My Honest Thoughts About China After 5 Weeks
I just spent over one month traveling around China I have been to six different places all across the country and in this video I'm going to answer your questions about my time and my experience there including the number one question that I receive in the comment section under every single one of my China videos am I paid by the Chinese government I am not in China anymore I am currently in Jakarta Indonesia taking a little rest before I will start to travel again and let's start right away with the first one how have you managed to stay in China for so long have you had issues with your Visa what sort of Visa did you manage to get so I am in the lucky position that as a German I currently do not need a visa to enter China I can stay Visa free for 15 days and I stayed for one month in China now and how I did that was I came to China for the first time that was in January and then I stayed for 15 days I left China and then I came back and then I could stay another 15 days so that is how I managed to stay in China for a full month without a Visa actually and by the way you're currently watching my second Channel if you want to see the full length China videos then feel free to check out my main Channel Ken abroad I will link it in the description and then also a question that I get many times will you go back to China for further exploring China is a very big country and yes I totally agree China is a big and very interesting country and although I have been to six different places around China so I've been to Shanghai I've been to guango Beijing haben Chiang urumi so six different places plus I also been to Hong Kong and maau which are special administrative regions of China but still there are many more places in China that I definitely would like to visit for example changu Chong King I would like to go somewhere in the mountains like there are some beautiful mountain areas in China as well and so far I mainly visited cities the reason for that is because it's just easier to visit cities and there are many very interesting and big cities in China so that was just easier for me and I was I was really curious and excited to visit these cities that I have been to but for my next trip so yes there will be a next trip um probably not anytime soon because yeah I just spent a full month in China and usually like when I spend a few weeks in one country I get kind of bored of this country if that makes sense so curious to go somewhere completely different next by the way I am in Jakarta now but I'm not here to film videos just to uh to chill for a while and then probably next week I'm going to travel to a new country to film videos again but yes probably it's definitely not going to be China again but I'm thinking about China maybe towards the end of the year so let's say in the second half of the year so like September October maybe that is a good time to return to China and then yeah many places in China that are are still worth visiting so I definitely will be back to China but probably not in the next few months and then also a very popular question what was your favorite food in China and I really have to say that overall my food experiences in China have been amazing I really love the food in China it's probably one of my favorite Cuisines around the world I would easily put the Chinese cuisine into the top three out of all the the different Cuisines I have tasted around the world and especially the cantones food is what I really like in China cantones food is really really delicious and I I can't really tell you a dish now because uh like I struggle to remember the names of the dishes but I can put uh probably one of my favorite dishes in all of China on the screen right now and I think I can also put a name of this dish on the screen I just don't remember it at the moment but yeah overall like having different types of dim suum sweet and sour pork overall bread braed meat dishes in China Taste so delicious they really know how to BRAC their meat whether it's braced pork brace beef I tried so many different types of beef noodles all around China always super delicious so overall the Chinese food was really good and I also have to mention the food I tried in Ching Jiang China in West China uh especially the lamp meat there I had lamp meat quite a few times while I was there and also a rice dish which I think was called P which was like a middle eastern type of rice dish with lamb meat inside so delicious so the Ching Jiang food is also definitely in the top three of my favorite food experiences in China but yeah overall the Chinese food in China is very delicious to me and then let's continue with Ching Jiang why Ching Jiang only have one video is something happened there and actually I get this questions a lot still until today in the comment section of my ching Young video why only one video from there so the reason is nothing happened there but uh I went there a few days after Chinese New Year and by the time I arrived there it was still the Chinese New Year holiday period so actually for the first 5 days I was there everything was closed like I was even struggling to find restaurants to have dinner because every place around my hotel was literally shut down and closed and the people at my hotel told me it is because of the Chinese New Year holidays so when everything is closed then it's really difficult to film there so I actually waited five full days without actually even starting to film in Ching Jang and then I only so I had in total one week that I stayed there the first 5 days I couldn't do anything and then uh I filmed the one video that you saw was filmed over two days and then on the eighth day I had to leave again because my Visa was about to uh to end so that was the reason why there was only one video and also the second reason actually because it was so freezing cold you saw that in the video that I filmed there I think it was minus 20° around that so it was super freezing cold to walk around to explore so it's not really convenient to film in temperatures like that but maybe if I go back to China I'm also going back to that Province because that Province was really interesting I think it would be cool to rent a car there and actually drive around the province so that would be something that I might have on my list for my next trip to China and then another question