Facts
Capital: Beijing
Population: 1.34 Billion
Language: Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese - Beijing dialect)
Currency: Renminbi Yuan
2 Wheels to China Ratings
Food and Drink 8/10
Chinese food is one of the great cuisines of the world, and there is so much more to it than just stir fries. However, by this stage of the trip Richard would have been quite happy to never look upon a grain of rice again, and even Kat was thinking it might be nice to occassionally have potatoes instead.
Oddly, we didn't find Beijing to be the culinary centrepiece of the country, as we thought it would be. It was in the smaller towns at local restaurants that we tended to have the best food - this has been our experience the world over.
Two morsels deserve a special mention. Dumplings, which have always had a special place in Kat's heart (and stomach), are one of the greatest and cheapests eats around. Peking duck is also a must, it is so much better than the dry flakey version we get in England.
Roads 8/10
We had heard some horror stories about Chinese roads, particularly in the south, but we didn't experience any problems with them. To be fair though we were mostly on quite main roads, which were always smooth surfaced.
Traffic 6/10
Out on the roads in Guangxi and Shaanxi we did not encounter much of it, but in the towns it is colossally bad. The driving is really very frightening, and at it's worst in the bigger cities. Having said that both Xi'an and Beijing had huge bike lanes which actually made cycling in them fairly pleasant, as long as you don't have to turn across the traffic.
Sights & Scenery 8/10
It was very misty and drizzly for most of the time that we were in China, which somewhat clouded our view of the scenery here. It did appear to be impressive though, particularly the mountains in the south.
We thought that Xi'an was a beautiful city, although we were a bit disappointed with the terracotta warriors. We were not overly impressed with Beijing, on the whole. The problem was that it gave the impression of having been ripped up and built from scratch, which presumably is exactly what has happened. It is made up of a bunch of amazing historical sites in a sea of expressways, shopping malls and modern buildings, and it just doesn't work very well.
We did get a perfectly clear day to visit the Great Wall though, and a trip to China is worth it just to see this. It was absolutely spectacular, and one of the most memorable things we saw.
People 6/10
They shout and spit a lot, but basically we found the Chinese to be friendly enough, except for when they are driving. The people we met who spoke English were a delight. Any problems we had were a result of an inability on the part of either party to communicate - we really struggled with Chinese, and English speakers in China were VERY rare.
We came across some instances of students/English teachers who approached us and started practicing their language skills - they are always very friendly and helpful, so if you are in China and are approached by a stranger who starts asking weird questions ("in your country, would you consider me a short person?") don't be alarmed.