Chongqing: The Most Mind-Blowing City in China that You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

We are currently in the center of China, and this is probably the most fascinating place I’ve ever been to. Why? Because here, trains run through buildings! Oh my gosh, that is insane. You might think we’re on the ground floor right now, but we might be on the 22nd floor or maybe the fourth floor or maybe the eighth floor. We just never know. Get ready for your mind to be blown.

The buildings are situated on steep mountains, and the westerners are now starting to call this city the cyberpunk city of Asia. I can’t believe this place exists. Plus, the street food is absolutely immense. What is this? Oh, and we’re going to show you everything in this video. It’s complete sensory overload. This is Chongqing, China.

This video is in collaboration with Safety Wing.

Exploring Chongqing: A Hidden Gem in Central China

Wow, so we are in Central China, and I may be saying Chongqing or Chongqing, Chongqing or Chong Ching. I’m not actually sure the correct pronunciation, so please help me out. We have been in China for a few weeks now and we started our trip in Shanghai, where we explored China for the first time. We then took the fastest high-speed rail from Shanghai to Beijing, where we saw the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Great Wall of China. So, we flew on a quick 3-hour flight from Beijing to Chongqing and now we are in the third biggest city in China, one of the biggest municipalities in the world, and this is probably a place I never ever expected to come to because I didn’t know it even existed.

To give you an idea, in 2010 there were 9 million people living in the city, and now there are over 30 million people, which shows again the rapid modernization and globalization that China is having. I’ve seen a lot of tourists around here, not too many foreign tourists though, but I think that’s all about to change because this place has been absolutely exploding on our social media. So, of course, as the adventurous travelers that we are, it sparked our curiosity to come and visit this place. Does it look good? It’s good.

The People’s Liberation Monument

So, we’re starting today at The People’s Liberation Monument behind me, where they are celebrating China’s win over Japan in World War II. We have also had the most incredible time so far here in China, but this city stands out above them all. Get ready for your mind to be blown just because it is extremely fascinating. It’s known as fog city, and you can see behind me it’s all cloudy and foggy, and that’s because it’s built in the mountain, so it always has this kind of weather. It’s also built on a cliff, which is a construction masterpiece.

It’s a very early Saturday morning, and a lot of people have come out and about today. Hello, where are you from? I’m from South Africa. Oh, hello, nice to meet you. You can talk in French. I can’t speak French, I’m sorry. But you can speak very good English. I’m so sorry, and you too, you speak brilliantly. Yeah, I’m just traveling just for two days in Chongqing. Yes, and how about it? It’s amazing, I can’t believe this place exists. It’s absolutely spectacular. YouTube channel? Yes, I’m a YouTuber. How many followers do you have? Um, 45,000,000. Yeah, I’m vlogging with my boyfriend. He’s here somewhere. I don’t know where he is. I’m Chev, and he is Dev. We’ve had such a fantastic welcome and a first impression here. Everybody is so friendly, and because there’s so many tourists around, everybody’s in good spirits, everybody’s in holiday mode right now. We’re actually at Liberation Square, I think on the next street or two is the food street, so we’re going to go and check that out now because apparently the street food here is amazing.

Street Food Paradise

We have just arrived at this food street. It’s absolutely packed. It’s the middle of the day, and it’s loud and blaring. There’s neon lights, there’s lots and lots and lots of people. I think there’s food stores all along the street. Let’s just go, let’s get straight into it.

First thing is, there are just thousands and thousands of people. This place is playing really loud music. I see a food place over there, and it’s midday. It’s midday! This is insane. What is this? Oh, ice cream piling. Oh my gosh, look at the ice cream flavors, got faces on. Is that chili? Chili ice cream? Chili oil? Chili ice cream. We did read that Chongqing is known for its chili hot pot, so I think they might like spicy food here in central China. When we were in Shanghai and Beijing, the food wasn’t too spicy.

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First Impressions of Chongqing

First impressions of Chongqing? Mind blown. Every single place that I look at has been completely filled with neon signs. There’s music playing, there is street food, dumplings, meat, and I did not expect this just a few hours away from Shanghai. It is completely different. Whereas I think Shanghai and Beijing have a lot of security, a lot of police, everybody’s a bit quieter, this is the opposite of quiet. This is fun, this is lively. I get why so many local tourists have come here.

