Chongqing was not on our original itinerary, we were actually supposed to visit a more scenic area and city named Guiyang; but about a week before we decided to change things up. Chongqing has become a more popular place to visit for Westerners more recently and that is usually centered around the futuristic looking buildings of the downtown and spicy food. We knew we would visit Yangshou County, which is decidedly scenic, so instead of two scenic places in a row, we swapped out for a city instead.
The only thing was, it was a seven hour train trip to Chongqing. We were trying to avoid long train trips, but felt it was worth it. Of course, the train was delayed and it was not the most enjoyable ride (though not awful, to be certain), we made it, and arrived just after midnight. We booked the hotel last minute as well; and note, this can be done in China with relative ease, as there are so many hotels. Getting the train tickets is the harder part, as these can only be booked two weeks in advance, and for popular routes, sell out quickly.
We arrived at our hotel, which was on the west side of Chongqing, luckily not too far from the train station, and went right to bed. After a good nights rest, we awoke the next day and started with a visit to one of Chongqing’s most popular attractions: the Panda exhibit at the Chongqing Zoo. Now I mentioned in my Kunming post on the visit to their zoo that I am not the biggest fan of zoos in general, but when one has the chance to see the most Pandas at any zoo in China, one must go, because how often does one get a chance to see a Panda?
The Zoo is really a reasonably priced, only 20 Yuan ($3 USD) per person, and the Pandas are the first exhibit within the park, so its possible to just see the Pandas and take off. The Panda’s are quite popular, as one can imagine, but we are taller than most Chinese tourists, so we were able to see them in their enclosures pretty easily. There are some large cameras on tall tripods, and we later learned the Pandas are broadcast all over China for all to see on TV. Without further ado, here are some Panda pics:
They are very cute and mostly ate bamboo while we watched them. There are other animals in the zoo, of course, but many of the enclosures are small; my favorite animal, the rhinoceros, had three white rhinos in a pretty small enclosure, seemingly too small for these huge animals, but still I was geeking out over getting to see them so close.
We didn’t stay too much longer at the zoo before moving on, looking for some snacks and air conditioning, as it was hot and humid. We bought some refreshing drinks and had them in a large square called Heping Park as we watched people carry on about their everyday lives; many retirees sat under trees and conversed with friends.
Chongqing is the biggest city by population in the world; 32 million people call it home. It is also home to some of the most spicy food in all of China, and a friend we met in Dali told us, the food is spicy, and the people are as well. We saw that when our Didi driver was trying to pick us up from the square; another driver honked (not uncommon) but also rolled down his window to yell at him (very uncommon for us, the first time we had seen road rage in China).
We were on our way to Kuixing Building, a popular spot for tourists, and we were joined by many, from all over the world. It is a large square, built on top of a hospital. There is a large square, with shops and restaurants, and a couple temples, with the city in the background. Looks pretty normal, right?
…but the square is actually 20 stories up! There is a whole hospital underneath it! The fun thing to do here is look over the edge of the square, its super weird!
Chongqing is sometimes called the 8-D(imensional) City as it is built on a few levels, connected by winding streets. We did a lot of walking up and up and up and then down and down and down so many staircases; if you visit, make sure your calves are stretched out, and you have good walking shoes. What is the hardest part is that the map app, or Didi rideshare app, couldn’t always pinpoint our location, since it couldn’t be sure what level we might be on! There is also a nice view of (part of) the city skyline across the river.
We then did some walking, up and up and down and down, looking for dinner, not ready for the famous Chongqing spicy hotpot we had heard so much about. We saw a burger place on the map, so went in search of it. It was not easy, and we found ourselves in a fancy hotel, as it said the restaurant was inside, on the 4th floor. The hotel porters, speaking no English and our translations not being understood, told us it was not there. So after a trip outside in the very busy and crowded Jiefangbei Pedestrian Street (which is a large shopping district), we went back into the hotel, and found the correct elevators to take us to the 4th floor, and we found the burger joint amidst a fancy spa, workout gym, sushi restaurant, all hidden away on the fourth floor from the casual tourist.
We ordered our burgers, one covered in cheese, and ate them in glee, happy to be away from the humidity outside.
We walked a bit on the pedestrian street once outside, taking in the pretty night lights of the buildings around us.
Super full, we took a Didi ride back to our hotel; a fun first day in Chongqing!
Phil's WayPastCool 