I’m lying in what appears to be a pool of blood. This is not what I expect on a week-long tour of Chongqing, the “cyberpunk” city in China’s southwest.
The pool is one of dozens of thermal springs infused with coffee, lavender or milk.
Mine is filled with millettia, a Chinese herb known as “chicken blood vine”, said to improve circulation, boost metabolism, and balance energy. (A couple in a nearby soaking tub appears to be getting a little too energetic, frankly.)
Despite the nearby copulation, the classical music and lush greenery at the Ronghui Hot Springs provide a quiet respite from the hype reel that is Chongqing.
Visiting this municipality of 33 million people is like stepping into an Escher print: a train hurtles through a residential building; five-level motorways snake between mountainsides; communities are stacked vertically in an urban lasagne.
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In this age of disinformation, Chongqing is a metaphor for modern life. Is this real, or am I in The Matrix?
At the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers, the city is a feast for more than the eyes: this is the epicentre of spicy food in China, courtesy of the hotpot.
Like the myriad flavours in this dish, my travel companions are journalists, influencers and travel agents from around the world. (It was certainly not on my bingo card to be on a bus tour with a star of The Bachelor New Zealand.)
As we pile onto our coach, one of the guides, Alice, quotes a proverb: “The Chinese eat everything with four legs, except tables, and everything that flies, except aeroplanes.” In fact, “Have you eaten?” is a common greeting in China, from a time when food was scarce.
The country has come a long way, with almost every lunch and dinner on this trip a 12-course banquet, consisting of some of the most unusual and delicious food I’ve ever eaten.
In Ciqikou Ancient Town, with its crazed streets and stalls selling everything from scorpions to silk scarves, we dine on mao xue wang (hotpot with duck blood). It’s rich, sweet and hearty.
There’s even a museum dedicated to this dish. At Zhoujunji, we learn about the seven flavours of hotpots: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, pungent and nutty.
Even at the height of summer, when temperatures reach 40-degrees Celsius, the locals still eat hotpot, dipping chicken, beef and cabbage into a broth infused with Sichuan peppercorns and facing heaven chillies, which combine to create the signature mala flavour.
After popping a tender quail egg into a hotpot at Baren Hongding, I feel an explosion of umami in my mouth. First, my tongue goes numb. Then the lips. It’s kind of ticklish, so our table of travellers breaks into giggles.
There are 40,000 hotpot restaurants in Chongqing, but don’t overdo it. “What goes in hot, comes out hot!” one of our guides, Stephen, says.
The warm and spicy character of this city is further reflected in the mealtime entertainment.
We feel like royalty walking into a replica Ba Kingdom for an immersive cultural show. The opening performance is like something from a Spielberg movie: a wildly theatrical and deeply ceremonial re-enactment of battles spanning 3000 years.
Between courses of black tiger prawns, shiitake mushrooms, jellyfish heads, sea cucumber and mango sago pudding, a live, multimedia show reprises the heroic tale of Qin Liangyu, a legendary female general who led armies during the Ming Dynasty.
During the subsequent Qing Dynasty, actors perfected the art of bian lian, rapidly changing colourful masks to express the characters’ emotions. Despite being in the front row at the witty opera, Dazu Yayun, we still can’t work out how they do it.
A different kind of show takes place in the world’s largest indoor theatre, where both the stage and seating rotate 360 degrees.
Created by the visual effects team from the Beijing Winter Olympics, the immersive musical 1949 is the most explosive piece of propaganda since, well, the last Tom Cruise movie. It charts the city’s “liberation” by Communist forces, in a spectacle of pyrotechnics and patriotism.
But the melange of history and technology is best exemplified at the Dazu Rock Carvings, a UNESCO World Heritage Site at Baoding Mountain, about two hours’ drive from the city. (That’s a rough estimate: the local authorities shut highways and turned every light green for our visit.)
Wendy Wu isn’t exaggerating when she tells us this site is “mind-blowing”. The visit begins with an 8K IMAX-style movie in a dome-shaped cinema. We’re swept away by the artistry of the carvings, representing Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian tales from the late Tang and Song dynasties.
The “fifth kindness of bedwetting” tells the story of the sacrifice of the mother, who pushes her young son to the dry side of the bed, and sleeps in his piddle. (Memo children: I am obviously a terrible mother because I would never do this.)
Wandering past the ninth century carvings, I’m astonished by how well they’re preserved, blazing bright in a palette of blues and greens and reds. The giant golden Buddha – Avalokitesvara with Thousand Hands – is, quite simply, a masterpiece.
Famished after walking up the 300 steps out of the site, we’re treated to a formal dinner to commemorate the unjarring of the winter vegetables.
These preserved greens are prepared for long-term storage and are not intended to be eaten raw, a piece of information we fail to process as we shove them down our throats. (A message to the UK contingent: I’m sorry for saying it’s OK to eat the raw greens. I hope you recover soon.)
Still queasy from the vegetable incident, I’m not keen on going to the Cloud Eye Observatory, a 520-metre-high viewing platform. But the panoramic view of the city is breathtaking: a forest of skyscrapers. Near the top, a young woman poses on the famous red viewing platform for the ideal Instagram shot.
Back on terra firma, we jostle with hundreds of tourists – and some of the world’s longest selfie sticks – to catch a glimpse of the endangered giant pandas at Chongqing Zoo.
Despite the pandemonium the cuddly creatures remain cool, chewing lazily on bamboo. There are only about 1800 giant pandas living in the wild today, so breeding programs are crucial for their survival.
In a perfect piece of cross-promotion, every aforementioned attraction stars in the highlight of this trip, a night-time river cruise and sky show.
The Glamorous Chongqing Drone Light Show broke the Guinness World Record in 2025, with almost 12,000 of the airborne robots.
Powered by AI and GPS, it’s a light ballet in the sky. Technology meets tradition as the drones swarm to form an image of an opera mask, a giant panda, and a hotpot. Unbidden, tears spring to my eyes.
The word Chongqing means double celebration. But the joys here are exponential. This city is more than a TikTok video of a train going through a building.
For the adventurous traveller, Chongqing is the real deal: fun, unpredictable and a wild ride.
Just make sure to reboot your system in the coffee pool between all of those Insta reels.
THE DETAILS
VISIT
Australian and New Zealand passport-holders can travel visa-free to China for up to 30 days. Accessing social media, email and WhatsApp in China is restricted. It’s advisable to buy an international e-sim with an inbuilt VPN for unrestricted browsing. We used Holafly.
TOUR
Wendy Wu Tours offers a variety of inclusive packages to China. The entry level three-day private short stay tour of Chongqing, including accommodation, some meals, private touring with guides and entrance fees, from $900pp. See wendywutours.com.au
FLY
China Eastern operates dozens of connecting flights each week from Australia to Chongqing, mostly via Shanghai. Prices for a return economy class airfare from Sydney on these comfortable and modern planes range from $600 to more than $1000. See oa.ceair.com/au/en
STAY
The four-star Ronghui Grand Hotel is a great base, located in a quiet pocket of Shapingba near the hot springs. It features large rooms, comfortable beds, deep baths, and an indoor swimming pool and gym. Double rooms with mountain views from $176 a night, including buffet breakfast. Phone: +86 23 8866 9999
The writer travelled as a guest of Wendy Wu Tours.
