2. Building Big
After four days of cycling through Guizhou, we arrived in the municipality of Chongqing. The cityâs downtown core is built around two riversâ the Yangtze and the Jialingâ with a skyline dominated by tall buildings that sprout from steep hillsides. They seem to stack upon each other: you can enter a building at ground level, go up by elevator for over ten floors, and exit once more at ground level. Chongqing is my favourite Chinese city to visit because it has the countryâs, and perhaps the worldâs, most dramatic urban setting. Highways and bridges weave through huge buildings that look as if they are carved into the hills, connected to each other by systems of stairs, escalators, and walkways. The city is filled with ludicrous designs, like a subway line that passes through the middle of an apartment building sitting on a hill.