Today we disembarked from the ship at Chongqing - the most populated city in China with 32 million people! It is surrounded my mountains on four sides and often foggy but today was mostly clear. :) To reach the shore, we had to cut through another cruise ship and then cross a barge to a set of stone steps. Normally, there are 100 steps to climb to reach the buses while carrying your suitcases, but we lucked out and arrived at a high tide and only had to climb 50! There were farmers waiting at the barge offering to carry your bags up the steps for 3 USD a person. We were told that they do this supplement their income which was reduced when the dam was built and the farmland in the area was submerged. It is clear that there is a definite difference between the quality of life in the country and that in the city. They are so different it is almost like two different countries.
Chongqing was China's capital city during World War II when Japan occupied many cities in the east including the capital city of Nan king. There is great respect for Americans in the city still today because of the American Volunteer Group that came and aided the Chinese for military airplanes during WW2 when they created a military base on a sand barge in the middle of the river because there was not enough flat land in the mountain city for an airstrip. There are old bomb shelters scattered throughout the city from this time that have now been reformed to create usable spaces like storage for food at the zoo, shops, and stores.
We visited the zoo to see the Giant Panda and found that there are now about 800 of them in the wild within the nature preserves in China. We arrived as they were feeding them in the morning and I think we got some great pictures. As you can image, the rest of the zoo was a real thrill for me. We walked among the aroma of hippos, rhinos, and the wild donkeys. The weather was a bit cooler in the morning in the high 70s and by the time we left it was in the mid 80s.
We then went to the airport to fly to Xian. Typical of my flying experiences, the flight was delayed by two hours, so we sat in the airport with our group before taking the short trip to the northern city. We arrived in just enough time to catch the Tang Dynasty show and to quickly eat our dinner. On the bus ride to the show, we did see quite a bit of the city and got a bit of information as well.
Someone is waiting for the computer and we have to catch our bus to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers, so I will cut this post off here and share my information on the city tomorrow!! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment