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My trip to China was interesting in so many ways. It was a place that I probably would not have gone on my own. There are places I would not visit again, and places I really enjoyed. Shanghai was by far my favorite city, but it was also the cleanest and most modern. I enjoyed the mountains in Guilin, and was amazed by their beauty, even with the pollution.

I don’t know if I would go back by my own decision. Maybe one day I will do it with a job, but there are so many other places in the world I want to visit that this may be my only visit. Maybe in time if the country is different I will feel differently.

Pollution is a major problem, and it’s everywhere. The air, the water and even the soil. The government is trying to take some steps to make it better, but they have a long road ahead of them. All of the water that you drink has to be treated and bottled, as most tap water is not of good quality and can make you sick. Soils have to be treated all the time, as the soil is leached.

People prefer organic vegetables because they believe that it’s safer, because many chemicals were used unethically and people got sick. There is corruption in the food system, and sometimes processors cheat to make a product cheaper to make. What they don’t think about it how this will harm people, even kill people.

Traffic in China is not a joke. Everywhere you go you wait in traffic, and sometimes what should take 20 minutes takes more than an hour. People in China drive like crazies as well. Lanes are optional, as are turn signals, lights, and really any other measure to regulate traffic. People don’t speed because they can’t with so much traffic. Roadway regulations are non existent. Semi trucks are habitually overloaded, and can cause major wrecks if something happens. A heavier load equals a bigger profit.

Money is the main motivator. Many people will do whatever it takes to try and get ahead. China is a very expensive place to live, and earnings are much lower than in the U.S. People struggle to make ends meet and to provide for their families, especially their children. .

We met some very nice people, but in general when people are in public, they don’t care about anyone but themselves. They will push you over to get to where they need to go, run each other off the road and cut each other off in all places: at the store, in the airport, on the road, you name it. I think it’s a cultural thing.

It’s strange to me because they are completely opposite at home. They care very much about their family, and parents will do whatever it takes to make life better for their children. I know that we do that in the states as well, but it’s at a different level there.

Many people want out of China, if they can afford it. Visas are hard to get because people don’t come back to China. Many times they have to put down a 200,000 yuan deposit (which is about $33,000) to go to the United States. So many people leave and don’t come back, so that is their ransom basically.

People in China are not afforded the same freedoms that we are. So much of their life is controlled by the government that they don’t get a say. We make jokes in the U.S. about “Big Brother,” but in China the government is more like a father. You do what you are told and don’t question anything.

Corruption is rampant in the government. Officials take money under the table all the time, and the relationship with a government official is more important than following the rules. Breaking the rules can result in fines and prison time. If you have a good relationship with the government official in your area and have a little money, life if much easier. The government has a lot of money, collected from the people through duty and taxation.

There is talk among the locals that things will change in the next 15-20 years. People are unhappy with the current system, and many, especially those of the younger generation, seek change. It will be interesting to see how things develop in China. There are areas that are modern and developed such as Shanghai (which is a Tier 1 city), and areas that are still very rural and barbarian (there are more than 300 Tier 5 cities). Cities are ranked according to their development.

A lot of the development of products is focused in the first and second tier cities, when it sounds like the lower tier cities are the ones who need the most help. First tier cities are the following: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzou and Shenzhen. Then there are 20-30 cities that they second tiers, and these are more developed provincial capitals and richer non-capital cities. There are 20-30 third tier cities, and these are less developed provincial capitals and bigger non-capital cities. The fourth tier cities include 200+ cities and productive level cities. The fifth tier are county level, undeveloped cities.

Another thing I found interesting was the poor quality in which many things are built. Building maintenance is not a priority, and many of the places that we visited were only 20 years old, but you would have thought they were built more than 50 years ago. I wonder if part of this is because the better quality materials are sold elsewhere. This seems to be the case in a lot of things, which is why many Chinese people want American products. Many of the buildings had not been painted since they were built, and wallpaper is falling down. This was really obvious in the Terracotta Museum, which is really sad because it is such a big tourist attraction.

Many of the places were not heated in the main areas. I assume this is done to save electricity, which reduces pollution. However, this made some of the places we visited very cold. The university in Xi’an was not heated, only the classrooms and only when they are being used. Many of the restaurants were not heated until we arrived either.

I think the biggest thing that I learned while in China was that we really do live in a great country, and the freedoms that we take for granted every day are not enjoyed by everyone. We really are truly lucky to be born into a country and into a society that values personal freedom.

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On the morning of Dec. 9, we flew from Guilin to Shanghai. Upon our arrival, we visited a local community and met with the manager of the facility. We had lunch with a local family in their own home, which was very good. The mother of the family cooked probably 20 different dishes, and they were all wonderful.

