Man's 'dystopian' commute to work in a Chinese city is straight out of a Christopher Nolan movie

Certain places on earth would instantly transport you to the future, or at least make you feel so. Chongqing located in Southwestern China is one such place. Chongqing is located on steep gorges and rugged terrain but doesn't resemble any regular mountain city. The TikTok creator Jackson, (@journeyofjackson) who regularly makes videos talking about life in different cities in China, recently uploaded a video on Chongqing that went viral. In the video, he takes the viewers through what it's like to go to work living in the city. He is seen walking down the eighteenth floor of his house without an elevator, fortunately, he doesn’t have to go down many stairs, because the ground floor is on the 12th floor.

In a video that feels out of a Christopher Nolan movie designed to bamboozle the audience, the man struggles to make sense of what is up and what is down. Yes, there are floors below, however, to get there, folks living there have to climb up, and then again go down. "Why is commuting to work in Chongqing so hard?" Jackson says at the beginning of the video. "I start by heading down to the 18-story apartment with no elevator," he says. "Thankfully I only need to climb down a few stories because the ground floor is on the 12th floor."Jackson then goes to the subway station which he says looks like a "fallout shelter." The high-speed city tram or the subway is more like a roller coaster than a train as sometimes the cars even pass right through residential buildings. "The train casually goes through residential buildings." Finally, after a fairly long ride, Jackson comes to the city square which too is not on the ground but on the 22nd floor. You can actually look down to see cars driving and pedestrians walking, far down below.

Since 1997, the entire area around Chongqing has been included in the urban area which makes it the biggest city in the world. While there is no denying that the city is extremely futuristic, there are simple rural areas as well. The sci-fi portion of the city is extremely well-tied with the unique and simple area where thousands of years of Chinese history are perfectly preserved in building and their surroundings.

The video then cuts to the evening when Jackson is seen leaving the office. This time around he decides to take the city bus and immediately finds himself on a viaduct at a height of twenty floors above the city. "This is too much for me, maybe the bus will be more relaxing, and somehow the bus takes me 20 stories up in the sky," he says. The city is one of a kind and people in the comment section just can't stop talking about the bizarre yet extraordinary city. "Does Google Maps work here? Do any maps work here? How do maps work here!!," @amy joked. "What is the reason for the bus driving next to the planes," added @Jonny_773. "20 stories in the sky? On a bus?" writes @blackfeedclipz. People also couldn't stop praising the architecture, "The logistical puzzle of designing, building, and maintaining this is mind-boggling," read one comment by @William."The way the architecture uses Bridges ramps and the tops of other buildings to create ways to travel and open space making layers of the city is so futuristic," added @Lee.

You can follow Jackson (@journeyofjackson) on TikTok for more travel content.