Trip to Chongqing: Mountains, Mists and Megapolis

My next trip to eastern Asia (between the 12th - 24th of April) will be to Chongqing, also known as Chungking, is a city that is probably much less known about outside China than its brethren closer to the eastern coast like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing, but it is actually (depending on how you count) the biggest city in China with its roughly 29 million residents in its municipality area.

It has several nicknames, where some of them are:

• The Mountain City - Even though all the skyscrapers may hide it somewhat nowadays it is quite a hilly city. I actually love this, but I can understand the problems with it for city-planning and car-driving.
• The City of Rivers - China's greatest river Yangtze and the Jialing River meets here, squeezing the bustling city center between them.
• The City of Mists - Photographers (usually) love this city due to the prevalence of mists. I will see what I think about it as today the smog is part of the natural conditions too.
• one of the Three Furnaces - The high temperatures combined with the high summer temperatures and Monsoon climate makes this a possible painful experience in summer-time. When I am going there in mid-April I see the daytime temperatures is already reaching 30 degrees…

I will be there for 10 days and as usual I will explore and go where the moment takes me, but there are some places you just "have" to visit as a tourist in the Chongqing urban area:

• Ciqikou - A photogenic old-style shopping street cum tourist magnet
• Hongya Dong - A fantastic series of wooden buildings that looks like the building in Spirited Away
• Jiefangbei - The monument and the space around it is Chongqing's version of New York's Times Square, and lies in the middle of the city's most luxurious district
• Great Hall of the People - A massive piece of historical re-enactment as it looks as an ancient palace even thought it was built in 1953.

I have several other plans, but they are more odd or I just want to see how they work out before I tell you, but I promise you there will be many pictures, as usual. You can also follow me on instagram.