China is a fascinating place. I was only in two of their largest cities for about a week, but it was enough to really get a flavor for the culture and way of life in this country of over a billion people. Sometimes you don’t need to embed yourself for months to really understand a place. Short little samplers of locations can be valuable as they offer glimpses that can allow you to make a more informed choice of whether you want to go deeper. Some things that I remember from this trip: all the temples and ancient history of China, the marvel of the Great Wall (and slide), some delicious and not so delicious food, the generosity and then also the rudeness of people (at least when it came to waiting in line), and the air pollution, my god the air pollution. Overall it was a great experience and would love to get back there and explore deeper into the inner reaches of this vast and culturally rich country.