about Ching Jiang also something that I saw many times in the comment section hello Ken before you entered Ching Jang for travel did you need a recommended letter from local Ching Jang Province and how do you apply for it I appreciate if you could answer it please many people in the comments were actually surprised that I am allowed to be in Ching Jiang as a forigner and there was even one comment saying oh this video is the proof that you are paid by the Chinese government because foreigners are not allowed to travel to Ching Jang so you being there is clearly a sign that you are invited by the Chinese government and being paid by them but no I can tell you you don't need a special permit as a foreigner to enter Ching Jiang you don't need a permit at all I literally just showed up at the airport and enter it there was no immigration or anything like I flew from Chiang Central China to Ching Jiang no special check check point or immigration check or anything no special permit needed nothing like that you can just go there as a for now no problem and then can you share the differences in your impressions of China before and after that is also very interesting question because um yeah you probably know that especially the Western media around the world reports mainly negative about China and if you saw my videos then you maybe realize that the reality is many times different from what the Western media reports about China that is not only regarding my Ching dang experience but also regarding my experiences all around China I remember when I was in China for the first time last year which was in Shanghai I was literally Blown Away by how modern it is how decent how clean and one of the reasons why I was so blown away was because I didn't expected that because the Western media reports so negative about China and then you go there you see you see things with your own eyes like how clean the cities are how well organized everything is how modern like I remember standing uh on the bun in uh Shanghai watching the skyline especially in the evening that was just super super cool and impressive to be honest like I was kind of expecting that the reality in China is different from what I see in the media because I just couldn't believe that China is that bad you know but then when you go there it's just impressive so I do have very good impressions of China now and I can highly recommend anyone travel to China and see it with your own eyes and also what's what's so crazy about my whole China experience is um realizing how negative many people think of China like the comment section under every single one of my China videos is I I wouldn't say full with negative comments but there are definitely more negative comments than I get in other countries and these negative comments are often about me like uh I'm so disappointed you sold your soul to the Chinese government you're clearly getting paid by the Chinese government so it's negative comments about me people think that I am getting paid by the Chinese government because they simply cannot believe that I as a tourist go to China and have a good experience but also many negative comments about the country itself like also I'm posting my China videos to Tik Tok as well and the comment section on Tik Tok is even worse more negativity compared to the YouTube comment section for example every time I'm posting a food related video from China on Tik Tok there are several comments saying what you ate there was probably darkg meat and this is just crazy that people all around the world think so bad about China and actually I feel sorry I feel bad for the Chinese people that they have such negative stereotypes about their country from all around the world so that is actually quite sad to be honest especially from someone who been there and I know the reality is very different and I know how kind the people are and yeah you maybe not agree with everything that the government does in a certain country but that doesn't mean that the people are bad that doesn't mean that the people are all the same all rude or whatever so I for example I try to never judge the people of a country based on the government and yeah to anyone who wrote negative comments on my channel whether it's about me or about China I suggest you just go to China by yourself and see things with your own eyes but I know that 99% of the people that write negative comments about China would never travel to China so I guess you just have to continue living with your bad Impressions about China and then hi Ken I really enjoyed your series of videos on China what was the most impressive moment during your trip to China will you travel to China again in the future well the second part I already answered yes I will go back to China probably towards the end of the year or second half of the year and what was the most impressive moment during your trip to China um so there were many impressive moments I'm just trying to think about the most impressive moment probably my first time in China so last year when I was in Shanghai like being there for the first time like was really mindblowing and then when I came back this year like I kind of already knew that China is better than expected you know so probably the the one moment that is now in my mind is being on the bun in Shanghai for the first time in the evening time seeing all the buildings the skyline lit up walking around there there are such a cool atmosphere that was probably the most I'm Blown Away moment that I had in China and then I also got questions on my Instagram by the way if you're not following me on Instagram yet feel free to do so kabro on Instagram maybe you can help me reach 25,000 followers there are you able to communicate properly in China so the thing is out of all the countries that I visited China is probably the country with the lowest English speaking rate so it's very rare that you find someone in China who speaks English probably nine out of 10 people you speak to they don't speak a single word of English like not even hello how are you uh how much where's my uh or where's the hotel where's the next restaurant simple questions like this but once again I do not expect people in China to speak English I also got many comments of people saying how rude I am that I am expecting the people there to speak English just because I am approaching them by speaking English but uh