Landing in China
Despite the flight to China being overnight, I hardly got any sleep in at all. The seat was unable to provide me with a comfortable position to rest my head, and the screen that’s on the back of the seat in front felt like an oven. Even though it the screen was off, it was radiating serious heat, so I was overheating the whole time. So during the entire flight I only got a couple of hours of sleep, not the start I wanted!
After disembarking from the plane it was time to face customs, the last hurdle in to the country. Before speaking to a customs officer, I had to fill in an arrival form. This forms includes your regular personal information, such as name, date of birth etc. but also the address of where you’re going to be staying. This wouldn’t have been a problem if it weren’t for the address being in Chinese! Thankfully one of the officers who was wondering around was able to effortlessly paint out these characters on to the sheet. I was actually amazed!
After filling in the sheet, I went to the customs officer. I’m not going to lie; it was a very tense few minutes. They ask you a few questions, such as why you’re visiting, how long for etc. He also asked me for confirmation of my accommodation, luckily I had it on an email from Airbnb. So I handed it to him with heart in my mouth, just waiting for a discrepancy to pop up and block me entry to the country. However, all went smoothly and I was allowed on my merry way.
Note
The reason I was anxious when presenting my accommodation confirmation is because when you apply for a visa, you have to account for every day you spend in China. This means if you spend 30 days in China, you have to prove 30 days’ accommodation. To get the visa, we booked a cheap hostel for 30 days, then once we had the visa, we cancelled the hostel and kept our Airbnb reservation. I thought the customs officer may ask me why I only have a couple of days’ worth of accommodation, but I was fine in the end! My friend didn’t get asked this, so it differs every time.
Here's to new experiences
After the nervous encounter at customs, we both needed to relieve ourselves. What a first time experience on a squat toilet it turned out to be! I was perplexed when I entered the cubicle. I didn’t know where to put my feet, which direction to face, or how to balance whilst squatting! I’m going to omit the rest of the details. It was a pretty funny experience, and a steep learning curve that will need to be learned properly for my stay in China!
This photo is of the squat toilet in our Airbnb. It’s not just public toilets, but instead the majority of house/apartment toilets. You might think it’s a bit lewd putting a photo of it on here, but I found it very useful to know what I’ll have to be dealing with.
Tip!
Not many toilets in China come equipped with tissues/toilet paper. It is essential to take a packet of tissues/roll of toilet paper with you around China for toilet breaks. I’d say as little as 1 in 10 provide paper. Unlike the majority of South East Asia, there are also no bum showers or buckets of water for a wet wipe! You have been warned.
To the city, and beyond!
After collecting our luggage, our next objective was to get to Chongqing. Luckily the Airbnb hostess had provided a few details of how to do so. This was by way of a bus to Jiefangbei, the city’s central business district. Think Times Square-esque. We got outside the airport and there was a bus magically waiting. After somehow getting across to the bus attendant that we wanted to go to Jiefangbei, we stumbled upon a problem. You see, when we got our Yuan in the UK, it was all in ¥100 notes. This turned out to be no small change. The bus to Chongqing was only ¥10, and our ¥100 notes were too big.
She pointed us to a service desk of sorts a short walk away. Mat was able to exchange his ¥100 for 10 ¥10 notes, I was not so lucky, so I had to owe him. We went back to the bus and the attendant happily let us on board. There was a short wait, maybe 15 minutes or so, before we departed with a few other passengers. Our first challenge was done…now we just had to correctly guess the stop we need to get off at. I thought it strange that there were so many China flags everywhere. They were on every single lamp post, on billboards, banners, you name it, it had a China flag there. I thought this was just to promote patriotism, so thought nothing of it.
Tip!
Whenever you dispense cash from an ATM, the likelihood is the notes are going to come out quite large. It’s common for smaller shops to reject big notes. Whenever you can, break in to your big notes at supermarkets or restaurants so you get smaller notes and don’t feel guilty for slapping a ¥100 note for a ¥3 apple.
