Chongqing Yangtze River Cableway, a short cableway, is only one or two hundred meters in length, dozens of meters in height, and only ten minutes in running time. However, it has become a popular attraction because of its frequent appearances in films such as Curiosity Kills the Cat, Sunshine Chongqing, and Crazy Stone. The limelight has been overwhelming the Monument to the people's Liberation Chaotian Gate of the Refuse Cave in Baigongguan, so it always feels like something is missing if you don't go to Chongqing to sit down.
It's also troublesome to take the cableway. You have to make an online reservation the day before and wait in line the next day, which is said to take more than an hour. But when it comes to traveling, it's about going from a place you're tired of staying in to a place someone else is tired of, experiencing the normal life of others. Various troubles and difficulties are also part of the experience. With this mindset, everything is easy to say.
At first, my old lady and I planned to take the bus there, but there wasn't anything urgent. We even made a plan beforehand, and there was a direct bus there, only a few hundred meters away from the Three Gorges Square where we lived.
That morning, the two of us set off with a mobile navigation system in hand, easily and confidently. After walking one or two hundred meters, we lost confidence. The terrain in Chongqing is winding, like Qingdao, with few straight roads and numerous overpasses. Many intersections have no pedestrian crossings, either through underground passages or pedestrian bridges. We went up and down, watching the arrows in the navigation switch left and right, and then openly deviating from the direction. I completely lost patience and finally got a taxi.

By the time we got to the north entrance of the cableway on Xinhua Road in Monument to the people's Liberation, the queue had already reached 50 or 60 meters. When we were in the queue, we would look back a few minutes later. The queue had increased by 50 or 60 meters, and 70 or 80 percent were young people. There were college students' lovers who went out to play in the summer vacation, high school students who just finished the college entrance examination and relaxed, and some girls like middle school students. They got together in twos and threes and chattered. Few uncles like me had gray hair. After waiting for another hour or so, I finally got on the long lost cable car.

The cable car slowly started, overlooking below, high-rise buildings stood densely by the river, with extremely narrow gaps between them. Most of the buildings were built against the terrain, uneven and even close to the foot of the mountain. Below seven or eight floors, they were blocked by the mountain, making it almost impossible to see sunlight. The walls have been weathered by wind and rain for years, and the walls are mottled. The balcony is covered with colorful clothes, and from a distance, it looks like huge cement beehives. Although this kind of house is a river view house with an excellent location, it may not be comfortable to live in. Chongqing, also known as the foggy city, is humid and rainy, especially by the river. It is cold in winter and hot in summer. From the perspective of health preservation, it is not a livable place.

The cable car is rectangular in shape, with spacious interior space that can seat about thirty people at a time. There are no seats, and there are handles and pull rods on the walls that can be attached. Sitting inside, one cannot help but think of the opening scene of the movie "Crazy Stone". A fat man was very attentive to a beautiful woman, saying that the city he lived in was like a mother's body. He traveled through the mother's body by cable car all day long and had never seen such a beautiful scenery. As he spoke, he hugged his hand and then heard a scream. The cola bottle in the fat man's hand was also thrown out of the window. It turned out that the beautiful woman stomped on the fat man with sharp high heels, and the movie began.
The analogy of a fat person also makes sense. The cable car does indeed travel through the city as a mother's womb, but this mother's womb is more like a birth canal. The high-rise buildings on both sides of the Yangtze River divide the skyline, and the scenery outside the buildings cannot be seen. Only the turbid and yellowish river water, wrapped in branches and leaves, rolls in from far away and then rolls away into the distance.

The cable car drove for more than ten minutes and arrived at the south bank. After getting off the cable car, we arrived at the railing by the riverbank. Beside the railing stood a landscape stone with several red characters engraved on it, "Flying over the Mountain City". Below were two rows of symmetrical small characters, "The first cable of the Yangtze River for thousands of miles, the first tour of Chongqing Mountain City". This is the best place to observe the river scenery on the other side. On the front is the Monument to the people's Liberation Business District, with rows of tall buildings. The blue glass curtain wall shines in the sun. On the opposite side is the Chaotian Gate. Three tall buildings are connected together, and a round beam is mounted on the top. From a distance, it looks like a huge gate. The ancient geographical name has become a real existence in real life. This magic can only happen in China. It is said that this beam alone weighs tens of thousands of tons, which is a miracle in the history of world architecture and a landmark building that Chongqing is currently striving to build.
A little girl next to me is taking a selfie, with a small nose and eyes, and a body like a bean sprout. The background is the majestic Yangtze River and the high-rise buildings on the other side. The little girl is self deprecating while taking a selfie, which is too lacking in grandeur. I leaned over to take a look, and sure enough, there was a small face in the camera frame of my phone that didn't match the scenery inside. I said, "I'll take a selfie too, shouting while taking a picture. Oh my, this big face!" The little girl came over and smiled. I said, "This time you're strong, let's take a photo together." The girl obediently extended her little head, and we took a group photo like lovers and father daughter.

