Stepping stone for the Yangzte Cruise (Chongqing, Chongqing Municipality, China)

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(Day 88 on the road)Arriving by overnight train from Xi'an, I expected Chongqing to be a grey city without much to do. I was to spend 3 days in the city, as I was waiting for Harriet, the girl I had climbed Hua Shan with, so we could be on the upcoming Yangtze cruise together (the city is the major stepping stone for the Three Gorges Yangtze cruise). As it turned out, Chongqing was pleasant enough to spend a few days in. The city centre had been nicely done, and I spent my time wandering around the centre and the lively side-alleys. Chongqing is a massive city, by some estimates the biggest city in the world, but that depends on what you include in counting the city. Chongqing municipality includes almost 32 million people and is the same size as Austria, but when you only take the city itself into account, "only" 7,7 million people live here.

On my last night, me and a Belgium guy went out to enjoy the view from a hill above the city, and afterwards we went to get a perfect foot massage. We then somehow ended up in a club called Bar 88, which was again a great night out. Getting home however proofed somewhat difficult, as four taxi drivers refused to take me for some reason (the Belgium guy had gone home already), and the fifth one didn't quite know the place and dropped me somewhere close by. I then started walking in what must have been the wrong direction for an hour or so, only to get completely lost and having to take another taxi. This one dropped me right out front of my hostel, only for me to discover that it was locked! I spend a good half hour banging on doors and windows until a fellow traveler inside finally woke up and got the staff to open the door for me. I fell into bed around six o'clock, just as one of the Chinese girls in my room was getting up.

Next stop: Cruising the Yangtze River (Yangtze River, China).



To view my photos, have a look at pictures.beiske.com. And to read the full account of my journey, have a look at the complete book about my trip at Amazon (and most other online book shops).

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