China 2026

So our travel normally goes smoothly. But this time it was different. Our first flight from Amsterdam to Guangzhou was filled with turbulence. So no sleeping on the way to China. We had a layover(planned) in Guangzhou, arriving in the morning at 06:00 and leaving in the evening around 20:30 to our final destination Chongqing. Since Ming has some friends living in Guangzhou, we set up a meeting before hand to grab some lunch and spent some time together. We had some chicken herbal hotpot, and after that they tried to teach me some Mahjong. To bad for them I got the hang out of it fast as I won 3 times in a row by their surprise after some rounds of explaining. It was around 17:00 we decided to head back to the airport and prepare for our flight. But there was a rainstorm that caused some delays. Our plane left Chengdu late and that means we had to departure late as well. So we had to fight our sleep, we’ll I had to since Ming fell a sleep quite fast in the airport chairs, to stay awake for our departure that was just after midnight. Again the flight was filled with turbulence and noise, so no sleep again. We arrived after a long time in Chongqing. Luckily the dad of Ming insisted on staying awake and picking us up. So we landed around 2:30, and had half a hour drive to the apartment we are staying. Time to get some sleep in after about 38 hours awake.

The next day we woke up around 14:30. Still tired but had some formal things to take care of. Since we stay with family and not a hotel, I need to register myself at the police station so they know where I stay. After the registration we had some breakfast/lunch. Ming orders a lot before we go to China since clothing for her suits better and she likes to shop for little things to bring back. She decided for the rest of the day to unpack all her packages. Since I only ordered 1 thing I was finished quite quick. I decided to head out for a supermarket while Ming stayed for unpacking. We had some dinner later in the evening, and started planning the next couple days with the parents as we want to visit Hunan together to pay respect at the grave of the grandparents of Ming. After that we went to sleep.

The day after we had to take care of some formalities. We want to get married soon and need some formal documents from China as Ming still holds her chinese identity. We woke up around 9 and had some breakfast at the parents place. After breakfast we went to place to get the documentation. Mentally preparing myself it is going to be a busy place where a lot of people try to arrange something. But arrived there it was a small place with 2 offices and nobody in the building. Requesting the document took a couple minutes. After that we split ways with the family and Ming and me went to a shopping mall to get some new stuff. Since our powerbanks are not allowed on domestic flights, we had to get new ones that are approved with the ccc logo. I also wanted to go look for some new shoes, but the store we went last year is not here anymore. After visiting some shops we went to take a massage, and got something to eat for lunch. We walked around a bit and went back to the house. We helped with some garden work for the parents and had a home-cooked meal. After the meal Ming and me went on a stroll around the neighborhood checking if our previous coffee shop was still here. But sadly the shop closed, so instant coffee it is for the next weeks. We made our way back and jumped in to the bed for some needed sleep.

The yoyo effect, whenever a document is ready you have to drop everything and go collect it. As was our case in the morning of the next day. So in the morning we went out to collect the documents and start the next process. After that was done it was time for me to do something I did not do for the last 4 years. Time to dump my long hair and get a short cut again. We took the train into the city center and I found a barber shop online and sat down for a hour while they did their magic. This took most of our day. After ming had found a temple on the side of the hill and decided to go there. We wrote down our wishes and left them at the temple and enjoyed the scenery. We could not stay long as the temple was closing, they did not had times online, and it was so remote, we could not book a online taxi for the way back. So time to walk. We found a staircase on the side of the mountain trough a forest. About 300m of stairs later we were able to book a taxi. Ming was craving barbecue for a while, so no need to argue and went to a barbecue place. After enjoying a long meal we had to take a taxi back as we needed to pack. Tommorow is road trip day.

