The Holiday Chongqing

Well what do you do, when you get to Chongqing? The city is similar in many ways to any other big Chinese conurbation and, of course, it also means that my little world is available, as it always is in this part of the world, and the first thing that the anti-tourist me looks for is the local starbucks; there are two very close to each other in the Jie Fang Bei area and the one I am in at the moment is the nicest of the two.

It is in Chongqing, far away from the better known urban centres in the east and west of the country that you begin to realise where China might be going. With a growth rate of 15% per annum the metropolis is closing the gap on the cities of the Pearl and Yangzte river deltas. This, is largely due to government schemes and subsidies and it might be interesting to see whether Chongqing could attract suitable investment on its own. Nevertheless, the sense of what China is achieving is all too obvious here especially in this part of the city where you could be anywhere in the world with your wireless connection and cup of latte.

The picture above is of the nicest of the two starbucks I found in this area and the one where I am now sitting.