Help Meri plan a Grand Adventure (tm)

[Monoriu]

Also keep in mind that for Westerners visiting China for the first time a Chinese city is going to be plenty exotic on its own terms, never mind any specific attractions.

What's so exotic about Chinese cities?

[CountDeMoney]

Also keep in mind that for Westerners visiting China for the first time a Chinese city is going to be plenty exotic on its own terms, never mind any specific attractions.

What's so exotic about Chinese cities?

Their Chineseness.

[Monoriu]

That's very insightful 

Actually I am quite curious about it.  What do you guys find exotic about Chinese cities? 

[CountDeMoney]

Dude.

[merithyn]

One more suggestion for you.  You can ignore this if you want, it is up to you, but it is another option to think about. 

I have no idea what the hiking part includes.  But consider ditching that part, and go to Beijing instead.  You don't have to do this, but it is worthwhile to take a look at the possibilities.  You can hike any time you want.  But there is only one Forbidden City in the world, and Beijing is very close to the Great Wall of China.  Beijing has been the imperial capital for centuries.  I have been there many times, and I still find places that I haven't been to.  Lots of great gardens and residences of imperial princes.  It is a much better tourist destination than Shanghai, and I consider it a must-see for anybody who hasn't been to China.

I'm not sure you understand the point of this trip for me, Mono. I want to go hiking along the Yangtze. The tours are to smaller villages along the river, with beautiful scenery along the way. Shanghai is a starting and stopping point, not the destination.

You're never going to understand that my goal on this trip isn't to live large on great restaurant food in nice hotels alongside ancient city streets. I really do want to walk for miles, up and down steep hills, in order to see the smaller towns, and to see the Yangtze. If I'm really intrigued enough about the rest of that stuff, I'll make a point to go back to see them another time.

[Monoriu]

Like I said, it is entirely up to you.  Have a nice trip 

[Ed Anger]

The movie The Sand Pebbles popped into my head.

[Eddie Teach]

It is a commercial hub due to its position at the mouth of the Yangtze. 

Seems like that would have been the case at the dawn of history as well. 

[Monoriu]

It is a commercial hub due to its position at the mouth of the Yangtze. 

Seems like that would have been the case at the dawn of history as well. 

Chinese Han civilisation started in the Yellow river area, and only gradually moved south.  The ancient capitals were mostly on the northern side.  During periods of division, the southern based dynasties mainly chose the Nanjing/Hangzhou areas as their capital, not Shanghai.  Chinese just weren't that interested in the ocean. 

[garbon]

Dude.

The Mono shtick is quite long in the tooth, no?

[Jacob]

Actually I am quite curious about it.  What do you guys find exotic about Chinese cities?

You know how you still to this day marvel at the strange ways of the city of Vancouver and the West in general, even though you lived there for years, were educated in a Western system, and have had serious exposure to Western media?

Now imagine you'd never been to anywhere in the West at all. Imagine you'd never had significant exposure to Western culture beyond eating at McDonalds once in a while. And imagine you didn't speak English or any other Western languages. Furthermore, imagine that you were actually interested in other people. It's like that. It's interesting and new.

So it's basically the marvel you still express at the weird ways of Westerners but a couple of orders of magnitude stronger, filtered through the eyes of someone who is actually interested in other cultures and places in the world beyond shopping and eating.

[Eddie Teach]

Why's everyone always picking on Mono? 

[Monoriu]

Why's everyone always picking on Mono? 

I'm used to it 

[merithyn]

Riley is interested in going, and she's suggested Greece.

Thoughts?

[sbr]

Riley is interested in going, and she's suggested Greece.

Thoughts?

That's a long hike.