The clueless tourists
Thankfully, our stop was the one where everyone got off, so we hopped off too. Now the real game began. We were thrust in to the middle of a large Chinese city, no English to be heard, no English to be seen. We were completely on our own and left to our own devices. Now I know what it felt like, to be ‘that tourist’ who is wondering around a city with their phone in hand and gazing around looking for any hint of direction with a puzzled look on their face. Due to this look on our faces, a police officer kindly pointed us in the right direction. As soon as we got to where he pointed, we were clueless again.
As we were walking in a direction, a Chinese couple stopped us and signalled a camera whilst holding his phone. So we nodded and agreed to take his photo. However, I misunderstood. He wanted a photo with us! Taken by surprise, we agreed happily and had our first of many photos. I showed this kind chap the address of our apartment, but he didn’t have a clue. Waving goodbye, we carried on the search. As we were crossing the road, I asked the road crossing officer (equivalent of a lollipop lady) for help, and she confidently pointed to a large block of apartments opposite us.
Frustration...
With a spring in our step, we hurriedly crossed the road. I did have a photo of the entrance to the apartment building, and this building looked similar, so we took a punt. We went to the correct floor and room number, and to our pleasant surprise, the door was open. This apartment contained a reception and several other doors with keypads. I went to the door with our number and letter, and tried the code in the keypad. This was to no avail. I tried it numerous times, but had no luck. There was a receptionist, but he was being very unhelpful. He wouldn’t even look at us, never mind talk to us!
I wanted to try to contact our Airbnb hostess, but I had no Chinese SIM card yet, so mobile data wasn’t an option. We also had no Wi-Fi as the receptionist wouldn’t acknowledge our existence. After getting somewhat frustrated, we took a deep breath and decided to ask the building guard. We showed him the address, and he mimed to us to go to the other side of the building. So we exited, and went around the opposite side. Low and behold, a sight identical to the photo was in front of us. With rejuvenated hopes, we hurried in to the building and went straight to the correct floor and apartment number.
Tip!
One of the first things you might want to do when backpacking in Asia is to get a SIM card as soon as you arrive in a new country. I’ve known people who don’t get a SIM and are fine, but I find it a lot easier to have internet on the go. I found the following website very helpful for deciding which data carrier to go for, I used it before going to every country: https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/China.
...and relief
To our relief, the door opened. There were a few locked doors within, and the first one happened to be ours. So we entered our room and flopped on the bed. After a few minutes, I dashed to the router to finally connect to the internet in what seemed forever. However, my hopes were dashed immediately…there was no Wi-Fi password! We made it our mission to find the first phone shop and get a SIM card, no matter what. Determined, we left the building preparing for a cross city search for a phone shop.
It turned out there was a China Mobile store on the side of our building. It was almost closing time so we hurried inside, praying we could still get one. We went straight to the counter and the lady gave us a list of tariffs. The tariff we went for was about 8GB of data for a month, that’s all we’d need. So, after showing her our passports and visas, providing her with some basic info, we were all up and running. An absolute god send. I could have kissed her, but hey, I’d only just arrived and didn’t want any trouble!
Rumbling tummies
So we let our families know we were still alive, and I also contacted the hostess for the Wi-Fi password. We could finally breathe a sigh of relief. With our tummy’s rumbling, we decided to go for some food. Google translate had a hard time deciphering the different menus along the street, a common issue it would turn out. After an encounter with a man and a monkey who wanted money from us, we settled on any place. Slightly spicy beef noodles it was! I wasn’t very adept at chopsticks, so this was a challenge. But I didn’t have a choice, as cutlery was unheard of here, so, I did it like the locals…sort of.
After our late dinner, we took a quick walk around the block. There were small cards on the floor everywhere with naked women on, like collectables. I didn’t make it a hobby of mine! We stumbled upon a street with loads of outdoor restaurants and some stalls. A smoothie stall took our interest, so we pointed at a nice looking fruit and yoghurt smoothie, thoroughly enjoying our treat. After getting to terms with the stares, we made our way back to the apartment and happily collapsed on to our beds.
Tip!
If ever someone approaches you randomly offering entertainment or something that seems too good to be true, just be cautious. On our first night a man let Mat hold his monkey, and after a few minutes he demanded money. We didn’t realise it’d lead to this, so we walked away as the fellow got angry. This can happen in many shapes and forms, be vigilant.
