Day 10 Chongqing and Yangtze River

On this day, we had nothing scheduled for the morning, so we had breakfast at the hotel and walked around the hotel area.  Just two blocks away, there was a large modern shopping area.  Many of the stores were upscale with expensive clothing and other items (such as BMW's).  The signs for KFC, McDonalds, and Starbucks stood out among the signs for the other stores in Chinese characters.  The streets and walkways extended in several directions from a central plaza.

 

Chongqing is built on hills and has two major rivers flowing through it, so it is not laid out on a grid with streets intersecting at right angles as we had seen in the other cities we had visited.  Instead, the streets run at odd angles to each other, and the total effect is a random pattern (that probably followed trails developed by animals or early inhabitants who used the easiest route and not a predetermined grid).  Getting around in Chingqing is only possible if you can climb stairs up the many hills.  Another effect of the steep slopes in the city is that there are no bicycles or other pedal-driven vehicles; it would be almost impossible to ride a bicycle here (all of theother cities we have visited had bicycles and pedal-driven trucks, carts, and rickshaws in large numbers).  Chongqing is a large city of 32 million people.  It appears that most of that population is housed in high-rise apartments and condominiums. I haven't seen such a large collection of high-rise office and residential buildings anywhere else (perhaps Shanghai).  It is an industrial city with a number of automobile assembly plants.

At noon, we left the hotel by bus and went to a restaurant for lunch -- another Chinese spread.  Then we went to the General Stillwell Museum and the Flying Tigers Museum.  These displayed the role of the United States military in helping China fight against the Japanese during World War II.  Our next stop was the Chongqing market.  As we walked through the market we saw fresh meat and vegetables for sale.  The meat was cut and hung for customers to select the cut they wanted.  There were oddities (to us) such as live eels and frogs and pig's feet.  About every type of edible vegetable was available.  The most eyecatching were the bright red peppers, especially when displayed next to green beans.  Owners of the booths were often busy working on their wares (such as a very old woman who was shelling peas).  We were told that the Chinese shop for food daily and demand fresh food; that anything left at the end of the day would be discarded because it wouldn't be fresh the next day.

 

Now it was time for us to board the ship for our trip down the Yangtze River.  The boat is like a moving hotel.  Our room is small but has a bathroom with a shower and is comfortable.  We will stay on the boat for 5 days and nights as we explore along the river.   We left Chongqing at 10:00 p.m.  Chongqing buildings were bright with colored lights that moved and changed colors.  One entire building became a giant screen displaying videos (advertising, I think).  Moving by all of these lighted buildings created the feeling that the entire city was out to see us off on our adventure.

Pictures:  Chongqing scenes, Viking Emerald River Boat