China was interesting but also very touristy given that we joined a tour group. It turns out that the place we visited has recently become a very popular place among Koreans. In fact it is so popular that everywhere we went we were surrounded by Korean tour groups. The hotels were full of Koreans, the restaurants served Korean food, even the local street vendors haggled us in broken Korean. So we didn't really feel like we left Korea but nevertheless we saw many beautiful and interesting sights.
Our tour encompassed Shanghai, the beautiful lake city of Hangzhou and the scenic mountains of Zhang Jia Jie (aka little Korea town) Overall we had a lovely time despite one unfortunate experience at the Chinese Medicine Hall. This was a scheduled stop in our tour of Hangzhou and each of us got a 'free' examination by the resident experts. My mother and I were both given rather unsettling diagnoses, however lucky for us we could remedy the issue by purchasing special Chinese medicine. Overcome by fear mixed with relief that we could be 'cured' we quickly agreed to buy the medicine. Apparently amidst the fear our brains had a momentary lapse in the currency conversion and didn't realize the exorbitant price we had agreed to pay until we received our bill. Yikes! Fearful fit # 2 quickly ensued but for different reasons! Long story short we are still in the process of trying to get our money back.. Later when we returned to Korea we saw a news program that spoke of tour scams and featured the place we had just visited! I'm always so impressed at how fear can be such a powerful sales tactic. It was a good reminder to always listen to your inner gut before making a quick decision. At any rate this incident has not altered my deep respect and appreciation for eastern medicine. I'll just be wary of scheduled tourist visits to Chinese Medicine Halls.
Here are a few pics from the trip:
Shanghai
Amazing musical and dance show in Hangzhou
Zhang Jia Jie
