This is the landmark tower of the city with lots of myths and stories associated with it. There has been a tower here for nearly 2,000 years. Being made of wood, it has often burnt down. Climbing up it, I thought this one was well preserved, until I was told it had only been re-built 20 years previously.
The view from the top was spectacular. The city has the Yangtze running through it. The bridges across are imaginatively named, The First Bridge (I believe the one in the photo), The Second Bridge, etc.
The museum has a massive concert hall where they give concerts using traditional instruments.
We often had exotic entertainment at the lunches and dinners that were laid on for our group. Unfortunately with little or no explanations, I found it hard to appreciate it all fully.
I committed a major faux-pas when I asked the local guide if you called the man here a "Coolie".
I got a long heated lecture on the insult that I had just uttered to him, the city, China and the world in general by using such insulting and imperialistic language. Unfortunately I remember I didn't help my cause by initially thinking that the guide was joking by over-reacting so much. He wasn't joking and I was a bit more careful with my language after that incident.
The geese and other animals were kept in appalling crowded conditions in the cages. These ones were (temporarily) lucky. However it is the expressions of the sellers that makes this photo memorable for me.
Chongqing is one of the largest administrative municipalities in the world (30 million+), but I had never heard of it before visiting China.
We had a tour of the National Auditorium, the pride of the city. However inside, it was just a vast, leaky empty space. I am sure though the atmosphere would be transformed when full up.
Thank goodness kids are kids the world over. Apparently they think Europeans look very strange and funny with our "big noses".
