Exploring Asia

Beijing Ten Years Later

sborto — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 21:14:00 GMT

After more than five years living in the Chinese capital, today is the last night that I will spend here before going back to Barcelona, my hometown. Everything is ready: I've vacated my apartment; I've sent all the junk I've accumulated during these years; and I've said goodbye to all of my friends and acquaintances. So, tonight is for me, and me alone!

To say goodbye to what has been my home over these years, I decide to take a long walk through one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city, the Gulou neighborhood or the Drum Tower.

The Gulou neighborhood is a vibrant neighborhood which is unique in the world, a labyrinth of alleyways that offer a mixture of tradition and modernity which is hard to imagine if you haven't seen it for yourself. The traditional houses in this neighborhood, which are so hard to see in modern-day Beijing, have had very different fortunes. Some of them are dilapidated and look like time has stopped for their inhabitants, others have been restored and occupied by the elite, and others have been turned into modern businesses of a certain level, tourist stores, "alternative" cafés, and some are even home to the forefront of the underground scene.

While I walk along a dark street, avoiding being run over by a silent electric tricycle carrying gas tanks, I start to remember the first time I stepped foot in this city, in 2005, now ten years ago.

After years traveling around Europe by train, in the summer of 2005, I decided that I wanted to expand my horizons and started to look for cheap flights out of Europe without a concrete destination. Fate had it that Beijing was the cheapest flight I found.

As opposed to what is happening now, in 2005, the blogger phenomenon wasn't so widespread, and it was hard to find good guides to travel to China on the internet, so I got on the plane with only a one night hostel booking without the remotest idea of what I would find in this country, which I had never imagined that I was going to visit one day. The experience was such a good one that I decided to go back after a few years to live. What I am wondering now is, if I had taken this trip today, whether the result would have been the same.

Beijing in 2005 was nothing like the current megapolis, as at this time, China wasn't attracting even close to the number of foreign tourists that it now welcomes, and much less workers. To get an idea of what Beijing was back then, you would have to travel to third-tier cities like Zhengzhou and Shenyang, although these cities are also "modernizing" at vertigo speed.

In 2005, you could walk around many parts of the city for hours without running into a white devil, and you felt watched every step you took. Now, when I walk along the dilapidated alleyway, I have already run into multiple groups of westerns, and the locals no longer pay any attention to me. In ten years, I have gone from being a white circus monkey walking around the city to being an anonymous inhabitant of a large metropolis.

It isn't just this: ten years ago, the hospitality of the city was extreme, and at times, a bit stifling. For any problems you might have had, there was a multitude of people willing to help you. Now, it is very different, and the treatment of foreigners has a certain mistrust to it. This is something that I can understand, as many foreigners have abused this hospitality for too long, and the nationalist attitude of the new government doesn't help either.

As a coffee addict, I remember that the first time I set foot in the city, it was quite difficult to find my daily dose to survive. Normally, we had to look for five-star hotels, and once, we even had to teach the poor waitress at the new "cool" bar in the area how to use the coffee machine. Now, during my walk, I must have passed by at least ten coffee shops of Korean inspiration, and a handful of Starbucks as well.

Ten years ago, even the scam artists looking for unsuspecting foreign tourists were much nicer. In 2005, my travel companion and I fell for what is now known as the tea scam, in which women who are supposedly students approach you with the pretext of practicing English, and without knowing, you end up in a tea house with a bill for a few thousand yuan (more than 200 dolars), and a few Chinese men looking at you menacingly. When the two students came up to us in 2005, after taking with us for a long time, they asked us if we were hungry and if we would like to eat with them. We had been looking for a place to try the famous Peking duck, and we thought it would be a good idea to go out to eat with them. Yes, the food was much more expensive than usual, and they never had the slightest intention of pitching in for the bill. Nonetheless, we stuffed our faces and we tried Peking duck and dishes that we never would have tried if it hadn't been for them. Overall, it was not that expensive of a night, and was not at all unpleasant.

Thousands of other comparisons come to my mind while remembering all of my history with this city, and as I say goodbye to its streets, I try to keep back the tears. Tomorrow will be another day and I will be enjoying the sea, the blue sky, and the sun which warms you but doesn't burn you.

Finally, I decide to savor some delicious jaozi (dumplings) on the street before going to bed, and the last thing that comes to my mind is a feeling of sorrow. The warm and welcoming city that I fell in love with in 2005 has turned into a cold and "modern" city that has lost a large part of its charm. Nonetheless, Beijing will always be my second home, a chaotic city that never ceases to surprise you, a city where you can find a delicious new dish to try every day, and definitely a city that I will miss.

On overcoming the fear of traveling alone in an unknown country

sborto — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 22:18:00 GMT

I landed in Bangkok February fourth and, as usual, I became anxious.

Thailand will be the fifteenth country that I’ve visited alone, but I still haven’t learned to handle the fear of not knowing what to expect.

It’s a primordial fear, a subtle one. But a completely natural one. Our self-defense mechanisms lead us to fear what we don’t know.

These days there are no longer sabretooth tigers around to attack us as soon as we step outside of the cave. The fears that we measure ourselves by are perhaps less lethal, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less frightening.

I won’t pretend to be a courageous traveler. When I land in a new country, dragging behind me everything I own, I always keep it on me.

