Lonely Planet China
Page 163
Hóngyá CaveARTS & CRAFTS
(洪崖洞; Hóngyádòng MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 56 Cangbai Lu, 沧白路56号 h9am-10pm; mXiǎoshízì)
Built into the cliffs overlooking the Jiālíng, this massive complex is a Disney version of the tumbledown houses that once stood in its place. If you have just a day to try local food and pick up souvenirs, it's a fun place to wander around. The handicraft stalls are on the 3rd floor.
8Information
Medical Services
24-Hour PharmacyPHARMACY
(药店; Yàodiàn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 63 Minquan Lu; 民权路63号 h24hr; mJiàochǎngkǒu)
Western medicine, ground floor; Chinese medicine, 1st floor.
Global Doctor Chóngqìng ClinicMEDICAL
(环球医生重庆诊所; Huánqiú Yīshēng Chóngqìng Zhěnsuǒ MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %023-8903 8837; Suite 701, 7th fl, Office Tower, Hilton Hotel, 139 Zhongshan Sanlu; 中山三路139号希尔顿酒店商务楼7层701室 h9am-5pm Mon-Fri)
A 24-hour emergency service is available by dialling the general clinic number.
Money
ATMBANK
( GOOGLE MAP )
ATM machine that takes foreign cards.
ICBCBANK
(Industrial & Commercial Bank of China; Gōngshāng Yínháng; 工商银行 GOOGLE MAP ; Minzu Lu; 民族路 h9am-6pm; mJiàochǎngkǒu)
On Minzu Lu beside the Liberation Monument. Has a dedicated money-exchange facility.
HSBCBANK
(汇丰银行; Huìfēng Yínháng GOOGLE MAP ; Minquan Lu; 民权路 h9am-5pm Mon-Fri; mJiàochǎngkǒu)
Has a money-exchange facility.
Post & Telephone
China PostPOST
(中国邮政; Zhōngguó Yóuzhèng GOOGLE MAP ; Minquan Lu; 民权路 h9am-6pm; mJiaochangkou)
You can top up your Chinese phone and buy SIM cards at the China Mobile store (open 9am to 9pm) on the 1st floor.
Travel Agencies
Travelling With Hostel (玺院青年旅舍; Xǐyuàn Qīngnián Lǚshě; Yangtze River Hostel MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %023 6310 4208; 80 Changbin Lu; 朝天门长滨路80号 dm ¥35-50, tw & d ¥200; aiW; mXiǎoshízì) Can arrange tours of all types (including Three Gorges cruises) and have better English-language speakers than the travel agencies and ticket offices around town. They charge minimal commission.
Harbour Plaza Travel Centre Staff here are helpful, speak English and can book air tickets and arrange Three Gorges cruises.
Public Security Bureau
Public Security BureauPOLICE
(PSB; 公安局; Gōng’ānjú %023-6396 1994; 555 Huanglong Lu; 黄龙路555号 h9am-noon & 2-5pm; mTángjiā Yuànzi, exit 2)
Extends visas. Accessed from Ziwei Zhilu (紫薇支路). Take metro Line 3 to Tángjiā Yuànzi (唐家院子). Leave from exit 2, go up the escalator, turn left then first right, then keep going until you see the large building with flags on your right (10 minutes).
8Getting There & Away
Chóngqìng is well-connected to the rest of China via rail, bus and air. There are also numerous direct flights to other parts of Asia and beyond. If you don't speak Chinese, it's easiest to book rail and bus tickets at a hotel or travel centre, as there is no English spoken at the bus and train stations.
Air
Chóngqìng’s Jiāngběi Airport (重庆江北飞机场) is 25km north of the city centre, and connected to the metro system. As always, it’s easiest to book online. Try www.ctrip.com or www.elong.net. Alternatively, buy tickets at the China International Travel Service (CITS; 中国国际旅行社; Zhōngguó Guójì Lǚxíngshè %023 6383 9777; www.cits.net; 8th fl, 151 Zourong Lu; 邹容路151号 h9.30am-5.30pm Mon-Fri). Some English is spoken. Because of the high-speed rail link, there are no longer flights between Chóngqìng and Chéngdū. Direct flights include:
ABěijīng (2½ hours, 12 daily)
AKūnmíng (70 minutes, 12 daily)
AShànghǎi (2½ hours, 12 daily)
AWǔhàn (90 minutes, nine daily)
AXī’ān (90 minutes, 10 daily)
Boat
Chóngqìng is the starting point for hugely popular cruises down the Yangzi River through the magnificent Three Gorges.