Since the internet is not to good where we are, a coveredge of the last few days. We lost a day spending on the road driving for 11 hours. We went to visit family living in Hunan, Liling. So it was leaving early, and only pitstops at the gas stations. When arrived in Liling we stayed with family. Arriving at 20:30, we ate dinner and had a short walk outside in the “countryside “. Yes for them it’s countryside, for me it’s a city. The day after the reunion of family became bigger as 2 sides of the family joined. It’s is the ChingMing festival, remembrance of the death. We spent the afternoon ate the graveyard, during the festivals you light candles, clean the graves, burn money for the afterlife, bring food offerings and light some fireworks. I was not allowed to take pictures. After that it was time for a family lunch, and to earn some respect. Drink some alcohol that taste like cleaning rub and smoke some ciggies. Scared the ciggie will light my breath on fire with how strong it was. Using my personal translator Ming, we got some conversations going. After lunch we went to the Liling ceramic museum, learning about the history of the area. Then we went to the ceramics selling area to bring some stuff home. Dinner time. Since it’s not often for the family to visit, the entire family came to have dinner. Around 20 people came. A good meal in the tummy we went to see a couple night markets, and roam the streets a bit. Time to hit the bed, cause the next day we had some driving to do again. Getting up early again we drove to the famous Zhangjiajie area. The avatar mountains, arriving at dinner time we eat, and prepare for the hikes tommorow.

A day to stretch the legs, Avatar mountain day. We are in the beautiful Zhangjiajie area. We woke up around 06:00 as we bought an entry ticket to the site for 07:00. We had breakfast at a local place. Eat some bao's and slowly wake up. We make our way to the entrance about 07:00 and took a bus to the famous elevator. This elevator will bring you about 350 meters high in about a couple seconds, from here you get a beautiful view of the mountain range. When we were up the mountain we had some time to take pictures of the surrounding. The plateau is so big it has its own business service running. So when we finished on the first sight seeing we took the bus to the second sight seeing. This was the location that inspired for the Avatar the most, but I found a meat skewer that inspired me to eat. We walked for about 20 minutes along the ridge looking at the surrounding. Everything is well and beautiful maintained. After the 20 minites or so walked we took the bus to our next destination, the cable car. We got of the bus down the hill, and the parents of Ming got a bit tired, so they used the carry service to get themselves to the top, and Ming and me walked. On the top we had a small coffee break and got something to eat during the cable car ride. It brought us between the mountains, overlooking some rice fields while being in between the trees. We got out at a in between spot and took the bus to the next location. Here we had a climb down a hill on some stairs trough a beautiful forest. When arriving down we again took a bus to the next location. It was a cable ride to the top of another plateau, where on top the parents and us splitted. The next walk around the ridge and scenery took us about one and a half hour. There were many monkeys to see and I almost got in a fight with one for coming to close. We had a quick lunch on the plateau and when finished we took the cable car back down and a bus ride to the next location. This was a scenic route that we started and about 2 km in we found out we still had about 4 km to go. So time to get the hiking spirit in and we started walking. It took us all the way next to the river in between the mountains. As some of the spots it felt magical and pictures will not do it justice. When the 6km hike was finished we took a bus back to our entrance and walked to the hotel, here it was time for some needed rest. After a hour we got out again and found something to eat with the parents again. We have to get up early tommorow to rush back to Chongqing. Since Ming was never properly registered for the birth location we have to go back and fix it, as we need the documents for our mariage. So time to sleep and get up at 06:00 again.

The next few days it was all about the paper work again. Since they discovered a mistake in the paperwork, we had to rush back to settle things. We left the hotel in the morning at 06:00 to drive for about 6 hours, arriving at 12:00. We had a quick bite of noodles and went to take care of formalities. First get a new picture taken for the documents, then go to the police station to change the documents, to be send to another police station to do it there. After the change rush to the notery office to start a new process. The rest of the day we did not do much. The day after it was the same with paperwork, get up, pick up the documents from the notary office, go to foreign affairs to deliver the document and start the process again. After that we went to something on my list of to do's. I wanted to go see the tech market to find some parts for pc's and look at some second hand camera equipment. So to the market we went, and my little nerd heart starting beating a bit faster. What cool to see everything under one roof, recycling, selling, repairing, new systems being build. We found a vendor for camera equipment and came to a deal for a new (secondhand) lens. I wanted a bit more zoom range and found a good match, and it was more then a 100 euro cheaper then the second hand pricing in the Nethetlands, so done deal. We ventured in a closeby mall. And found a floor dedicated to nerd stuff. I was on the lookout for some Pokemon cards for myself and friends, so we chatted with a vendor and he send us in the right direction. We drove to another mall, where we could find all the things needed and get everything bought. We grabbed a quick bite in the centre and made our way back to rest for tommorow.

