My maiden trip to China
China as a place has always fascinated me. The middle kingdom has been a place of wonder for many travellers for a long time and with the modern world so dependent on China for almost everything, I am sure a lot of people would want to visit this place out of just curiosity itself. Of course, having a glorious past and flourishing civilisations help too. Being one of the largest countries in the world, it has plenty to offer and despite the not-so-favourable press that it gets in the western world as well as in our country, there is no denying the fact that the Chinese have established themselves as one of the most powerful nations on earth at present.
At least as old as us if not older, China is a civilisational twin for us on the opposite side of the Himalayas. So when I got a chance to attend a scientific conference organized by the Institue of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in Beijing to be held in Guilin in the Guangxi province, I immediately planned a trip to China all by myself as the curiosity and the affection for that land overwhelmed me. Getting into China is pretty easy for us, especially if we are going to the southern part. I booked a China Southern flight from Delhi to Guangzhou which was a comfortable 5-hour flight eastwards and as I had expected, after landing there it did not feel foreign at all!! Same crowded airport as the Indian ones, the noisy crowd in the metro there made me feel like I landed in New Delhi itself, except that the language was totally different.
I understand only a word or two of mandarin so talking with the people was a challenge but sign language mixed with a translate app on my phone made it quite easy in Guangzhou. From the airport, I went to Renhe area as it is quite popular for hotels and restaurants and is near to the airport too. In Rehne, I walked up to a hotel and arranged a place to sleep for myself in some comfort as it was my first night in China. In the night, I walked on the roads for an hour or so, had dinner and tried to connect the location with the places back home in Delhi and I indeed found a lot of common things. People were eating out on roadside stalls, restaurants had chairs put on the pedestrian path and everyone seemed quite happy there. There were open trucks carrying cement, electric rickshaws offering a ride to a nearby place and other usual things.
The morning breakfast next day was complimentary and I ate dumplings coupled with some fruits and finished with a nice coffee. I had to catch the bullet train to Guilin. I had to go to Guangzhou South railway station (Guangzhou-nan-zhan) which was 65 km from the place I was staying. I took the metro, and within an hour I was there. On my way, I met a couple of Pakistani students and we exchanged greetings. As is the tradition, the Indians and Pakistanis act like best friends when in a third country, we followed it wholeheartedly! At the station, I got my ticket but after a few communication problems and within a few minutes I was at the boarding gate. Guangzhou-nan-zhan is one of the biggest railway stations in China with a capacity of a few million passengers. It looked much bigger than an airport!
Within a few minutes, I was on the train and once it started, the already smooth ride got better with views of the countryside. After 10 minutes or so, the train was running at 170 km/h which increased to 248 km/hr in no time. There are a lot of tunnels and bridges and the sound of the train entering the tunnel and exiting from it at such speed thrilled me. A young college girl was beside me who despite the language barrier talked with me through the translate app and helped me get a coffee from the vendor. We covered a distance of 500 km in less than 3 hours, a dream for people used to the Indian railway. When I got off at Gulin, the same girl helped me find my hostel which was nearby.
Once I reached the hostel, the host welcomed me and after letting me in, she was as businesslike as one could be! She immediately asked me about spices and whether I could help her get red chilli from Delhi, for their food processing business here in China. Anyways, I went to my room and she prepared lunch for me. It was a very spicy and tasty lunch indeed, and I had the experience of using chopsticks for the first time in my life.
That day in the evening, I went to register for the conference, which was being held within walking distance from my hostel and after payment of fee, I was officially a member of the conference. One of my friends from Bangalore was there too and he provided good support, accompanying me to every place we went in and around Guilin.
Apart from the language, I never felt alien in China. It is so similar to our country that when my friends were congratulating me for visiting a foreign country, I told them that I don’t think it is a foreign visit at all! I had the confidence and the Chinese people did not disappoint me. Of course, the infrastructure in even the smallest of cities has developed at a rapid pace there and we haven’t caught up yet. And the level of cleanliness is also something which we’d not find in the crowded cities of India. But when dealing with the people, it felt quite easy despite the language barrier. They helped me at unexpected places even without knowing a word of what I was saying. Be it the streets, the railway station or the shops, nobody ever made me feel like an alien. In fact, on the contrary, they were happy to know that I came from, the name for my country in Chinese. An old man patted at my shoulder when I looked worried a bit, looking for away. He said something in Chinese, which I interpreted as: “ Don’t lose heart young man.” It made me smile and he reciprocated. His laughter felt very welcoming indeed despite us not knowing what we were saying to each other. Things like crowds, noise, rich and not so rich living together, the constant bargaining at market places and people smoking wherever they want seeming quite like India itself. I hope the Chinese people visiting India reciprocate my feelings.
We were at the conference for 6 days. On the Sunday in between, we booked a cruise on the Li River. This place is one of the most beautiful places in China. It is known as next to only heaven in beauty. We had to cruise on the river for almost 80 km and then return to Guilin by bus. I enjoyed that day very much. On the other end, we reached Yangshuo, where I purchased a Chinese shirt, and a few souvenirs. I bargained for an item and brought the price down from 80 RMB to 20 RMB much to the astonishment of the Canadian and British scientists accompanying me! One of them joked about me accompanying her to the shopping centre the next day. Overall it was a nice experience on the river.
We went to the Sun and Moon temple right next to our conference venue quite a lot and the visit was serene. These temples are basically Buddhist pagodas built a long time ago and rebuilt in the 1960s and the place is beautifully maintained. We used to walk around that place on a daily basis and I got a lot of beautiful pictures.
In the hostel, I met a Japanese named Haruna who became a very good friend with time and we discussed a lot of things about Japan and India and how our cultures are connected through the influence of Buddhist values. Incidentally, she had to visit India a month later and I invited her to visit my observatory, which she promised.
8 days later, I had to return back to India although my heart wanted to stay a few more days. I had again booked the Guilin Guangzhou bullet train. The railways in China are a bit different and people are not allowed on the platforms until a few minutes before the train’s arrival. So, we had to wait in the well managed waiting lounge and when the train was about to arrive, I rushed along with 500 other Chinese to the platform! The crowds at the railway stations are big but well managed and there is not a lot of pushing around as we do so passionately in India. My return flight was routed through Kuala Lumpur to Tiruchirapalli and after some drama at the KL airport, thanks to the connecting flights I returned back to my country 15 hours late!
At the Guangzhou airport, I met plenty of Indian businessmen on both sides of the journey. While going to China as I was overwhelmed with excitement about the trip, I did not talk a lot with the people but while returning, I talked with a few of them. They were importers of Chinese goods like electronics and garments and I was surprised that they used to visit there every few weeks. Anyways, they were quite fascinated to know about astronomy and offered homemade food and my stay at the airport was memorable with those people indeed. One of them was on the same flight as mine to Kuala Lumpur and we chatted a lot on the flight too.
This maiden trip to China brought with it a lot of firsts: my first international trip and hence the first visa on my passport, my first ride on a bullet train, my first interaction with scientists I could only dream of meeting a few months ago and my favourite: the first interaction with the Chinese culture. I will definitely want to visit China in the near future whenever I get a chance.
