Farewell to the foggy city.

There are many guys carrying bamboo stick in ChongQing.

Because ChongQing landscape is hilly, those guys are sort of like porter, helping people to carry their goods.

Got on bus 141 towards the north ChongQing train station.

Greening of the train station

Got on the K806 9.47am train (196Yuan (hard seat)+90Yuan (hard sleeper)=286 Yuan~USD$42) towards Nanchang. It’s a 21 hours train ride to Nanchang and a hard sleeper cost 345 Yuan.
I bought a hard seat ticket and then upgraded it to hard sleeper in the evening and that saved me around 60Yuan.

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Typical scene on a train in China

Lunch on the train (10Yuan~USD$1.50)

It’s quite hilly on the way towards Nanchang. The train spent most time inside tunnels and I guess this must be some engineering feats to build so many tunnels across the mountains.

Noodles for brunch
Pig intestine noodles (6 Yuan~USD$1)

XiaoMian (4 Yuan~USD$0.7)

Today is a rainy day

Took bus 1 to XiNanZhengFa University

at YuBei district. It’s around 45 minutes bus ride to the university.

Yumin showed me around the university. The university has a pretty nice library.

Took bus 801 to Chongqing University at ShaPingBa district.
Cafeteria of ChongQing University

Walked around SanXia Square which is another square with a pedestrian street at ShaPingBa district.

SiFanUniversity

Called it a day after visiting 3 universities and took bus 089 back to ChaoTianMen at YuZhong district.

Surprisingly, the weather is clear today.

Visited the 3 gorges museum.

This is my third time going back to the museum and I am glad that I was able to get in.

Inside the museum

There are exhibits on the Ba culture and the area of the three gorges downriver from Chongqing.

This poster is saying Chinese should smoke Chinese cigarettes, during the boycott of foreign products.

Remnants of a Japanese bomb. From 1938-1943, Japan dropped many bombs in ChongQing to terrorize the local residents.

View across from the museum

A friend of a CongTou, YuMin was very nice willing to show me around the city and treated me for a dry hot pot. A funny looking sculpture at HongYaDong.

JiaLing river

Crossed the JiaLing river by cable car (5Yuan).

View of YuZhong district

The Science Museum

and Theater.

Just around ZhongYangGongYuan, Central Park

are some newly built churches

Took bus 262 from ChaoTianMen to ChongQing Library.

There are many plants around the library

a pretty green library

Back to HongYaDong

There are many food stalls on the 4th floor

Night scenery

Most days, ChongQing is covered by fog. The city is also called WuDu, the capital of fog.

Ate XiaoMian (3Yuan~USD$0.50) for breakfast, a typical local food.

There are a few museums located around ChaoTianMen bus station, just within walking distance from the YangTze River hostel. Visited the ChongQing famous people museum which is free.

There was a short movie about how the Japanese was trying to bomb the city during the war. Even till today, most people in the city still have an anti Japanese sentiment and there are still many bunkers in the city.

A long painting hanging on the wall

Because there was an Russian artist exhibition, got a promotional ticket for 10 Yuan to get in the ChongQing Urban Planning museum.

The museum is about plans to develop the city. The current mayor of the city is BoXiLai. The guy was also the mayor for Dalian few years back, and the city Dalian also has a similar Urban Planning Museum.

Plan of ChongQing

View ChongQing in a larger map

The average per capita income has been increasing for the past few years. However, the income for rural population is still lagging behind the per capital income for the city population.

The plan of One Circle with 2 Wings. The objective is to use the city (an area of one hour economic circle) to lead the development of the rural area.

The museum was pretty interactive with a lot of videos and multimedia equipments.

Took bus 265 to CiQiKou

which is an old town of ChongQing.

Like most other old towns in China, the town has become touristy with many shops selling souvenirs and food catering to visitors.

There were also a few Indian Roti shop.

Got back to the RenMinDaLiTang.

tried to visit the three Gorges museum but it was already closed. The latest time to enter is 4pm.

Golden mini twin tower

Took bus 338 to YangRenJie which has some structures from other countries.

Everywhere there are constructions going on.

