“Your ass itches, Mladin?!” – my friends told me when I announced that my birthday vacation would be in… North Korea! North, yes, you read that right.
More stirred by journalistic curiosity than by, God forbid, any desire to relive the past, I started to look into how I could get there.
Through Beijing seemed the easiest way, with several local agencies organizing tours to North Korea departing from the Chinese capital.
I talked with several of them, found out that in North Korea only a well-defined area is open to visitors, but I optimistically waited for more to open up, to see Pyongyang and other places in the country, not just a kind of “duty-free for tourists.”
However, my plans changed because North Korea decided to close even that area, so I was left with just the ticket to Beijing.
After many plans on the map of Asia, I decided to explore a few places in China that I had read about or seen on the internet. So, I made my itinerary: Beijing and The Great Wall, then Xi’an for the Terracotta Army, followed by Chengdu – the city of the pandas, and finally Chongqing, which I called the “futuristic city”, based on what I had seen on social media.
I came back from this trip with 116 gigabytes of photos and videos!!! I could write about it until next year 🙂 But before I go city by city, I have to say that, from what I managed to see of China, I felt it was a country of contrasts.
Shanghai 2017
I had been to China before, in 2017, on my way to Tibet, which I wrote about here, here, here, here, and here. Back then, I visited several places in Beijing and then Shanghai. But this time, I felt the extremes more intensely. And the control too…
CHINA OF CONTRASTS
“They are 100 years ahead of us”, I told myself many times in China, after thinking that only Japan could make me feel like I was on another planet.
Here, though, things balance out: sometimes you feel like you’re in the future, and other times some details or behaviors suddenly teleport you back to the past!
I’m in the country where you can pay with your face at the subway entrance (I’ll tell you how I discovered this in a moment), but where people still loudly spit on the street from deep in their throats, so much that it makes you feel sick, no joke…
I’m in the country full of mega futuristic buildings, but where the predominant public toilets are “squat” style, with footrests, no toilet paper, no bidet shower.
I’m in the country with high-speed trains, but where people push you hard, without shame, when they want to be the first to enter a tourist attraction.
I’m in the country where you get around airports on electric suitcases, but where you can’t find internal pads for women’s needs.
In the country where almost everyone doesn’t speak a word of English (even though it’s taught in schools), yet they manage to communicate everything through phone apps.
I’m in the country that invented TikTok and other multifunctional apps, but where there are matchmakers in parks, whom many turn to in order to find their other half…
And I’m in the country where control is normal, it’s… a way of life!
CONTROL IN CHINA
I have never been more controlled in my life than I was here! I, who always leave my passport at the hotel when traveling through Europe, had it as a mandatory accessory every day, because without it I couldn’t enter anywhere! More than that, I couldn’t even move forward on the street without it! It was simply a harassed passport, nothing less…
Definitely, compared to eight years ago when I first came here, control in the capital is much stricter. And more frequent.
Do you know how I would describe my first (and second and third…) encounters with Beijing? Fences, police, and surveillance cameras!
Man, at every intersection, you find “police stations” or cars with police officers, army…
The thing is, all of them have their sirens on. It feels like a breaking news event on every street corner! I don’t know, maybe it’s to discourage you from doing something illegal, or to warn you that they’re coming at you full-on. The point is, it was hard for me to ignore them, in the first few days, I was always… on alert.
And the mobile fences in Beijing… wow, man, they could probably make it into the Guinness World Records!
the building where Mao Zedong’s body is kept
They have hundreds of mobile fences on the streets! Hundreds, thousands, I don’t know, but everywhere I went, it was impossible not to see those wheeled fences. Either already set up or at least “parked”, ready to be extended if needed.
What I found funny is that at traffic lights there’s a guard/agent whose job is this: when the light turns red, he manually stretches the fence across the lane for motorcycles and scooters, so that no one dares to cross. When the light turns green, he folds up the fence and lets traffic pass freely.
TIANANMEN SQUARE
I arrived in China in the afternoon and decided to take a short walk in the famous Tiananmen Square, just like I did 8 years ago on my first day.
Rip-off: fences upon fences force you to walk in certain directions, where you encounter security checks. Okay, there are more fences than last time, but I remember how I passed the control back then: I showed my passport, they checked my bag, and that was it, they let me into the Square area.
Well, not anymore! The police told me I wasn’t allowed into the square. They showed me the rule already translated into English on their phones, which means they do this often with tourists: I need a reservation made at least one day in advance (and at most 7 days), on some website I don’t know. You show them the reservation on your phone, they check your passport, scan your bag like at the airport, you go through a body check, and only then do you enter the Square.
