Chongqing - Mountain City of Fire & Fog

A fiery metropolis built on steep hills where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet. By day, fog drapes over skyscrapers clinging to cliffsides. By night, neon lights reflect in the swirling waters below. The spicy aroma of hotpot fills zigzagging alleyways where locals play mahjong on uneven staircases. At Hongya Cave, tiered wooden houses stack impossibly against a rock face, glowing like a fairy tale lantern at dusk. Down by Chaotianmen, cargo ships blast horns as they disappear into the Three Gorges. Up in the mountains, abandoned bomb shelters turned art spaces host underground concerts. No flat roads here - just endless staircases, cable cars gliding over rooftops, and monorails piercing through apartment buildings. The air hums with the energy of 30 million people thriving in this impossible urban jungle. Come hungry, leave sweating from both the spice and the climb.