Beijing - Chengdu - Chongqing
I admit we were a bit naive. My father had called the hotel we'd be staying at in Jiuzaigou and they said that the guests who had left for the airport when the quake occurred were sent back to the hotel -- that means the roads must be clear. And the airport? Well, according to Beijing, the flight from Chengdu to Jiuzaigou was still flying (later at the airport in Chengdu, I overhead an airline staffer tell a frustrated passenger, "Beijing doesn't know what our condition is like here.")
In any case, the day started off pretty well. TERMINAL THREE IS GLORIOUS.
Beijing Airport - Newly opened Terminal 3.
You can see this man's REFLECTION in the marble tiles!!!
Green Tea-Mint Flavored - so good.
We boarded the plane and head of us was a mean who was carrying one of those big, professional reporting cameras - heading to report on the quake I assume. There were another guy who had a handheld camera and he was filming passengers as they got on the plane, that looked sketchy. We were delayed 30 mins because of some air traffic control issue and during that time, they served us refreshments. Other than that, it was clear skies in Beijing that day and off we went.
Meal during the 2.5 hour flight. It wasn't a full flight so they offered us seconds.
We landed in Chengdu and it's raining, of course - something about rain after an earthquake. I made up something about pressure being released from the earth into the air, causing a moisture overload and then there's the whole precipitation thing. No idea. Regardless of whatever scientific phenomenon, it was raining, which tends to make everything just a little bit worse.
Soldiers.
After getting off the plane at about 1:50 PM, we were in a mad rush to find out where our 2:30 PM flight for Jiuzaigou would be taking off from. We were passed from agent to agent and eventually stumbled into this:
Chengdu Airport.
This poor woman had to answer a barrage of questions about which flights were or weren't flying out, over a mic that was barely audible.
Despite the overwhelming number of people, the extremely humid conditions inside the airport, and the general chaos of the whole situation, the staff at Chengdu airport was surprisingly nice and helpful. For people who had to get off at Chengdu or for whatever reason couldn't get their luggage, the staff went and retrieved it. The woman who brought us ours later helped us get a refund for the last leg of our flight and work out our next plan of action. Then there was a dude who suggested we go to Chongqing by bus and wrote down the directions, but somehow we were skeptical the roads would be clear, or we were just too confused to think about another method of transportation, and decided to try out luck with planes.
A kid.
Giant fruit stand on either end of the 2nd floor (Departures).
Young girl securing her ramen after an officer filled it with hot water -- so many people were eating this.
People sleeping on cardboard and newspapers. Playing cards. Chillin.
We contemplated getting a ticket to Beijing for the next day at 5 PM. Then that flight was full and the next one was planned for 6:30 PM. My mom struck up conversations with people waiting in line next to her, trying to see where they were going, where they were coming from. One woman's house started cracking when the quake hit and she got out of there as soon as possible. We found out we could fly to Zhangjiajie that night at 9 PM, so we took that. My mom bought these tickets at about 3 PM. From there, we looked for a place to settle down and ended up in a corner spot on the third floor by the security offices. There, we played a couple rounds of cards, ate some packaged beef and bread, and marveled at our situation.
I saw a water cooler in an office and my mom went to ask if we could have some. "Sure! Sure! Go ahead!," the woman said. Later on, in the office next door, my mom asked for more water and this time there was a couple people in there. A woman filled up the bottle for us and a man asked if we wanted to sit inside, worrying we seemed so uncomfortable outside (I had already passed out at this point). I was later startled awake by a security guard who was worried that I was endangering my life by sleeping too close to the glass wall. "What, does he think you're five?" (my mom).
We headed for our flight at 6:30 PM only to find out that it was canceled. Back to the desk to get our refund and book a ticket to Beijing -- or as far east as we could go. By 8 PM we were out of there, on our way to look for a hotel. Every hotel nearby was booked so naturally this was an opportunity for the locals to make some money.
160 RMB for a night at one woman's place -- hot water, clean sheets, and they would drive us over. No. Thank. You.
Took a break at the chain restaurant Chengdu Xiao Chi. We had two of these hot mommas:
Beef noodles.
Due to the fact that the bathrooms were disgusting and we had no idea where we'd be, we decided it would be safer to not eat the whole bowl...or even a quarter. I kind of regret it, I have faith in my immune system.