Chóngqìng Ferry Port Ticket HallFERRY
(重庆港售票大厅; Chóngqìnggǎng Shòupiào Dàtīng MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Cháotiānmén Sq; h7am-10pm; mCháotiānmén)
The cheapest place to buy ordinary tourist boat tickets, and the only place that sells passenger ferry tickets. No English spoken.
Bus
Chóngqìng has several long-distance bus stations, but most buses use Càiyuánbà Bus Station (菜园坝汽车站; Càiyuánbà Qìchēzhàn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; mLianglukou) beside the main (old) train station. There is no English spoken nor English signage, so you're best off buying tickets via an agency or a hostel. Destinations include:
AChéngdū 成都; Sìchuān ¥98, four hours, every hour, 6.30am to 8.30pm
AChìshuǐ 赤水; Guìzhōu (¥65 to ¥70, 4½ hours, six daily, 7.40am to 6.30pm
ADàzú 大足; ¥43, 2½ hours, every 30 minutes, 7am to 7pm
AHéchuān 合川; ¥29, 90 minutes, every 30 minutes, 6.30am to 8.30pm
ASōnggài 松溉; ¥41, two hours, one daily, 1.20pm
AWànzhōu 万州; ¥111, 3½ hours, five daily from 8am to 5.30pm
AYíbīn 宜宾; Sìchuān ¥63 to ¥115, three to four hours, every 30 minutes, 6.45am to 8.30pm
AYǒngchuān 永川; ¥32, 90 minutes, every 20 minutes, 8.30am to 9.20pm
Buses for Jiāngjīn 江津; (¥24, 70 minutes, every 30 minutes, 7am to 9pm) and Fèngjié 奉节 (¥160, four to five hours, hourly, 7.30am to 8.30pm), where you can catch the Three Gorges ferry, leave from Lóngtóusì Bus Station (龙头寺汽车站; Lóngtóusì Qìchēzhàn), which is on metro Line 3 (station name: 龙头寺; Lóngtóusì).
For Wǔlóng 武隆; (¥60, three hours, every 40 minutes, 7.30am to 7.40pm), you need the Sìgōnglǐ Bus Station (四公里汽车站; Sìgōnglǐ Qìchēzhàn), which is on metro Line 3 (station name: 四公里: Sìgōnglǐ).
Train
New, faster trains, including the D class ‘bullet’ train to and from Chéngdū, use Chóngqìng’s new North Station (重庆北站; Chóngqìng Běizhàn Kunlun Dadao; 昆侖大道 ), but some others, such as the train to Kūnmíng, use the older train station at Càiyuánbà (菜园坝). There is no English in the stations, so if you don't speak Chinese try buying tickets ahead via an agency or hostel.
Destinations include:
ABěijīng West 北京西; hard sleeper ¥393, 23 to 31 hours, five daily, 11.34am to 11.40pm
AChéngdū East 成都东; hard seat from ¥97, 1½ to two hours, 20 daily, 6.49am to 7.51pm
AGuìlín 桂林; hard sleeper ¥270, 20 hours, one daily, 8.35pm
AKūnmíng 昆明; hard sleeper from ¥245, 18 to 19 hours, three daily, 9.24am, 2.12pm and 6.32pm
AShànghǎi 上海; hard sleeper from ¥510, 28 to 40 hours, three daily, 8.02am, 1.10pm and 4.29pm
AWǔhàn 武汉; hard sleeper from ¥260, 6½-7½ hours, three daily, 2.15pm, 6.18pm and 7.28pm
AXī’ān 西安; hard sleeper from ¥184, 10 to 11 hours, three daily, 10.05am, 12.45pm and 5.26pm
8Getting Around
To/From the Airport
Metro Line 3 goes from the airport (机场; jīchǎng) into town (¥7, 45 minutes, 6.22am to 10.30pm). Note, the metro is signposted as ‘Light Rail’ (轻轨; qīngguǐ) at the airport.
The airport shuttle bus (机场大巴, Jīchǎng Dàbā MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Shangqingsi Lu; ¥15, 45 min) meets all arriving planes and takes you to Meizhuanxiao Jie (美专校街), a small road off Zhongshan Sanlu (中山三路), via a couple of stops in the north of the city. Bus 461 goes from Zhongshan Sanlu to Cháotiānmén (朝天门). To get to the metro, turn left onto Zhongshan Sanlu and go straight over the large roundabout. Niújiǎotuó (牛角沱) station will be on your left.
Shuttle buses going to the airport run from 6am to 8pm.
A taxi is ¥55 to ¥70.
