Land of Mala | Chong Qing

I just came back from a trip to Chongqing, China so let’s do a walk through of the trip shall we?

Breakdown as follows:

Itinerary breakdown as follows:

Day 1 | Check-in Hotel, Hong Ya Dong

So the thing about getting to Chongqing from Singapore was that we had to transit in Shanghai Pudong airport to Shanghai Hongqiao airport (4hrs transit) before finally arriving in Chongqing Jiangbei airport. It takes about 5 houts to fly from SG to Shanghai Pudong, then 4 hours transitting to the other aiport in Shangha, before another 3 hour flight to Chongqing. It’s almost 12 hours of travelling so it’s pretty intense but the timing was good so we decided to go with it. We managed to land in Chongqing at 11am. We called a didi (the term they used for cabs in China and it is located within the Alipay app) and managed to reached our hotel within 30 mins from the airport. Arrived a bit too early for check-in so we left our luggage at the reception and grabbed hotpot at a nearby restaurant since we were starving. We were served with a Yin Yang hot pot which had Mala and Mushroom soup and the Mala looked spicy and oily af LOL. Was not very impressed by their ingredients because they were mostly frozen meats.

After lunch, we walked around the area and discovered a small alley filled with shops and snacks overlooking the Yangtze river. After window shopping for a bit, we finally checked in to YOLO Skyline Riverview Hotel . Ngl the entrance of the hotel was a shady building with very little lighting. The reception was at the fourth floor and our rooms were located at the 41st floor. I believe that’s the second highest floor in the building; the building had 42 floors!! Despite the shady looking exterior of the building, I was pretty impressed with the rooms here. The room room was cave themed and it had a mini private pool within it. It’s floor to ceiling windows overlooked the Yangtze river and it also comes with a projector screen which you can play shows, sing karaoke or play songs. It’s definitely one of the better hotels I’ve been to.

After taking a short nap after lunch, we went to get a massage at Golden Impressions which was located at JieFangbei Pedestrian Steet. The entire massage experience was pretty cool because at the place itself, we were led into this private room where we can order free flow of any foods and drinks from their menu because it comes with the massage package. The rooms were so spacious and they came well equipped with a bathroom, closets, a projector screen and a fridge too. Also, we could watch movies in the room while we got our massages which was really interesting as well. Their masseurs were pretty good and we spent close to 2 hours in massage place.

After which, we walked to Hong Ya Dong which was about a 20mins walk away from JieFangbei. When we reached Hong Ya Dong, we only caught the side view of the place HAHAHA thankfully I managed to see the full view on our last day when we took the train back. A got hungry when we finally went back to our hotel so we ordered food delivery from Meituan (the food delivery app in Alipay app). I got some Zha Jiang noodles and a yogurt drink whereas A got fried rice. The delivery was so…fast? I’m so amazed that the delivery man could navigate all the way to get the food to my hotel room on the 41st floor and hang it at my door. That’s pretty cool. We had to turn in early cause we were going to trek Wulong Karst the next day.

Day 2 | Wulong Karst

Woke up at 6am to meet our guide at 645am at our hotel lobby for our full day hike at Wulong Karst. We boarded the bus and it brought us to the interim meeting place before we onboarded another bus which brought us to Wulong Karst. The trip there took 3 hours from the city centre and there was a couple of pit stops during the trip there. We watched a 5min VR experience in one of the pit stops which kind of gave us a preview of what Wulong Karst looks like, quite interesting ngl it made me wann return to Chongqing to see the “flying kiss” statues. We had a simple lunch which was included in the package before finally arriving at Wulong Karst. We bought the tickets to go onto the observatory deck which allowed us to stand on the glass floor an look down into the view below the deck. I think some people who have a fear of heights might not be able to handle the view because it’s really high up from the ground.

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We walked a bit before arriving at an actual lift which transported us to the lower grounds of the park where we continued to walk towards the temple. Along the way, we saw really pretty landscapes of bridges, waterfalls and even rivers. Ngl we walked alot that day and the tourists there were rather unruly, they kept shouting since they could hear the echoes coming from the place. I think this tour was a great opportunity to be one with nature but you gotta be fit to walked through the entire trek cause there are ALOT of steps and staircases HAHA.

When we finally finished the hike, we took the bus back to the city which took anoth 4 hours cause of the peak hour jam. Chongqing’s traffic can get really bad during peak hours ngl. After a long day, grabbed a quick dinner at a skewer place before going back. I ordered yogurt from Meituan and called it a day. Fun fact, the locals love yogurt for some reason, I tried their Kale yogurt drink and it was so good?? The chewy bits inside made the drink oh-so refreshing I love it.

Day 3 | Guan Yin Qiao Shopping, Imperial Feast Dinner

I only planned for the imperial dinner experience so we had the afternoon free. We decided to grab lunch at a beef noodle stall in Guan Yin Qiao and it was really good. The foods in Chongqing is mostly mala related and their beef noodles of course came drenched in mala seasoning which was super shiok!! I would like to say that people who cannot eat spicy, you can request for no spicy but most food here are spicy so be warned.