After about 45 mins or so our go-to-guy in Beijing found a hotel for us. My mom's only requirement, "three stars and above." We got there at 9-ish. It was not worth the 280 RMB but supply and demand. The elevator and Internet were out because of the earthquake, but there was no problem setting us up on the seventh -- and last -- floor. I'm annoyed that I didn't think to take pictures of the room, but I think I was bleh-ed enough to just want to go to sleep and hope tomorrow would be more fruitful. The walk up was sketchy, as pieces of drywall were scattered on the steps and the walls were cracked. Our room was pretty grimy. Plus, I hadn't showered in two days (my fault, I know) and the water was SO SO COLD.
After speaking to my dad, my mom came up with the plan to take the train or bus to Chongqing. According to my dad, if we went back to Beijing, there'd be nothing to do. I'd beg to differ, but whatevs.
Started getting ready around 6 AM. Ate breakfast at 7:00 AM -- my mom spoke to these dudes from Inner Mongolia who had a 20 hour drive back head of them. Good frigging grief.
View from our hotel in Chengdu. So green!
We headed back to the airport to return our plane tickets. On the ride back, I noticed these people on the side of the streets in makeshift tents. I didn't know if they were in relation to the quake, but I read an article somewhere later on that said that people were living in tents on the side on the streets for fear their houses were in danger of collapsing. Really sucks because the rain makes for cold nights.
We got to the airport at 8 AM. I'm sitting in the Internet Cafe because the woman said I could sit there until a paying customer comes. I get kicked out by another waitress shortly thereafter. Then I begin playing games with my camera to pass the time. First, I took pictures of everyone wearing pink. Then, I took pictures of couples who looked couple-y. Then, I took pictures of funny looking people but they kept moving so it was just a blurry image. Then, I took pictures of kids, but only a couple before I realized I should stop doing that. Finally, I took pictures of peoples' legs as they walked by. Tres artsy.
9:30 AM and we were headed to the bus station. My mom met this woman and her nephew in line who had finally boarded their plane last night, only to be told it would be delayed 3 hours. So they sad. When the 3 hours were up, they were asked to wait longer for an indefinite amount of time. At some point, they were told to leave the aircraft. The foreigners left immediately. The Chinese stuck it out. It took turning off the electricity and the air conditioning for the passengers to finally vacate the plane. Anyway, the woman wanted to travel with us to Chongqing, but she couldn't get a refund for her failed flight last night because she lost her ticket so she had to stay and figure all that out.
10 AM and we're at the train station. This is a relatively less intimidating picture of the situation. Imagine lots and lots more people:
Chengdu Bus Station.
A woman walked by me with her baby in a basket and a live chicken in a bag. After about 15/20 minutes, my mom came out of the crowd of people with two tickets in her hand. She paid a girl 12 RMB to buy us tickets -- that girl waited all day yesterday and couldn't get tickets and started waiting early that morning. People in line were yelling at my mom to stop cutting, and there was even a guard to make sure people weren't cutting. When he told her to get out of the line, she said she had to accompany the girl, he said she didn't have to but didn't force her out. There was grumblings of one ticket per person but my mom asked an rep who said you could buy 2-3. Anyway, the girl bought her the tickets! Just in time, too. We hopped on the bus and left the station at 10:45 AM. The girl gave my mom back her money when we were on the bus - "This is how it should be," she said (roughly translated Chinese). "It was just buying tickets." She was grateful to my mom for telling her which bus line to take to Chongqing. Ours was a 3 hour and 15-minute trip. The other bus would have taken over 4 hours.
As we left the station, I managed to capture this horrific sight in the back of the station:
Chengdu Bus Station. The Line.
We drove through the countryside, watching Hong Kong movies with a mahjong playing, kung fu fighting woman and another where some rich man's body guard runs naked through the streets as he's being chased by hit men.
At around 2:15 we arrive at Chongqing. It was raining.
(As I write this my mom and I are laughing about how we spend more time in our hotel than we do outside, but we've come to the conclusion that we're on vacation and that's OK.)
Anyway, we get our suitcase, get in a taxi, head toward our hotel, the taxi driver asks us questions assuming we're from Chengdu and we're seeking asylum in Chongqing. My mother corrects him and tells him that we're tourists, not refugees. He then offers to be our tour guide tomorrow for 500 RMB. Meh. No. Thank. You.
Our hotel is pretty sweet, and the kids are screaming again. The sun's out and that leaves me here.
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