My trip to China

I went to China in February and March in 2005. It was my first trip to China. My former English teacher Patrick was there on vacation. China is near Japan but I didn't know much about it. My first impression about China was that it is really exciting country. The Chinese speak Chinese quickly, loudly and with various intonations. The Japanese speak Japanese slowly with flat intonation. We went to famous sightseeing places such as, Yuyuan gurden, Jinmao building, Waitan area (the Bund), Pudong area and so on.




On the second day, we went to Yuyuan garden. There are a lot of unique architecture. I especially liked the roofs. The four corners of the roof stick out and are curled. And I saw a lot of colorful statues and unique stones. It was a busy sightseeing place.

And then, We went to Jinmao building. It's 88 stories tall. There is an observatory on the 88th floor. Unfortunately, It was cloudy and foggy that day so we couldn't see much.

After that we walked along the river. I saw a lot of buildings under construction. I thought that this area is growing quickly.
The following day. we went to DVD shop. It is an unusual shop. Because they have only pirated DVDs. You can buy DVDs very cheaply. You can buy a DVD for only 10 yuen. I was so surprised when I saw so many pirated DVDs. Afterwards, we went to fake clothing shop. It was on the third floor of a tiny, old building and it looks like regular apartment from the outside. They had many kinds of clothes which were copies of famous branded goods. Everybody knows such goods are illegal. Piracy is a problem for artists and brands. The pirated DVD's quality is almost the same as real DVD's. But real DVDs are about 10 times as expensive as pirated ones. If you can buy pirated DVDs easily would you buy real DVDs? That's terrible.

It's cheap to eat out in China. I went to many kinds of restaurant. Food in Japan is 3 times more expensive than food in China. I thought Chinese food was more oily than food in Japan. Actually, It was not oily but light.
My most favorite food was peking duck. It was very tender and delicious. It goes well with Chinese tea.
I tried a few kinds of Chinese tea. Each tea has a unique taste and flavor. You can enjoy not only it's taste but also it's looks. There is a flower in the cup. First, You put the green ball in the cup. And then, You can see the bloomed tea flower.
It's amazing.