So the walk on the first day was actually a walk along both sidewalks through a maze of fences, until both the fence and the police said “Halt! This is as far as you go!” And I turned back.
In the subway passages, you could swear the Chinese soldier is made of wax, with the “I’m about to fall forward” pose he holds. But no, he’s real! He doesn’t blink, doesn’t smile. I wonder how his spine holds up…
In every subway station, control is mandatory! Not of passports, but of bags and the youthful body 🙂
If I hadn’t put my backpack on the conveyor belt for scanning, it would have been shredded to pieces and maybe even used as a curtain now! And any bottles you have, they take them and put them into machines for checking. Checking what? – I asked the guide.
“Make sure you don’t have alcohol, because it’s forbidden to carry alcohol in public spaces.”
At another security check, I asked the police what they wanted from my water. (Oh no, I didn’t ask them in English, what did you think… I wrote it on Google Translate.) One of them, kindly, took out his phone, said something in Chinese, and then the voice from his app told me: “We’re checking to make sure it’s not poison or pesticides”. Hm. Really?? That’s the right translation? I was thinking maybe it meant “drugs”.
“No, no”, one of the guides replied when I told him. “Definitely not drugs.” Nobody here risks carrying that. Because in China, drugs = the death penalty!!! And with so many checks everywhere, you’d have to be stupid to hang yourself…
In one of the cities, again at the subway, I got annoyed when I saw that after the police check, when I tried to insert my card, the machine took a photo of me. Damn it! Don’t you get annoyed when they snap your picture once, twice, every time?!? And what do you think I did? I took out my phone and photographed the machine haha. I was even thinking: wait till they come to pick me up and question me in Chinese.
But what did I find out? The subway access machine doesn’t take your picture to monitor you; it’s simply facial recognition that helps you pay your entry… with your own face! Really?!? Yes, yes, there are apps where you register your face, and this is how easily you pay for the subway, without making any other move. There are even supermarket chains where you can pay for your shopping the same way. At least in Chengdu, where I saw it.
In another city I visited, they don’t have face payment at the subway, but you can pay with your right palm: you put your palm on the device and that’s all, you enter, because it has taken your ticket money. Hence the saying: what I take with my left, I give with my right 🙂
2017
What I didn’t see this year were those people who used to direct us in the subway stations – to be well-behaved and board the subway politely. Maybe they were at some stations, but where I went, I didn’t see them anymore.
Instead, there were requests and instructions posted on the entrance doors. A good solution – they saved on paying salaries…
SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS
In China, if someone doesn’t check you directly, someone else is watching you… from a distance. Either way, someone’s got their eyes on you 🙂
I was shocked at how many surveillance cameras can be installed on a single pole!!! I was even afraid to take pictures of them!
“Many Western tourists I’ve had have criticized this control”, a guide told me. “I don’t have a problem with it”, she continued calmly, “I prefer it this way, I feel safe!”
The truth is, nowhere I went did I feel afraid of anything or anyone. Everyone told me I could walk safely on the streets at night, that I could take a taxi at night without worry, etc. etc.
And the guide didn’t understand why I sometimes kept my backpack in front of me and why, when someone bumped into me (often!), I would suddenly turn around and put my hand on my pockets. It’s a reflex… I’ve been through it!
She was always amused. She told me that even if someone tried to steal from me in the subway, there are so many cameras and police at every exit that they wouldn’t stand a chance to escape. Plus, civic spirit is very strong there, and people would immediately jump in to help: they’d stop the elevator, catch the thief at the next station, and so on. That’s what she told me, and that’s what I’m telling you.
Apparently, if someone steals, besides being caught immediately and thrown in jail, the big problem for them is that three generations of their family suffer! What?!? Yes, exactly like that: the thief himself suffers, but also his children and grandchildren can never work for the government – which is very important here; they cannot attend good universities and they cannot join the army (the army is not mandatory, but many join it for reputation, it helps with their career, and thus with money)!
Pretty harsh, right?
Still about control… On the streets of several cities, at traffic lights, I was really bothered by some flashes.
Basically, you’re driving calmly and suddenly it feels like paparazzi swarm around you, flashing their cameras right in your eyes.
I really don’t know how people drive here when, before every traffic light, they are blinded by these flashes. They are mounted on poles, high up, right in the direction from which the cars are coming. I asked, what the heck are these?!
Some monitor the traffic volume. Others take pictures of the people inside the car. If you’re not wearing a seatbelt, if you’re talking on the phone, or if you’re smoking while driving, bam, you get a fine! Because it’s not allowed! It’s assumed that even smoking while driving distracts you. (But eating while driving??… I’d get fined a lot :))
On the other hand, as a fun fact, smoking is still allowed in restaurants (not those in malls) and in many hotel rooms. I ended up in a smoking room and couldn’t stand it because the smell of tobacco was so ingrained.
