Answers

China was supposed to be a land of passage. It ended up being the final destination of our trip. We were supposed to spend two-three weeks three. We ended up spending one full month. We had planned to go to Beijing, Shanghai and then all the way to Lhasa. We ended up visiting Beijing and Shanghai as well as very rural areas in Hunan province, multicultural Gansu province, historical Xi’an in Shanxi province, and enchanting Jiangsu province.
If you have followed us so far, you will have expected this post with an attempt of a summary of our Chinese experience in seven questions as we did for Russia and Mongolia. So here we go:

Light bulb - what we have learnt
Ale: China is much more (and much more diverse) than any Chinatown in Europe. And Chinese people do actually eat dogs!
Fra: I learnt a lot. My understanding of the world is wider now, from so many points of view - geographical, photographic, cultural, etc.

Heart - what we have loved
Ale: on the very last day of our journey, our Couchsurfing hosts gave us a mini Chinese language class - that was lovely and so much eye-opening! And I loved walking the inner and then the outer kora around the Labrang monastery. 
Fra: warm water. And feeling welcomed when people offered it to us, or when we found it at the railway station. It’s a simple thing that makes one feel at home. 

Smile - what made us laugh
Ale: at Beijing station, after going through the security controls, Fra was stopped by a police officer for carrying a portable knife in his backpack. We were starting to explain that we carried it for preparing our food, when another police officer offered to us: “Oh but you use it for shaving, right?”...
Fra: ...Of course, I do - it’s exactly for shaving! [last time I shaved was possibly three years ago - check my picture below!]

Pointing finger - what we take away
Ale: the energy of the people - to set up the most exciting new technology-based innovation in Shanghai, to carry on when life is hard, to look after you when you make them the gift of your visit...
Fra: a deeper and more nuanced understanding of ‘communism’ and its various ways of implementation.

Shaking hands - what connections we have made
Ale: a third of the world’s population live in China, right? Well, no doubt, it was the place where we met the largest number of people. They ranged from our hosts on Couchsurfing to social entrepreneurs and innovators like the founders of Rainbow of Hope, Green Initiatives, Feiy, Impact Hub Shanghai, POSUL (in Chinese), to the inspiring members of the Fresh Start Rotary Club, to the full-of-energy youth from Serve for China, to a philosopher of herbal food, a very hospitable and knowledgeable eco-lodge owner. As well as travellers on long, slow trains. Bakers and restaurant owners in Tibet.
Fra: and besides all of these lovely people, a very special person - a young Chinese man who learnt Italian by listening to the Zecchino d’Oro!

Rooted foot - what we had known already and was important to remember
Ale: China is a continent. We heard young volunteers working on rural development projects saying: “We came here, to this new province, and we didn't know the language, the customs, etc. We had to adapt”. It was great, in our travelling, to get the chance to experience China’s largeness, diversity and very long history.
Fra: Asia is the Far East, it's exotic and its extreme - in its distance from our home, in its richness and its vastity. 

Bin - what we’d kick away (didn’t like that much…) 
Ale: the smell of cigarette everywhere all the time - on the trains, on the buses, at the restaurant. Non-stop. It is not only unpleasant for non-smokers like me but also a reason for concern! Smoking cigarettes is really not good :-)
Fra: struggling to use the internet as normal. When we arrived and could not access my Gmail, we were advised to open a new email account. Really?! Luckily,we soon signed up on WeChat!

Does anything resonate with you? Whether you have travelled to China or to somewhere else, whether you had similar or completely different experiences, feel free to use the comment box below or email us :)

Can you think of a better way to end your trip and exploration than giving a talk about your experience and learnings? We couldn't. When we realised that we could have this opportunity, we got super-excited, shafted plans around and got all sorted for our speech at the Fresh Start Rotary Club.

We will not repeat here what we said last Friday. There will be other opportunities for this:

• Specific blog posts on social impact per country (coming up in January, so watch this space!);
• A photo gallery of the social entrepreneurs and innovators we have met;
• The documentary we are working on; and 
• (we hope!) Other speeches!
   

But we thought we should share some of the questions we were asked at the end and our answers:
 

1. How have you found and selected the social enterprises and initiatives you visited during your journey?
   
   First, research on the internet during the months before the trip. Then word of mouth, both at a distance and in country - for example through the Impact Hub network. Two directories were also very helpful - one in Russia and one in China. And this website is full of inspiring social enterprises too!
   
    
2. What are the main causes social entrepreneurs are trying to tackle? Did you see any pattern?
   
   Our exploration focussed on three main areas: radical food, urban innovation and sport for transport. So most of the initiatives we visited work in these sectors. However, these are mainly our own interest areas, not really patterns that we could identify. Among these three sectors, it is true that we have seen more initiatives around food than on the other topics.
   
