Chongqing Province

ESPAÑOL

This is one of the most prosperous and richest provinces in China; Its growth has been so intense in recent years that Sichuan was forced to grant its independence in 1997. The enclave of its capital, with the same name, is the secret of its success, since it allows it to control all commerce that comes from and goes to west Yangtze River; but the city has not yet been reformed as befits one of the most important cities in China and is far from being a moderately attractive place, if not ugly, dirty and sometimes a third-world aspect like.

So why come here? Because we can hardly visit the interesting parts of this province without going through the capital:

There is no other option if we want to take a cruise or tourist boat to go to The Three Gorges, as it is the point of departure or completion. Sail placidly Yangtze River through different canyons to reach one of the greatest works of modern engineering, the Three Gorges Dam, is one of the famous tourist activities in the country.
Dazu Grottoes are a series of sculptures and rock engravings of Buddhist and Taoist influences dating from the seventh century. UNESCO Heritage since 1999, there are more than 50,000 representations, and are another option to be added to the list of similar places offered by China, such as Leshan Grand Buddha, Longmen Caves or Yungang Grottoes in Datong.
And there is also a representative part of the center-south karst of the country. Almost everything is in Wulong County, and within this, the best known area are Wu Ling Mountains. They became popular after filming scenes from the movie “Transformers 4: the Age of Extinction”; There is even a life-size statue of the Tyrannosaurus dinobot.

So it presents:

An advantage: these varied attractions make Chongqing Province one of the most complete and can therefore be a good destination for those who either have few days or want to see a bit of everything without doing too many kilometers.
And one drawback, that none of them is a priori the best in the country in its category:
- In our opinion the capital is not worth it. Why lie?, its downtown is the ugliest and most disorganized of all Chinese cities we have visited.
- The cruise was good, and it is a relaxed way to go from Chongqing to Yichang, from there continue the route to Zhangjiajie, that is why we decided to do it; But if not, the truth is that the short Li River cruise in Guilin is quite more impressive in terms of landscape.
- We did not go to Dazu nor Wulong Karst because we had gone to Leshan Buddha and Mount Huang and were heading to Zhangjiajie and Guilin. We thought they were not better than what we had already seen or planned to see, so they are pending for a future visit.

So comfort vs conformism, will you give Chongqing a chance?