The other side of Beijing. About how stuffy

Summer. Third half of July. Landing in Beijing. There are few tourists, mostly Chinese. As I approached Beijing on the plane, I saw the grayness of the city. Easy landing. Beijing Capital International is the oldest airport in China (founded in 1958) and has three terminals. I had a second one, it's not very big. It is difficult for tourists to get lost here.

If you know basic English, you can easily find the right check-in desk, passport control, baggage reception and more. If you do not know, you can always ask other tourists. A lot of people. Everyone is standing with signs, filming the arrivals on camera, smiles and ringing voices around! For a second, I felt like a star. You won't find that in Russia. . "Another country, other people," I reassured myself. And now we are on the streets of the capital of China!

It's so stuffy! I want to go back to the airport. Taxi. Now you can see the city. Multi-storey buildings, cars, bicycles and people. Lots of people. Lots of bikes. It turns out that bicycles are very common in Beijing. Come on. Wide roads. Strangely, not a single colored building is visible - everything is gray, faded, like the sky itself. A feeling of stuffiness is created: stuffy from endless crowds, from the grayness of the city and from the very temperature of the air. I'm cramped. I want to go to Russia and breathe! I got out of the car, I need to buy a SIM card. I walk to the office, every passer-by looks straight in the eyes. It's getting weird, I'm looking down. Oh, how dirty! I bought a China Mobile SIM card.

SIMKIES are expensive. I bought for 102 yuan (1 yuan = about 10 rubles), the price depends on the package offered. Mine was average. The main thing is that the Internet is, and you can call by wechat. I learned it in Russia and downloaded the app, which is good, because in Beijing I would hardly do it. In China, there is no play market, google, instagram, email, facebook, unless you install a VPN. It is better to take care of it in your home country. Well, I'll know now.

I'm leaving the office with a SIM card. Looking around - none of the European nationality. "Maybe they go to the sights?" I thought. Nope, in Yekaterinburg you will go outside - there is everything: Mongols, African Americans, the same Chinese and others. Does no one go to China? she said. Another taxi and grayness in the front window of the car. Come on. If there is a taxi badge on the car, then at the end of the trip the driver will give a check, which indicates the amount for the service provided.

This is convenient because in a taxi without signs, the driver calls the amount in Chinese, which can cause problems for the tourist. I pay, go out and immediately feel an unpleasant smell of air. "It's dirt, waste," a friend explains to me. I am going to my new place of residence while I live in Beijing.

I'm going, I didn't see any urns on the way. Now we know where the air and dirt come from. Saw a couple of people digging through trash cans. I think they're well-dressed, neat. I got in the elevator. My savior is air conditioning! Now you can enjoy the cool air. I live in the Xicheng district (the name translates as "Western City"), this is not a center, but everything I need is nearby - a bank, a supermarket (you can buy imported products there), Beihai Park, a small clothing and grocery market, a cafe, the subway.

Nearby there are also many attractions: Prince Gong Palace, the Metropolitan Museum, Beijing Zoo, Temple of Heaven, Shishiku Cathedral, Nyujie Mosque, Qi Baishi House-Museum and Shichahai. My new "home" is neat, clean, everything you need for a comfortable stay is available. Only the shower is strange - there is a washing machine, sink, toilet and when taking a shower, all this is a little flooded, since there is no shower stall - only a floor without fences. Water comes out through the opening. Okay, that won't be a problem, I'll get used to it. There is no longer any desire to go outside. The first impression is suffocating. But there is still hope inside that things will change for the better in the coming days.

Author of the text: Kristina Vostrukhina