We arrived in Chongqing yesterday afternoon. It was 36 degrees and our taxi driver dropped us off about 700 metres from the hotel. That doesn’t sound a lot, but dragging all our stuff in the heat was pretty trying. When we arrived we were told that our water (2 bottles a day as standard in Chinese hotels) was in the fridge getting cold. It was very welcome, as you can imagine.

When we were planning the trip I had looked at apartment style hotels, but they seemed expensive after our normal $40 per night hotels when travelling in China. But, we have had had pretty good accommodation on the tour, and then paid 1500 rmb for a two night extension at our last hotel in Beijing, so 3000 rmb for five nights seemed quite a bargain. For the money we get breakfast, including Western items such as toast and cereal, and a studio apartment with a small kitchen and a washing machine tucked away in cupboard.

We met with Della and Tony for a lovely meal at a nearby restaurant. We had lots of catching up to do, as well as enjoying beautifully presented and delicious food. We had not been able to find the little supermarket we used to go to before meeting with them, so Della and Tony showed us where it is, tucked away downstairs. There is another one nearby that is more upmarket and has some Western foods. Not that I think we will need it.

On Tuesday we went to the China National Museum where I spent my time in the lovely cafe whilst Stephen went exploring. In the evening we had arranged to go out with Stephen’s former student, Felix (English name, not his real name). There was quite a lot of rain, some very heavy, in the afternoon and evening, so we were dodging showers. The rain didn’t seem to affect the smog very much. We enjoyed catching up and he did his best to understand us – he said he doesn’t get opportunities to speak English, and I felt he managed extremely well.

Our room in Chongqing decorated with our washing.

For my readers, I have added some photos to the last two posts, plus adding The Humble Tourist photo to the Suzhou post.

The featured photo for this post is of the concert hall in Nanjing.

We are staying quite near the the Olympic Stadium. That’s where we went for our evening walk and had some dumplings at a small restaurant. We bought bananas and yogurt to take back to the hotel. It was a relief to be in air conditioning again.

Yesterday morning we went on one of the choir organised tours to the Humble Administrator’s Garden. It was as beautiful as we remembered from our visit here 10 years ago, but so crowded that it was difficult to get a sense of peace, which we imagine was what was originally intended. It was a sunny day, and we both had headaches by the end.

After lunch, within walking distance of our hotel, we spent the afternoon resting and sleeping. A little after 5.00 we went out for a walk. We had been told that we could get a tourist map at a nearby hotel, and that was accomplished successfully. Then we walked the streets trying to find a pharmacy without success. It was a lovely evening, but crossing roads was always hazardous.

The shopping centre, which was closed the first evening when we arrived for filming of a reality show, was now open and we decided to check inside for a pharmacy. After checking the directory we located a Watson, a type of pharmacy from England. They had some bandaids which looked fairly wide. Stephen has new blistering on his toe and we bought some bandaids from the little local shop, but they were fairly narrow and he wanted wider ones.

Others in our group had been exploring locally and told us about a supermarket in the basement of the shopping centre. It is very classy, though the only thing we  bought was a small bottle of drinking yogurt to share. Still, it was enjoyable walking around marvelling at the luxury feel of the place.

The shopping centre also has an Apple store, amongst other luxury shops. I imagine that most people do not actually buy from the shops, but enjoy just walking around admiringly.

Our tour this morning doesn’t start until 10.00 a.m., which is why I have time to blog. We will have this afternoon free. Tomorrow we travel by bus to Nanjing for the 3rd concert of the tour. We leave at 8.00 a.m.

Just a couple more photos from the HAG.

All of our meals are included in the price of the tour and we have only missed one so far. Each meal is an adventure, there are always dishes I don’t like, but most of the food is delicious. Often I take a small amount of a dish just to taste and make sure as the presentation differs so much from restaurant to restaurant. The meals are organsised by three young Chinese women who are employed by our tour organiser, Chris Howlett.

Up until now we have had a woman organising the tour and choir gigs, making sure that the pianos and other musical instruments are available at venues, as well as keeping track of us. But, she goes home today and Chris Howlett will be with us for the rest of the tour. I like Annie and am sorry to see her go. She is happy, however, as it is a big task to keep up with so many people.

The Humble Tourist at the Humble Administrator’s Garden

Skipping over Shanghai…

Not really, but the group travel experience takes up a good deal of time and mental energy. So far, the choir have done two of their concerts. The first concert had a smallish audience, which took time to warm up. Last night was more of a success, with a large audience and a better location in an extablished concert hall.

We have done some sightseeing as a group, plus a little on our own. All of our meals are catered for on the tour and so far we have only skipped one of the provided meals.

This was today’s lunch, we tried counting the number of dishes we were served and came up with 21 or 22. It was a little unclear because they were being piled on top of one another by the end, plus some empty dishes had gone back to the kitchen.

We have been travelling around in two large buses, but to travel to this new city, Suzhou, we had three buses, probably because they knew we would need extra space for all of our luggage. Suzhou is a comfortable two hour journey from Shanghai. We have been here before, but we think there are probably many new buildings as we don’t recognise it at all.

We are staying in Holiday Inn Express hotels which are located well away from the tourist attractions, unlike when we travel on our own and choose carefully for location. Fortunately in Shanghai we were close to an underground station, which was useful when we went out on our own. Mostly we go out with the group in our two buses.

I’ve taken lots of photos of the first few days here and hope to do some more posts with the photos to help jog my memory.

The featured image at the top shows what the choir looks like on stage. We have a baritone and soprano soloists and a little group of young people doing percussion, plus two pianists as well as about 50 choristers.

Our mission was to visit Taishan and Qufu. At Taishan, as well as enjoying wonderful views on the mountain, we visited a Taoist Temple where our guide said a prayer on behalf of his mother. In Qufu the whole town honours Confucius, especially as it brings in the tourists.

We feel like pilgrims learning about China’s history and culture. As we now head to Shanghai at 300kms per hour we have much to reflect on, including the kindness of people we meet.

Kevin, our guide, pointing out where we were going yesterday morning.