That afternoon was one of the most fun parts of the trip. We went to a local kindergarten, and met a class of 6-year-olds. As soon as we walked in the door they grabbed our hands and up the stairs we went. When we got to their classroom, we were treated to singing and dancing by the children.

After they were done, they asked us to perform for them. Of course we did not prepare anything, so we did the once dance that most of us you know, could sing without music and had choreography. What dance is this? That would be the hokey pokey! It was so much fun even though I’m sure we looked like fools. But the kids had fun, and that is what mattered.

After hugs and goodbyes, we headed to a local market, called a wet floor market. This was actually our third wet floor market that we visited, but the one most worth writing about. The wet floor market is their food market, and nearly every type of food can be purchased there.

Meat, produce, grains, fish and tea can all be purchased. Fresh, cooked, bagged and in every form you can imagine. Some of it is local, other shipped in. However, the biggest difference is how it is presented.

In the U.S., produce is sold in a clean building, temperature controlled. Meat is sold is refrigerated cases. This system does not exist in China. Food is sold in bulk in a building with semi-dirty floors, tons of traffics, and bicycles and scooters running around everywhere. Sometimes food is knocked on the floor, and it’s picked back up and put back up for sale.

Meat is not refrigerated. It’s displayed on a table as whole parts, cuts and every part of the animal, not jut the meat. Organs, ears, tongues and tails are common sales of pork. Poultry is sold as a whole bird, feet and head intact. Ducks are sold in a similar way. Or sometimes they are sold as just the body, which the head sold separately.

The way their food is sold is basically a giant farmers market, except meat which is never sold this way in our farmers markets. At first I was disgusted by the way people buy food in China, but when it was brought to my attention how similar it is to our farmers markets, I couldn’t argue with it.

I still prefer the food standards we have here, and am surprised that more people don’t get more foodborne illnesses in China. I think the reason they don’t is because they only buy what they need each day, and everything is very thoroughly cooked Medium rare doesn’t exist.

The most interesting part of the wet floor market in Shanghai was the seafood. Almost everything was live. The only items that I saw that weren’t was the “squishy” creatures, such as Octopus and Squid, and also the shellfish such as clams. Almost everything else including several varieties of fish, crabs, turtles and eels were live. There were some frozen fish, but very little.

You can’t get seafood that is any fresher. You can literally pick the item that you want, and they will kill it right there, descale it and you can take it home. I saw huge fish chopped in a half on a cutting board (after it flopped onto the floor) and then put on a platter for sale. The head was still trying to breath.

Crabs are picked out of the tank and then tied with string (all their appendages) and away they go. You can’t get fish much fresher. A lot of it made me queazy, but I was fascinated at the same time.

The only part that really bothered me was the turtles. In general those of us in the U.S. don’t see turtles as food, but the Chinese see it as a delicacy. They cook turtles in soup to heal all kinds of ailments.

On our way out of the wet floor market, we were stopped by a shopkeeper making sweets. He gave us a sample of what he made, and it was like heaven in my mouth. It was made of peanuts and sesame seeds, and was like nothing I’ve ever eaten. I had to have some.

The next day (Dec. 10), we headed to the agricultural trade office (ATO) to meet with representatives from there and from the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). The ATO Shanghai Director, Keith Schneller spoke to us first. He talked about the programs they have, and how much product China imports from the U.S.

One of the most interesting facts that I learned what that China imports 28 billion dollars worth of product from the U.S. What is even more fascinating is that half of that is from soybeans. China imports 1 million metric tons (2,200 lbs) every week of soybeans, half from the U.S. and half from South America. That equates to 20, 50,000 ton Panamax (the biggest ship that fits through the Panama Canal) every single week. Almost all of that goes for livestock feed. Income is increasing in China, and as incomes rise, people eat more meat.

Their dairy industry is also growing in China. In fact, they import 600,000 tons of alfalfa each year now. People want more dairy products now, even if they don’t trust it. This goes back to the food safety standards, and after a lot of people got sick, the people began to question dairy products.

It actually got so bad during the cultural revolution that people went to Hong Kong to bring back dried milk, and then Hong Kong had a huge shortage of dried milk. Today, people are only allowed to take back 2 containers of dried milk on each trip to Hong Kong.

The biggest meat product that is imported to China is pork. Chinese people eat a lot of pork, and in 2012, 450,000 metric tons (990 million lbs) of U.S. pork was imported into China. They are the largest pork importer into China.

American products are extremely popular in China. Forty percent of Chinese people prefer American products, and will pay up to 80 percent more for these products, because they see them as higher quality. Many Chinese people see products made in China as inferior and not good quality.

After the presentation, we headed a few blocks down the street to a more modernized local market to see how U.S. pork is marketed in Chinese grocery stores. We got to taste samples, and view the packaging. It was pretty cool.

