The heavily-promoted trip to China hosted by the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce proved to be a big eye opener for those who took it.
A group from the Northwest went on the "Experience China" tour offered by the Chamber through tour operator CitsLinc.
Among those who went was Sharon Mohagen of Blue Rentals, also a former president of the Battlefords Chamber. She had plenty to say to Chamber directors last Tuesday about her experience on the 12-day trip from Sept. 20 to Oct. 1.
The group included eight people from the Northwest - six from the Battlefords and two from Lloydminster.
The most obvious highlight was seeing the Great Wall of China. Mohagen passed around a commemorative book about the Great Wall portion of the tour.
But there were other highlights as well. There were visits to temples and to the major cities including Beijing and Shanghai.
Shanghai stood out for Mohagen compared to Beijing. "Shanghai is more cosmopolitan, more worldly," she said. The place was filled with high rises and Mohagen noted "if you didn't know any better you'd think you were in New York."
China's biggest cities have massive populations of several million people, and that stood in sharp contrast to Saskatchewan and for that matter Canada.
When Mohagen told her tour guide about the population of North Battleford, it was hard for the guide to comprehend such a small size for a city. She initially thought Mohagen had misspoke and meant "14 million."
"No, 14,000," Mohagen responded. "She had a hard time trying to figure that out."
One piece of advice she had for people was to "brush up on a little bit of history first." During the tours there would be mentions of the "Ming Dynasty" and other things, which Mohagen said caused her to react "I have no idea what he's talking about."
A few things about ordinary life there stood out for her.
The reports about smog in China are true. In fact, it was easier for Mohagen to count up the days when the smog had cleared.
Mohagen said there was one day in Beijing that the "rain came and we got some blue sky that day." The other day of blue sky was in Shanghai, and it was a similar situation.
All her photos from China are hazy, she said. At one point they went to a tea plantation and "I didn't even realize we were in the mountains" because of the haze.
Also of interest: the food. It was good, Mohagen said, and some of the meals were spicy.
But it was also a menu aimed at tourists and perhaps toned-down to suit their tastes. It "wasn't like the real China sort of thing," said Mohagen. Chamber president Ryan Moe suggested the group got the "safe menu".
Another topic people were interested in was the washroom facilities in China. It was mentioned you cannot flush toilet paper down the toilet there. They don't have the infrastructure to handle it.
One thing noticeable for Mohagen was the size of the stores there. The stores themselves were very narrow, about six-by-eight feet. "They're barely enough for three people to get into," she said.
"There was no rhyme or reason to the stores, either," Mohagen said. One store would sell cashmere sweaters and then the next one would be a machine shop, she observed.
As for life in China, there were plenty of bicycles and scooters around. It was also upscale and high-tech.
"Everybody has cell phones," Mohagen said. "And girls, they like to look their best. They could be living in squalor at home, but they love to look their best and they are dressed to the nines all the time. "
The tour was well worth it for Mohagen and the others. The Chamber, however, did take a financial hit as numbers were not what was needed to get to break even.
On the positive side, there has been good word-of-mouth, with Moe noting there were several comments received by the Chamber from people saying they wish they had gone on the trip.
Moe told directors there has been discussion about doing another China tour next year. But they may set it up so a certain number of people are signed up or prepaid in advance before the trip goes ahead to ensure the Chamber breaks even.
