The China Diaries: Day One

The day started off at 10am with a private driver to the airport. I was flying with Hainan Airlines to Lanzhou, China in Gansu Province. I found the check in counter quickly and didn’t have to wait in line. While waiting for my backpack to clear the screening process, a lady came running over to tell me that there was a problem with the name on my ticket and that I needed to wait. They pulled my bag off. First hiccup of the trip and I wasn’t even out of the Taoyuan airport.

My plane ticket wasn’t showing my middle name, which is both on my passport and my permanent residency card. She made the name change in Taipei but was concerned about the other two flights I had on the same itinerary. The lady at the airport said that they are very strict in Lanzhou and they may not let me on the next flight if my name isn't the same. Time will tell.

The flight to Lanzhou was about four hours. Once we landed, we needed to take a bus to the tiny terminal. Upon entering, there were a ton of intense security guards telling everyone to remove their hats and their glasses. I had my sunglasses on the top of my head and the guard pointed at them and said very loudly in English, “NO!”

One guard approached me and asked me in English where I came from. I told him Taiwan. He directed me to the immigration line along with everyone else. As I was making my way into one of the lines, another guard pulled me aside and looked at my ticket and my entry and exit card which I had filled out on the plane. He nodded and directed me to continue on. Another guard came over and pulled me aside and asked to look at my passport. He had a list on a clipboard and was comparing my passport to something on that list. Once he was satisfied, he sent me back to the line. Again, another guard came over to look at my passport. He yelled to another guy in Chinese and all I really understood was something about a Canadian passport. By this time, I was trying to keep my cool. The guard handed me my passport and motioned for me to go and see another guard. Out of the line I went again. This final guy took me to a place where I needed to give them fingerprints and that seemed to be the end of it.

When I got to the immigration officer the first question he asked was if I could speak Chinese. When I responded yes, he struck up quite the conversation. He asked me why I was there, where I was going, where I was staying and where I studied Chinese. He then proceeded to tell me that my Chinese was good, in fact, much better than some people in China. Ha!

I was with him for about ten minutes before he finally let me through. Never have I been so thankful to get through immigration and be on my way. I am dreading my departure, especially knowing that my ticket doesn’t have my full name on it.

The terminal we were at was very tiny and there were no stores and no one was there selling phone cards. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about Wifi, I didn't have a plan B. My research had suggested that there was a train into the city but I only saw signs for a bus to the train station. It was 30RMB. 

I went up to the lady and smiled and told her in Chinese that I wanted to go to the train station. She gave me the sourest look ever. She asked me if I was able to pay with Weixin, which is WeChat. I have WeChat but it's not set up to make payments so I handed her a 100RMB bill. She looked terribly inconvenienced. She made a big deal about having to ask the people beside her if they had any change. Come on, lady! I can’t be the only one using money here!

The bus came about fifteen minutes later and took almost 1.5 hours to get to the train station. There was zero English on the bus and I was thankful I could understand the announcements. I got off at my stop and made my way towards the station. My hotel was supposed to be right across the street. I was looking for the Lanzhou Hualian Hotel. After looking up and down the street, I went into a hotel called the Lanzhou Mansion to ask where my hotel was. This was it, of course! Nowhere did it say the Lanzhou Hualien Hotel.

A welcome elephant waiting on my bed

Check in was quick and all of my train tickets for my trip were waiting for me at the front desk. Phew! The room was small but cute and comfortable. I went back out to see if I could find a phone card as I couldn't get onto the Wifi in the hotel. I had no luck even after asking the ladies at the hotel.

I did have an SMS from my phone carrier in Taiwan advertising data in China. It was a free call, so I called to see if they could hook me up. I was able to get 5GB of data for seven days for NT$888. Last year when I was in Shanghai, I got a phone card for 300RMB (NT$1,350) for 6GB for six days. It’s actually cheaper to go through my carrier.

The night was uneventful. I took a hot shower, charged my computer and my phone and went to bed. I was exhausted from the small challenges of the day. I am sure those are the first of more to come. I needed to be up at 6am so that I could get ready and catch my early morning train to Zhangye! Sleep came quickly and I was looking forward to what the next day had to offer!