CHONGQUING

We said goodby to Tibet this morning, as we boarded abother plane to fly out to the biggist city in China, Chongqing. Over 3,000 years old and surrounded by Mts and hills. It has 34 million people in the surrounding area as big as Ohio, but they still call this a city in China and it is ranked as a 1st tier because of his population and industry. Cars, motorcylces,appliances...anything you have probabaly bought for your home is made in Chongqing. not as smoggy as Beijing, but miles upon miles of condos going up...one wonders who is filling these and when will it stop.

We went to a resturant to try the famous Chinese "hot pot" popular in this area. We each had our own bubbling cauldren of broth..one side spicey to dip the many pieces of thinly sliced foods they brought to the table.  It took some getting used to,  but I thought it was fun and different. After luch we went to the Chongquing zoo where they Chinese are successfully trying to save the giant Panda from extinction. Each Panda had he own very large enclosure that looked as mucg as possible as the wild. I know it's still a zoo, but there in no other recorse for these delightful animals right now, since their breeding numbers are so low. They were out in full force to eat their favorite bamboo, which incidently is bought at the  market from local  vendors. They really were cute and I OD'd on pictures!