Bus
>
Local bus fares are ¥1 or ¥2. Useful routes:
ABus 105 North Train Station–Línjiāngmén (near Liberation Monument)
ABus 120 Cháotiānmén–Càiyuánbà Train Station
ABus 141 North Train Station–Cháotiānmén
ABus 419 North Train Station–Càiyuánbà Train Station
ABus 461 Cháotiānmén–Zhongshan Sanlu (for airport bus)
ABus 462 Zhongshan Sanlu (airport bus)–Liberation Monument
Metro
Chóngqìng’s part-underground, part-overground metro system has four lines and links the Jiěfàngbēi peninsula with many parts of the city, including the airport and the two train stations. Fares are ¥2 to ¥10 and trains run 6.30am to 11.30pm. Signs are mostly bilingual and the electronic ticket-selling kiosks have an English option.
The metro station for Càiyuánbà Train Station is called Liǎnglùkǒu (两路口) and is accessed via one of the world’s longest escalators (大扶梯; dà fútī MAP GOOGLE MAP ; ¥2).
Taxi
Taxi flag fall is ¥10. A taxi from Jiěfàngbēi to Shapingba should cost around ¥45.
THE TOUGHEST PORTERS IN CHINA
Ever since the first Chóngqìngers couldn’t bear the thought of carrying their buckets of water from the river up to their cliff-side homes, there’s been a need for a special kind of porter. A porter who can lift more than his body weight and lug that load up and down hills all day long. A porter who can’t use a trolley like in other cities, or a bike or a rickshaw, but instead works on foot using only the cheapest of tools: a bamboo pole – or ‘bangbang’ – and a length of rope.
Known as the Bangbang Army, these porters have been bearing the city’s weights on their shoulders for hundreds of years, but their numbers really exploded in the 1990s when the government began resettling millions who lived along the Yangzi River. Many came from the countryside with little education and no relevant skills, and soon became part of the 100,000-strong workforce.
‘Bangbang’ porters earn around ¥50 per day to work in one of China’s hottest, hilliest cities, lugging heavy loads up and down steep hills, although you'll also see them carrying people's shopping home on the subway.
Despite the wealth that’s been pumped into the city in recent years (just look across the river at the Grand Theatre), the Bangbang Army continues to be an integral feature of Chóngqìng and porters are especially plentiful in the area close to the docks.
Dàzú Buddhist Caves 大足石窟
The superb rock carvings of Dàzú (大足石窟; Dàzú Shíkū) are a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of China’s four great Buddhist cave-sculpture sites, along with those at Dūnhuáng, Luòyáng and Dàtóng. The Dàzú sculptures are the most recent of the four, but the artwork here is arguably the best and in better condition.
Scattered over roughly 40 sites are thousands of cliff carvings and statues (with Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian influences), dating from the Tang dynasty (9th century) to the Song dynasty (13th century). The main groupings are at Treasured Summit Hill and North Hill.
1Sights
Treasured Summit HillARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
(宝顶山; Bǎodǐng Shān ¥135, combination ticket with North Hill ¥170; h8.30am-6pm)
If you only have time for one Dàzú stop, make it this, the largest and most impressive of the sites. Of all the stunning sculptures here, which are believed to have been carved between 1174 and 1252, the centrepiece is a 31m-long, 5m-high reclining Buddha depicted entering nirvana, with the torso sunk into the cliff face. Next to the Buddha, protected by a temple, is a mesmerising gold Avalokiteshvara (or Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy).
Treasured Summit Hill differs from other cave sites in that it incorporates some of the area’s natural features – a sculpture next to the reclining Buddha, for example, makes use of an underground spring. At the time of writing, some of the sculptures were undergoing renovation.
The site is about 15km northeast of Dàzú town and is accessed by buses (¥3, 20 minutes, every 30 minutes, until 7pm) that leave from Dōngguānzhàn bus stop. Dàzú has two bus stations; old and new. Buses from Chóngqìng drop you at Dàzú’s old bus station (老站; lǎozhàn). Buses from Chéngdū drop you at Dàzú’s new bus station (新站; xīnzhàn). From either, take bus 101 (¥1) or a taxi (¥7) to get to Dōngguānzhàn bus stop.
Once at the site, it’s a shadeless 25-minute walk from where the bus drops you off to the entrance to the sculptures. Buses returning from Treasured Summit Hill run until 6pm.
North HillARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
(北山; Běi Shān ¥90, combination ticket with Treasured Hill Summit ¥170; h8.30am-6pm)
This site, originally a military camp, contains some of the region’s earliest carvings. The dark niches hold several hundred statues. Some are in poor condition, but it is still well worth a visit.
