Friday night, Chongqing-style.

The Chongqing Report.

I guess I didn't mention this trip in any previous post, but I am lately (Monday evening) returned from Chongqing City, which is now officially the largest metropolitan area in the world (it just surpassed Tokyo). Situated on the Yangtze River just above the famous Three Gorges Dam, it is truly a wonder to behold. Chongqing winds between rivers and sprawls over mountains. It has several distinct districts, each the size of its own city, similar to the burroughs of Manhattan, but larger. I saw or passed through several of the districts, and most of it is mind-boggling. To quote my friend, the wonder of the city is that you move from neon-drenched skyscrapers to tree-lined, quaint streets in the mountains in the space of a five minute (and harrowing) cab ride.

Over the course of the weekend, I was a guest at a VIP Chongqing tourism promotion (I even walked up a flight of red-carpeted stairs, see photos below), spent a night out dancing, ate pizza AND at McDonald's, hiked up a mountain, and made a french toast brunch. Every day, I also marvelled at the scope of the city. It was great to see the gaggle of PC friends in Chongqing--there are over 15 Volunteers teaching in the various districts of the city. Their life in the metropolis is quite different from the one I'll be leading in Luzhou. Dime-sized by comparison, Luzhou hosts no other Americans, and to my knowledge, I am also the only Westerner. In Chongqing, however, there are hundreds of foreign teachers, from all over the world, and they form a pretty tight-knit community across their different universities. It was wonderful to meet them and I was a touch envious of the rather jet-set lifestyle they lead there. However, I think my personality and skills are really better suited to my quiet, in-bed-by-10:30 life here. Really, I have the perfect situation: a swinging city just a short bus trip away, with plenty of prospective hosts. At the same time, I get to live in Luzhou, a clean, quietish city where I can immerse myself to my heart's content in Chinese culture. It was interesting to see the contrast, and gratifying to be satisfied with the difference in site placements.


Todd and Leah on the red carpet, ready for their close-up.


The event was quite the spectacle, as indicated by the confetti.

Another interesting event in the weekend was the disappearance/theft of my wallet. The PC "weekend leave" policy allows us one weekend of vacation away from site each month, and they're pretty explicit that the weekend starts Friday evening and ends Sunday evening. So, as the rules and my teaching schedule dictated, I was heading home on Sunday afternoon, post-hike/brunch, when I discovered my wallet was missing. After searching my friend's apartment for over an hour, we really determined that it was gone. Several phone calls later, to PC staff and others, I decided to stay another night so that I could make a police report the next morning. Thus, my vacation was extended. My wallet is gone for good, but the most valuable things lost were one credit card, my ID (but not my passport, yay!) and a small amount of RMB. All in all, could have been worse, to the tune of my iPod or camera. Now I know how to make a police report, and how to say "stolen" in Chinese (qiequ). Oh, lessons learned.


"Sunset" over Chongqing. This photo shows the Jialing River right before it flows into the muddy Yangtze.