A transfer through the world's biggest city [10/30-31 Rest of Tues. to Early Wed.]

[Picture from earlier in the day than Chongqing, but I thought it looked cool]

[Rest of the pictures, including some rainy Chongqing and some more on the river]

The rest of the boat trip was fairly uneventful. There was a lot of shipbuilding and bridge construction along the shore. Massive new towns have sprung up filled with those relocated by the dam. That evening there was a cabaret with alternating crew and passenger acts. Our group took a pass, most of the other groups may have been well advised to do the same, although I did like the Germans’ two songs. The crew dances tended to have bad audio but the costumes and dances themselves were rather good.

We disembarked at Chongqing, which counting surrounding areas has a population of 33 million. It had been the wartime capital during WWII because it was far more defensible Come 1997 it was granted municipality status and given special benefits and has grown rapidly since then. Our local guide pointed out that there were few bicycles because the town was so hilly. It was rainy and misty this morning, which is apparently the standard whether due to the convergence of two rivers and the surrounding mountains.

The airport was quite new and sleek. It also felt comparatively empty, even by Western standards. Near as I can tell it is mostly used by tourists and the rich. Our flight to Xi’an was full so they’re doing good business, but they’re far from capacity and aren’t presently oriented to mass-use. There was a fair amount of leg space on the plane, which was both nice and surprising. Lunch was odd, white bread sandwiches with lettuce, ham, and possibly mayo. The crusts were removed as often happens in China. Felt like a mistranslated Western meal.