Chongqing was lighting it up!

I took the opportunity to visit Layess, my former Brisbane flatmate, as a part of my Panda trip. The idea was that I could make a side trip to her home city of Chongqing from Chengdu. It was about 2 hours by train. This was easy enough to complete in theory. I just had to figure out myself how to get there.  Which meant navigating the long distance trains myself after managing to buy a ticket. Easier said than done.

The first step was easy. I just had to retrace our trip from the Chengdu Train station we had arrived into. Then I just had to board the right train at the station. It was fairly easy on the way to Chengdu. But then we had guided instruction on what to do from the tour. Although we didn't actually have the guide with us every time we were inside the station we were seemingly under the safety blanket beingtold what to expect. This trip has no such support. I was alone and had my memory to rely on.
 
I had no ability to book my train tickets online as this is not something China had seemingly allowed for. A tourist doing their own thing. For starters, outside the country it seemed like there was a geographical block stopping me find the train schedule and website, and then once inside the country I realised the website had no English. Probably due to tourism being very domestic focused in the past. It seemed only at the train station could you buy train tickets in English from a machine. But I only ever bought suburban tickets via these machines. Never tried for these longer intercity trains. Before traveling I did find websites of tour services offering to book tickets. But well they just seemed a bit risky. As it wasn't a government train website. Instead I had Layess sorting out me, the inept tourist. I had to defer to her skills booking the ticket once she had my details. Only it also created a secondary problem. Electronic tickets are somewhat unheard of. Especially as you would normally pay using Wechat, and show your identity card to board with a paper ticket. I relied on showing the ticket photo online to the ticket inspector in the manual queue line each time. Which although it worked, seemed against the system.

Chongqing is a huge city. Layess had moved here for work. Previously Layess had met up with me in Hong Kong on a previous trip. However this time I was there with her in China! I didn't really understand how big Chongqing was until I visited. Our tour guide had thrown the number of 30 million at us as an education of the city size. But that was just a number without comprehension. Reality is this city was literally a supersized New York in size. Suburb after suburb of residential towers. This is not just a city centre based metropolis. This was Chongqing. If it wasn't already built here it was under construction. I mean I could see that there were whole suburb redevelopment projects underway here to cater to the newest expansion of this city.

I had 24 hours in Chongqing. And well there wasn't much time spent sitting back. Layess did have some plans for me but I was still the relaxed sightseer I am. I had mere provided a short list of 2 or 3 items I had read about as must sees. From there all I thought about was catching up on stories, food, and then perhaps starting to get in a tourist shopping experience. Having been in the country a few days I realised quickly that even if I did find a fashion bargain I wasn't going to find it in my size. I'm still way bigger than the average Chinese guy. So I gave up early on buying fashion here.

Our quick fire tour of the city after lunch took us to the city centre and the Liberation Monument. Then we explored the point where the rivers join. Which also hosted a brand new shopping centre. After this we went exploring for the Cable Car. By error I think we found some ancient tourist old town centre. But this had been closed down. I suspect in preparation of being the next redevelopment area. Hence our walk ended up being a dead end and a massive retrace. This only added to the relief of actually getting on the Cable Car. From the Cable Car the plan had been to catch a ferry back across town. Only the Ferry drivers seemingly deemed the last ferry to be 6:30pm and not 8pm as expected. So again we needed to make new plans. All good.

Layess arranged for us to meet her friend for dinner at a restaurant. I did though the night before put a dampener on the intended plans when I announced I wasn't a big fan of Sichuan Pepper. I was peppered out in Chengdu the night before. So dinner ended up a chicken soup like affair.

After dinner we took a taxi again to the river and my most recommended sight of Chongqing. The view to the Hongya Cave. When this is lit up at night the view is spectacular. We took in the view from one side of the city over to the site. And then walked over the bridge to this maze of building only to admire the city area we had just left with all the building lit up with flashing displays of light. I'm pretty sure that China needs only to switch off these light displays for a night to save the planet. I doubt it's all solar powered.

The last highlight of the night though was introduced to me as we attempted to escape the night lights. A stairwell with piano steps. Oh my this was so cool. Give me 5 minutes here alone and I would have broken my ankles. But at least I would have made some quirky music attempt in the process.

The next morning was my Chinese breakfast experience. But first up it was the Train Station that swallows trains. This building was designed above a train station. And as a result its design looks like trains just go inside a residential apartment building. It's not the newest building around. But it still gathers a crowd of sightseers out to take that video shot. From there we headed further up the mountainside to find breakfast at a cafe Layess knew. This was more traditional Chongqing fare. Some sort of breakfast. I thought it was some sort of Congee. But this had Sichuan Pepper mix to add in along with dry noodles. Started off fine. But the pepper flavour overpowers quickly. Luckily Layess also got me some sort of side dish with sweet rice balls. This allowed me an escape. But I can at least say I tried it. I wouldn't do it every day. But I tried it. After breakfast we took in the view from the park at the top of the mountain. Overlooking the city from all 4 sides. A great view, and it assisted understanding that Chongqing is just massive.

Catching up in Hong Kong

I had visited Hong Kong before on a stopover from Europe on the way home. That time was a quick stay in part to see friends, and to then also get a taste of the city without committing to a long stop. This trip with the goal of getting up into China it made sense to revisit Hong Kong, and then also get a chance to see friends I had short changed last time. I enjoyed Hong Kong the first time as it's a great mix of East meets West culture and food. Unfortunately for me it wasn't all fine blue sky. This was hot and humid end of typhoon season Hong Kong. Not that I minded to much. It had been so long since I had seen rain in Brisbane. And my lagging winter cough needed the humidity to help it disappear.

