Will Cox is a rising senior at Duke University. For most of the month of June, he will be blogging from China, where he expects experiences from all ends of the spectrum -- from the thriving metropolis of Beijing, where the 2008 Summer Olympics were held, to the southern provinces such as Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Will hopes to gain a more worldly perception of America, and to learn about the Chinese culture, economy, cuisine and people.
Jul. 18, 2009
My overall experience in China was very beneficial to me. I was lucky to be able to see both the face-paced lifestyles of the people in the large cities, as well as the laid-back people in the rural areas.
One of the main things that surprised me is how much China is still developing. I had heard about their thriving economy, but I expected my travel destinations to have things similar to the United States such as electricity and drinking water. This was not the case; even the nice hotels I stayed at didn't have purified drinking water, and I was lucky that my hotel in the rural part of China had electricity at night. I think that if China is truly going to succeed as an international powerhouse they are going to have to improve on some of the things that many people take for granted.
My favorite things included the wide variety of food and the culture. The camaraderie between people was really appealing to me, and it was interesting to see how Communism and capitalism...
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Jul. 5, 2009
After my stint in China I traveled to Singapore to visit some family friends. During the first few days of my trip, I was lucky to be able to accompany them on a vacation to a resort located on the island of Bintan in Indonesia. The resort reminded me a little of a Caribbean, but definitely with a more jungle feel. The beaches were secluded, and all the locals were very eager to interact with the people staying at the resort. After a quick ferry ride back to Singapore, I headed to bed because I had one last big day of sightseeing before my trip started to come to a close.
The friends I was staying with set me up with a great bus tour of Singapore, and I really got a feel for the city in the few days I was there. I saw the Formula 1 racetrack that snaked through the city, as well as the famous Merlion statue, the island city-state’s mascot. The Merlion is a fish with a lion’s head, and originates from both Singapore’s past as a fishing village and future...
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Jun. 30, 2009
It was a drastic turnaround going from Luipanshui to Shanghai, the largest city in China.
The first thing that I noticed in Shanghai was the amount of Westerners there. Everywhere I looked there was a Westerner snapping photos or speaking in a language that I recognized, and I welcomed the familiarity.
My local tour guide took me on a boat cruise to see the two sides of Shanghai, the business district of Pudong, and the residential district of Puxi. After my overview of the city, the guide and I went the Shanghai Museum where I saw exhibits in calligraphy, painting, metal work, porcelain, and sculpture.
The most exciting thing in Shanghai was the Shanghai World Financial Center, which is the tallest roofed building in the world standing at 492 meters high.
After a long day of sightseeing, I went to a tea tasting ceremony with my guide. She explained to me that each type of tea benefits a different aspect of life, and how a person feels will determine what type...
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Jun. 23, 2009
My next stop was a stay in one of the outlying communities of Luipanshui, a city in the Guizhou province. This was one of my favorite parts of my trip, even if my hotel only had electricity when the sun went down and no hot water. The people in this area were all unbelievably friendly, and always eager interact with the laowai, a neutral term used to describe foreigners similar to the Spanish word gringo. These villagers didn’t have many nice things such as televisions or cars, but they kept themselves happy with some of life’s simpler pleasures.
During my four-day stay in Luipanshui, I lived the life of a typical young man that just finished school. My day consisted of going to the fields during the day where tobacco and tea were grown with the owner of the farm, followed by a friendly game of basketball with some of the locals at the nearby lower school. After it started to get dark, I would head back to my hotel where dinner had already been prepared, and...
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Jun. 17, 2009
My trip to the Wuyi Mountains was a relaxing break from the more aggressive sightseeing that I had been doing throughout most of my trip in China. The mountain chain is located in the northern part of Fujian province, and is protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This heritage site is kept in pristine conditions by the local and provincial governments because of its exquisite natural beauty. My local tour guide and I joined a group of tourists and took a tour of the mountain chain via bamboo boat.
The two men giving the tour used bamboo poles instead of the conventional oars to push the boat down the river that meandered through the mountain chain. There were many Chinese characters written on the stone walls of some of the cliffs, and the guide explained to me that some characters gave directions to those who navigated the river, while others likened certain structures to human or animal characteristics. After our...
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