It took almost an hour to get there. So, when we pull up, there are three exits, International, A, and B. I say to him 'A'. Should have said 'B'. Not a big deal because the walk wasn't so long to the B terminal. I go to the check-in counter and hand over my passport with a smile and say, 'Ni Hao' (nee how) which means hello. Once he punches some keys on the computer I see my bag tag coming out and know I am home free and that I have been successful with this part of the trip. So I say to myself but apparently out loud, 'YES'! The guy looks at me and I say again,' YES! I made it this far!' He looks at me funny. He gets up from behind his desk and walks away. I'm thinking maybe he's going to get a tray for my backpack that every airport uses that I have gone to. The straps on my bag are numerous and so they always put the pack in a tray so the straps don't get tangled or stuck in the luggage escalator thingy. So I wait a few minutes and I see him return with a policeman. I'm thinking really scary things now (waterboarding, jumper cables to all parts of my body, dirt floor jail cell, rice and water, CNN, etc). The policeman asks me in very good English, “Is there a problem here. This gentleman says you are saying things that has him concerned'. I'm thinking this is the same guy that can't understand me and now he is concerned? So I tell the policeman about my journey for the day and the problems I had communicating the past few days and say that I am just relieved that things turned out ok today. He starts laughing while Mr. Ticket Counter Man keeps looking from me to the policeman wondering why we are the only two people laughing in the whole terminal. Policeman says something to Mr Ticket Counter Man and now everyone is laughing!

Here's my taxi:

Just like the train station, they have one 'Monster' board with all the flight information like departure and gate numbers. Here is Shenzhen's board:

The plane ride was nice and I arrived 2 hours later in Chongqing. Now the next adventure begins. I get outside and jump into a taxi. To my absolute surprise (not), the guy doesn't understand a lick of English. So, I show him the directions to the hostel and he obviously has no idea where to go. He knows the district it is in (kind of like in Chicago where you have Lincoln Park, Wrigley-ville, Gold Coast etc) but anything specific is out of the question. So in about 40 minutes, we arrive in the district. I ask to use his mobile phone because I have the number and I know they speak english at the hostel. So after another, 'Ni Hao', I ask the lady if she can explain to the driver how to get to the hostel. I think she does this based on the guy and his repeated head nods. Nope. We end up in an alleyway and he starts asking the locals where the place is. Finally, he calls the hostel back and they say to leave me there and they will be over in a minute to pick me up. So I'm standing there for 20 minutes and the locals come up and look at my map and one person gestures to go one way, another grabs his arm and throws it down and I think is saying, 'No No No, you go this way' and while I watch these people arguing with each other on where I should go, I start laughing. You know the kind, the one where you're in church or at a funeral and all of a sudden you can't stop type of laughing. They all get quiet and look at me and I'm trying to pull out my translation book so I can tell them that I am not laughing at them but with them. Thank God the girl from the hostel arrives just then. Even though I was blending in well (yeah, right) she was able to figure out right away that it was me she was looking for. Smart girl. We walk about two blocks in and out of alleys and voila, we are at Tina's Hostel.

People wonder why I stay at hostels when traveling overseas. The answer is easy: there is always someone working that speaks English. Plus, there is no better place to meet people.

The girl takes me to my room and I see that it is a 4-bed room; two bunk beds. Very cheap, 30 Yuan each night or about $4.75. Can't beat that with a stick! It's a nice enough place and I am glad to be here. Here is my bunk (lower):

I haven't figured out yet what I will write on the wall before I leave but I will share if I remember.

Eric and I decide to go for a walk a few minutes after I am checked-in. We look at buildings to find landmarks so we can get back later. The problem is it was still light out. When we attempt to return, it is dark and that's where some difficulties arise. More on that later.

We walk up the street to find an area where people are dancing.

We then proceed to walk to the city center. Here is the Rolex clock tower that signifies the center of the center of the city (no, I did not stutter):

We also saw meals in the near future in cages:

Yes. those are rabbits. We also saw larger rabbits and hens in cages as well. In fact, if you got the grocery store, you can get your fish 'live'. That's right. They fish the one out of the tank you want and put it into your shopping cart. So, as you go down the aisle, you have a fish flopping in your cart. I'm not joking.

There are more shops here in this area than I have ever seen. With all the lights, it's almost like day-time. After walking for a while and getting pretty warm from the humidity, we stopped into a restaurant where, surprise surprise, no one spoke english. Except for one man. A customer. So he helps us order. I tell him to surprise us but to order enough where both Eric and I would be full because we are terribly hungry. The restaurant we are at is called a hot-pot restaurant. They bring out this huge metal octagonal pot and put it in the middle of the table. In the table there is a hole where there is a butane lighter thing in it. The pot is full of hot (spicy) oil. Once they light the fire, it doesn't take long to get the oil boiling. Our food arrives with each meat and vegatable on its own dish. We pour the beef, fish, and beef into the oil as well as the cabbage, some noodles, and some other god knows what plants. It takes a very short time to cook. Here's what it looks like:

Eric and I use our chopsticks to start digging food out of the boiling oil. The meat is fairly easy to grab minus the fish. The vegetables are another story. I finally get a piece of cabbage out, dip it into some ginger sauce, and place it in my mouth. Has anyone ever had their teeth and mouth cleaned with an acetylene torch? Holy Mary Mother Of God! It was like eating fire! People at other tables (not a one of them western) are looking at us and start laughing. I am ignoring them because I am afraid the flames will spread from my mouth to my clothes and really cause a problem. I have water flowing from my eyes but unfortunately it evaporates as soon as it gets close to my mouth. I am chugging water and tea and finally the flames are extinguished. No more cabbage for me. I don't know what it is about the cabbage but it absorbs all the spicy hot stuff. That was easily the hottest thing I have ever had in my mouth. I know that didn't help the stomach situation but since my intestines were already on 'Full Steam Ahead' I figured I would just keep eating. The pork and beef may have been good. It may have been bad. Since all the nerve endings on my tongue were already incinerated, I can't tell you what it tasted like. I hope it was good.

On the way back to the hostel, it was obvious we stuck out. It was dark by now and so we had little idea of exactly where we were. We were going to ask a few people how to get back but since our mouths no longer worked and we couldn't control our drooling (think of the dentist and trying to drink something through a straw with your mouth novacained), we just continued walking. We finally made it back about an hour later. By this time, our speech was approaching normalcy and the drooling had stopped. It was an eventful evening. I slept off and on because the hot food as well as the intestinal diuretic I had taken made continuous sleep impossible.

More later!

written by  akstoltzy on May 30, 2010 from Chongqing, China
from the travel blog: China
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I am loving your adventures! Tears streaming from laughing so much! The travelogue is great too, but you certainly are having a lot of fun experiences!

written by  Pat Wolf on June 2, 2010

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So what did you write on the wall before you left?

written by  Dana Craig on June 3, 2010

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