I’ve gotten a lot of questions since our return to the states last week. Namely, “Did you have any fun?” The answer is a resounding yes! Despite my penchant for taking a more humorous view of things, there was a lot I loved about China and of course some that I could have done without. (See The Hotel.)
When we agreed to the crazy notion of a $399 10-day tour of China (including flights… yes! RT from Seattle as well as Beijing to Shanghai, hotels, most meals, airport transfers, in-country transportation and some tours) we knew that in a lot of respects, you get what you pay for. There were plenty of other dates offered that were more than $399, most hover around $600-800, and the most expensive I saw was $1599 — still a bargain considering everything you get. I guess the price tag gave me license to be snarky, as if I needed a license. I had done enough research to know that it was a legitimate offer, the airplanes were Dreamliners so relatively new and likely to not be placed in the cargo hold, and that the travel company all out sucked. All of this turned out to be true. And still, I’d tell anyone considering it to pay the $399 and just know what you’re getting for that price and roll with it from there. Low expectations. High reward.
How is $399 even possible? Another frequent question. It means that it’s a government-sponsored trip. More specifically, a Chinese government-sponsored trip. Even if you’re not up on current events, you likely know their way of doing things is *just* a teensies bit different than we do here. They’re able to subsidize tours such as this as a way to promote Chinese tourism and get more of our money as we spend spend spend at places on the tour (both included and optional.) As such, they sort of have you by the balls, so if the itinerary changes (and it did, every day,) there isn’t much to do about it. And you would expect it to change since there were no less than 3 different itineraries on a bus of 16 families (45 people.) We still got to see all the things, with the singular disappointment: we didn’t get to the Grand Buddha and instead were taken to a cheesy replication of ‘old China’ including some terracotta warriors. (We were told this was a new change since we got our somewhat accurate itineraries.)
For that amount of money, we saw everything you might see on a “Top 10 China” list and then some. You can’t beat that. And it was all beautiful and fascinating. The architecture. The colors. The sheer scale of things. (Beijing = Wales. I still can’t wrap my head around it.) 
These aren’t things I necessarily attributed to cities in China before this trip. I am grateful to have seen what before had only been a photo in a book (albeit through a haze of thick, hack-worthy smog. We got our face masks for free. Think about that.)
I make no bones about Beijing being the low point. Thankfully, it was our first stop so it could, and did, only get better from there. If all we ever saw was Beijunk, I would never return to China and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. But Beijing is a pretty bad ambassador for the rest of the country (IMHO.) There are plenty of places in the states that hold this same low opinion for me — I’m looking at you Florida — sorry, I’ve been there probably 15 times, multiple cities, the Keys 3 times, and save Destin, it’s just never going to be my jam.) I’m sure there are people who love Beijing (and Florida, for that matter.) We passed through a couple areas on our way out of town that seemed promising, but not worth risking my upper respiratory system to find out in the future. (There’s a reason they shut down all the factories the week before the Olympics. Literal smoke, figurative mirrors. It’s all optics.)
We didn’t have to get too far away from Beijunk to find many parts of the country that were quite beautiful. The cities on the water (from canals to the Yangzte River Delta) were lush and beautiful. 
The hills of the tea plantations were calm and serene. (One of our group asked how he could live out his white boy hipster dream of living and working a tea plantation — his words, not mine. Or close to his words anyway.) 
Shanghai really was a high point and we wished could have spent more time there. Granted it was the most familiar in terms of looking like a Western city (as in North America “Western”, not Deadwood “Western.”) My list of big cities worth visiting — for me — is short: New York, Rome, Cape Town, and now Shanghai. 
You still have to be fairly savvy to figure out how to get around, either knowing some Mandarin or knowing how to ask someone for the Mandarin translation to travel about.) It was obvious there was less money to be squeezed from us in this city. So we were in and out. Nobody got hurt. Too bad. We wanted more.
One thing I cannot figure out is the near-unanimous criticism of the food from people who have gone before me. There was only one thing I spit out, and I think it was about day 9 and I just couldn’t do anymore. (I love chocolate and sushi and steak … not at the same time … and I couldn’t eat that for every meal for 10 days.) It could have been a texture thing (and I ate a duck head.) Other than that, I found it all to be very delicious. 
Now, I’m probably more pan-consuming that the normal person (meaning I’ll try most things once) but I didn’t think anything was that off-palate. So I shrug my shoulders at that one. (I did throw up a little in my mouth when I passed the Manchu Wok in the Seattle airport. And I only ate one meal a day the first 4 days I was back — likely detoxing from the abundance of carbs and sodium. There was bloating to be sure.)
So I give it a thumb and a half up. There were points lost for the smog monster of Beijing. I’d do the tour again (for $399, hey maybe even $699. Live large.) And that comes from an anti-tour, anti-touristy stuff person. We met a lot of great people and interesting characters on the bus. (Even Rebecca, more on the interesting side of things.) The whole experience makes for great stories and memories — and isn’t that what travel and adventure are for?
Roam Free 