Chongqing

Most people will never have heard of Chongqing, unless they've seen the viral TikTok videos over the last couple of years. It might be world's best-kept secret (though perhaps short-lived).

Depending on how you count, it has a population between 23-32 million people, making it arguably the biggest city on earth 😳 it was the designated capital of China during WW2, where resistance against the Japanese was organised. Now, it's a manufacturing behemoth: one third of ALL laptops in the world are built in this city.

The main attraction of Chongqing though is the city itself. It is built on a nest of rivers, gorges and steep hills—basically, they have squeezed 30 million people into a landscape with no flat land. That means buildings, public transport, roads and infrastructure become an internecine maze of levels. You enter a shopping mall at what feels like the ground floor, only to go down five escalators and exit onto a tree-lined boulevard. You descend into a tunnel to catch a cable car, but go up three floors in a lift to hail a taxi. It has the world's deepest metro station, but within three stops you'll see rooftop bars out of the train window. There's a monorail that runs through a residential building—a tourist attraction in its own right, with a viewing platform seven storeys below, and that viewing platform (which feels like it’s at regular road level) is itself ten storeys above the river. It's the most discombobulating place imaginable. They call it the "8D city" for a reason: it's got layers like Shrek and a map like a hairball.

Needless to say, we love it. The nighttime views of the illuminated skyline are mind-blowing. The cable car across the Yangtze was stunning. Even getting lost in a shopping mall was bizarrely fun too. We were a little disappointed not to be here on a Saturday, because they have the largest drone shows in China every week, but alas that just means we'll have to come back again some day. What a shame.

Chongqing is also one of the most affordable cities in China. Our hotel (on the third floor of a 19-floor building that runs from -5 to 14, of course), cost us just £11/night for a comfy private room. It was also full of cats and right below the communist police HQ. Dan has been suffering with heat rash a bit, but we bought some mysterious medical cream at the Chinese pharmacy which is helping a lot. We don't want to know what the active ingredient is so have avoided translating the label. He is also recovering from a canker sore inside his lip, which means it's probably not the best time to be in the spicy food capital of China...

Right now, Chongqing is at the heart of the catastrophic and news-worthy heatwaves in China—it's been consistently over 40⁰C for weeks, with people sheltering in tunnels and underground shopping malls to escape the heat. It is also the best place in China for spicy Sichuan food, so we killed two birds with one stone by visiting an underground restaurant for spicy hotpot (RIP Dan's tender lip). The restaurant is in an abandoned train tunnel, which doubled as an air-raid shelter during WW2, and diners sit along a 520m tunnel served by robot waiters. It's advertised as "the second largest cave hotpot in the universe": the #1 is also in Chongqing, is even bigger, open 24hrs/day, and seats nearly 6,000 people. That's a lot of Sichuan peppers! 🌶️

The last thing we have to talk about here is the Sichuan Opera. It's a kind of variety show that's evolved over 700 years or so, and there are loads of small theatres running shows throughout the province. Our Finnish friends in Chengdu recommended this, and we're so glad we went in Chongqing since we missed it at our last stop. The performances are like nothing we've ever seen before: clowning acrobats with candles, shadow puppetry, long-spouted teapots wielded like weapons, ornate costumes, high kicks, fire breathing marionettes, and (the main attraction) 'face changing'. We'll let the video speak for itself.

Overall, we're so glad we adjusted our schedule to spend an extra night in Chongqing, on the advice of everyone we've met along our travels. They were right! This place is incredible!Read more