Day 3 in chongQing 重庆

Ciqikou 磁器口 is an ancient town on the Jialing River that has existed for 1,700 years. From the outside, it is just an ordinary residential building. Many buildings are handed down from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The style of the ancient town is more reflected in the teahouses, folk music halls, restaurants and door couplets that can be seen everywhere. In 1958, the wharf was moved to Hanyu Road, and the former function of Ciqikou gradually disappeared. The ancient town began to transform into a scenic spot. 

The entrance to the ancient town is a large cement antique archway. Following the big red lanterns on the roadside into the stone alley, the bits and pieces of the ancient town unfold one by one. There are people selling colorful soy milk, fried sweet potato cakes, and mashed potatoes. However, today, the ancient town of Ciqikou has become very commercialized.

The famous temple "Baolun Temple" 宝轮寺 in the ancient town hides the earliest story of Ciqikou. In the fourth year of the Jianwen reign of the Ming Dynasty, the gentle but less courageous Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen was usurped by his fourth uncle, Prince of Yan Zhu Di. He escaped from the palace and became a monk. When he drifted to the Bayu area, he hid in Baolun Temple on Baiyan Mountain for four or five years. After the world knew about it, they renamed the Baolun Temple where Emperor Jianwen once lived in seclusion to "Longyin Temple".

The Colorful Alley 七彩巷 at No. 66 Mafangwan is famous for its unique colorful paintings and attracts many tourists from Chongqing. The appearance of the alley itself is nothing special, but the various animal patterns painted on the walls are too eye-catching and you don't need to go there.

Guanyinqiao 观音桥 Business District Urban Tourism Area is located in Jiangbei District, Chongqing. There are mostly shops. The Beicang Cultural and Creative Park 北仓文创园 nearby was formerly the Jiangbei Textile Warehouse in Chongqing, which was built in 1956. After renovation and reconstruction, the Beicang Cultural and Creative Block has become a place where humanities, arts and youth exchanges gather. There are various special shops and art installations in the block, such as the Beicang Library and art graffiti walls. It is also a Chongqing-level cultural industry demonstration park and a special block. On November 18, 2020, the Beicang Cultural and Creative Block was selected as the "New Trend Landmark of Chengdu and Chongqing". I think it's just so-so, so you don't have to go.

Chongqing is a mountain city, and the mountain city trail is a small urban trail that can only be walked. Unlike the small streets and alleys in most cities, the mountain city trail has many ups and downslope steps, which are what the locals call "stairs and steps". The most typical one is the Chongqing Third Trail 山城步道 Located on the south-facing wasteland slope of Yuzhong Peninsula, from north to south, it passes through the Zhongshan Hospital (formerly the Legislative Yuan and Judicial Yuan of the Kuomintang government), Kangjian Hall, Bodhi Vajra Pagoda, the former site of the French Renai Hall, and the suspended plank road, with a total length of 1,748 meters. From Guanyinyan through Shibanpo to Zhongxing Road. Along the way, there are historical attractions with unique old Chongqing flavor, such as Kangjian Hall, Bodhi Vajra Pagoda, the First Water Plant Tower, the ancient city wall, Renai Hall, Houlu Shikumen, and Shancheng Lane. Among them, in the Shibanpo section, a suspended plank road with a river view was built on the cliff. On the bank of the Yangtze River, along the ancient city wall of Jintangmen, it was built along the mountain. Stop and look on the plank road, and you can see the scenery of the south bank of the Yangtze River. I read Xiaohongshu and walked the mountain city trail from top to bottom without waking uphills. 

I had a bit of heat stroke today, and I felt weird. Maybe it was because the temperature difference between going in and out of the subway and the street was too big and frequent. I think I was tired, so I had dinner early (干馏豌杂面二两+煎蛋 2 taels of dry distilled pea noodles + fried eggs) and rested, and moved to Zhangjiajie 张家界 tomorrow.