[photopress:chiflag.jpg,thumb,pp_empty]

Its been around 10 years since I was in China and it seems like I’ve never been there before. 10 years ago I was a young punk who had just finished high school. I was a bit tired of school and decided (as so many others) to take a year off. Together with 3 other friends from high school we went on a trip starting in St. Petersburg, all the way through Russia with the transsiberian trailway, ending up in Beijing, where we went to Xian (the city with the Terracotta Army) and Shanghai. From here we continued to Singapore (by plane) and went a few weeks to Indonesia as well. Quite a long journey but what a trip! We had a great time and I was definitely a lot more prepared for University when I returned home.

Fast forwarding to 2006 China has changed a lot. I’ve been there on two occasions during the past month around the Shanghai area and its amazing how fast they are constructing new buildings. I read in a Singapore paper that the Bank of China now has increased the interest rate for loans to put a damper on the constructing rage. I can see why !! A city close to Shanghai called Suzhou, which I also went to during my visit, has increased its size by 3-4 during the last 8 years! And we’re not talking about a small village with a few thousand people. There are 2 million people living there. This growth is hard to imagine and I guess its also hard for many Chinese to follow the development. One thing that definitely is laking as a driving culture. Its not uncommon to see both big trucks and cars go over a trafic light when its red and bikers are equally fearless. Its no surprise to me that an average 1-2 people die in the Suzhou traffic every day!

Its still an amazing country though and it will be very interesting to follow its development the next couple of years.