INTERNET IN CHINA
I knew from the start that nothing would work in China – no WhatsApp, no Facebook, no Google…
However, I was calm thinking Yahoo would work since I had used it easily a few years ago. The Chinese were friends with Yahoo.
Well, that calmed me down about Yahoo…
Anyway, don’t think I went there blindly.
Some time before my trip, while asking how I could have internet in China, I learned about VPN (Virtual Private Network), which basically lets you connect through a server located in another country. That way, it looks like you’re accessing the internet from outside China, and you get access to whatever you want. BUT, just before I paid for this, the sellers were honest and told me: “Yes, you have access to whatever you want, but just so you know, right now we’re blocked”. What?!
Yes, yes, as soon as the authorities catch them, they block them haha. So, even if you pay for a VPN, it’s possible that exactly when you’re there, you’ll have internet issues. So I looked for alternative solutions and found one: eSIM.
I bought one from Nomad (https://www.getnomad.app/) and I absolutely had to install the eSIM before arriving in China. Once there, you can’t do it anymore!
I asked the company three times if I would have WhatsApp because that was what mattered most to me. And Google, to look for directions.
“You will have it, you will”, they reassured me. And indeed, I did.
The hotels where I stayed had free Wi-Fi, but that didn’t help me at all because practically I couldn’t access any of the usual services I use, since they are blocked in China. I had to download other search engines. Too complicated.
I only spoke on WhatsApp with one person, from an agency in China. Otherwise, for them, it’s too expensive to get a VPN. Especially since internally they use other multifunctional apps.
WeChat is one of them. Alipay is another. I learned about them before my trip and was advised to download at least one in order to be able to pay in China. (But be careful – it’s best to notify your bank that you’re traveling to China, otherwise you might find your card blocked after the first transaction, like it happened to me 🙂 )
WeChat, originally created as a messaging app, helped me communicate just like on WhatsApp with all the guides I had and with friends from home who had downloaded it. It’s extremely popular there and has many more functions beyond chatting. You can pay with WeChat Pay, post photos, since it also works as a social network (a sort of local Facebook), order food, buy tickets, shop, pay taxes…
Alipay (where I linked my bank card), originally created as a payment platform for Alibaba/Taobao, is now used for all kinds of financial services, from paying bills to loans and investments, but it also has many mini-apps, some that help with travel – guides, tickets, orders, etc.
TIKTOK
Although I don’t have TikTok, I know the app was invented by a Chinese company, I know about its huge global popularity and all the controversies surrounding it. But I didn’t know how it works in China.
Well, it works separately. The Chinese have their own TikTok, for internal use… In 2016, when the app appeared, it was launched under the name Douyin. That’s what it’s still called in China. A year later, the Chinese company launched the international version of the app, under the name TikTok.
So the two operate completely separately. The Chinese use Douyin, an app that you can’t access from other countries. It operates in mainland China on local servers, respecting the strict rules imposed by the government, regarding both content and access (I understand that kids under 14 have limited access – 40 minutes a day – and cannot use the app at night).
SHOPPING IN CHINA
It’s clear to me now: I’m reconsidering the terms “chinezisme” and “chinezării” (Chinese knockoffs/quirks)!
On this vacation, I saw some really cool stuff, super awesome gadgets, cool clothes Made in China, so I won’t be throwing around ironies so easily anymore.
Jacket with attached bear. 1400 CNY (approx. 173 euros)
Purse-boot. 700 CNY (approx. 87 euros)
On my quick walks through shops, I snapped some photos of a few cute products. And for some, I didn’t just take pictures, I actually bought them 🙂 (No, not the ones in the photos.)
Scanning is the national sport in China! You order quickly, no waiting in line, order an ice cream and come back when you get an SMS saying it’s ready, pay at restaurants, buy from street stalls, markets, everywhere – all by rapidly scanning a QR code hooked on, stuck to, or lazily thrown over the products!
Long live the apps, because, guess what, just when I was happy I could finally pay with my bank card, the POS machine wouldn’t work, the Wi-Fi was weak or terrible, and luck was against me.
Chengdu
Shopping areas, malls? Tons and tons! In some neighborhoods, malls are literally right next to each other. Most are open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week.
With lots of luxury brands, but also affordable Western brands. And Chinese stores I’d never heard of in my life, but which were a pleasant surprise for me!