So my time here in Hong Kong was partly exploring the tourist zones I had missed, and then exploring the taste buds. I managed to fit in some Michelin rated noodles restaurant, and visit some great Dim Sum catching up with friends during the stay. Initial plans to go into the far reaches of Hong Kong in search of tourist spots had been curtailed by the weather and concern of protests. Heck I even considered going to see the Basketball World Cup in Shenzhen across the Chinese border. After all it was just there. A train ride away. But instead I just walked the neighbourhoods to take in the visual picture of skyscrapers and people everywhere. And yet in this wall of people I still found it sometimes difficult to find a central shopping district. As I learnt Causeway Bay was one area I didn't realise the importance of in this regard. I couldn't find any shopping of significance in the Central area. I had been looking in the wrong place and direction. Not a difficult problem to solve when the subway comes every 3 minutes and then you start to think like Hong Kong and start to look up and not just out.

The final morning in Hong Kong marked the start of the main event. I had booked a tour up into China with "The Dragon Trip". A budget backpacker based tour company that would get me up to Chengdu and the Pandas via the Yangshuo countryside. I was only doing their short trip. But that didn't worry me. It was getting me to where I wanted to be. I was paying just that little extra to get my own private room. That was a good call. The Dragon Trip use a slightly different format to most tours in their design. Instead of staying with one guide throughout you are assigned city guides. With each transfer you are left alone on the trains until the next stop. Sure some may like the one point of contact but heck this must of been a huge saving to the cost, and then also allows for guides to be local experts and not just generalists. Our first day with the tour was more about getting the correct documentation sorted for a China border crossing rather than actually seeing much. It was lucky I've seen the Peak before in Hong Kong as this time there was total cloud cover for what was supposed to be the highlight of seeing Hong Kong before heading over the Chinese border by train.

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Dear Hong Kong. I hope you find Tayla and keep your independent identity

Tayla. Tayla. That was the cry of the desperate immigrants as I emerged onto Nathan Road. It seemed that Tayla must have been lost for quite some time. For those looking for any lead were getting delirious in their search. Tayla, Tayla they repeated. Yet they didn't really go into much details on what Tayla looked like. Was he or she tall, short, fat, skinny? Blue jeans, black shirt, face mask? I wasn't sure, and they didn't tell me. What I found unusual was they only wanted me to look at their business card with the details. Who has cards for when their friend goes missing. I couldn't help. Their search was doomed to failure.

It was easier than normal to move on in Hong Kong. Seems the locals had taken it into their own hands to remove many of the street side barriers. There were visibly less road blocks to my movement. Where you could see missing barriers meant that there had been a protest at some time. So basically the whole of Hong Kong was now barrier free.

Sadly what I did learn was that the guys on Nathan Road would not be entirely silly if they were looking for their friend. Locals wouldn't rely on the local police to help find anyone. Seems police there aren't trusted to do the job of protecting their citizens. Noone is less popular in Hong Kong than the police. It was quite the common theme. Everyone you can see over the shoulder of at the trains is watching a Youtube clip of police brutality. Sure there is argument protesters are not blameless in aggression. However storming a train to beat up cowering passengers and fire tear gas into a confined area are actions of "Black Police" who think they'll never be accountable.

The issues of Hong Kong are quite a hot and contentious issue at the moment. I do hope it is sorted out. The right of government to extradite a fleeing suspect for a crime is normally reasonable. The law was introduced because some bad guy had taken his girlfriend to Taiwan, killed her, and fled back solo. However extradition only works if you can trust it would be handled under local law courts correctly. Hong Kong people are upset as China has previously kidnapped booksellers back to China to face their legal system. This law would have made it easier to make up charges in China and then expatriate suspects legally in Hong Kong. And well, as much as China thinks Hong Kong is a part of China subject to their laws, the Hong Kong populous believe otherwise under the two systems agreement that was agreed to on the handover. I do hope eventually there is a non-violent way to solve it. When protesters do things like join hands to combine a 40km long chain you realise this is a big movement from a population of only around 7.3 million.

My only visual interaction of the protests was seeing the protest accumulate as I arrived into Hong Kong airport. 12 or so riot police marched through the baggage area as I waited for my bags. Not the ominous sign you want to see having heard the night before a protest had been scheduled at the airport for the day of my arrival. Upon collecting my bags i did see a group of protesters peacefully in the terminal on the escalators as a chant rose from either inside or outside of the departures level. Anyway I was out of there quickly onto the MTR bound for my hotel. I only but got a glimpse of the accumulating protesters outside the airport walking on foot along the road and any other path from where i did not know. All I saw were cars and buses going nowhere for a long time. Later I learnt that the airport did shutdown only hours later and the train only 2 hours after i left. Phew! The cartoon from my friend was just too funny and true to my situation.

The Singapore Tube

If you ever wanted to see London tube how it should be... Go to Singapore. Feels like the tube. Sounds like the tube. But runs on time.

Of note it's so cheap. I must of used it like 8 times in 2 days and I've spent less than $10.

Gonna take you on a ride on a Viet Night Train

I sitting up watching time slide by on what is now a night train to Nha Trang. We're due in about 1am .

I skipped the Chicken'n'Rice. Didn't know the vintage. And I've seen bigger pigeons. So sandwich dinner followed by Tolberone.

We've only got one small issue. When do we get off! Stations are barely signed. Oh, and the tour guide gets motion sickness on Trains at night. Fun fun fun!