Blogs from Chongqing, China, Asia - page 11

Yichang, le 21 juillet : des signes qui ne trompent pas Je publie la dernière entrée du blog et je quitte l'un des cybercafés climatisés du centre ville. Début d'après-midi, le soleil inonde les rues à la verticale, l'ombre se fait rare et le thermomètre flirte avec les 40° C. Cinq minutes de marche jusqu'à mon hôtel suffisent a me faire abandonner l'idée kamikaze de me balader dans la ville avec tout mon barda sur le dos jusqu'à l'embarcadère. Une fois n'est pas coutume, j'opte pour le taxi. Premier clin d'œil de Dame Chance, le chauffeur me propose d'entrée un prix décent pour la course ; habituellement, il me faut cinq minutes de fermes négociations ; le look blondin en Asie, c'est aussi ça. Arrivé à l'embarcadère, on me case dans un bus pour rejoindre le ... read more

Chengdu was a fair city...it treated me right...it absorbed me and accepted me without reservations about my place of origin and the language I spoke. It is a place I could live in...a big city with that neighbourhood feel. Now it was off to Chongqing, the third biggest city in China with a name not as recognizable as numbers one and two (Beijing and Shanghai ). I left town in a taxi using that well rehearsed word for ' airport ' in my head ... ' jichang '. Having to repeat it to the driver several times, he taught me how to say it so I could be understood the first time. That was as much as we spoke on the drive to the airport...with the odd expletive aimed at cyclists and scooters. The airport was ... read more

Thursday 16th July 2009 Chongqing The ships PA woke everyone up at about 5.30 am, we had only gone to bed after 1 so didn’t have a great nights sleep. They were stopping for an excursion to some town or temple at 7 so decided to wake everyone up nice and early. We didn’t bother with the trip, they all cost extra and 10 Yuan to see another temple at 7am wasn’t the most appealing of early morning activities. We got up at about 8 though and went up on deck expecting to be sailing off soon to go through the first of the 3 gorges that are the main attraction of the trip. It was a long wait though because it was after 10 when we finally pulled off. We were soon into the first ... read more

Greetings from Chongqing, the most populous city in China with 30 million people. Though huge and imposing, with the craziest streets I've seen, this city has its charms. I was only here 4 days, so the list is short. 1. The people in Chongqing are the nicest and friendliest I've encountered on my trip. And that's saying a lot. They don't see many foreigners, but they are not afraid to try to help me and will go out of their way to do so. Nor do they stare at me, point me out to their friends, or constantly try to take my picture. This is a refreshing bit of air in the hottest city I've been in since SZ. 2. The shoes. You know me, I love shoes. The women's shoes here are some of the ... read more

Awoke at 7am to eat breakfast before heading on a day trip to Dazu. Another girl from the hostel and I both signed up for the tour. We left at 8am when our adorable tour guide arrived. Yet another man in a purple shirt. We picked up people in a few other locations in this massive city before heading out to Dazu. The drive took about two hours. And, of course, because I'm going to see yet another large Buddha, it rained. The rain made me sleepy and I napped most of the way there. We stopped for a less than spectacular lunch before arriving at the stone carvings around noon. I'd never heard of Dazu before or the carvings, but they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They're old, as one would expect, created in ... read more