Our trip to Chongqing 重庆 changed me; I now greatly admire the resilience and innovation of her people and her architecture! Chongqing means Double Celebration. Her steep hills and valleys terrain at the confluence of the yellow Yangtze river and and the green Jialing river leaves it with narrow river bank strips often prone to flooding. The famous Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie designed Raffles City Chongqing, an iconic mixed-use development known for its breathtaking "horizontal 300m long enclosed skybridge called "The Crystal," which links four of the development's eight skyscrapers
Historically the people created the Bayu style stilted buildings 巴渝建筑; Bā Yú jiànzhù with its 吊脚楼; diàojiǎo lóu with structures cascading down slopes for example the iconic HongyaDong 洪崖洞.
Both historical and modern developers created a multi-layered, three-dimensional city resulting in structures built into cliffs, and elevated roads. The unique architecture created multilevel-access in that a single building can have entrances on several different floors. To capitalize on the vertical density, skyscrapers have been built close together, and skybridges connect buildings at high altitudes to serve as walkways for residents and tenants . This creates a complex, visually intricate cityscape that can be disorienting but fascinating to explore.
There also is a underground one way road that connects the basement parking lots of many buildings. Chongqing is unique in that it can be traversed several ways; the jammed surface roads ( 1 hour) , the walking paths( 15 minutes) and the underground car route ( 6 minutes).
I truly enjoy our walks from Jiefangbei 解放碑 to KuiXing Tower from apparently ground zero to suddenly level 22 and then down to the Dajia Cliff Alley to enjoy the views of the Jialing river and Hongyadong. We walked that route 3 times in 1 single day and the more we walked, the more I understood , the more my admiration grew 越走越明白，越佩服 as I experienced that complexities of the unique stilted building architecture.
We explored 3 mountain cliff alleys in Chongqing. The first is the higher Mountain City Cliff Alley 山城步道, the 2nd was the lower and more famous Shibati ( 18 steps) 十八梯 which is the river bank lower continuation of the mountain city cliff alley. Shibati is like a quaint little village 小城故事 with pretty and unusual shops. The 3rd was the Dajia Mountain Alley ( Mid Mountain) 戴家巷老街. There are lovely shophouses - food and cute knickknacks shops. We enjoyed the teahouses more because we could rest our weary feet and bums while watching the world go by and enjoy the fantastic views on Dajia Mountain Alley. Daijia Lane Cliffside Trail / Alley is located on the cliff between Kuixing Tower in Linjiangmen and Hongya Cave in Yuzhong District. We walked this alley twice; before sunset and after sunset and witnessed a total transformation. After sunset, the crowds of people surges especially down by the Jialing Riverside
Ava discovered something only she could do. She stuck her head through the square hole in the mountain wall and watched the city go by down below while we watched above the wall.
The famous Liziba Station where the metro runs through a 19-story residential building architecture in Chongqing, though not necessarily designed by internationally famous architects, is also well-known for its uniqueness. The Chongqing Metro Line 2 passes directly through this residential building in the Yuzhong District is an iconic and unique piece of infrastructure that has become a major tourist attraction.
Outside Chongqing city, we travelled towards the south east border towards Gongtan Ancient Town (龚滩古镇), which is nestled at the confluence of the Wujiang River and Apeng River in Youyang County. This is a picturesque destination dating back 1800 years.
The town boasts a three-kilometer-long cobblestone street, adorned with 200 quaint and tranquil quadrangle courtyards. Additionally, the town features over 50 distinctive stilted houses, each showcasing local architectural styles. The collection of riverside stilted houses is aptly called the “musical notes on the precipice,” offering a breathtaking view of the Wujiang River.
We walked 2.5 km downhill through the famous Wulong Sinkhole. Here we saw the 3 natural bridges Tiankeng natural bridges 天生 三桥 , namely the Heavenly Dragon bridge Tianlong qiao, 天龙桥， Green Dragon Qinglong 青龙桥，Black Dragon黑龙桥 in Wulong Karst Natural Park. These 3 bridges form the largest cluster of natural bridges in Asia.
The Wulong National Geopark is the site of shooting Transformers 4.
We also went to the misty Fairy Mountains 仙奴山.
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