Tidbits of Chongqing
-Chong means double and qing means happiness = double happiness
-Chongqing served as the capital during WWII.
-It’s usually foggy and rainy which made it harder for the Japanese to bomb them.
-Mongolia was trying to conquer many parts of China. They aren’t good at climbing or swimming so it took them 36 years trying to get access to Chongqing. They ended up killing the leaders of Mongolia who tried. This made them angry but Chongqing was never conquered by Mongolia.
-Only 4 months worth of blue sky in Chongqing
-Chongqing is the captial city of the mountains & rivers. Thus 5000 bridges. It is incredibly mountainous city.
-It is the biggest and youngest municipality.
-Included 38 different districts with 3000 different rivers.
-Chongqing is an immigration city and Tuija minority.
-The largest & tall buildings are only about 15-20 years old.
-Fastest developing city in China within 15 years.
-There use to be 36 million in Chongqing but in the last few years there have been less marriages and less children bringing the population down to 32 million.
-Chongqing is famous for hot pot & spicy. You must drink tea to help your stomach.
-The Spice comes from peppercorns – Mala.
-Famous for hot springs in the winter.
-Summer can get up to 46C
– Douying & TikTok streamers/influencers can make a salary on the higher end of 10000RMB/month while a “normal” worker makes normal worker 8000RMB/month.
Original self planned itinerary – Alternative
My original plan for a day in Chongqing would have brought us to so many areas which was quite ambitious:
Liziba Station 李子坝观景平台 – train station that goes through a building – you can even go into the building for a different view
Eling Park 鹅岭公园 – goose neck park – garden design from 1909 & go up the pagoda for the 360 views of Chongqing – free
Shanchengxiang (mountain City Alley) – old residential area – reflects the mountainous topography of chongqing – it has existed over 1000 years
Shibati 十八梯 – old charm – old settlement built on 18 segments of staircases – connecting the lower with the upper of the city – start up top at consular lane and then walk down – much easier
Jiefangbie Pedestrian Street 解放碑步行街 / Bayi food st – cheap eats – lots of spicy food
Kuizinglou 魁星楼 – a tower where it looks like you are on the main floor but its actually 22 floors up
Hongya Dong 重庆洪崖洞- go at night to see it illuminated – the lights are only on from 6-10PM
Qiansimen Bridge 千厮门大桥 – great panoramic views and Hongya Dong view from above. If you go across the bridge, you can see it from another view.
04/23/25
Xi’an – Chongqing 17-25°C – rain early in the day and super sunny when we arrived at 4PM
956AM-331PM (6HRS) high speed train to Chongqing from Xi’an. We were smarter this time and grabbed a Cup Noodle before we boarded and used the hot water machine for a light meal on board.
We said goodbye to Betty & hello to Yudy our tour guide for Chongqing.
Yudy made me “team leader Ro”
Yudy is a native Chongqing resident. She is of Tuija minority and grew up deep in the mountains. She studied English and is very talkative. She’s a passionate speaker. The way she speaks kind of sounds like the Singaporean accent but that is the Tuija/Chongqing way of speaking. She has a son & daughter.
Lots of energy but I would say she could have been a little more communicative. When she met up with us at the train station, she took us directly to Hot pot but did not mention the meal wasn’t included. There was no other option as the night cruise was booked that night for everyone and there was no way to transfer to the hotel first.
We went straight to Honest Daddy Yu restaurant to try hot pot which is what Chongqing is famous for – a little bit spicy but tasty. This meal was not included ¥1170 ($233CAD for 8 people).
After dinner, we all went on the Light view cruise optional tour (should have been $45USD/pp) but apparently they got tickets for all of us at no extra cost.
It was the perfect timing and weather for cruising. We originally were going to do our own thing but this was great to see all the city lights and the infamous Hongya Dong area without fighting the crowds. The moment we left the boat, it started to rain as others were in line to board the cruise we just got off of.
Finally made it to the hotel around 930PM. We stayed at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Chongqing Nan’an 重庆嘉发希尔顿逸林酒店.
