Travels in Chongqing: Nighttime River Cruise and meeting a new friend

Jessica and I did some research on taking a night cruise, which we had read was the best way to see the skyscrapers of Chongqing, and we had tried and failed to figure it out a couple days earlier. This day, we knew where to look for tickets; near the departure point of Chaotianmen Dock. This was very near Raffles City, which is two huge skyscrapers connected near the top to two other, shorter, skyscrapers, with a big mall on the lower floors full of western stores, Chinese stores, fast food and restaurants (along with hotels and residences); all the shopping one could ask for. The two buildings are also slightly curved, so the pictures below are not altered, the buildings are built that way.

There is a large platform to view the river, bridges, and city behind the building.

We did some browsing in the mall, had lunch, and then headed toward Chaotianmen Dock. We saw a booth selling many cruise tickets, and went inside. We wound up seeing more of these in the area later, but this was the first one we saw, so we confirmed the time later that evening at 7pm, and, as we understood it, would last until 9pm. With tickets in hand, we walked around the area a bit, first confirming our dock #7 was easily found, then walking back to the main city. So many stairs back up to the city from the dock, when we finally saw a place to sit, we rested, as it was a humid and sticky day.

As we did, a young Chinese man approached us, and asked if we spoke English, and where we were from. It was not very common for anyone to approach us for more than a hello, and our travel spider-sense kicked in not to trust, but he kept asking us questions, and we were happy to answer. He introduced himself as Lucas, and he was a recent college graduate studying English and earlier that day had taken his entrance exam for graduate school at a university in Chongqing. He asked what we had planned for the day, and we told him about the night cruise; it was still early afternoon, and he asked if we wanted to walk around the city with him, as he was leaving the next day to return to his home city. We said ok, and we got a little lost, as happens in Chongqing, and stopped in a Starbucks for some iced coffees and A/C.

After, we tried to go in to see the Chongqing Guotai Artistic Center, as the building looked cool, with all of these huge red Chopsticks coming out of it. The security guard at the door waved us off with a simple, “no” and we realized it was not the Chongqing Art Museum that we had thought it was (and Lucas confirmed), but rather a performance hall.

We then walked on to Jiefangbei Square, where we had visited in the evening a few nights earlier, having fun talking with Lucas. We saw the large clock-tower, known as the Liberation Monument , with many people taking pictures in front of it, and went to do the same.

We traveled more of the area, not sure where we were going, and Lucas said he wanted to try some rabbit since that was a famous dish of Chongqing (one of many). We were not successful on that hunt, but we did find a place for us all to eat some dinner, and see some more parts of Chongqing.

Lucas asked us all sorts of questions on how to say things in English, and how we refer to things, as any good student of language does. We were having fun hanging out and exploring a city that was new to us all, but it was nearing the time for the night cruise. Lucas said he wanted to join us, so he bought a ticket, and informed us that the cruise was not two hours (7-9pm, as we thought), rather 45 minutes, and one could take the boat at 7, 8 or 9pm. We had a laugh, as the tickets weren’t the cheapest, but still wanted to see the Chongqing skyline at night, which is very famous, so went to the dock.

The ship was a few floors, and fancier than expected.

They even said there was a performance on one of the floors during the cruise (which seemed odd for only a 45-minute cruise, so we skipped it). We took seats at a table on the top level, and shared a big beer. Once dusk came upon us, the buildings started to light up. They even had lampposts on the top, which adds to the effect.

Then the night sky fully took over; first we saw Hongyadong, which is famous as an old town area right in downtown, and, while we did not actually visit during our time in Chongqing, the pictures at night are the coolest.

The rest of the buildings on the river looked very cool as well.

Truly a feast for the eyes, we all had such a good time, and the 45 minute trip didn’t go by too fast. Afterward we headed back to street level, and shared a Didi back to our hotel, with Lucas’ hotel on the way. We were lucky too as it was a madhouse trying to get a Didi after the river cruise was over, and he was able to speak to the driver because she was in a different spot than we had originally chosen (directions are tough in Chongqing) and we were lucky he was there. In the car, he showed us the videos he had made with other English speakers he had met, and we were more than happy to film a short video for him at his request. He later sent it to us, along with a few other photos of our day, and it was very sweet.

We soon arrived at his hotel, and we wished him well and thanked him for sharing such a fun day with us. He was such a goodhearted young man; he said he could call us Auntie and Uncle, and it made us feel old for a second, but we liked it and laughed about it on the way back to the hotel. Our initial apprehension led to a really good day that couldn’t have happened any other way, thank you Lucas!