    
3. Did you ever felt that some causes are more important than others? Or that people are doing what they do because of their own interest and not for the cause?
   
   No, it's all about their passion. The people we met do what they do because they believe it is important. In some (perhaps most) cases, they are still ‘struggling’ in making their initiatives financially viable. Of course, social entrepreneurs want to make a living out of their businesses. But profit was not the motivating factor among those we interviewed. Plus, except the SocEnt we interviewed in Germany and the U.K., they receive no recognition from the government, so no tax release for example.
   
    
4. You mentioned the story of a social enterprise that was shut by government’s decision in Russia. This could happen in China too. What should be done in contexts where governments are not always supportive? What should the role of the Government be?
   
   This is a tricky question. We would go with a politically correct answer ;-)
   The legal and political environment is obviously an important influencing factor for any type of business to succeed. When the government supports social entrepreneurship, financial viability can be reached earlier and in an easier way. However, the social innovators we saw social innovators that did not give up in spite of their struggle. The ones behind the story you refer to opened a new social enterprise after their first one got shut down. Determination is crucial to make the world a better place and… lead by example!
   
    
5. In some cases, social enterprises now play the role that used to belong to religious organisations. Do you agree? Have you witnessed any of this?
   
   We have not… but this is an interesting question! In fact, we found it hard to speak about religion most of the time as if people were in denial of such a thing as ‘religion’. We think this is due to the recent history of the countries we have visited and the communist approach to religion. Instead, we were under the impression that social enterprises are coming in to fill gaps left by the state in countries where the state used to provide to society more than what it is now.
   
    
6. What was the most unexpected thing during your journey?
   
   Packing ‘eco-rice’ until late at night to help our hosts in the middle of the most rural China!
   Afterthought (not shared at the event but worth mentioning here): doing an interview via WeChat using the ‘translate’ function. That was brilliant!
   
    
7. What is coming next?
   
   Three main plans:
   • Sharing our learning more and more widely!
   • Keeping in touch with all the social entrepreneurs and social innovators we met, and providing services to them. We are developing a series of webinars with one of them, working on the visual identity of a couple of others. We are post-producing photos that we took to help their marketing activities, etc.
   • Developing our own products to tackle issues that we think should be solved. We have an idea related to eco-friendly transportation - as travellers, it’s pretty much obvious! And we are working on a website hosting service powered by green energy. We have introduced this in Italy a few months ago and are planning to scale it up!

We’ll be in Myanmar next year… and very keen to see what will happen there!

Were you at the Fresh Start Rotary on 1st December? Is there anything we have forgotten? 
Were you not there? Does anything of the above resonate with your experience of social entrepreneurship?
Please use the comments below!

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote that it was not easy to put our Transsiberian experience in writing and make a summary of it. Well, it's even less easy to summarise our Transmongolian one! Very dense, very much changing every day. From a Ger* to an apartment on the highest floor in the middle of Ulan Bataar. From chaotic Ulan Bataar to silent Sainshand. From a cafeteria where you can only get rice after they pour huge quantities of a meaty sauce on it, to the BEST vegan food we had on our trip so far at Luna Blanca!
*a Ger is the nomads' traditional house (scroll down for a picture).

Light bulb - what we have learnt
Ale: the role of women of all ages at home and outside. I asked one of our hosts what was his favourite decision-making technique. He said: “Now, I would consult with my wife. When I was a child, I would not ask my Dad. I would always ask my Mom”.
Fra: the role of games, puzzles, sheep ankle bones in Mongolian culture. If you ever pass by Ulan Bataar, do not forget to visit the International Intellectual Museum.

Heart - what we have loved
Ale: the enchanting music that goes along with Buddhist prayers.
Fra: the caves we visited in the Gobi desert. And the desert, more generally.

Smile - what made us laugh
Ale: our adorable host Begz when he told us a traditional Mongolian tale. His mimicking, his gaze and sound effects were so entertaining!
Fra: it was -3*C or less. We were in the middle of the desert visiting the Shambala energy centre. The man who was accompanying us was very lightly dressed. Not even wearing a hat or a pair of gloves; his jacket (not a coat…) was open. In pure Mongolian, he explained to us the procedure to make the most of the energy centre: take off your shoes, lay down, crawl following a circular path and pray. And concluded: “but I won't take my shoes off, it's too cold!”. E figurati noi! (Italian for: "can you really imagine" how cold WE are?!)

Pointing finger - what we take away
Ale: the flexibility of a one-room circular house. Furniture and various objects appear and disappear depending on the function they have to play - eating, sleeping, cooking, studying, playing, etc. The one space changes all the time in the course of a day!
Fra: the Ger architecture, its shape and its interlocking technique.
(If we end up living in a Ger, you’ll know why!)

