[Leica] Chongqing

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

Our cruise on the Yangtze ended in what is the world's largest city by
population, estimated at 32 million people, China's wartime capital,
Chongqing. We just had half a day there before we caught a flight to Xi'an,
so did very limited sightseeing. My first impression as we made for the
pier was a city with way too many bridges across the Yangtze, including
this one - finished but unused and not opened to traffic for some strange
reason. It was dreary, overcast and drizzling throughout our stay, and the
smog had turned the atmosphere into a funny (probably mildly sulfurous)
yellow:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1223.jpg.html

The only tourist place we visited was a renovated centuries old complex,
the Huguang Guild Hall, where migrants from South China lived and worked
during the Qing Dynasty, the final one, which ruled China from 1644 to
1912. It was a majestic complex, but it was hard to say which bits were old
and which were reconstructed:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1229.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1238.jpg.html

As is usual with me in these old places with dozens of virtually identical
rooms, I got bored and went back to photographing people:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1804.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1809.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1817.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1840.jpg.html

The only other place we visited in Chongqing was the zoo, which is one of
the premier breeding centres for the critically endangered Giant Panda.
Normally, I hate posting animal photographs from zoos, but I figured that
chances of any of us of seeing a Giant Panda in the wild was precisely
zilch, so I went ahead anyway - it was feed time when we landed up, and
they were enjoying their brunch of bamboo:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1792.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141016-1798.jpg.html

Please see LARGE

Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome

Cheers
Jayanand