In western countries, breakfast tend to be different from other meals. Yogourt, a toast with jelly, choco paste, scrambled eggs.

In China, like in most countries in Asia, breakfast looks very similar to the other meals. Rice, vegetables, meat dishes and soup.

I found it disturbing at first, but it grew on me. The breakfast buffet in hotels were actually quite good, and probably healthier than a toast with jelly !

When it comes to cuteness, China has my vote.

China has a way to combine comfy and cute stuff in every day life and make it look natural.

It is usually for useful stuff - like slippers, fluffy jackets or wind protection on scooters to keep warm.

Everyone will wear them like it's no big deal.

I love it.

In 2023, China was difficult for tourists. I had been to China before, and it was never this difficult. Before, you could pay with bills and coins. Now, Chinese people had apps to make their life easier - gaode maps, wechat pay and alipay for payments, wechat mini-apps for public transportation, didi for rides, etc. - but those were sometimes unusable for foreigners. I could use wechat, but it did not allow me to register my bank card. Google maps didn't work and the local replacements were all in Chinese. I had 3 VPN subscriptions and none of them was reliable. My 30 day local SIM card stopped working after 5 days, and the stores told me they were not allowed to sell SIM cards to foreigners -- only in first tier cities. eSIM travel plans for China were not a thing back then.

Every day life apps who became the norm during covid were simply not made for tourists. When the country opened up again, it took a while to catch up.

So in many occasions, I found myself stuck. Like, unable to pay kind of stuck. Unable to take a transport or figure out the bus routes. Unable to download or use an app.

And many times, strangers went out of their way to help me. Making phone calls for me. Getting train tickets for me. In all my travels, I have never been helped as much. And I never asked, they all did it spontaneously.

Most of the time, I didn't take a picture of these strangers. But I want to thank them now.

There was this subway employee who tried to sort out my SIM card problem. Seeing how I was unable to buy a subway ticket - my SIM card died on me at the station - he made 2 phone calls to the phone operator for me. Not quick calls. Long chats with multiple operators trying to fix my issue. It took 30 minutes out of his time. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do in the end, but he tried so hard.

There was this woman who tried to help me get a bus ticket. I was unable to buy a ticket because I could not install the app on my phone as a foreigner. Seeing that, she talked to the bus officer and tried to fix things for me. Unfortuntaley, there was no solution here either.

And then, this guy.

It was a national holiday, when chinese people travel to visit their family. I also had to travel that day -- terrible timing, but I thought it would at least be a memorable experience.

At the long distance bus station, the line for the tickets was not a good sight. After 30 minutes, I get to the cashier. The lady does not speak English. I use my little Chinese to say I want to go to Song shan. She says "No". I try to ask why it's not possible. She just says "No" and makes me understand I am blocking the line.

My best guess was that the tickets were sold out, which, given the crowd, made sense.

So I start thinking about my options. I notice there is a local train station next to the bus station, so I check it out.

In the hallway, this guy notices I am running out of options, and asks me what I am looking for. I explain where I am trying to go.

He tells me there are no trains to where I need to go, but there should be a bus. Since I didn't know why I was refused a ticket, he goes back in line with me. Yes, that long line. 30 minutes later, we reach the cashier and he talks to the lady. She explains to him that as a foreigner, I need an official authorisation from the police. She could not sell me the ticket without it.

Now it made sense ! With this information, he asks a policemen the location of the closest police station, and here we go. We walk in the police chief office, he explains the situation to the police chief, and 2 minutes later, I have my authorisation paper.

We go back to the cashier and I finally get my bus ticket !

This guy took 1 hour out of his time to help me, without me even asking, and he barely spoke English.

In one month, I must have been helped by strangers like this 4 or 5 times. Sure, I am a foreigner and they probably feel intrigued by that. But we are not willing to help foreigners like this in the West. Not in my country at least. I really feel that China is full of people with a big heart. People who are still beautifully human.

"The 5 Great Mountains of China" are the most renowned and sacred mountains of the country.

Song Shan is one of them.

It is a full day climb, up and down, very popular with Chinese.

Before starting the climb, I stop at Songyue pagoda, famous for being a retreat of empress Wu Ze Tian, the only female emperor of China. I had learned about the pagoda a few years ago, in a documentary about Wu Ze Tian who made a lasting impression on me. Coming here was on my todo list before I knew about Song Shan.

The pagoda was peaceful. The only other visitors are a group of 3 students. Most Chinese go straight to Song Shan.

On my way out, the guardian lady notices I am looking for my way. She sees the group heading out as well, and in typical chinese fashion, orders them to help the foreigner and take him to Song Shan !

They were a group of friends from the Shanghai area. One of their life goal is to climb the 5 Great Mountains.

I immediately felt comfortable with them and we spent the whole day together, climbing up and down the mountain for what would be a 8 or 9 hour hike.

For me the climb was epic. Spectacular, challenging, super fun. Crowded too. Chinese of all ages. Children, teenagers, students, parents, grand-parents. Every one going at their pace. Some struggling more than others, but nobody had it easy. Some 20 year-olds seemed to be struggling a lot. Yet everyone felt united in the same effort, in some type of pilgrimage atmosphere.

It took around 3 hours to climb up.

I got a lot of friendly looks from Chinese surprised and happy to see a foreigner here.

The view on top was nice, but a bit too crowded for me.

When it was time to come down, instead of going back the same way, my new friends decide to take the route going down the side of the moutain. I am happy to leave the choice to the locals. But slowly, we realize that this road is less crowded for a reason. It is significantly longer. After a while, the sun starts to come down and we are still far from the exit. We finished the last hour with the flashlights.

I love when those adventures turn challenging. Makes me feel alive.

This day checked a lot of boxes. Nature, physical activity, adventure and nice people. I loved it.