The pleasant, forested North Hill is about a 30-minute hike – including many steps – from Dàzú town; turn left out of the old bus station and keep asking the way. It’s ¥20 in a taxi.
Buddha Vairocana CaveCAVE
(毗卢洞; Pílú Dòng )
The truly adventurous might like to catch a bus to the tiny town of Shíyáng (石羊), which has a little-seen collection of Song dynasty Buddhist rock carvings.
Buses to Shíyáng, just over the border in Sìchuān province, leave from Dàzú’s old bus station. When you get there, keep asking for Pílú Dòng (毗卢洞); it’s walking distance. From Shíyáng, you can continue by bus to Chéngdū.
Stone Gate Hill & Stone Seal HillARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
If you're really into Buddhist rock carvings, try to get out to the rarely visited sculptures at Stone Gate Hill (石门山; Shímén Shān), 19km southeast of Dàzú, or those at Stone Seal Hill (石篆山; Shízhuàn Shān), 20km southwest of town. You’ll have to take a taxi.
South HillARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
(南山; Nán Shān ¥20; h8.30am-6pm)
This modest site really only has one set of carvings, but makes a nice appetiser before you delve into the main courses at North Hill and Treasured Summit Hill. It’s behind the old bus station and takes around 15 minutes to walk to. It’s ¥10 in a taxi.
4Sleeping & Eating
Dàzú is usually visited as a day trip from Chóngqìng. If you plan to stay overnight, there are several hotels in Dàzú city, though many don't accept foreigners.
Bring snacks, as there's little to eat at most of the sites, though Treasured Summit Hill has a row of vendors hawking street food. Group tours of the area will include a lunch stop. Dàzú city itself has plenty of restaurants.
8Getting There & Away
Buses from Dàzú old station:
AChóngqìng ¥43, 2½ hours, every 30 minutes, 6.30am to 6.30pm
AShíyáng ¥12, one hour, every 40 minutes, 7.20am to 5.40pm
AYǒngchuān, for Sōnggài (¥22, 90 minutes, every 30 minutes, 7.10am to 5.40pm)
Buses from Dàzú new station:
AChéngdū ¥102, four hours, five daily, 7.15am to 9.50pm
ALèshān ¥102, 4½ hours, one daily, 7.20am
AZìgōng ¥52, 3½ hours, two daily, 8am and 1.30pm
WORTH A TRIP
FISHING TOWN FORTRESS
Fishing Town FortressFORTRESS
(钓鱼城, Diàoyú Chéng ¥80; h8.30am-6pm)
Famed throughout China for being one of the great ancient battlefields, this 700-year-old fortress is surrounded by rushing rivers on three sides and perched on top of a 300m-tall rocky mountain. This was the last stand of the Southern Song dynasty and famously, in the 13th century, the fortress withstood the mighty Mongol armies for an incredible 36 years, during which time an estimated 200 battles were fought here.
The fortress was protected by an 8km-long, 30m-tall double wall, punctuated with eight gate towers. Much of the outer wall and all the main gates remain today; some partly restored, others crumbling away. There is little here in terms of facilities (bring a picnic) but it’s a fascinating and peaceful
place to walk around; narrow stone pathways lead you through the forest, past Buddhist rock carvings, gravestones, bamboo groves, ponds, caves, the wall and its gateways and some fabulous lookout points. Sights not to miss include the serene, 11m-long, 1000-year-old Sleeping Buddha (卧佛; Wòfó), cut into the overhang of a cliff; Hùguó Temple (护国寺; Hùguó Sì), dating from the Tang dynasty, although largely rebuilt; and the Imperial Cave (黄洞; Huángdòng), an ancient drainage passage with steps leading down to it, clinging to the outside of the fort wall.
To reach the fortress, take a bus from Chóngqìng to Héchuān. Alternatively, numerous trains run from Chóngqìng North train station (¥12.50, 40 minutes) to Héchuān. There are no direct buses to the fortress. A taxi from the train station should be ¥25; from the bus station ¥10. The last bus back to Chóngqìng from Héchuān is at 6pm.
Láitān 涞滩古镇
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The main attraction in Láitān (涞滩古镇; Láitān Gǔzhèn), an ancient walled village overlooking the Qú River, is the towering Láitān Buddha , one of the largest in China, carved into a hillside and surrounded by more than 1000 ministatues.
Allow time to wander around the village, which is more than 1000 years old, checking out the small shops and eateries. Láitān mǐjiǔ (米酒; rice wine) is a local speciality.
Although it is possible to visit Láitān as a day trip from Chóngqìng, some people might like to stay the night within the village walls at one of several informal local guesthouses – ask around for information.