Trip teaches me to avoid stereotypes

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This might not be the best time of the year to visit Inner Mongolia autonomous region and its famous grasslands but since I had a week ahead not having to go to work, I decided to go there, have a look and eat some yangrou(mutton). Not only that. I also enjoyed a strong baijiu (wine) which helps considerably with the low temperatures one has to bear in those latitudes.

Raúl Estrada [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

I must admit that my expectations were not too high, and I was looking for some adventure and whatever I got from the trip would be enough. There are some very nice temples in the unpronounceable Hohhot, an amazing (both from the outside and the inside) Ethnographic museum and you can see the Mongolian characters written all over the place, mixed with Chinese ones, giving an even more exotic air to the place.

To be fair, I was expecting more detail about Mongolian ethnicity at the museum and I also found the weather too dry, that probably being the cause why my eyes are still irritated. Nothing really important, though.

But now I am back at my office where I experience every day the feeling of cultural integration, no clash among east and west even though we have people from many places in China and abroad. I thought this was the best example of multicultural environment and I was happy about that. Nevertheless something happened to me after a night taxi ride in Hohhot and has made me think that cooperation in the office is too easy and that tolerance and integration is another different thing.

I and my girlfriend arrived at Hohhot airport a bit late at night and surprisingly there were no taxis at the airport. This situation naturally lead to a fight between people who were queuing and my girlfriend got shout at while she was trying to record the shocking moment with her phone. Then, once we finally managed to get a taxi, the driver didn't want to run the taximeter and as soon as we left the airport, in the middle of nowhere, he pretended the car had some problem and tried to make us leave the car. I have been in China for four years now and this was not the first time something like this happened to me. What I told my girlfriend was to wait inside the car no matter for how long we had to wait. When the driver saw that we wouldn't leave the car he helped us get another taxi and the story changed completely.

After a few minutes of silence inside the new car, I decided to use my rudimentary Chinese to ask the driver about his ethnicity and a few more questions about those weird but nice looking characters. He seemed to like the idea of us foreigners speak Chinese and be really interested in them and in listening to what he had to say. Before we noticed, he was speaking about the most diverse subjects with us and I was indeed enjoying listening to him. Once we arrived at the hotel, the driver said something that I could not rephrase exactly at this moment but that turned on a light in my brain and the thought that came to my mind was: again! Another taxi driver who was just being nice but will now try to rip me off! I was absolutely wrong. He hadn't said what I thought he had. Moreover, the old man went out and going around the car came to me, shook my hand and saying that we were in his city, he insisted in not letting me pay anything. I disagreed but I also know that there is nothing you can really do if a Chinese person wants to treat you, and what's more, it would probably be disrespectful. I asked him to give me a business card to have his contact information and he told me with a big smile in his face: I don't even use a cellphone. I looked around and there was already another car that had stopped by thinking something was going wrong. My girlfriend was also observing me. I looked at the old man once more and told him good bye thanking him as truly as I think he was acting with me.

All in all, I learned a lot from my trip to Inner Mongolia and my encounter with the old taxi driver. I don't know who he is and he will not read this but here it goes my deepest and most respectful tribute to him and to all Chinese people. Don't forget, each person is different, always avoid stereotypes and treat everyone the way you would like to be treated.

The author is from Spain, and after four years in China he is currently working in LightInTheBox, a Chinese startup based in Beijing.

The opinions expressed do not represent the views of the China Daily website.

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