We only had one full day in Chóngqìng but, as I wasn’t that keen on the city it was enough time for me. It was hot and humid and sticky; not very pleasant to be walking around in but a good deal nicer than it is to be there in the middle of summer, which my Chinese friends tell me is a nightmare – Chóngqìng turns into a furnace. The city was hilly, with mountains framing the edge of every panoramic view, and sky scrapers set at the top of hills so they loom even more so over the people down by the river.
I’m not a fan of uphill walking, and we did a lot of stair climbing in Chóngqìng. It was interesting to enter a winding stairwell from ground level, down by the river, and walk through all the tumble-down buildings and bustling markets to emerge out amongst the high rise buildings and 5 star apartments. A lot of old houses have been pulled down, the scars of modernization evident at every corner, and rubble piled up in neatly cut squares, framed by the buildings still standing. It looked like a child’s play set of houses, bunched in lines and clusters, with the demolished ones so cleared contoured as if a piece of the puzzle has been lifted clean away.
As well as rubble there was also rubbish everywhere. In several places, scattered amongst the detritus, were clumps of burnt out incense sticks that had been wedged into the ground as an offering to ancestors, like weeds growing through cracks in the pavement. Many buildings were marked on the exterior with the Hàn zì (character) for demolition. It seems that we visited just in time – how long before all those old buildings are destroyed to make way for new apartment blocks? We passed a little class of students having a lesson outdoors, their teacher’s pronunciation of the word ‘chair’ so obscure that it wasn’t until we saw the picture on the flashcard that we knew what she meant.
As for our days entertainment we were a bit limited. We were going to take the lǎnchē (cablecar) across the river in the morning, but after walking to the top of the hill, discovered that it had stopped running and would not go again until after 2. We had also planned to go to the Flying Tigers Museum, which Sash was quite interested in, but discovered that it was under renovation so we couldn’t do that. We got on the monorail a couple of stops to the Chóngqìng Museum, which the girl at the hostel said had started opening on Monday’s, but when we got there discovered that it was actually closed (a lot of Museums close on Mondays’.)
However, there was a lot to see in that area – the best of all our choice encounters was with an old lady who was selling maps and postcards. She was really sweet – a proper, wizened old lady with a squeaky rusty voice, like a well-meaning witch. She was very taken with us and our Chinese ability, and Sasha took a photo of me standing with her, which put a big smile on her face. We bought a packet of postcards and, I think, made her day.
We purchased tickets to have a look around the theatre that is right opposite the Museum. It is in the traditional style but was built in the 1950’s. There are four or five levels of seats in a plush red colour, and the stage curtains are held back by giant, ornamental strings with tassels.
After browsing in an antiques market (where, I suspect, most things are not antique at all) we lunched at this little roadside place under a bridge, where we ate rice, veg, hóng shāo ròu (red cooked pork) and pig’s trotter soup. In the afternoon we went back to the cable car and enjoyed taking that to the other side. It was great to be able to look down on all these tiny, dirty, broken dwellings, while having tower blocks at eye level, and far below, the churning, murky brown of the Yangtze River.
On the other side there wasn’t much to do; we just had a walk and looked down at the fishermen who were sat on the rocks, and we watched the boats chug by. On the path there was some old geezer with his microphone and amp, singing his heart out KTV style to the river and beyond.
Coming back to the hostel we took a leisurely walk through the busy markets, which we returned to on our last morning for Sash to buy a new bag. It was all whole sale stuff – you can buy in bulk or just small amounts. They sold absolutely everything – shoes, children’s clothes, tooth brushes, bin bags, hair bands, stockings, hats… anything and everything. It’s all built up the side of a hill, with narrow steps and stairways that are chock-a-block full of people and products. Old men, with all the strength of an Ox, carry impossibly large and heavy packages up and down, all day long. Some have carts with wheels that they load up, digging their feet into the ground to stop it from running away as they roll them down the wildly steep slopes. A crazy place indeed, and wonderful for shopping.
For dinner we ate at a hot pot place near the hostel, where we ordered entirely too much, as always, and ate it all anyway. Hot Pot is a very popular food in Chóngqìng, and Sasha was not disappointed with the level of spice. Another awesome meal to add to the list, and a great way to end our time in Chóngqìng.
Although saying that, the way our Chóngqìng trip actually ended wasn’t so pleasant. As with the arrival, our experience with a local taxi driver had us leaving the city feeling angry and annoyed. We booked a taxi to take us from the hostel to the train station, and halfway there we realised he was taking us to the wrong station, even though we made it quite clear which one we wanted to go to, and asked several times, ‘We are going to the BLAH BLAH station, right?’ So we had to pay for this taxi ride which had been about 30 minutes longer than it should have, AND he made us pay for the phone credit he had used when the hostel called to order the taxi. So yeah, we didn’t leave Chóngqìng on the best note, but as I said, not a city that won my heart anyway. Too big for my liking, too many people and skyscrapers. It was quite green for such a big city, but yeah… not one I’d be heading back to in a rush!
The train from Chóngqìng to Kūnmíng took about 19 hours. I thought that the soft sleeper rooms were pretty lush – four beds to a room, a closing door, a table… yeah, all good. For most of the journey we had one companion who kept to himself. Our beds were the two bottom bunks, and during the day we asked if he wanted to sit there, but he spent most of the time just sitting in the corridor, looking out the window. The train seemed to be going pretty slowly to me, certainly slower than the one we took from Yan Tai. The area we went through was very mountainous. We cut through them in tunnels and sliced straight between them, constantly curving and winding our way. The river stayed with us for much of the journey, and we snaked alongside it.
We passed through a few little towns but mostly all we saw were villages. Sometimes just one building would be stood alone on a foothill. A lot have got corrugated tin for the roof; most dwellings were pretty basic, surrounded by sporadic patches of farmland and occasional graves dotted on the hillside. Most of our journey took place at night, and we disembarked at Kūnmíng in the early morning of May 7th...
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