Chongquing to Chengdu

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We left our boat this morning and boarded a bus in the city of Chongquing. This city is the most populous in China with 32 million - not a bicycle in sight though because the city is mountainous. It is notorious for it's fog - only 200 days of actual sunlight a year according to our guide. He said he spent a month in the city once and only saw the sun for 3 half days the whole time! The traffic didn't seem too bad and we were told that we had a 4 - 5 hour drive to Chengdu. Because of the fog and the potential for long road delays we were provided lunch on the bus but we had a good run and made it to Chengdu by 1.30 which was good time. We got to see a lot of the countryside - saw my first rice paddy. Lots of small villages by the roadside with small market type gardens surrounding them. All available land space put to the best use. Chengdu is down on the plane and as we got closer the countryside got obviously dryer. Chengdu seems to be a modern city. Our hotel is right in the centre of the city and we had a five minute walk to the shopping mall - much like any other mall and not focused on tourists so it was interesting to see the prices and the different types of shops. We found a starbucks and treated ourselves to a decent coffee (for Greg) and a java chip chocolate for me. we are out to a Sichuan banquet tonight - going to be interesting to see how our palates will take to the hot spicy food - will let you know tomorrow!

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Photos

Victoria 3
Our floating hotel for four days