A real trip · 10 days · Chengdu & Chongqing
This is what your China trip
This is what your China trip
actually looks like.
01
Where do we eat tonight — somewhere actually local?
CP
Skip the chains. Red stools two streets back, no English menu. Get the 牛油 broth — and say 微辣 only if you mean it.
02
Where do locals actually drink tea — not a tourist spot?
CP
Old Guanyinge teahouse — bamboo chairs, a few yuan a cup. Go mid-morning, sit by the window, stay an hour.
03
Which train to Guiyang — and where do we sit?
CP
Chongqing to Guiyang — left-side window, second class. An hour through the gorges. Don't sleep through it.
04
How do we see the pandas without the crowds?
CP
Be at the gate for 7:30 opening, then go left — that's the cubs. Yours almost alone before the tour buses.
05
We have a spare day — anywhere worth it?
CP
Add a night in Fenghuang — riverside old town, lit after dark. Stay on the water, not the new side.