of course like some people do speak English and how do I find out if I'm approaching them by speaking English so I asked questions in English that's how I find out if they do speak English so Communication in China is sometimes difficult and then of course you can use use translation devices translation app which I actually do sometimes not all the times I also got a lot of comments why don't you use your translation app it's so annoying to see you don't use it and the thing is like especially if I am filming I just don't like to use the translation app the whole time like it's annoying like I have the camera in one hand then I have the phone in the other hand you have to especially a lot of the time I was in China was cold so I had my gloves on it's difficult to operate the phone when you're when you're wearing gloves and it also like ruins the interaction with the people like you have to type in your phone then they have to type in your phone it just ruins the natural flow of a conversation especially if it's a conversation I'm having on camera like to be honest I use the translation app probably more often when I'm not filming because yeah it does help to to communicate with the locals but on camera it for me it ruins the the flow of the whole scene and I like to have my scenes As Natural as possible but H yeah I would definitely recommend if you traveling to China uh get yourself a translation device or translation app you can use Google Translate for example yes you need a VPN in China to use Google services but uh you can for example download the languages on Google translate I think and then you can also use it when you don't have a VPN or you don't have an internet connection and then what was the most surprising about China what you didn't expect because of the media and yeah once again the whole Western media about China topic is a big topic my experience many things about China are different compared to what the Western media reports about it and probably the most surprising thing for me is how clean the country is and how little you see poverty and I know there will be many many comments about this now but I spent 5 weeks in China and I haven't seen a single homeless person I haven't seen trash anywhere and yeah I have been all around the country Shanghai guango Beijing habin Chiang urumi and then also Maka and Hong Kong and not a single homeless person that I have seen at least I'm not saying they don't exist in China but if you travel to six different cities and you haven't seen a single homeless person I think that means something let's take my country for example Germany you only have to visit one single city in Germany walk around the city center and you will see plenty of homeless people and I think that's the case in many Western countries so once again I'm not saying that homeless people or poverty do not exist in China maybe in more rural areas I'm not sure but yet the fact that you don't see poverty or homeless people in the big cities was probably the most surprising thing for me compared to what you hear in the western media about China and then cost of hotel and food so for hotels it's difficult for me to generalize um I'm not a budget traveler I'm not trying to stay in the cheapest hotels possible so I don't really know how cheap you can get hotels in China so I spent on average about 60 to 70 us a night in China and that always got me decent around yeah usually fourstar hotels with breakfast included some hotels had a pool and the gym as well but probably you can also find hotels cheaper in China and obviously also way more expensive and then the cost of food in China actually is also something that surprised me a lot because the food all around China has been really affordable like I never struggled to find decent local meals for let's say less than 20 un so 20 un that's about $2 us and that always gets you a decent portion of a local meal whether it's like beef noodles or some type of meat with rice dishes often there's a drink included in the in this price so I would say if your budget is 20 to 25 un per meal that always gets you a decent meal in China and even you can you can even find like let's say like a dumpling soup or one tons for like 10 12 un so a little bit over $1 us and that even in the city centers like even in like Beijing in Xiang where I stayed right in the city center I always could find decent meals for less than 20 un so the cost of food in China is really affordable especially if you comp compared to Western countries like in Germany you would never get a full meal for $2 also the cost of Transportation in China is really affordable like I took many taxis around the towns and you can get a taxi for less than $10 that gets you all around the town also the public transportation like the Metros are super affordable like I remember in Shanghai I think I never paid more than 8 un for the Metro which is like a dollar and that gets you all around Shanghai basically so public transportation in China is also really affordable and then what do you like and hate most about China let's start with what I like the most about China I think the best thing for me about China is probably that it's such an interesting country to visit you have so many different region different cities mega cities huge modern cities like Shanghai guango was also pretty big and modern or like Beijing where you have a very historical City Center ch also was really amazing so many historic old buildings that look like typical textbook Chinese you know so having this diversity this contrast like the like the old historical parts and then the modern areas like in Shanghai that was really really interesting and yeah China also has many rural regions that I'm Keen to visit like beautiful stunning Mountain areas and then you have the Ching Jang region where the culture is totally different so that was really really cool to experience the differences all around the country and that's probably what I like most about China and then what I hate most about China it's probably the fact that to be honest China is not super tourist friendly if you are not speaking the local language like you really need to be connected with all the Chinese app to to have everything very convenient I think China can be very convenient if you are a local like everything is digital you can pay everywhere with your phone everything can be booked via