There were play zones, VR simulators for the men whose partners were shopping…
Or cars displayed where I was expecting to find phones…
With ice rinks, massage areas, and all sorts of other things! You could spend a lifetime in a mall, no joke!
The fun continues outside! The areas are super lively, full of stalls with all kinds of products, cafes, but the real star in some places is the 3D advertising screen.
We were all staring in awe, fascinated, amused, amazed by what some companies offer us:
WHAT YOU CAN EAT IN CHINA
Anything! 🙂
I really mean anything.
In every mall I entered, I found a feast! Food courts both in the basement and on the top floor, and don’t think it’s just fast-food – many are proper restaurants.
I’ll tell you what I tried or discovered during my two visits to China.
Before I get into the animals on the menu, I already feel my mouth watering thinking about the noodle soups I had on this trip! Really, really good!!!
Usually, I went for beef – but not in restaurants, on the street. I had sensational street food! Street food in Asia is totally worth it!!!
And at the hotel, for breakfast, they made you noodle soup with whatever you wanted! I saw many Asians eating it first thing in the morning.
I, however, stuck to my usual habits – omelet, bacon, bread with butter, cheese… And the noodles (soup, stir-fried, or other styles) I ate mostly from lunch onwards. Either from street stalls, markets, or even in popular mall restaurants among the Chinese:
Zhajiangmian (with pork) – 38 yuans (about 4.5 euros)
On the other hand, I had a daily dilemma: which animal am I eating today in China? 🙂
Okay, let’s skip beef and pork, which I devoured to my heart’s content in Korean-style restaurants – you pay a fixed price and eat as much as you want, choosing from a variety of very, very thinly sliced meats that you then grill yourself on the tabletop grill. You can add whatever vegetables and desserts you want, drink as many beverages as you like, and before you know it, you can’t get up from the table.
To make you laugh, the first time I went to a place like this in Beijing, I couldn’t communicate with the waiters – not in English, not with my phone, not with gestures, not even with the pictures on the menus. So, I ate very little, more like a diva on a diet, because I didn’t know I could order anything and as much as I wanted. I didn’t even get a drink or dessert.
I’m pretty sure that right after I left, they put me on their “Wall of Fame” as the Most Clueless, uh… I mean, Best Customer ever! 🙂
Peking duck is a “must” in Beijing. I tried it back on my first visit, right in the restaurant where it’s said to have been invented – Quanjude Restaurant.
It was a really charming experience, the chef was too, and the plate that arrived made my liver declare it wouldn’t talk to me anymore!
Crispy skin, tender meat that just melts in your mouth, extremely, extremely delicious!
I tried it again in 2025 at another recommended restaurant. It was just as tasty and just as heavy, I thought.
And the carving was just as meticulous – pieces almost identical in size, nicely arranged on the plate.
My problem was that I had a whole duck in front of me, and no matter how hard I fought with it, no matter how big my stomach was, and how understanding my liver tried to be, I just couldn’t finish it…
So this time, I took home over half of it (what was left), and made two receptionists very happy.
But the duck is expensive. For this dinner with duck plus a small draft beer, I paid around 60 euros. Compared to the noodles I mentioned earlier, made by a guy on the street, which cost me 2.8 euros!
Have you heard of duck blood? I hadn’t, until 2025. It’s a traditional culinary ingredient in China. Is it drinkable?? I mean, you’re not getting a transfusion, right?…
I found out you don’t – it’s coagulated, sold in gelatinous cubes, and used in various dishes.
I only knew about snake blood, from when I was in Vietnam, at a restaurant where I ate a whole snake, cut right there. You can read about that experience here.
By the way, the Chinese eat snake too, but it doesn’t seem to be that popular – at least not where I went.
In the markets of every city I traveled to, I found out which animal was popular there. But especially, which part of it people liked the most.
In Xi’an, goat heads “reign supreme”. But you can also choose duck neck or chicken feet.
In Chengdu, rabbit heads are popular.
After buying several as gifts (so the people receiving them could throw them at me…), I said I couldn’t leave without trying one myself.
I took out my phone and started asking about each one. I learned that the ones on the left are spicy, the ones on the right are not. I bought one (about 2 euros) and said to the ladies: “Okay, okay, now what do I do with it??”
One of the vendors gave me two gloves, put the rabbit head in a little bag, and told me to open its mouth. I managed to open the mouth, with difficulty. Then she showed me that I could eat what was inside.
I pulled off some small pieces of meat and ate them nervously, but there was nothing scary about it: it reminded me a bit of chicken thigh meat, as I thought.
However, having to keep breaking the rabbit’s head apart to find the meat stopped me after three bites. Enough, I thought, I’ve done this, no need to overdo it.