Anyhoo, we went to shop at popmart in Guan Yin Qiao and find the legendary screen that shows “我 在 重庆” for 3 second wtf?? No wonder the whole street was PACKED with people, everyone be trying to catch that slide which only appears for 3 seconds. Talk about genius marketing. We had some time to kill so we went to Chagee before finally taking a cab to the Chongqing imperial feast. The place was slightly difficult to find but we managed to find it and dress up in the costumes provided before they ushered us to an area to play some traditional games before the dinner. The games include 五子棋, calligraphy challenge, mini soccer, dance challenge, dice guessing game and also arrow throwing game. It was so cute because they gave us taels to use as “payment” for a chance to play the game. If we win, we get to collect more taels HAHAHA We had so much fun playing the games, my personal favorite was definitely the 五子棋 cause it’s a strategy game. Ngl I lost the first round but in the second round I won mainly cause the guy gave chance to me. In fact, after learning about this game, I went to buy it home to play hehe

After the games, they has a mini performance where they welcomed us to the banquet area where we finally had our mini steamboat session. The performance was quite interesting and the food served was ngl very aesthetically pleasing. However, I was still hungry after the meal LOL. Perhaps cause I booked the standard seats so it was quit far from the stage but nevertheless the acting and theatris was really on point and it was a pretty worthwhile experience. After the entire show/dinner. they actually had a segment were you could pay about 40 bucks or so to do a special dramatic entrance with the actors acting as your servants and have it all filmed by the on-site videographer HAHA We made a move during this final segment and went to get another massage near JieFangbei to end the day off.

Day 4 | Ciqikou Street, 1949 Chongqing Theatre Play

We went to explore Ciqikou street before going to watch the Chongqing 1949 play at their grand theatre. Ciqikou is almost like Taiwan’s Jiu fen street but WAYYY bigger. There’s so many things to eat, shop and explore here.

We grabbed a quick lunch at a roasted duck restaurant there and walked about in the streets for a bit before deciding to chill at a cafe bar located on the second floor in one of their shophouses. The buildings here are all so rustic it really reminded me of Taiwan for some reasson.

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我在重庆!!🙂‍↔️ #travel #chongqing #fyp

♬ 大展鴻圖(Blueprint Supreme) – 揽佬SKAI ISYOURGOD & AR刘夫阳

When it was time to watch the play, we walked to the theatre which was conveniently located round the corner of Ciqikou. Honestly, I’m not a fan of plays but I heard great reviews about this one so I decided to go check it out. We bought the section A VIP tickets and we were seated right at the front row directly in front of the stage. I believe there are more expensive tickets which would allow you to have a higher and better view of the stage. Nevertheless, our seat still had a good view because the stage and the audience seats rotates throughout the play so you actually will get to see everything!! Ngl I didn’t know what to expect but this play was out of the world. The fact that the stage and the audience seats rotates was pretty cool and also they had an entire ship and car within the entire set. What really blew my mind was when the 10 over actors came down from the ceiling suspended in the air as part of the play. That was insane. Even though I didn’t understand most of what they were saying but the sheer scale of the entire set and performance blew my mind for sure.

We grabbed dinner at a skewer barbeque joint and ngl I loved the way they cook the veggies here, they are so good?? The oyster were pretty fresh too we ordered 10 of them LOL

Day 5 | Xiao Hao Lane, The Ring Mall, Drone Show

On our last day, we decided to go SHOPPING!! But before that, we went to check ou Xiao Hao Lane which was pretty similar to Ciqikou but on a slightly smaller scale. Nevertheless, it was still really huge and we grabbed our lunch at a Thai restaurant nestled within the area.

After that, we went to shop at one of the Mix C malls and also The Ring mall. Malls in Chongqing are HUGE!! There is everything there, from clothes to food to even CARS?? I was so impressed when I saw that they sold cars in the mall and it was not just one floor but one the second floor as well. Did I mention that the malls were all pet friendly as well? Yes, they are! So many of the locals were shopping with their pets along them and it was so cuteeee. Shopped for a bit before we finally grabbed dinner at one of the chinese restaurants within The Ring mall. We spent the last moments of our last night at Chongqing watching the famous drone show near Hong Ya Dong. The drone show started at 830pm and the formations were super impressive mainly because they move??? I’d image just static images but the hamster actually moved and even the unicorn which was so cool?? We did see an ad in the drone show where they displayed a car brand but still that’s quite ingenius come to think of it. After the 20min show, the crowd dispersed and holy sht the crowd was insane. There were so many people everywhere that the entire road was cordoned off just to accomodate the people to disperse and take the train home. We didn’t manage to get a cab cause it would take 30mins due to the sheer number of people trying to get a cab so we walked to the train station to get back to our hotel.

Day 6 | Home

It was finally the day to go home, we checked out at 11am and went to grab lunch at JieFangBei before commuting to the airport. It was another same transit in Shanghai before we finally got back to Singapore.

Conclusion

I’ve always been seeing Chongqing videos on socials but actually being there was a totally different experience. Technically its my first trip to China if we don’t count the trip I went to China with my grandparents when I was a teenager. Travelling in China was really seamless if you have everything setup in Wechat and Alipay.

Everything could be done in the Alipay app from transport to payment to food delivery. Communicating with the guides was mainly using WeChat and most restaurants used online ordering which you can access using Wechat just by scanning the QR. You literally can survive in China with just these 2 apps. I enjoyed my time in Chongqing mainly cause I love spicy foods and the weather in November was cooling as well. The locals are pretty friendly too even though sometimes you might catch them randomly spitting on the floor which can be a little gross. I bet you didn’t know that Chongqing is actually a city that is densely covered by high rise buildings, the building there are towering over you and the entire city is built on mountains and rivers!! Overall, it was a fruitful trip and I would highly recommend people to give this place a visit especially if you love spicy foods like me 🙂

Till the next,

D

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