We bought a round-trip cable car ticket, and when we were going back, we had to pick up the ticket again and queue up. Compared to when we came back, the sun had already risen high. After coming to Chongqing for a few days, it had been cloudy and humid. Today, the sun showed a rare bright smile, and we slowly wriggled in the dozens of meters long queue under the direct sunlight.
The first few little girls were only seventeen or eighteen years old, which is the age of being active. The hot weather did not dampen their good spirits. They laughed while talking, and their exquisitely made up faces were washed away by sweat. There was also a six or seven year old little girl who may have angered her mother and was pulled behind by her mother. The little girl wanted to cry but dared not. She looked very aggrieved, paused for a moment, and quickly chased after her. An old man was holding a fan in vain, with messy hair, white beard, and a tired and haggard expression on his face. At this age, he really shouldn't have come to join the fun.
About forty minutes later, I finally returned to the north bank of Monument to the people's Liberation. At this time, I was sleepy and tired. I said to the old lady, "Let's have a rest. We are here to relax, not to play our lives. The street at the exit of the cableway is not wide, and there are several camphor trees with decades of age on both sides. They are luxuriant and leafy, and there are also stone steps for pedestrians to sit on the sidewalk. Sitting there and watching the beautiful women swim around in front of us, the spirit suddenly bursts, and the body and mind also relax.

Lunch was eaten across the street. There was a gate across the road. There was a large courtyard. There was a farm restaurant in the courtyard. The space was bright, and there were very simple square tables and benches. All the waiters were in purple red jackets. We ordered a bowl of tofu pudding, a basin of Wujiang ecological fish, a green vegetable, two bottles of mountain city beer, and one bottle of old lady's wine for ourselves. The tofu pudding here is a little special. It is separated from the ingredients. Two small bowls are filled with tofu pudding. The bean curd is smooth and tender, with a faint smell of beans. The dipping material is made of scallions, bean paste and other accessories. Spoon a spoonful of tofu pudding, roll it in the dipping bowl, and it tastes tender, hot, salty and fragrant. As for the pot of ecological fish from the Wujiang River, let alone the taste, the color alone is enough to be tempting. There is a layer of red chili floating in the red oil soup, and underneath the chili are white and tender fish pieces, with a strong contrast between red and white, which immediately arouses people's appetite. The taste is numbing with a hint of spiciness. Eating a bite of fish, drinking a cold beer, and experiencing both ice and fire are probably the characteristics of mountain city cuisine.

After dinner, I went to Monument to the people's Liberation Square to stroll around. It was the first commercial block developed in Chongqing, and now it is a nationally famous financial CBD. Its fame has reached the point of thunder, but I was not able to see the true face of Lushan Mountain. Today, I finally arrived here. Sure enough, there are many tall buildings and high-end stores. But Monument to the people's Liberation is a little smaller than expected. I thought it would be as tall and grand as the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. When I came to see it, I found it was just a round tower with a height of less than 20 meters and a diameter of about one or two meters. The tower has eight sides, symbolizing that it is in all directions, and there are several on the top Big clock, it will tell the time on the hour.
Don't underestimate this simple monument. It is the only monument to the victory of the Anti Japanese War in China to commemorate the contributions made by Chongqing in the War of Resistance. It was funded by the Kuomintang government in 1946 and renamed as the Monument to the people's Liberation after liberation. The Monument to the people's Liberation did not appear so thin and short before. Because most of the buildings beside it are not high, later, with the reform and opening up and the great leap forward of the city, the building competition next to it is generally swishing high, and the Monument to the people's Liberation is getting shorter and shorter day by day, but the meaning of its own will never fade, and it will warn the Chinese people in a hundred years or even thousands of years.

After walking around the high-rise buildings near Monument to the people's Liberation for more than ten minutes, it became unbearable. It was the hottest time of the day and the only time in Chongqing that it was sunny in a few days. The sun was almost straight up and down. There were no street trees in the street. Some places with shady walls had already been occupied by silly foreign tourists like me and clubs waiting to be recruited. I was a little unwilling to go back to the hotel. After all, there were several scenic spots that I didn't see. If I didn't go back, it would be hot. I had an idea. I would take you to have coffee Right.
So, the two of us found a nearby Starbucks coffee shop, which had plenty of cool air and a peaceful environment. After entering, the heat suddenly dissipated. I ordered two cups of coffee, one with sugar and one without sugar, and then found a sofa chair against the wall. I lay down with my head covered and went to sleep. Beside me are some couples cuddling and whispering, or young people leisurely. They or they may think to themselves when they see me like this, I dare say that this uncle is treating this as a hotel, no matter what.