China/Tibet/Nepal/India 2023

I studied abroad for 4 months here in Beijing 8 years ago. And now I am back and quite interested what changed and what is still the same.

But first things first…coffee. I was quite impressed how the coffee culture changed. Proper coffee with latte art and oat milk (Oatly!) can you find quite often now in Beijing.

What else I did in my 3 days in China:
- strolled through the famous Hutong Jiadaokou
- walked through my old neighborhood around the university
- Wangfujing Street
- Temple of Heaven
- Forbidden City
- looking for good local food

What I noticed:
- Beijing is calmer - less people and cars on the streets
- Western people are much less interesting to Chinese - no one wants to take a picture anymore, you will no longer be stared at
- Less foreigners
- Chinese hardly ever snot on the streets
- Men no longer walk topless in public / no „Beijing-Bikini“ anymore
- Bicycle lines were built throughout the city
- Almost only big and new cars on the roads, no old cars
- Only e-scooters are allowed, petrol scooters have been banned
- No scooters with a whole family or heavy load
- The subway network has been further expanded and the bus network has been greatly improved
- You can choose whether you want to sit in a cold or cool compartment
- Food is still awesome
- But still difficult to order, because English still doesn’t exist
- Couldn’t find any street food or food market, I have heard that the government wants a cleaner cityscape and has therefore banned street food, the owners had to find their own store and register, also for tax reasonsRead more