Took bus 321 back to JieFangBei. Food in ChongQing has some similarities with Sichuanese cuisine, except that it’s not that numbing. ChongQing is famous for its hot and spicy HotPot.

Met up with Phoebe whom I met at the hostel in Chengdu for hotpot dinner, together with her friends.

Duck intestines

Pig’s brain

Got on the 9.18am K986 train towards Chongqing (47Yuan~USD$7, 4 hours). There are also express trains (2 hours) that run pretty frequent from Chengdu to Chongqing costing 112 Yuan.

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View on the way

Got to the ChongQing North station at around 1.30pm,

then took bus 141 towards ChaoTianMen which the YangTze River hostel is located just nearby.

Crossing the bridge over the JiaLing river

YangTze River hostel (25Yuan~USD$4)

Chongqing was the Kuomintang wartime capital from 1938 to 1945. The city is one of four municipalities in China, large cities directly under the government control. Chongqing City is intersected by the Jialing River and the Yangtze River. The city is surrounded by mountains. It contains Daba Shan in the north, Wu Shan in the east, Wuling Shan in the southeast, and Dalou Mountain to the south. Chongqing is also famous for its hot and humid weather during summer.

Chongqing is quite different from other cities in China. The landscape is very hilly and streets are windy. Unlike most cities in China with a center point, the city of Chongqing is divided into 4 main districts. The peninsula intersected by the 2 rivers is called YuZhong or JieFangBei district. Then there is JiangBei district north of the peninsula. NanPing district is at the south of JiaLing river. ShaPingBa district s located at the west part of YuZhong district. No matter old or new buildings, most buildings in ChongQing are quite high, above 20 storeys, Guess probably because of its mountainous landscape it’s easier to accommodate the city big population in highrise.

An old highrise

JiefangBei, People’ s Liberation Monument from the Japanese.

This can be considered as the main downtown of Chongqing.

Around JieFangBei is pedestrian mall

It’s quite hilly in Chongqing, stairs used to move around

Took the monorail

to DaLiTang. (Great Hall of the People). The government is pumping a lot of money into Chongqing. Everywhere there are constructions going on. The first monorail line was completed in 2005. 5 more lines are being currently constructed.

Great Hall of the People. Chongqing’s Great Hall of the People (and the People’s Square in front of the Hall) is an architectural symbol of Chongqing City. Its construction began in 1951, but its design is traditional and mirrors those of China’s ancient classical dynasties. It somewhat resembles an enlarged version of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. The People’s Square was only completed in 1997 and is decorated with trees and flowers.
There are many people dancing at the square every evening.

Night view across the river

A cute kitten, back at the hostel

Beef Noodle, La Mian 7 Yuan~USD$1

Took bus 52 to the new tourist bus station and switch to bus 902

to the Chengdu research base of giant pandas.

The panda breeding center is around 15km away from the city and took around an hour to get there. It cost 59Yuan~USD$7.5 to get in and doesn’t have student discount.

The giant panda is considered one of the most famous endangered animal and the place is home to some 60 giant pandas. The research base is also one of the biggest facility of its kind (100 hectares, expanding to 200 hectares) to research about Panda.

Skeleton of a panda.

Red Panda

I wasn’t able to find Mix hostel yesterday because I didn’t bring the address. Visited Mix hostel which is another popular place for backpackers at around WenShuYuan just for comparison.

People in Chengdu love drinking tea and chilling.

JinLi road.

This neighborhood is part of the old city of Chengdu. It features hotels and small stores in old-fashioned style. All kinds of souvenirs, antiques and food are sold in the many number of stores.

I was planning to take the 9.43pm train to Chongqing. Got to the train station at 9.25pm but the attendant mentioned that it’s too late to get on the train. There are express trains that are slightly more expensive so I decided to get to ChongQing the next morning and spent a night at the internet cafe.

A wedding shoot at KuanZhaiXiang (Wide Narrow Alley)

Tea ceremony

Brunch (Rice with Beef, Sichuan Style, 7 Yuan~USD$1)

Like most other provincial capital in the country, Chengdu is also building subway lines.

6 lines are planned and the first line will be completed end of 2010.