04/24/25
Chongqing to Yangtze River Cruise – 16-18°C – dark skies with light drizzle
830AM start to go see the lovely pandas at Chongqing Zoo. There were pandas who had spent 7 years living in Canada but they were brought back to China during the pandemic due to bamboo shortages abroad. Pandas are China’s national treasure. Less than 2000 pandas in the world. Pandas abroad can only be “on loan” max 20 years before returning to China. For pandas to be compatible, it depends on the smell/scent. A 4 year old Panada is equivalent to an 18 year old for human being. It only takes 2 weeks to know if they are pregnant followed by a 3-4 months pregnancy. After 1 year, they are separated from their mothers & eat bamboo. They can only eat bitter bamboo mainly from Chongqing area. They eat 50 kilos a day. They also eat some meat (beef, pork, fish) & fruit. Their favourite fruit are apples. They live to 20-23 years old.
Yudy gave us the option of exploring more of Chongqing with 3 additional spots for ¥100/pp to cover transport – Eling Park for mountain top view, Liziba Station – the train going through the building & Kuizinglou 魁星楼 – the platform tower where it looks like you are on the main floor but it’s actually 22 floors up.
We drove to the top of the mountain to Eling Park 鹅岭公园 – goose neck park. The garden was designed in 1909. There is a 7-storey pagoda with 360 views of Chongqing.
Our next stop was to the bottom to Liziba Station 李子坝观景平台. The infamous train that goes through a building – you can even go into the building for a different view. The weather decided to change for the worst and torrential downpour occurred the moment we got near the train station. Yudy, Nelson, Wei Chao & myself braved the rain to get the shot of the train going through while everyone else stayed on the bus but in a different location as you can’t have buses idling in that area. Our shoes were soaked and I should’ve just went barefoot. We made it back on the bus and as we drove off and made our way to lunch, the rain stopped. Lovely.
Lunch was up a flight of stairs and we had private rooms while the main dining area filled with school kids.
We went to Ci Qi Kou – the old town of narrow lanes lined with traditional architecture & shops selling pottery & handicrafts. I bought some pu’er tea in the shape of domes ¥20 ea. It can make about 20-25 cups. It is touristy and crowded but interesting to explore. I didn’t get the eagle tea but that is exclusive to Chongqing – it is a little smoky.
After exploring Ci Qi Kou for a little bit, we made our way to Kuizinglou 魁星楼. It is the famous square where it looks like you are on ground level but it’s actually 22 floors up from the “ground level”. To enter Kuizinglou, we got off the bus and took a washroom break in the hospital. The hospital entrance was on the 9th floor. We went up set of stairs to the square making it the 11th floor for the hospital. We took the elevator down to the 1st floor to get picked up. Once on the ground level, to the right is the famous Tron-like building structure of Hongya Dong 重庆洪崖洞. Hongya Dong structure is now primarily made up of 11 floors of hot pot. It is illuminated at night between 6-10pm.
From Chongqing, our next destination was to a Cruise ship to sail down the Yangtze River. At lunch, we were told the water levels were too low to meet us at the City Centre so we had to transfer 2hrs to another meeting point in Fengdu. Yudy brought us to a bus station and we ended up boarding a double decker bus with others who were going to board the same ship.
When we arrived, we were told to just get off the bus and board the boat and to let the porters bring our luggage down. We didn’t want our luggage to go missing so we decided to bring it down ourselves. What we didn’t know was it was a long way down to the boat. 300 steps down with all our luggage. The porters were moving 6-8 luggage’s on a bamboo stick all at once – rope on both sides so it was like a scale balancing the luggages. We committed & my bicep spasmed making it incredibly hard to eat dinner. It was a messy last minute transfer & boarding. Our contact person on the boat was a lady named Lucky. Once we got settled, we had enough time to eat the buffet on the boat for dinner.
Fengdu was suppose to be the first location we were scheduled to cruise to but with the water levels too low, we went by bus from Chongqing to Fengdu. Fengdu is in the center part of Chongqing. 120KM drive from Chongqing Dt.