While in the past I suffered through atrocious moments of panic– for example when I got lost in the Paris metro during my first trip abroad or when, in Dublin, I had no idea which was my stop on the double decker bus – today I’ve learned to calm this fear, limit it to just a minute or two (usually the time it takes to get out of the airport and find the metro line, bus or taxi).

How?

First, being prepared for the worst. Second, facing my fears from a rational point of view.

Why upon landing in Bangkok do I fear losing my wallet or that someone swipes my passport while when I arrive in Shanghai I turn on my iPod, put on a Los Redondos album and have no fear of the guards that yell at me for not respecting the passport control?

The answer is because in Shanghai I feel at home, I speak the language and know that wherever I go I know lots of people that are ready to help me.

Instead in Bangkok I don’t know anyone, I can’t read these – for me – bizarre symbols that mush together to compose street and neighborhood names that are unknown to me. I feel like the little old lady who’s afraid of the man that passes by just because he’s black. And she’s never had any dealings with black men!

Here’s a list of the precautions that help me overcome the fear of traveling alone in an unknown country:

Always use two wallets

To avoid surprises at the airport exit or on the subway I always travel with two wallets. One in the pocket of my jeans, where I keep a rechargeable credit card (almost all banks offer one at the cost of about ten Euro), a small amount of money and a photocopy of my passport and visa.

The other wallet, the main one, I always keep in an internal pocket or in one of those belts that look like a compact marsupial (to wear under your shirt). Here is where I keep my passport, the majority of my money and my main credit card.

This way, in case of a mugging (it can happen) I’m certain to limit the damage.

Take out a health insurance policy

When I travel to a country that doesn’t belong to the European Union it’s a good habit to take out a health insurance policy that covers you in the case of an accident or sickness.

Make a backup of important documents

In this digital era all you need to do is take a photo to get a copy of your passport, visa, health insurance policy and identity card. You can then send them to yourself via email or use a backup service like Dropbox. For your hotel reservation or air ticket this usually isn’t necessary since they send it to you via email.

I like to save a copy of these documets also on a USB fob that I keep in an internal pocket (in case I need it in a moment when I don’t have an internet connection).

Organize transport from the airport to the hotel

The trip from the airport to the hotel is when you’re most vulnerable, especially if you arrive at night. When they see a white devil with so many backpacks at the airport exit, the taxi drivers don’t see a person, but rather a chicken ready to be plucked.

Last August I landed in Ho Chi Minh City, the legendary Saigon, at two in the morning. At that hour the bus drivers are all sleeping and you have to take a taxi.

Searching a little on the internet, I discovered that Ho Chi Minh taxi drivers are well known for modifying their meters in a way to get them to go much faster, telling you that your hotel is closed and bringing you somewhere else. The only serious companies are Mailinh and Vinasun.

Knowing which company to use spared me a real headache and, perhaps, a night sleeping outside.

I also printed out a map from the airport to the hotel, complete with the name and address of the hostel. This move not only avoids misunderstandings (you know how it is, I’m not an expert on Vietnamese pronounciation), but lets the driver know that you’ll know if he’s bringing you in the right direction.

Talk about bluffing...

Last but not least, I mark the license number of the taxi driver (usually found on the dashboard).

It’s not that I don’t trust them, let’s just say... OK, I don’t trust them at all. Especially when I’m carrying my passport, credit card and two thousand Euros worth of photography equipment.

Backup phone

I always travel with two phones. An old clunker with an Italian card that when needed I use to make international calls (such as when they block my credit card, which happens frequently when you withdraw from three different countries in a month, which I have to do at times) and a smartphone into which I can insert a local telephone card.

In the end it will all work out...

...and if it still isn’t resolved, it means the end hasn’t yet arrived.

Be mindful of the fact that in the event that you lose everything, there’s always a solution.

And if I lose all my money?

Suppose you lose all your money and credit cards (an improbability if you travel with two wallets and a few banknotes in your backpack).

In this case all you need to do is call Italy and ask a relative or friend to go to the nearest Western Union counter and lend you the money you need.

Western Union will give you a code for the nearest counter where you can pick up your funds. It literally takes ten minutes.

If you don’t have anyone that can help you, perhaps before leaving you might want to think about getting a social life: P

Another way to go “safely” is to have a PayPal account and transfer some money there before departure.

And if I lose my passport?

In this case you’ll have to call the Italian embassy and ask for a new one. In extreme cases the embassy usually provides repatriation.

To be sure that they look for you in the event of a tsumani, earthquake or civil war, you can always register in the site Dove siamo nel mondo, run by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs before you leave.

Be rational

This is probably the most important point of all.

The fear of the unknown moves us to fill the void of information with our imagination, leading us to conceive catastrophic scenarios that in reality have no chance of coming true (for example what I had described earlier).

There is a way, almost a formula, to stop worrying and begin to live in the most relaxing way:

1) Analyze the situation honestly to the point of what is the worst thing that can happen to you.

2) Once you discern the worst scenario, accept it calmly. 3) From now on, work on bettering your situation, at the same time having already accepted the worst case scenario.

3) From now on, work on bettering your situation, at the same time having already accepted the worst case scenario.

Photos: Me in China

sborto — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 22:12:00 GMT

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