We’ve got three street food stores there, and Ellie, there’s a bike going by. Food here, food, food, food. It is just food madness, and there’s just neon lights everywhere. I think at night this is all going to be lit up. As a first impression of the street food, I don’t know what this is, but there’s a giant basket. I think it’s filled with chicken, and then the lady’s got a giant ladle, and she is actually pouring some soup or some mala sauce onto the chicken, and he is just mixing it up, putting all the spices, all the sauces into this giant basket of goodness, and everybody’s lining up for the snack. I think it looks like some sort of nut or date. I thought it was chicken. I don’t think it’s chicken. The way they mix it, they move the bowl around, and the quantity that they are making is astounding because look how many thousands of people are on the street.

You may think that this is all just ordinary shops on the side of the street, but if you look even further, the shops go further and further inside. So, if I just walk up these few stairs, I’m in another shopping center. We’ve got yogurt cow, we’ve got chagi, we’ve got seats in the middle here, and obviously, everything is decorated with lights in every direction. Everywhere you look, it is just overwhelming with neon lights. I love it. I love neon lights, and this place makes me so excited. They call it the Cyberpunk City. I get it now. Everything looks amazing. People are going absolutely crazy. You’ve got seafood, you’ve got other sorts of meat, chicken, beef, anything that you can think of. So, here we’ve got duck, I think that’s duck as well. This looks like a dessert, this looks like some veggies on a stick. They are food courts on this side. Look at this. What is that? What is this? What is that? Looks like a head of some animal. It looked like a beaver. I’m not sure.

So, pretty much this entire street is only food, and look how insane it is. Everything is lit up. Okay, these people are lining up for something. I’m not sure what’s there, but they like this one. Some places have a long line outside, and that’s how you know it’s good. The neon lights just flood this entire city, so because it’s so bright, it’s really caught us. We have to go and see what’s down here. Look, you immediately go down. So, everything in the city has different levels underground as well. It’s not just straight into the building. Let’s see what we have here. What is this? What am I looking at? These are heads, faces, they are teeth. It looks like some sort of skull. I don’t know, what is that? Is it a beaver? It’s got teeth. These are teeth in the front. That’s definitely the head of something. It looks like a beaver, but they’ve got dams here, don’t they? Yes, and the Three Gorges Dam is here. Oh yeah, the Three Gorges Dam. So, it must be a beaver, but I don’t know. Or rabbit? What has teeth? And what’s interesting is they only eat the skull. There’s no meat. Where’s the body? Where’s the body? This is a giant cauldron of, I think it’s actually chili oil or mala soup. So, what they do is they shove all the oil, all the chilies in here. They’ve even got a little temperature gauge and a giant, it looks like a shovel, but it’s a giant spoon to swivel it around. This is the solidified soup. So, it actually starts off like that and ends up like this. This is hot pot. It’s hot pot but solidified.

Can I mix it? Oh my gosh, this is so cool. Oh my word. Oh, it’s so thick. It’s actually really heavy because this is a really thick mixture. Wow, I don’t know if I’m doing this correctly. Supposed to swivel? Supposed to swivel. That is insane. So, it sits and sits with all of these red chilies in it. They put it into these big dishes, and it solidifies like this. Do you have to try this? No way. It’s so heavy. I can barely lift this. And then, this is how it comes out, all solidified. Look how thick this piece is, like a big chunk of hot pot. Then they vacuum seal it, you take it home, and you make your own hot pot. Look at how many chilies they have on here. It’s only 39 RMB for that whole piece, for a block. Wow. Oh my gosh, what have I just seen here? Is that bong? I don’t know what that is. Oh my gosh, look at this. So, we’re in another neon shiny shop. Also, I must say, we’re completely lost. We went downstairs, and I don’t know how we’re going to get out. We went into a new dimension. What is this hanging on the wall? Oh, okay, that looks like rib cages. So, this is all dried meat. We call this biltong, but I don’t think it’s biltong. It’s definitely dried meat or cured meat. Oh yes, what is this? Oh, this one’s got hairs on it. Okay, so that’s a nose. I assume that’s a face that’s been opened. Those are ears, definitely a snout, and I think those are eye sockets. Holy moly.

