Blogs from Chongqing, China, Asia - page 15

At Yangshou, we were trying to decide whether to go to Chengdu to visit the Pandas or Chongqing to do a cruise down the Yangtze River to visit the Three Gorges Dam. We only had time to do one and Chris' engineering interest in the dam swayed the decision! We arrived in Chongqing and only planned to be here one night before getting the boat down the river, however they were all fully booked for 2 days! We eventually got a ticket but had to go 1st class (twin room) instead of 2nd (4 beds in a cabin). Shame!! We decided to go for the Chinese boat as it was a third of the price of an international boat but it meant that no-one would speak English! Whilst killing time in Chongqing we went to General ... read more

Chongqing & Yangtze river cruise Dec 07 Huge isn't the word to describe Chongqing, I hadn't heard of it before coming to China but 30 million people live there. The city centre split by two big rivers doesn't feel that big, the rivers both have cable car rides across them for views of the city and the pollution above it. After we had been on that we found ourselves 10 pin bowling which says alot about the place and it's sights. It is a massive industrial city and travellers just use it as a gateway to the Yangtze River. We booked our river cruise at the harbour front which was hard work with the usual number of touts sniffing around. The options were 1st, 2nd & 3rd class cabins, this really meant 2,4 or 6 beds ... read more

Chongqing surprised us both. We had read in the Lonely Planet that it is nothing more than 'concrete city' - a stop-off on the way to a Yangtze Cruise - so we didn't expect to see bright neon lights, swanky restaurants and a Hong Kong style skyline across the river. But that was what we found. We had taken a bus from Chengdu to Chongqing. The journey was only around 4 hours and so we arrived early evening and jumped in a taxi to our hostel. Unfortunately the staff at our hostel spoke very little English so we had a few communications problems when we first arrived. After we settled in we took a stroll along the riverfront to admire the skyline. We came across some traditional chinese dancing going on in a square and sat ... read more

Hello, I am in Chongqing in China. Home to 32 million people on the banks of the River Yanzi. And you've nevr heard of it probably. It's a huge industrial city plighted by pollution, smog and ugly grey buildings. Luckily we're only here for 1 night before we head up the Yanzi river on a cruise up to Yanching tomorrow. In stark contrast, Chengdu where we spent 2 nights was surprisely pleasant. After finding the central shopping area, we had a huge all-american burger, it was heaven. The five of us took a romantic walk around downtown Chengdu in the snow desparate for a beer. We couldn't find a bar anywhere, but came across an arcade where the local girls paid for all our games including Basketball and Air Hockey. Previously in the morning we visited ... read more

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