Walked to the SiChuan provincial museum.

Inside the museum

Exhibition about Tibetan history

Banner of the communist about taking down the city Nanjing and catching Chiang Kai Shek.

RenMin Park

Advertisment put up by the older generation about the availability of their sons and daughters

Sichuan university

Fitness center

Walked around WenShuYuan area. This is a Tang Dynasty Buddhist temple.

Lan brought me to Wanda Plaza which is located at the south east part of Chengdu to check out one of the bigger shopping mall here.

China is pretty good at building infrastructures such as highway, tunnels and elevated highway. The road from Yunnan to Chengdu is mountainous so elevated highways/viaducts are built to speed up the journey.

A cute Chinese girl behind me kept pulling my hair during the journey.

Got to Chengdu North bus station at around 2pm after a 25 hours bus ride. Got on bus 54 to Dragon town hostel (45Yuan~USD$7).

Chengdu is the provincial capital of Sichuan province and is famous for its laid back and carefree lifestyle. It’s ranked as one of the most livable place in China with good quality of life. There are many tea houses in the city where the locals can take time off to relax.

Chengdu has a long history. During the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Shu moved its capital to the city. During the civil war between Kuomintang and the communist party, Chengdu is the last city to be “liberated” and many of the Kuomintang members fled to Taiwan. So there is a number of WaiShengRen in Taiwan are from SiChuan province. The city has the lowest exposure to sunshine among cities in China and most days, it’s cloudy.

The city is the major center in SouthWest China and has a strong economy. It’s established as the base for electronic and IT industry. Intel has a big presence here.

The hostel is located right at KuanZaiXiang, which is

(6 Yuan~USD$1)

There are many motorbikes in Chengdu.

Tian Fu Square. overlooked by an enormous Chairman Mao statue.

ChunXiLu, a pedestrian shopping street.

There is a saying that girls in Sichuan province are the most beautiful. A statue of a cameraman taking photos of some girls shopping at ChunXiLu.

Went to a mall and saw that many overseas goods are quite expensive. For example, this Clark shoe is quite expensive. Many overseas goods in China are taxed at a much higher rate than most countries.

NiuRouLaMian, beef noodles Sichuan style (6 Yuan~USD$1). Sichuan style has a lot of oil and is always spicy.

ChengDu has a few bar street. Went to the one located at JiuYanQiao, around Sichuan University with Phoebe, a hostel mate.

Snow capped mountain over Lijiang town.

Mu Clan association of the Naxi people.

Lijiang old town

Got on the 1pm bus towards Chengdu (297Yuan~USD$45, around 900km).


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There were a few options to Chengdu. Another way is to take a bus to PanZhiHua (7 hours ride), then got on the train to Chengdu (12-13hours). There is also a flight costing 350Yuan which departs on Friday night.

The road from Yunnan to Sichuan passed by many mountains. View on the way

Shu He old town

LaPaiKu hotpot again for lunch and head to Shangri La with 3 other hostel mates.

Shangri La is around 200km away from Lijiang. Got the 3pm bus (59Yuan~USD$9).

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Shangri La is at a higher elevation, so the bus has to go up a windy and a narrower road. Saw an accident on the way.

Arrived at Shangri La at around 7pm after 4 hours bus ride. Shangri La old name is actually ZhongDian. Shangri La is actually a name synonymous with a beautiful place with peaceful people isolated from the world. The name was made famous in the novel Lost Horizon by a British author and some people think that the place is the closest to the description of Shangri La in the novel. ZhongDian is located at around 3400m above sea levels, with different minorities such as Dai, Zang, Naxi and Bai living here. Shangri La is also used as a metaphor as something special people seek after. The Chinese government hope that ZhongDian will follow the success of Dali and Lijiang as famous tourist spots, and changed the name to Shangri La.

Stayed at Shangri La international hostel (20Yuan~USD$3).

Visited the old town.

Local hotpot for dinner (26Yuan per person~USD$4). ShuYouCha, a kind of Tibetan tea is famous here because there is a big Tibetan population living in this area.

There is a tibetan temple at the old town.

Trying to turn a big Tibetan bell.