town. I’ll especially miss the soup dumplings and steamed buns that I feasted on over the entire trip. Ni Hao (still the only Chinese word I know…).