Today we went to the Dazu Rock carvings. For the fellow gamers that read this. It is a site prominent in the Black king Wukong game. We woke up to eat some noodles in the family home. After that we took a taxi to Dazu, about 1.5 hour away. Arrived there and after buying the ticket, we first went to see 2 movies, first about the history from Dazu, second was a Dome movie where they had close up shots of the carvings. We walked out on the second movie cause it will be better to see it in real life. The park is prety big again, so they have their own shuttle bus service. We took the bus up the mountain, and arrived there we walked a bit to the museum. Had a quick look and decided to just go trough it fast, as we had a evening appointment. We took a little shuttle to the entrance of the scenic area. Here we had to fight trough the crowd, as there were many groups. But being dutch i had a pretty good look of stuff over the other people. We admired the multiple rock carvings they had, to after that continue to the temple. We walked around a bit in the temple to go to the “old street”. After roaming around there we took the bus back to the entrance. We had to rush back with a taxi, to meet family friends for dinner. Strange since we are half way trought the holiday and it was the first time eating hotpot. We enjoyed the meal and went to the family friends Mahjong place. They teached me with patience and Ming and me played against the Mom and the close family friend. I became second, beating Ming and the mom. So i have bragging rights now. After it was time to go back and hit the bed.

Time to meet some important friends if Ming. Ming has been friends with the girl since childhood, and the friend and husband always take amazing care of us. I feel like close friends with them. We meeted in the central were we visited some shops. After the shops we went to a comedy show, i tried to make it work with the translator app, but there was to much local dialect that the app was struggeling with. After the comedy show we went to a very luxery spa location, here we had an all you can eat dinner and after dinner we went for a very good massage. The massage rooms are different, you have a huge screen that you can watch content on, while they massage you. After the massage we went to 2 bars and had some drinks and played some games. We stayed the night at their place. After waking up, rhe husband and me while Ming was still snoring. We got a coffee and walkes around at the tech market. After i had for the first time the suger coated fruits that you can find in china. We went to an arcade to have some fun till it was time to eat lunch. The treated us to Northern Chinese food, where the husband is from, we also got to meet some of their close friends. And share some strong alcohol again. After that we walked to the house were we chatted a bit, and we parted ways after. I hope we can invite them soon to the Netherlands to return the favor of the great care they give us. Ming and me went back to Beibei to wash some clothes and grabbed a korean bbq. After we walked a bit in the student area and raced some people back home on the streets with a rental scooter.

The last few days of our travel is mainly about arranging the last steps for the paperwork and meeting family friends for dinners. The trip is almost coming to and end and we were finally able to finish the paperwork process. For the rest we went to some stores to get some ingredients to make a hptpot at home again. The first evening we had a family friend chef over, who cooked a delicious meal for us that was hard to stop eating. The other day we met the close friends again for a last time hotpot. We have 1 full free day left in the holiday were we found a location we will check tommorow.

For the last day Ming had found a location on Chinese social media. Its is a central part in Chongqing where after the second world war the party's had negotiations about the future of China. The old locations were still intact with also a western house for foreign input in the negotiations. Every location was walking distance from each other and connected with beautiful walkways and scenery. We also went trough some tunnels from in the war era. After we took the train back to Beibei and had a quick last massage. Had a home meal and went out for an evening walk on a old neighborhood where Ming was active as a child. We had back to sleep as we need to pack and leave tommorow back to Beijing and the Netherlands.