Chongqing

Chongqing is a city built beside and over rivers. There were about thirty bridges that crisscrossed the city with another twenty in the development stages. We probably crossed ten of them in our day and a half there and then when we got on the cruise went under another couple. The hills were steep – a completely different landscape than the other cities we saw. There were very few bicycles because of the hills and traffic seemed to move more quickly as well.

It’s never a good sign when your tour guide takes you to a museum, tells you to wait for a minute while he gets the tickets and then returns, saying, “The museum appears to be closed today.” It only happened once during our trip and it happened when we were in Chongqing at the Three Gorges Museum. Our guide, Richard, was very apologetic and thinking on his feet, suggested that we go to the zoo and see the pandas instead.

The Chongqing Zoo was amazing and we managed to see all seven pandas in residence. We arrived at feeding time, so they were out and active. One of the younger pandas was climbing a tree. Richard told us that when they’re young (until about age four) pandas are more active but after that they get lazy and pretty much eat and sleep.
The next day we went to Dazu Grotto about a 2.5 hour drive outside the city. We were winding through the rice paddies and were much more “off the beaten path” than the rest of our journey. Some of the roads reminded me a little of India, in that we were bouncing around the back seat of the car and were definitely ready to get out at the end. The intricate Buddhist carvings have been preserved very well and we were able to visit two separate sites. Since the site was so far outside the city it managed to survive the destruction of the Red Guards and really maintains a sense of history. I wonder what it would have been like when the pilgrims walked for days to pray there and the air was full of incense.

After our trip outside the city we headed back before boarding the boat that would take us down the Yangtze River. Before dinner we walked through a flower and bird market and marveled at the huge ornamental stones and urns. The smells of the flowers and calm evening made it a great transition to the restaurant. While there we had another excellent meal including a rice cake that was then covered with a pork stew. It was an enticing blend of crispy rice and creamy pork which we hadn’t had before and was one of our favorites.

After dinner we headed to the docks and the boat which would be the last step of our journey together.
Question – Care to tell about any travel mishaps? Did you make it somewhere only to find out it was closed? How did you deal with it? Share!
G