an app whether it's Museum tickets Metro tickets bus ticket train tickets hotels everything you can just book on on the apps that you have on your phone but in order to make fully use of it you at least need to be able to speak Chinese uh I remember for example when I was in Beijing and if you want to visit the tourist places in Beijing you need to make reservations one day in advance and I could not figure out on my own how to make these reservations so I always had to ask the staff in my hotel and then you have to make the reservations on some Chinese apps and there's no English option on these apps and then you have to pay via alipay so if you don't have alip pay then you just can't buy the ticket and sometimes uh you have to pay via WeChat and I don't have wechet pay I can't pay with wechet so I can only pay with alip pay so China is not really that friend for foreign tourists if you don't speak the language so that is probably a thing that uh yeah I hope China can improve in the future and then is China as bad as described by the Western media is it a poor and backward country and yeah I think we talked about this before and China is really different in reality how it is portrayed by the Western media and I have seen no poverty no homeless people it is not a backward country in fact it's a very modern country it's yeah the most modern country I have ever been to and I think you saw many examples for that in my videos so once again I can recommend go and visit China and see it with your own eyes I think that China is probably getting more and more advanced so I'm actually curious to see how China will be in like 5 to 10 years and then how can you use Google Instagram WhatsApp and so on well the answer is simple you need a VPN like yes all these uh apps are blocked in China all Google related apps Facebook WhatsApp Instagram this is all blocked so you do need a VPN and the thing with vpns is um they don't work all the time like I had three different VPN on my phone and two of them never worked and one was working most of the time but not always so what I recommend is do not use free vpns you definitely want to have a paid VPN because from what I have heard free vpns rarely work in China so definitely get a VPN that uh you have to pay for but you can get vpns for less than $10 a month just uh Google vpns for China which are the best vpns for China but what you can also do is you can also just get a Chinese eim get the eim before you go to China and with an eim I was also always able to enter YouTube Google WhatsApp so if you have an eim you actually do not really need a VPN but yeah once again what I commend is get several vpns and an eim and then you will be fine among the cities you have been in China which city do you like the best that is a difficult question so I really like Xiang because of um yeah how typical textbook Chinese everything looks there in the city center all these old historical buildings and also there was a nice vibe in Xiang I was there viewing Chinese New Year period uh so Chiang was pretty cool but I also definitely have to mention Shanghai Shanghai is is a cool City super modern many huge skyscrapers the public transportation in Shanghai is amazing so efficient so probably if I really have to choose I will probably say that Shanghai is my favorite city that I have been to so far in China and then let's be honest don't you find people rude in China they cut lines give you no privacy to be honest I have never experienced a situation where someone in China was rude towards me and I know for example that China Chinese tourists overseas do not have the best reputation for example I used to live in Thailand and many people in Thailand do not really like Chinese tourists because yeah they have this reputation of being rude spitting in public being very noisy and loud so Chinese tourists overseas do not have the best reputation in from what I've heard in my experience but honestly if you go to China it's different like I've never experienced rude people in public in China or people cutting lines people just spitting on the floor so people in China seem to be very polite and also kind of reserved in public like for example if you take the metro in in China like nobody is loud there everyone is kind of quiet so people at least in public are reserved that's my impression so I can't really say that I had any negative experience with rude people in China and then yeah the final question comment that is popping up under every single one of my China videos how much did the Chinese government pay me how much did the CCP pay me and this is so funny to me that so many people believe that and that once again shows how negative the mindset of many people around the world is people just can't believe that I as a regular tourist go to China have a good experience and just film it and mention it or share it on my social media it's crazy that I basically film very similar videos in other count countries like Malaysia Thailand the Philippines and all these countries I I said oh I like this I like that this place is cool I like the food here and never before did I receive a comment like oh how much did the Malaysian government pay you how much did the Philippines government pay you to say this and then I go to China I say something nice about the country and then people immediately assume that I only say that because the government paid me but the reality is no I am not paid by the Chinese government they did not tell me what to film where to film what to say in the videos in fact I've never even spoken with someone from the Chinese government so this is just ridiculous and that's the same for at least all the other vloggers that I know that are in China many people are in China now filming and many of the vloggers who are in China I also know and I spoke with them and we all find it really ridiculous that we all get these comments so we are not paid by the Chinese government and if you believe that then I just feel sorry for you that you have such a Negative mindset that you just can't believe that China can be a nice country to visit as a tourist and yeah once again you're watching my second Channel at the moment if you want to see my full length China videos then head over to my main channel can abroad and yeah thanks for watching stay healthy stay positive and then see you on the next episode ciao guys
2024-03-24 09:19
