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【Part 2; Police】
I didn’t know she called whom, but soon 3 policemen showed up…
One of them said “护照” with an exaggerated gesture, so I passed him my passport. He confirmed that I’m a Japanese, then said “come” in English. It’s great that he can speak English, at least some words.
I went outside of the security office and found a police car on the street. The policeman opened the door, so I stepped inside with my backpack. Oh, this is perfect.
They didn’t say where we were heading, but literally in 20 seconds we arrived at the nearest police station. Did they have to use a police car? Was that a gift for me as a special experience? Thank you in that case.
Anyway, this is the very first time in my life that I was captured by the police. Well, I was stopped by the police in England and Japan. I went to a police station once in Japan to report that I lost my key. However, it was my first time to be captured.
I think I need to make it clear. I didn’t do anything illegal. They took me because I’m a foreigner.
I entered the police station. Since I didn’t say any Chinese word so far, they are trying to translate their Chinese to Japanese. I don’t know why but somehow the translation works more accurate in English than in Japanese, however, asking them to translate into English would make the situation complicated, so I didn’t.
They asked me
“why and when did you come here?”
“where are you staying?”
“when will you leave China?”
“where do you go next?”
“do you have any friend or family here?”
“what is your occupation?”
blah blah blah.
So I showed them the train ticket from Beijing to Urumqi and explained that
“I just arrived today”
“I’m just looking for a cheap hotel that I can sleep tonight”
“I’m a student”.
To be honest, I wanted to say
"It's already dark outside. Can I sleep here tonight? This must be the safest place in the city, right?"
but I didn't, of course.
What actually happened was that when I replied “I came here for travelling”, they said “why?”.
Why???
Because I thought this place must be worth visiting. Why did you say why? What is why?
Anyway, the police officers tried to translate their questions, but they gave up and called someone who can speak Japanese.
After answering all the questions that I’ve already answered, the lady on the phone finally said “you can not stay at a local hotel because they don’t have a certification. There’s a 5-star hotel near you so stay there”.
That’s not a suggestion but an order by the police.
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