I won’t even tell you how much those two vendors laughed at me…
In Beijing, donkey meat is also eaten. I didn’t have time to go to the popular donkey burger place, though, I would have been curious to try how they taste.
The Chinese also eat turtles – supposedly many who eat them believe it will help them live longer…
They also eat bull penis – it’s considered a delicacy, and some attribute aphrodisiac properties to it. Phew, that one I never saw at the stalls! (Or maybe I saw it and didn’t know what it was…)
Do they eat dog??? I asked this since my very first visit to China. Both then and now, I got the same answer: in the south, yes. Meanwhile, I’ve seen them in Vietnam, butchered, for sale at street stalls. I wrote about that here.
…and the list could go on with other animals, seafood, or who knows what organs. I’ll show you some of them when I talk about each city I visited. But wait, my blood sugar dropped, I need something sweet 🙂
Since I saw them, I’ve been fascinated by these sculpted pineapples. So I bought two “models” myself and ate them like boiled corn… My tongue was stinging for two days!
In some regions, I saw the biggest oranges ever! You’d think that if they left them a little longer, you could play volleyball with them, no problem.
And the famous stinky fruit, durian, is also found on many stalls in China. I left that one there!
I tried it in Vietnam, so I’ve already passed that test of courage…
You can also eat fruit in another form: on a stick, caramelized in sugar. From cranberries – the classic kind, so to say – to strawberries, which are the most expensive. I paid just over 1 euro for a stick with strawberries.
What I found cute was this dessert on a stick that many Chinese make on the street, sometimes even custom-shaped on demand.
Basically, it’s burnt sugar molded into different shapes, from animals and sea creatures to flowers.
WANGFUJING NIGHT MARKET
Eight years ago, I encountered for the first time a night market full of all kinds of strange things to eat.
Shock, shock, shock – I’d take a step, stop at a stall and marvel, take another step, stop again, stare, and get horrified…
Starfish!!! Snake skin, various beetles, some more beautiful than others… Grasshoppers, centipedes.
Scorpions.
Seahorses?!?! WTF???
After standing there for a few minutes like a deer in headlights, unable to believe that starfish or seahorses (just to name two examples) could be eaten, I started looking for something a bit more… normal (for me) in this lively market where both Chinese and tourists spend their evenings together.
Chicken skewers, clams, snails, and dumplings.
And, for world peace, some pigeons too:
Well, I didn’t try those. I basically checked out all the stalls and bought either what gave me some peace of mind 🙂 or what was on the must-try snack list in China:
Potato nest with egg – good!
Stinky tofu – horrible!!! I tasted a bit from a piece and abandoned the plate, the table, and the whole area!
Crab soup, drunk through a straw from a dumpling. It was okay, no complaints…
Let me take a break from all the eating, let the food settle a bit, and save room for dessert.
In the middle of the night market, on a small stage, an amateur artist, dressed up and made up, performs for anyone who stops to watch.
The poor guy tries hard, but it’s not really working out… So I listen for a bit and then go get something sweet.
Here’s everything I tried (not all at once!):
Mango salad, lots of good mango, with a kind of whipped cream.
Egg waffle. Delicious! I like it simple, classic. They also sell it “fancy” with fruit, ice cream, chocolate, whipped cream…
The yogurt of our childhood. Oh my, how good it tasted!!! Just like the glass jar yogurt we had as kids, where I used to add sugar to make it “something sweet”. Except here you drink it with a straw from the jar.
Bean ice cream. Well, I had to try it. Didn’t like it. I miss Italy 🙂
And caramelized cranberries on a stick.
SCORPIONS ON A STICK
After visiting this market both by day and night, after carefully analyzing the weird things on sticks or in containers, and after listening to some tourists braver than me, I decided to eat scorpions.
Specifically, I got a skewer with scorpions from near other skewers where those scorpions were still moving!
I even got stung because no one told me if I should remove the sting from the tail before chewing…
Oh my God, I felt all night like I was getting sick, dizzy, oh no, the fried scorpion stung me, I’m going to die alone in China because of a skewer!
I didn’t die. Proof is that I came back to China in 2025. But I didn’t risk the scorpions again 🙂
This market, Wangfujing, which was so fascinating to me, no longer exists in 2025!
I was disappointed to see the place empty and abandoned! I really didn’t expect that, especially since even my guide didn’t know it was gone.
Fortunately, I discovered similar markets in other parts of Beijing and in other cities across China. I really love them – they have a special charm, even if they’re often crowded with tourists.
I can’t wait to tell you in detail what I found there and what cool places I visited in Xi’an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Beijing, but especially the experiences I had there 🙂