Shaking hands - what connections we have made
Ale: Begz, his family, his energy. Bookbridge Mongolia - such an inspiring organisation that facilitates social entrepreneurship. Victoria, whom we hope we'll host soon somewhere! Mongolia Train Tickets who helped us with our visa. УРЦ | URTS - from which we received a lovely badge!
Fra: I was asked to design a logo for a new organisation. How exciting is this?

Rooted foot - what we had known already and was important to remember
Ale: modern technology does not need to be in contrast with traditions. Introducing a pre-paid card system to distribute water in Ger district is helpful, respond to a very basic need and improves living standards.
Fra: building one’s house is possible and can be fun!

Bin - what we’d kick away (didn’t like that much…) 
Ale: people constantly kicking each other when walking in the street. I was under the impression to walk across a rugby pitch all the time!
Fra: Ulan Bataar’s traffic jam. The absence of a Ч29 bus stop in the city centre. A sort of arrogance among bus and Land Cruiser divers... :-)

Does anything resonate with you? Whether you have travelled to Mongolia or to somewhere else, whether you had similar or completely different experiences, feel free to use the comment box below or email us :)

Reflections on social impact in Mongolia will come soon… Watch this space!
 

When travelling, it's good to observe, read, experience, absorb. As it's also good to stop and think back. It's not easy to put the first third of our trip in writing. But we liked the idea of making an assessment of our time in Russia. We used the same the criteria we had used to assess the 21-day’s Bootcamp we attended in August. Keep reading to see the result!

Light bulb - what we have learnt
Ale: ‘Moscow is not Russia and Russia is not Moscow’. I had heard a similar statement about London and England, Paris and France… But I didn't expect to hear the same here. Mainly, I didn't expect to hear this from every single person we met in every single location out of Moscow!
Fra: гречневой (buckwheat) is really good and самовар (the train huge kettle always on) is a great invention!

Heart - what we have loved
Ale: lovely wooden tiny houses (not on wheels like the ones we talked about here!!) in the Lake Baikal region. Actually, the whole Baikal region!
Fra: the Wooden Architecture and Ethnographic museum in Taltsy, also in Baikal region. It was fascinating to see aerial burying structures, to travel in space and time from nomadic campsites to impressive fortresses.

Smile - what made us laugh
Ale: our attempts at speaking Russian, like when Fra called for остановка, пожалуйста (next stop, please) on the minibuses :-)
Fra: train life episodes. Once, I got off the train at a station as we often do and… the train went off with my wife and on it! (The train came back 20 minutes after, so all was good apart from Ale’s level of anxiety!).

Pointing finger - what we take away
Ale: a feeling of gratitude. We felt welcomed all the time, all journey on. Since the moment when the attendant on our first train found a seat for us despite us not having a reservation* to the little boy who greeted us in a canteen in Ulan Ude (our last stop), offered us some croutons and happily spent an hour talking to us with a keyboard and google translator! 
Fra: people’s smile and their openness to us. Also, their variety of points of view and opinions on Russian politics and history. 
*our original Berlin-Moscow train got cancelled because of Storm Xavier so we had to find alternative ways to Moscow.

Shaking hands - what connections we have made
Ale: so many! Through Couchsurfing - Pavel & Kathya, Oksana, Alyona to mention a few. And through our research on social impact - Moscow Impact Hub, Delai Kulturu, Reforma, Flacoin, Dubroludov, HumanWorld.info, Stenograffia, Shapka Rulit, Great Baikal Trail...
Fra: and beside them, all the people who spontaneously came to us to help and give us directions in the street or in the middle of crazy Moscow metro stations. And young Alexander who walked us around in Sljudjanka / Слюдянка. And little Misha who was a generous philosopher 11 years old :-)

Rooted foot - what we had known already and was important to remember
Ale: Russia is huge. Of course, I knew it. On the atlas, maps, etc. Russia has always seemed huge to me. But now I have experienced its vastity. In the number of hours we spent on the train, in the number of time zones we crossed, in the endless landscapes we contemplated from the train, in the variety of cultures, architectures, stories. Even ‘small cities’ are huge in Russia. 
Fra: the atmosphere and the interior design of trains reminded me of what I had read in the Brothers Karamasov. A sense of age and weight. The conversations with the people reminded me of the Eurasian nature of this country. Their being in-between continents. Their being in transition. Their simultaneous attraction for the Western lifestyle and the Eastern hyper-technology.

Bin - what we’d kick away (didn’t like that much…) 
Ale: too much worrying about what will happen and who we should meet next. Good planning is good but… trusting the road and where it will take us is better!
Fra: urban outskirts when they become "human outskirts"…

Does anything resonate with you? Whether you have travelled to Russia or to somewhere else, whether you had similar or completely different experiences, feel free to use the comment box below or email us :)