Ritzville Ramblings: Checking off Bucket List adventures

As a junior in high school, I started a Bucket List. I had not been diagnosed with a disease, lost a close friend or relative, or had a near death experience; I simply realized there were goals I wanted to achieve and adventures to live out.

The items on my list ranged from plausible goals to grandiose vacations. I knew some of them could be accomplished before I hit my 20s, while others may not be ticked off the list until much later in life.

The first substantial item off my bucket list occurred my senior year of college when I boarded a flight bound for London, knowing I would be living the next three and a half months in Europe. This trip technically marked off multiple items; visiting the Coliseum in Rome, sledding in the Bavarian Forest and living in another country.

During my time in London, I was fortunate to be paired with a very outgoing and amusing roommate named Chloe. While we had two very different personalities, our common interests and housing situation bonded us instantly and we spent the next three months making the most of our study abroad experience.

For both of us, living in England made us realize how important travel was in our lives.

Five years after the conclusion of our study abroad adventure, I made the decision to take a trip to reunite with my London roommate. My trip would not take me to Michigan, her permanent home, but instead to China.

The combination of being able to reconnect with an old friend and have the experience to tour a new country proved to be all the motivation I needed to make the trip. Well that, and the ridiculously affordable airline ticket.

My Bucket List also encouraged me to go, mainly for the opportunity to see the Great Wall of China. It helped me progress on other items as well, such as visiting every continent and taking a solo journey.

This trip provided me with 10 days to discover and experience the Chinese culture within the cities of Shanghai and Beijing. The stark differences between cultures proved to be the most surprising, but quickly became something to appreciate and explore.

One of the quarks I noticed immediately was the disregard for basic traffic flow. While the roads resemble ours, turn signals are used sparingly and horns frequently. The use of a horn does not imply anger, but is simply used for other drivers to acknowledge the presence of the vehicle.

I spent the first three days of my trip in Shanghai with Chloe and her roommate, both who had lived in the city for the past eight months. Because of their knowledge of the city, they showed me around the more authentic neighborhoods and ate at their favorite restaurants.

We had the benefit of cruising through the city on scooters, which proved to be the best way to see the area. With a plethora of residents also on bikes and scooters, there is a designated lane for their travel, but still many instances where common driving practices are not observed.

During my first day, I quickly learned while America is known as a consumer culture, the Chinese seem to far surpass us.

For those few individuals walking without looking at a screen, it became common to have them stare at us, mainly because of the color of our skin. The stares were never menacing or meant to be rude, but it showed the difference of common manners in America and their curiosity about us.

Shanghai is easy to navigate, with a metro line spanning throughout the expansive city. I relied on their public transportation to explore; visiting parks, Buddhist temples and markets within the city.

The first temple I visited, the Jade Buddha Temple, I found fascinating and beautiful. The largest downside proved to be the lack of translation about the place of worship, so I relied on a tour guide book to fill in a portion of the information.

Prior to leaving on my trip, I purchased an electronic travel guide on China. It proved to be crucial to my travels, and helped me determine activities to participate in on my vacation.

My Shanghai travels differed in solo adventures as well as touring with Chloe and her friends. I was pleasantly surprised about the amount of Americans living within Shanghai, mainly teaching English like Chloe, but others working for Shanghai based companies, as it is a thriving business city.

On a low-key day, I spent one afternoon in a neighboring park, surrounded by locals participating in a variety of activities. After reading a book for a couple of hours, I continued walking around the park and discovered nearly 150 people dancing.

An 80-year-old man quickly spotted me, approached and invited me to dance with an outstretched hand. Being as it is hard to ignore a small, energetic old man wearing a fedora and hot pink sunglasses, I made the decision to join him in the Chinese adaptation of swing dancing.

This specific event sums up why I love to travel. Every day is a new journey, an unknown experience lying just around the corner, and a memory that will forever be preserved with fondness and laughter.

After three days, I boarded a plane and headed for the country’s capital, excited to finally see the Great Wall.

While Beijing also has a simple transit system, I managed to take a wrong turn out of a metro station. Another perk of traveling, this wrong turn led me straight to Tian’anmen Square and into the heart of Beijing’s history.

I also visited the most interesting and unique market I discovered on my trip. Upon entrance into the night market, I was quickly greeted by the sight of strange snacks. These included grilled scorpions, seahorses, starfish and crickets, all on skewers for convenient snacking.

While I contemplated trying one of the unique treats, I quickly changed my mind when I saw some of the scorpions were still alive.

Ironically, I made the decision to eat a street food that I did not know what it was, but it tasted great. That proved to be a large part of my trip, gambling on food since I did not know the language, and the majority of time it resulted in a delicious, yet unknown, meal.

For my first full day in Beijing, I went to the Great Wall. I booked a tour, which allowed me to meet people from all over the world.

While I only walked an estimated six miles on the wall, the experience is something I will not soon forget.

Mainly because I was extremely out of shape and it is a lot of climbing.

To actually get to the wall, the trip was made easier by cable car, and allowed us to see the landscape of the mountain range. Though it was a hazy morning, it was still a captivating view.

The Great Wall proved treacherous in some places, with steps so steep most people had to crawl on their hands and knees. After three hours of exploring the wall and successfully not collapsing though my legs were ready to give out, I took a toboggan ride to the base of the mountain.

I had the opportunity to lunch with four London residents, and we discussed my experience living in their hometown and chatted about the importance of travel. I also met a Canadian couple staying in the hostel next door to mine, who I was fortunate to bump into again at a market and explored part of Beijing with them.

We explored a traditional Chinese market, and wandered the hutongs (alleyways) to discover a wonderful restaurant and also a brewery. The restaurant served my favorite foods of the trip: chicken, duck and eggplant, all cooked with the “hot pot” method.

The second day in Beijing proved tough, as my legs and feet complained about the constant walking. I was able to visit a Buddhist temple, the Forbidden City and a temple park before I returned to Shanghai.

The remaining days with Chloe were low key, as we had traditional Chinese back massages and walked through market places. We also met her friends for dinner at a restaurant with a fantastic view of The Bund, Shanghai’s neon-filled skyline.

Upon reflecting on the trip, I realized I would gladly return to China. I never felt threatened or unsafe, even though I stayed in Chinese neighborhoods and did not speak the language. I appreciated the diversity of cuisine and find myself craving some of the street food from vendors.

There were a few differences that proved inconvenient during the trip, which included consuming only bottled water, using squat toilets and not being able to use banned Internet sites, such as Facebook and Google.

Even with those inconveniences, Shanghai and Beijing proved to be vibrant cities filled with kind people and endless attractions. I feel fortunate to have been able to take this journey and see a more authentic side of these cities because of Chloe and the friends I met along the way.

I cannot wait to see where my next Bucket List adventure takes me, but I have a feeling I will be returning to explore more of China in the future.