We then headed to a restaurant called Xibo for lunch. They feature food of the people of Western China, who are Muslim. They are called Uyghur people. The food was phenomenal. It was like Indian food with less curry. We had several different dishes which offered different flavor profiles and spices.

We also had lamb in several forms, but my favorite was the lamb kabob. Perfectly cooked and seasoned, I think this was the best lamb that I’ve ever had in my entire life. We had good beer made with barley (most of the beer is made with rice) and it was hands down the best meal we had all trip in my opinion.

That afternoon we visited a local silk shop, and learned how silk is made. It all comes from the silk work, and after the worm builds it’s cocoon, it is harvested. The entire cocoon is put in hot water and stirred with a brush, and the ends of the cocoon come lose and a group of eight are put together and hooked up to a machine that unwinds the cocoon. This is used for garments and paintings.

Sometimes the silk worms form a cocoon together, called a double cocoon. These cocoons are what they use for comforters. Several thousand double cocoons are used for one comforter. Shortly after I arrived in China I was told by a friend back home that if I buy one thing in China, it was a silk comforter. I took her advice, and purchased one. We’d been sleeping under one the whole trip, and I was sold on it.

After that, we drove through the expensive area of Nanjing Road, which is one of the busiest shopping malls in the country. We then headed to the area called The Bund, which is along the Huangpu River. It was beautiful. This area of Shanghai has extensive European architecture, since the Europeans built it. They have a matching bull to the one near Wall Street in New York, and high rise buildings with abstract architecture across the river. It was beautiful.

After our walk, we headed to another copy mall for more shopping. We then had dinner, and then back to The Bund for an optional boat ride on the river. I decided to go since I don’t know if I’ll ever be back to Shanghai.

It was very cool. The buildings have giant LED lights all over them, and flash lights of many colors. The first half of the trip I sat on the upper deck. The second half I had the opportunity to meet the Captain of the ship, who invited me into the Captain’s cabin to look at the lights shielded from the wind. I was nervous but took a leap of faith, and it was worth it. I got to see all of the lights as before but didn’t freeze. I was the only one from the group who had this opportunity.

When we got back to the hotel, I decided to call it a night, pack my bags and get some sleep. Some of our group partied all night. The morning of Dec. 11 we had a relaxed morning and headed to the airport to go back to the U.S.

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Our arrival night in Guilin (Dec. 6) left us very tired and ready for a break. Traveling non-stop and going going going all day wears you out. The first full day (Dec. 7) that we had in Guilin was used for traveling up to Longji Peak, where we would spend the entire day, that night, and the first part of the next morning.

The drive up was very interesting, as Guilin is a smaller city (considered Tier 2 city) and more agriculturally based. There were local farmers selling their products on roadside stands everywhere we went. As we moved more into the mountain, the more rural the area became, and the less modernized.

Our first stop was at a local convenience store and gas station to take a break and grab a snack if you wanted it. Chinese people eat very different food, and one of the things they sell in the grocery store are pickled chicken feet. Fortunately I passed on those.

Once we reached the entrance to Longji Peak, we had to switch out of our tour bus and into their shorter buses to get up the mountain. After about a 10 minute drive we stopped in the local village to have lunch with the Yao people, specifically the women. They made us their traditional food, and this was our first time to have some food with some spice in it. It was a nice change. The women then gave us some of their traditional rice wine/liquor (which is basically fermented rice) and sang to us. They all have almost the same pitch, which was odd to me.

After lunch the selling of products began, and that is when these sweet women turned into piranhas. They would bombard you in a group and try to get you to buy as much as possible. Even after you bought they would put more things in your hands (or try to) and pressure you into even more items. It was pretty overwhelming and you had to walk away to get them to stop.

Once the shopping by our group was done, we got a tour of a typical house in the area. They are all built by wood and by hand, and are really quite beautiful. They have no heating, and will light a fire indoors when it’s cold to stay warm. They raise their own vegetables and meat.

We then took a hike with them up to where they harvest their crops, which was quite a trek. The women do most of the farm work, and bring home vegetables from their patch each day. Everything they do is done by hand and looks to be pretty backbreaking work.

The most interesting thing about this minority group, called the Yao people, was the way that women treat their hair. They only have 3 haircuts their entire life. When they are one year old, when they 16 years old, and when they die. Their hair is very black and silky, and is several feet long.

From the time they are 1 to 16, every time they brush their hair they pick up the strands that fall out and save them to create a hair piece. When they cut their hair at 16, that is the second hair piece. As their hair gets longer, they wrap it up on their head with the two hair pieces from their youth plus the hair on the head. Women who are married wear their hair one way, and women who have children another. Women who are unmarried wear a cloth around their head and no one can see any hair. Any man that peaks at her hair must marry her. It’s their tradition.

