Our plane left right on time from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Our destination is the south western Chinese municipality of Chongqing 重庆. We are flying China Southern Airlines 中国南方航空. Although it is not a budget airline, Chinese airlines frequently give big discounts for domestic destinations as the date of departure draws nearer. Discounts of 50-70% are not unheard of. We chose Guangzhoun as our launching pad into China’s Southwest because of the availability of cheap domestic tickets here. Besides, my friend can only enter from Guangzhou.
Service in the airplane was okay. It did seems that we were the only non-Chinese in the entire plane. Although the flight attendants didn’t really speak English they were all more than helpful. Our flight to Chongqing took around two hours and we got some rest before our adventure ahead.
Our plane arrived at Chongqing’s Jiangbei International Airport 重庆江北国际机场. The terminal building was all glass but lacked the imposing presence of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. However, considering that this is an airport in the the middle of China, where it was supposedly less developed than the coastal cities, it is already more than adequate.
We basically followed the rest of the passengers out of the plane and got our bags outside. At the crowded waiting area just outside the baggage claim area, we pondered our next move. We took some shots outside the terminal building. And for the first time we experience the perpetually cloudy sky to Chongqing, it is said that you can count the number of days the sky is clear here. It was also quite chilly but it was still bearable without the jackets.
We asked around on how to get to town, fortunately, they understood my basic Chinese and the nice people pointed us to the bus going to Shangqingsi 上清寺, the drop off point for travelers to the main city of Chongqing.
In the bus, we immediately realized one nasty habit of Chinese men, the smoke just about anywhere. Even inside public transport. Fortunately, the windows of the bus can be opened so I managed to get some fresh air. Despite the signs in the bus forbidding smoking, this nasty habit still continues. Probably because the driver himself was smoking. It just think it was so inconsiderate of them to continue smoking when it was no just their air that they’re polluting.
Anyway, it will only be a couple more minutes of bearing all that smoke before we get to Shangqingsi. Hopefully we can get there before I start turning blue.
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