Chongqing, China, Asia

I woke up this morning and met Greg for breakfast down at the restaurant before he headed off to see the pandas. He was not too happy about being here after that long journey, so he just wanted to move on as quickly as possible. Unfortunately there were no sleeper trains to Xi’an available until tomorrow, so he’s going to have to spend another night here and leave tomorrow. A girl he had met on the train yesterday came to the hostel and was going to be his tour guide for the pandas today. Doesn’t sound like he had that bad a trip after all!

I said bye to Greg and I don’t think our paths are going to cross again on this trip. He was a very nice guy and it was good to have a travel buddy for a few days. I didn’t have much time before having to leave for my train, so I just stayed at the hostel and got my stuff all packed up. My train was leaving at 2:32pm, so I checked out at 12pm and asked how I could get to the station by bus. I really didn’t want to have to pay 44 yuan ($7.30) again, like it was to get here when I could pay 4 yuan ($0.60) by bus. The people at the hostel were not much help at all. They just kept telling me that I had to go by taxi, and busses would take too long. I know this is a big city, but I can’t see how a bus could take over two hours to get somewhere when a taxi takes less than 20 minutes for the same journey. I wasn’t happy.

I waited for another hour and then got a taxi, and was happy to see that it only cost 24 yuan ($4) this time. This leads me to believe that the first taxi driver took Fabio and I for a ride around town. I hate not knowing a city when you first get there, because we just had no idea which way to go. Anyway, I got to the train station wicked early and found where I needed to wait to catch the train. I’m becoming quite a pro at this now, and I’m used to just pushing people out of my way now, because I found that if you’re not the pusher, you’re definitely the pushee!

I got into my 2nd class seat on the direct train to Chongqing, and it was exactly like an airplane seat. The train was pretty much brand new, so the second class was very nice, especially considering it was only a two hour ride. I just sat back and watched the new Transformers: Dark of the Moon film. Good stuff. I arrived in Chongqing at 4:40pm and realised just how big this city of 30 million is. A girl named Angelina from the hostel met me at the station and got me on to a bus to get back to the hostel. I’m really glad she was there, because her English was excellent so it was nice to have a converstaion with someone for a change. More importantly though, I NEVER would have found that hostel on my own. We got off the bus and had a 10-15 minute walk down about a million stairs and through some alley ways to get to the Yangtze River where the hostel is.

It’s not the nicest hostel, by far, but it will do. The staff definitely makes it more stayable, but the rooms are nothing special. I am staying in a six bed dorm tonight, because it is only $3.50 for the night, and I figured it could be a good way of meeting people. Wrong. They’re all Chinese and none of them appear to speak any English. Another good choice Eric! Angelina helped me book my cruise down the Yangtze River, but none are available for tomorrow, so I’ll have to stay here another night and go on Sunday. Not the end of the world I guess…