So, in our world, this is definitely biltong, which is what we eat in South Africa. It’s dried and cured meat, but this is on another level. The difference is we have it like this, but we don’t eat the face. Okay, I can’t believe my eyes right now because if you don’t already know this, we’re from South Africa, and all I am seeing is biltong everywhere. We call dried meat biltong. We have traveled pretty much everywhere in Asia or in Southeast Asia, and this is the first time I’m seeing something like this in Asia. I’ve also seen that they add chili on top of it, so it seems like everything here has chili in it. Look at all of this chili. You can actually buy it in a container here. There’s green chili, there’s crushed chili, everything. Hello. Hello. Nice to see you. So sweet. Okay, very good. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Can you see the monkey is calling me? He’s calling me. I’m coming. Hello. Hello. Where am I from? What do I do with this? Oh, you are married? Yes. I like you. Thank you. Bye.

Discovering More Street Food

So, we’ve just come from one food street. We’re about to cross the street, hop onto another one, which we’re crossing right now. There are so many good things to eat and try. I can see so many dumplings, I can see fresh dessert, ice cream, everything on a stick. They love everything on a stick. That’s what I’ve learned. This is the second street. All of these are street food stores. I am looking at the world’s smallest police car I’ve seen in my entire life. That is legit a police car. Can I just go and stand next to it? This is the world’s smallest police car I’ve ever seen in my life. Is this like a police buggy? This is the tiniest little car ever. Look at this little thing. It’s so cute.

Look how delicious these are. So, we’ve got pan-fried dumplings, and they’re tiny little ones. They’ve got some sesame seeds on, and she cooks them like a champion. Look at that. Okay, those look delicious. I would have a thousand of those. I would eat those every day, guaranteed, every single day. One thing that’s been really interesting in our trip in China is what do you think Chinese food is compared to what it really is? Chinese food is on a whole another level, and it’s way better.

I’ve just seen the craziest fruit. What is this? Look at this fruit. What is that? Why is it glowing? It’s luminescent. It’s got to be a Chongqing fruit because it’s neon now. What is this? It looks like some sort of prune, and it almost looks fake. It looks like a fake fruit. Here’s a few stalls, but the line for this one is crazy. We have to see what they’re having here. So, I read their cart says cup, so they’re eating cartilage out of a cup. It looks very interesting. It’s deep-fried cartilage, kind of like deep-fried little chicken puffs, but cartilage. Then there’s a drink, they pile on all the cartilage on top, there’s a straw coming out. I don’t know what the drink is. They’re going absolutely mad for it, and this is the only stall that’s got the longest line. There are no other queues except for this one. The best part about being in China is you see things that your brain couldn’t even come up with. I love being here because you see so many unique things. No, it’s mind-blowing.

Look at this. These are mushrooms, pan-fried mushrooms. So, I’ve seen on this side these are all potato treats. So, these are just like mini potatoes, they’ve got fries, they’ve got like a potato sandwich, so potato with a whole lot of filling on the inside, and then this is potato with squid or octopus, I think. The things that they’ve come up with, we’ve never seen before. Every single thing, I can’t help but stare at. It’s complete sensory overload. There’s this guy on a cart selling something. Everybody is pining for the street food. They are going crazy. This is a Street Food Paradise. Let me point out these three stores here. So, here we have, this looks like deep-fried pork. I think they’ve got these giant pieces of pork, more potatoes, there seems to be lots of potato in Chongqing. Then this looks like a pastry, like a rolled bread with a filling inside. Looks delicious. This is meat with chickpeas. This looks like chicken. I think this is the beaver or the duck. You can actually see the teeth in there, and this is covered in chili. Then in this one, this is more of a dessert. We have like a rice on the inside, and then we have different sweets and fruits on the outside, and I assume you can then make your own.

Bye. Everybody’s so cute and sweet. So, as you can tell, I have stopped yelling and stopped shouting, and so has everybody else because we’ve just taken a few steps away from the food street, and we’ve now entered a less congested, more open area, and literally every direction is just skyscrapers. I had never heard of this city before. This place exists, and nobody knows about it. That is insane, but it’s our duty to show it to you, right? Welcome to a new place. There’s just so much to look at and so much to see. I’m so happy about it. I wanted to point out again, every city we’ve been in has been absolutely spotless, but this is something that blows my mind. There is a set of cameras above the street there, and the camera is taking a photo of every single car that goes by. That’s crazy. And look how many cameras are above there. So, this is the ground street, but then there is this whole level underground. Everywhere you look, there’s a little alleyway or a set of stairs and an