They only wash their hair every few days, and they use the leftover water from cooking rice to do so. By the time they are old, their hair is several feet long and reaches the ground. The final haircut that these women have is when they die. They give them a short cut, ad then all of the hair from their entire life is buried with them. It’s their most prized possession.

When we were at their crop area, the women took down their hair and we got to see just how long it really was. I was almost uncomfortable watching them take their hair down, because they were letting us see something very precious to them. It almost had a boudoir quality to it.

After the demonstration was done, we headed back down the mountain and crossed the creek. In the creek were two villagers who were washing their scooters, and just up from the water were two pigs in a 4×8 hut loaded with straw. The bedding needed changed, and the pigs looked like they wanted out. But it’s not my operation, but theirs. They told us they would be butchering the pigs fairly soon before it got too cold.

The bus then loaded us back up, and we began what was one of the scariest/exhilarating bus rides ever. The lanes are about one and a half of our lanes, but they can manage to get two buses past each other in this. The bus driver that we had hauled ass up the mountain, including several blinds corners. They simply honk before they get to it, and then they hammer down.

Finally, we reached the summit. Locals were ready for us, and the women and older men loaded up baskets on their back with some people’s luggage (it was a pay for service). One member of our group had a torn knee, and so she opted to be carried up the mountain by the younger, stronger men. They have a seat that has poles on either side, and two men swiftly carry you up the steps.

The steps up weren’t too bad, but it was hot and humid. It took abut a half hour to reach our hotel. After checking in, some of the group continued on to the top of the peak, and the view was breathtaking, even with the pollution. I can only imagine what the rice paddy fields look like when they are flooded, sprouting, in bloom and ready to harvest.

We had a locally prepared dinner that night, and took some time to say to the group what we were thankful for after seeing how things were in China. When it was my turn, I mentioned two things.

The first thing I mentioned was the first amendment. In the U.S., we are allowed to say what we want without risk of governmental punishment. At least that’s usually the case. In China, that is not the case. People can get in trouble for what they say. The media is controlled by the government, and journalists must follow the government agenda.

The second thing that I mentioned was how grateful I am for my friends and family who support me and take care of my livestock when I am away. I had two issues that happened while I was away. The first was the passing of my old cat, Nina. I’ve had Nina since I was 12, in 1999. She was 14, and seemed to be in fine health. She had been looking a little thin, but nothing concerning.

Ryan told me that he was worried about her a few days after I left, and so we made the decision to have my good friend Brittney take her to the vet. Because I was 15 hours ahead with limited access to wifi, I missed the critical time. The vet called Ryan and let him know that her kidneys had failed, and she probably wouldn’t make it another 24 hours. I had asked him that no matter what to not put her down, but ultimately, that was the best decision and Ryan and my mom made the call.

The second issue that I had was the birth of a litter of piglets. Normally this would have been a cause for celebration. But we didn’t know when she was due, and Friday night when Ryan came home from work, she had had them. Only one was alive, because they had been born with all the other sows in 5 degree weather.

Brittney and her husband Dillion came over again and helped Ryan set up a pen, and move the sow. I feel like a lot of times people take for granted what they have but in that moment, Ryan and my friends came to my aid when I was halfway around the world and unable to assist. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with. I hate being unable to fix a situation myself, but I couldn’t have been more grateful to have the support system that I do.

I didn’t mention anything that happened at home to the group, just that we should be grateful for those at home who make it possible for us to chase our dreams. I wouldn’t have been able to even go to China, let alone even participate in CALP, if it weren’t for my family and friends.

That night we had a party in the village bar, where we danced, talked and made new friends with the locals. It was a very fun night.

The next morning, Dec. 8, we headed back down the mountain and back into Guilin. We had two appointments that afternoon. The first was at a pig breeding facility. Unfortunately, this was a huge letdown for me The company is a joint venture between an independent Chinese company and a U.S. export company. I was hoping for an American speaker that I could understand but that was not the case.

They showed us a video in Chinese, which of course I didn’t understand, followed by a question and answer session. I fear that a lot of things were lost in translation, because many of the figures we were given did not match up. I hope that we were not deliberately lied to. We did not get to see any live pigs, and didn’t learn as much as I’d hoped.

After the pig facility, we went to a rice processing facility, which held several surprises for us. The first was that the company was managed by a women; the first woman manager we met. Her father appointed her manager because he thought she would be best at it, even though she had a brother.

The second surprise was all of the technology they utilized. Up to this point we saw very limited technology. The way the rice is processed is completely done by machine, which has allowed the company to turn a profit and continue to invest in their business. It was interested to see.

We had dinner that night hung out at the hotel, and that completely our portion of the trip in Guilin. The next morning we were off to Shanghai!

Our guide’s name in Guilin was Mr. James Bond or 007, which was the English name our guide had given himself. He was incredibly knowledgable about the city and the countryside, and was so much fun for us to be around. I learned a lot from him.