Chongqing, China. August 2011

The next stay of three nights was Chongqing, a sprawling mountain city and home to 33 million people in an area of 82 square kilometres. We have chosen our hotel this time to be in the suburbs, close to the Metro and the old town.

On the agenda is a visit to the zoo, the old town of Ciqikou, and a trip to the historic Dazu Caves in a neighbouring town. Again the local people were fantastically helpful in assisting us to get where we wanted to go. We only needed to look bewildered and we had people approaching to help. Yet at other times it was frustratingly hard to get someone to do something as simple as pointing to where we were on a Chinese bus route map. We had invested in an electronic translator which had some usefulness!!

Streets of Ciqikou.................................................Food seller

Mah jong..................................................................Traditional sweet makers

We realized how much we enjoyed just wandering and observing daily life in the area we were in. There were beautifully architecture public parks wherever we went and the local people utilized these by gathering, socialising and exercising, dancing or kite flying in them, especially in the evening. The shops were open each night until late and shop they did. People seemed to be dressed up by our standards and there were as many men’s fashion clothing stores as women’s. It was lovely to see women wandering out in dresses that I’d only consider wearing to a wedding. I was envious at the ease with which they could wear these clothes and the girls did so well wearing high heels, no matter what they were doing, especially in a country with so many steps!!

Dancing in the park...............................................Taxi, taxi...will we fit???

How much is too much meat?.............................Live fish in the supermarket

On the road............................................................... Double width on the top

We had made the decision to visit the Chongqing Zoo to see the Giant Panda because it only seemed right to see them while in China. As it turned out there was only one in residence, which seemed kind of sad. The zoo was easy to get to via the metro and monorail. It was beautifully landscaped and the local people must have free access and were utilizing the area for walking, exercising and socialising. The amount of cages and concrete for the animals and the number of lone species was definitely a negative for me and wouldn’t really recommend this zoo unless you have no other way and want to see a panda.

Er Shun born in the zoo in 2007 is the only panda we saw.

It was a bonus to see the cute 'Lesser Panda'.

Siberian Brown Bear in his concrete home

Locals at the zoo enjoying the area

Our trip to Dazu was a highlight. On the outskirts of town are the Dazu Caves which are Buddhist cave sculptures carved out of the rock in the 9^th to 13th century. They were just amazing and with few other tourists there we had it more or less to ourselves. We visited two main sites (of the 40 odd sites) in the area. It was also nice to visit a smaller, more rural town that wasn’t a tourist town.