International Travel Adventure

As promised, here we are with another visit to China before the Olympics begin in a couple of days (08-08-08). If you’re an Olympian or a spectator, the adventure of experiencing China’s opening on the world stage promises to be nothing short of thrilling. The infrastructure, including Qingdao Olympic Village, has been ready for the influx of athletes, officials, and journalists, and Beijing and Hong Kong are welcoming spectators. Since Olympic Village opened two weeks before the Olympics, many of the photographers, journalists, TV networks, as well as officials and athletes, have already been on site for a few days to a week or more. Rehearsals for opening and closing ceremonies have gone well. Everything looks wonderful!

However, China’s outward shine is understandably lacking a bit of luster, in the minds of journalists and a few IOC officials, at this writing, because of Internet access restriction issues for journalists reporting and recording the events. This, coupled with the recent handling of the unrest in Tibet, has tarnished the otherwise (mostly) glowing sheen of China’s entrance onto the pageant walkway, as it were.

For China visitors, in any capacity, none of this should change the spirit of adventure, though, in the next weeks and months. Adventure, good or bad, positive or negative, is still adventure, and should be viewed and experienced as just that. My adventures have not all been positive, but they’ve all been adventurous! I wouldn’t expect it any other way. If all experiences, and outcomes of those experiences, are known in advance to be comfortably positive, where is the sense of adventure? Predictability is generally the opposite of adventure. “Indiana Jones” knew adventure had no bounds, and he left predictability behind in the classroom!

So, if you’re going to China anytime soon, will it be for the Olympics? Or will you go after the Olympic torch has been extinguished? Or will you opt for other adventure travel - to more far-flung parts of China - even during the Olympics? We’ve previously mentioned a few possibilities, and will discuss more distant ones sometime after Olympiad XXIX is history. China is, after all, a very large country, even if we don’t consider the large semi-autonomous regions such as Tibet or Mongolia.

Of recent interest to me was the transportation across large expanses of China, from one city to another, one province to another. There is no infrastructure of four-lane divided highways connecting distant cities like the Interstate Highway system (begun under President Eisenhower in the 1950s) does in the U.S.A. Rather, Chinese President Hu Jintao has opted to connect his country by a gargantuan expansion of the air travel infrastructure that dwarfs anything ever attempted by any other nation until now.

The recent (February) opening of the world’s largest airport terminal, in Beijing, is only the beginning; the main terminal - of three - is nearly two miles (3.2 kilometers) in length, covering approximately 10,000,000 square feet (929,030.4 square meters). To meet demand, 97 more new airports are being built (and another planned for south Beijing within ten years). And 3,200 new jet planes are being purchased.

If your adventure includes traveling to more than one main location in China - and why wouldn’t it? - your travel can be the non-adventurous part of your itinerary. With all new planes, new airports, courteous agents, free luggage check-in, flight hostesses who provide excellent service - with a smile!, and good food (yes, they have meals!), what could be more - well, mundane? Ha-ha! On top of all that, ticket prices - when bought in China - are a fraction of comparable distance flights in the U.S.A.! Does it get any better?

If you’re still unsure of anything about your next international travel - and you want it to be cheaper, safer, and more adventurous, get my free “Smart Tips Handbook” available exclusively to Registered Readers! Click the link below.

International Travel Adventure

Perhaps adventure can be defined differently for different people, and different situations, as discussed previously. Not everyone heli-skis from the world’s highest peaks; not everyone climbs to the highest peaks; not everyone plumbs the depths of the ocean, mapping the continental plates and their shifts, or searching for the rare giant squid. And adrenalin junkies rarely find time for a romantic adventure with a significant other.

While events this summer are not everyone’s “cup of tea”, many journalists are already finding adventure in the country that looms on the horizon of the world. This country also happens to be hosting this round of the Summer Olympics. Yes, China has been in the news for a long while now, for various reasons. She already has been criticized as the next major oil consumption nation, causing world prices to skyrocket (only partially true, in a small way). And, of course, there are the Olympics in Beijing this summer, which puts China on display for the world, and for which China would like to be seen in a good light. Then there is also the “old guard” holdout Communist government for which she is well-known, especially by many who remember Tiananmen Square and other human rights issues all Communist governments have had in common.

Recently, there have been news items relating to tainted products (both food items and material goods) which are of Chinese origin. (Keeping in mind how western media hype works, and how Communist spin normally applies to stories that go international, we should be comforted to know that much of what we’ve heard has been blown out of proportion, but also realize that events did happen that put the Chinese industry working “double-time” to correct them; they want the world to buy and love their products, and it hurts them when we don’t. After all, theirs is a world-scale emerging economy - think Japan 40-45 years ago, only happening at a faster pace.)

Most recently have been the stories of strife, primarily inside the Tibet area, of protests and demonstrations by Tibetans desiring independence from China, while the Chinese government wants to maintain control, keeping Tibet as part of China. And yes, there were Chinese soldiers in droves, quashing the resultant rioting, while journalists try to get into the area, to get stories out. What is surprising is that the Chinese government didn’t foresee this happening in a year of such high publicity for the nation, and have a better, pre-determined, way of handling it - perhaps even with a lighter hand. As a nation becoming more “transparent” (of necessity) on the world stage, the “knee-jerk”, heavy-handed reaction of the government is bringing criticism from all corners of the world, and some threats of boycotting the Olympics.

Do you want adventure? Then definitely plan to visit China this year, if at all possible. The Olympics is only one reason, and that is only this summer. But China has so much more to offer, and is (mostly) open to tourists and adventurists from around the world. If you read any of the news items published by News Hound here in this blog, you already know that tourism is one of China’s mushrooming industries; and they welcome it! China is doing everything in her perceived power to present a positive image to the world, both as a place to visit, and as a place to live. At least take advantage of the visit, if you can!

Please be sure to check out the Video II page for Tibetan music videos. I love them, and who wouldn’t? Western videos on MTV have nothing over these visually stunning and musically enriching treats! If you like them, click here for Tibetan Music World.

If you’re still unsure of anything about your next international travel - and you want it to be cheaper, safer, and more adventurous, get my free “Smart Tips Handbook” available exclusively to Registered Readers! Click the link below.

International Travel Adventure