Monday, October 09, 2006
Chongqing - Hotpot & Pandas (not together)
Due to the closure of the Three Gorges Dam to all tourist boats, our Geckos guide had to re-organise our itinerary. This meant that we now had 2 full days in Chongqing (chong-ching). Most people would find this a let down, but for us it sounded like a good idea. This is because a colleague of mine, Peter Fielding, had lived in Chongqing and had told us quite a bit about the town. It was also the home town of our Geckos guide.
The first thing I noticed when heading into Chongqing was that it was an extremely dark city. There were these huge housing skyscapers on the outskirts of town which were either unoccupied or everyone was in bed with every light out. I suspect it has something to do with China's electricity shortage.
When we got closer to the actual city it was almost as if the city was split down the middle by the Yangzi River. One side had huge buildings and the other side seemed to be the old town with run down looking housing.
We arrived in the newer part of the city and went straight to the lantern festival. This was a collection of lit up blow up creatures including dragons, pandas and even penguins. The highlight was probably the lights coming from one particular city building. With the grey smoggy sky the effect was very sci-fi. We also had a nice view over the river to the neon resturants on the other side.
We then went back to our hotel, which was located in between 2 car delearships, and had showers before returning to the centre of the city. Massive buildings and advertising everywhere, and heaps of people. Our guide had promised to take us to his favourite hotpot restaurant. I was really looking forward to this after what Peter had told me. He had become addicted to the hotpot resturants when he was living here.
On our way up to the restaurant they had their specials on display. These inlcuded delicacies such as fresh bull's penis..tasty! The place was absolutely packed and there was only about one table free, which had obviously just been used as there was still the pot and bowls and beer bottles everywhere. Our guide instructed the waitresses to clean it up for us. We literally slipped into our seats as the floor was covered in oil.
Our guide ordered everything for us. We had a half-half pot, where half contained normal broth and the other half contained the chili-laden broth. The pot was brought out by a chef covered in splattered oil and other substances, and placed over our lit gas burner in the middle of the table. The waitresses then bought out many plates of raw food including beef, lamb, pork, fish, tripe, intestines and chicken's stomach. What a feast! I actually tried the tripe, intestines and chicken's stomach. All of them were extremely chewy and just tasted like the chili broth, thankfully. The stomach was actually quite crispy. The taste of the chili-broth was absolutely beautiful, I can understand how Peter became addicted. The other part of the hotpot is that after the food is cooked in the boiling broth, you dip it in a mixture of sesame oil and garlic. A great way to put on the pounds, except you sweat so much that you burn it right off. Overall I was very satisfied with out hotpot experience.
The next day we explored the city and dealt with the massive crowd of people. It was China's national day holiday, which actually lasts for 7 days, so people were everywhere. That evening we took the cable car over the Yangzi to the other side where many HUGE neon restaurants residing either on the riverside of actually on the river. We sat down in a bar on the riverside to 
have a few beers and watch the monstrous floating seafood restaurants with their glass elevators. Later we ventured a bit further along the riverside to a restaurant where almost every dish we ordered off the menu they didn't have. It was also quite intersting as we tried to order from a chinese only menu using our very limited mandarin. There is a whole heap of buskers in this area, many who play electric guitars with their amps strapped to their back.
Overall I would say Chongqing is a very liveable city. The only problems being the pollution and the weather (i believe it is very often around 40 degrees celsius). The people seem laid back and friendly, and there is everything you could want available within the city.
(Denh: Cant believe he forgot to mention my panda)
We ventured to the Chongqing Zoo because other than the Panda Research Centre, CQZ houses more pandas than anywhere else in China. They are beautiful creatures and oddly human like in their movements. They were mostly sitting around like human infants would chewing on sweet bamboo which they held by their front 2 paws. Chinese in panda costume?? After musing over them to no end, we spotted tourists being allowed 1 at a time into an enclosure to pat a panda. I could not have run faster had my pants been on fire. Lets say it was a definite highlight of China.
The first thing I noticed when heading into Chongqing was that it was an extremely dark city. There were these huge housing skyscapers on the outskirts of town which were either unoccupied or everyone was in bed with every light out. I suspect it has something to do with China's electricity shortage.
When we got closer to the actual city it was almost as if the city was split down the middle by the Yangzi River. One side had huge buildings and the other side seemed to be the old town with run down looking housing.
We arrived in the newer part of the city and went straight to the lantern festival. This was a collection of lit up blow up creatures including dragons, pandas and even penguins. The highlight was probably the lights coming from one particular city building. With the grey smoggy sky the effect was very sci-fi. We also had a nice view over the river to the neon resturants on the other side.
We then went back to our hotel, which was located in between 2 car delearships, and had showers before returning to the centre of the city. Massive buildings and advertising everywhere, and heaps of people. Our guide had promised to take us to his favourite hotpot restaurant. I was really looking forward to this after what Peter had told me. He had become addicted to the hotpot resturants when he was living here.
On our way up to the restaurant they had their specials on display. These inlcuded delicacies such as fresh bull's penis..tasty! The place was absolutely packed and there was only about one table free, which had obviously just been used as there was still the pot and bowls and beer bottles everywhere. Our guide instructed the waitresses to clean it up for us. We literally slipped into our seats as the floor was covered in oil.
Our guide ordered everything for us. We had a half-half pot, where half contained normal broth and the other half contained the chili-laden broth. The pot was brought out by a chef covered in splattered oil and other substances, and placed over our lit gas burner in the middle of the table. The waitresses then bought out many plates of raw food including beef, lamb, pork, fish, tripe, intestines and chicken's stomach. What a feast! I actually tried the tripe, intestines and chicken's stomach. All of them were extremely chewy and just tasted like the chili broth, thankfully. The stomach was actually quite crispy. The taste of the chili-broth was absolutely beautiful, I can understand how Peter became addicted. The other part of the hotpot is that after the food is cooked in the boiling broth, you dip it in a mixture of sesame oil and garlic. A great way to put on the pounds, except you sweat so much that you burn it right off. Overall I was very satisfied with out hotpot experience.
The next day we explored the city and dealt with the massive crowd of people. It was China's national day holiday, which actually lasts for 7 days, so people were everywhere. That evening we took the cable car over the Yangzi to the other side where many HUGE neon restaurants residing either on the riverside of actually on the river. We sat down in a bar on the riverside to 
have a few beers and watch the monstrous floating seafood restaurants with their glass elevators. Later we ventured a bit further along the riverside to a restaurant where almost every dish we ordered off the menu they didn't have. It was also quite intersting as we tried to order from a chinese only menu using our very limited mandarin. There is a whole heap of buskers in this area, many who play electric guitars with their amps strapped to their back.Overall I would say Chongqing is a very liveable city. The only problems being the pollution and the weather (i believe it is very often around 40 degrees celsius). The people seem laid back and friendly, and there is everything you could want available within the city.
(Denh: Cant believe he forgot to mention my panda)
We ventured to the Chongqing Zoo because other than the Panda Research Centre, CQZ houses more pandas than anywhere else in China. They are beautiful creatures and oddly human like in their movements. They were mostly sitting around like human infants would chewing on sweet bamboo which they held by their front 2 paws. Chinese in panda costume?? After musing over them to no end, we spotted tourists being allowed 1 at a time into an enclosure to pat a panda. I could not have run faster had my pants been on fire. Lets say it was a definite highlight of China.
