My experience in Chongqing was a lot better than I expected

City: Chongqing, China

Travel style: Food

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews about Chongqing online but I just got back and I think those people got it wrong. There's way more to this city than people give it credit for. I booked everything through Trip.com ahead of time and grabbed an itinerary package from EasyGo China to save time on planning. Ended up visiting Hongya Cave and Qiansimen Bridge at night, saw the monorail go through a building at Liziba Station, walked around Ciqikou for the old architecture, and checked out Kuixing Pavilion where you think you're on the ground but you're actually dozens of floors up. The locals I met were really friendly.Even with the language barrier people would pull out their phones and use translators to help. The real surprise though was a hotpot place hidden inside a residential building. I'd heard that Chongqing hotpot comes with a lot of ingredients you won't find anywhere else, so I followed the itinerary's recommendations and ordered pig brain, duck intestine, duck blood, beef tripe, and a whole bunch of other organ meats I'd never tried before. Not gonna lie, I was genuinely a little scared before digging in. But the taste completely caught me off guard. The pig brain and duck blood had a texture kind of like tofu but slightly different, and not weird at all. The duck intestine and tripe were nice and crunchy. I'm writing this now and I can still taste it. If you go to Chongqing, definitely check out one of those local spots and give it a try. One last tip. Do not use Google Maps in Chongqing. The city is built on layers and Google can't handle it. Use map and follow the photos in the itinerary, or you will get lost.

Tags: r/chinatravel