We stayed in the west part of Chongqing, far from the center of the action. There was, however, a big tourist area near our hotel, within walking distance, in fact, named Ciqikou Ancient Town. We started our trek walking along the Yangtze River (or Chang Jiang, in Chinese, we later learned), which snakes its way through the middle of Chongqing. We knew there was a boat that left from the Ciqikou port, but even though we walked past it, we did not find it (and one would think we would have, since there were signs and a big archway, but there was no boat or schedule we could discern.
What we did see was one of the many cool bridges in Chongqing, a gold pagoda, a small shrine with gold buddhas, and a big group of people congregating near the water.
The people were milling about outside the huge archway that marked the entrance to Ciqikou Ancient Town. As it started to drizzle, we gave up the boat idea for that day, and proceeded up the steps, under the arch, and into the Ancient Town.
We were amongst many fellow tourists as we looked for a quick bite to eat, and some lime tea, and we found both at the same shop, with the owners welcoming us inside to eat and drink. There are many shops and restaurants, as there are at all tourist locations in China.
Ciqikou is unique in that it dates back nearly 1,000 years to the Song dynasty as an important port on the river. We were able to walk down the many narrow side streets and get a little lost; we’ve noticed that, when taking a slight detour off the main route and away from the crowds, it becomes much quieter. This has been true of many of the tourist attractions we have seen thus far in China.
We eventually found ourselves in the main square, where the buildings looked more unique and traditional.
We wandered around some more, checking out some similar-looking buildings amidst lots of fellow tourists.
Then we saw this odd cylindrical stand, that had a lot of taps on it; and a ticker going across the top like a stock market…what could it be?
We found it was, in fact, full of beer, and good beer, to boot! After getting cups and help figuring out how to get the beer out, we sat on a bench nearby and did some people watching. It was fun seeing fellow tourists, from Europe, Russia and other parts of China and noticing how everyone dresses.
The rain began to pick up, so we headed on, walking past some more old town buildings with huge, modern, apartment buildings in the background.
We next arrived at a place called Getslane, or Get slane, or Gets lane, we were never quite sure, which was a residential area with some restaurants and shops, and a big gramophone.
We saw a place up ahead, called Black Rock Coffee Bar. We walked in and had a seat at the bar. It was a small place, and the owner was just opening up. He introduced himself in English as Mikhael, and we learned he was from Istanbul, a place we had enjoyed visiting very much. We had a couple of beers and talked with him for a while. It was fun to talk in English with a Turk!
Mikhael told us about a pizza place nearby, and we had been craving some American food, so he called the owner and told her we were on the way. Show Off Pizza made brick oven, New York style, pizza, and it was wonderful. We even made a pizza sandwich, because when having really thin crust pizza, why not? It was so good.
It was a great way to end our second day in Chongqing, more to come!
Phil's WayPastCool 