Chongqing Sightseeing

Chongqing, a part of Sichuan province until 1997, is now one of only four municipalities that report directly to Beijing. An industrial city, the municipality is home to 30 million people. As most tourists, we arrived at Chongqing simply as an embarkation point for the Yangzi River cruise. However, we had a few hours to kill before joining the cruise ship so we made a few stops.

Chongqing Zoo

We stopped by the zoo to look at the giant pandas. But it was an extremely hot and humid day so the pandas were mostly hiding.

Chang Kai-Shek Residence

On hearing that a member of our party was originally from Taiwan, our tour guide offered to take us to the house that Chiang Kai-Shek used as his residence during WW II, when Chongqing was the provisional capital of China. That was quite a surprise. Were we still in the People's Republic?

We were. The house had definitely seen better days, though. There were a few rooms open to visitors but most of the house had been turned into an art gallery and shop.

Sichuan Hotpot

Our last stop was dinner at a restaurant specializing in the Chongqing's signature dish: the Sichuan hotpot. The hotpot broth is famously spicy and suitably red. As in other hotpots, you cook your own meat and vegetables in the hotpot. A great dish to have on cold winter day. Which it wasn't. In fact, it was burning hot outside and now we were burning hot inside too.