Here is the tour operator’s planned schedule:
Breakfast at hotel
11:00 Lunch at hotel, leave checked bags in lobby to be loaded on bus
12:00 Depart hotel for Chongqing airport
15:20 Flight from Chongqing to Shanghai
18:00 Arrive at Shanghai airport
Then bus to restaurant (table service which would take an hour) and bus to hotel in suburbs of Shanghai
Here’s what really happened:
Breakfast in hotel at 07:00
08:15 Took taxi (2 others and myself) to 3 Gorges Museum in Chongqing (30 minute ride = 35 RMB [5 USD] )
08:47 Arrived at museum (musuem opens at 09:00)
09:00 Entered musuem – it was free and very nice
10:30 Left musuem to find a taxi
11:05 Arrived at hotel, checked out and joined group for lunch
upon arrival at the airport in Shanghai a total of 8 of the group took the metro to downtown. We originally though about going up the Oriental Pearl Tower, but the tour guide said it would have a long queue (line), so we went up the Jin Mao tower which has an observation deck on the 88th floor (120 RMB). The metro cost 6 RMB (less than 1 USD) from the airport. The metro ticket systems were easy to use (can be switched to english) as long as you knew your destination. I was using an app on my smartphone so I knew which station we wanted to go to.
Picture below is of the 3 Gorges Museum in Chongqing
Picture below is of the front of the 3 Gorges Museum in Chongqing
Picture below is of a statue inside the museum
Picture below is of a statue inside the museum
Picture below is also from inside the museum
Picture below is also from inside the museum
Picture below is also from inside the museum
Picture below is of ancient drums inside the museum,
Picture below is a lion in the museum
Picture below is a word carved into a piece of stone inside the museum that I thought was interesting.
Picture below is of an art museum opposite of the 3 Gorges Museum (built post WWII, only built to look old)
Picture below is of the art museum that is opposite of the 3 Gorges Museum
Picture below is a statue outside the 3 Gorges Museum
Picture below is of the Oriental Pearl Tower
Picture below is of the Jin Mao Tower (center) and Shanghai Tower (right)
Below is a picture of the Oriental Pearl Tower from the observation deck.
After the observation deck we went to a nearby mall and had crepes for dinner.
Picture below is of the crepes (I had banana and caramel)
We then took the metro to our hotel – Renaissance Shanghai Caohejing. It’s a beautiful hotel, but very far away from the city center. We arrived at the hotel around 23:00.
Below pictures are of my hotel room
