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Chongqing mist

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A few days into my trip and I can say with an honest heart that I have been enjoying this city quite a lot. Once you accept the fact that you will be able to cover possibly around 2% of the area in an extended stay, you feel better about being completely lost and baffled all the time. I have been to big cities before and I'm not sure if Chongqing is the biggest one of them, but it does sort of feel that way. When looking at the map after a day of walking one can start to put things into perspective. Nobody seems to know how many people there are in the city, either. Estimates vary around 15 to 35 million, depending on how you want to count it.

I love getting lost in random alleys and walkways and if that's your thing too, Chongqing won't disappoint. You will get curious looks but the people are friendly. And when it's time to chow down on something delicious, you can't go wrong. Awesome food is around every corner, literally. Just make sure you bring your A-game, because it is going to be spicy. And when I say spicy, I don't mean Pizza Hut's Spicy Hot One -spicy. I mean the kind of spicy that makes you gasp for air, cry, sneeze and burn within one second. Get past that, though, and it becomes so very delicious you wonder how you ever did without. There is, though, always the case of the day after and how the locals get past that phenomenon is beyond me.

Also typical for the city is the mist. I don't know whether it's the location of the city, the pollution or something else, but it is almost always there. Sometimes you are lucky if you can see over 100m in front of you in open, close to water areas. While it doesn't leave much choice for the keen photographer, it does work in small amounts. Enjoy.

 

Lost in Tokyo

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Getting lost in Tokyo is easy. The narrow streets, the blinding neon and the towering skyscrapers all make it difficult to navigate. But getting lost can lead to happy accidents. Tokyo is huge. Tokyo is crazy. Above all, though, it can be very beautiful.