A thread on China as a curious traveller...

- China is almost like a mini-world rather than a country

- Mountains, beaches, forest, cities, you name it, they have it

- I think over 90% (don't quote me on this) of tourism is just Chinese people exploring their own country

- Everything is just on a mind-blowing scale - population, resources, knowledge etc

- They really have an abundance mindset

- You can see 5 shops selling the same thing in a row and everyone's happy because they know there is more than enough customers for everyone to prosper

- But following the rules is very important and you can see why so many people seem so agreeable

- My friend and I being stopped by the police and having them scan my face and several black people come up on the screen was a very interesting experience

- Apparently they do routine checks like this ^^ regularly and this happened in the Shanghai metro

- Oh and the metro (in Shanghai) is basically 1000x what London Underground is

- But Shanghai's population is ~24 mil and London's is almost 9 mil

- Also the food but with everything that's happened recently let me just stick to talking about the VEGAN FOOD

- Went to a vegan buffet at a Buddhist temple (Guilin & Beijing) and it was amazing

- Sweet potato dessert, glass noodles, sticky rice cakes, fried aubergine

- The Great Wall really made me think, they've been on this world domination stuff for centuries

- They were cameras all along the Great Wall

- And in several tourist mountain areas like Huangshan mountains

- All-in-all, China was a great expander for my mind

It was so foggy on this day!!

- To see what exists in other parts of the world

- Like even using Alipay (digital wallet that allows you to pay with your mobile) to pay like 50p to rent an Alibike for a week was like

- Seeing the way they just have so many brands, original, fake, knock-offs - insane!

- One thing that fascinated me was the contrast between heavy consumerism/obsession with brands worked and Chinese philosophy

- Would love to learn more about this ^^

- Oh of course, the way the stare at tourists is on a different level

- All-in-all China was very fascinating, intriguing, mind-boggling and scary!

- May add to this thread if more thoughts come to me

- Oh and I visited Shanghai, Huangshan mountains, Guilin, Chengdu and Beijing