How to make friends in a city like Chengdu? Everybody will tell you a different story about that. Some will focus on the intern group and some go out late at night and make some good friends in a bar etc.

I have been rock climbing now for a few years. Bouldering is one of my favourites, the walls are not higher than 4-5 meters and there is no need for a rope. Standing in front of the wall, seeing the handles of the rout and figuring out how to climb it, is a situation in which you will make friends quickly. After three astonishing weeks in Chengdu, I decided to look for a climbing hall and I finally found it on top of a shopping mall. Firstly, I needed to ask a few people how to get there. It was not clear how to get there because it was on the 5th floor and I had to go to the 3rd floor in the elevator and then go upstairs to the 5th floor, but in the end I found it.

After figuring out how the routs are marked, I saw lots of stones but only a few routs so I approached another climber and asked him. It only took a few words and I was invited to climb with him. Finally I understand that you need to be a little bit more creative in this climbing hall which makes climbing more exciting. I enjoyed my first visit there and my new WeChat group keep me in contact with the other climbers of four different nationalities. The group helps me to socialise as well as improve my Chinese.
That is my story on how to make friends in Chengdu.