Shopping in Jiefangbei District 解放碑

Main Square at Jiefangbei

Main Square at Jiefangbei

Our cab driver was waiting for us when we got out of Baodingshan. He even asked us how it was and whether we finished everything. I guess he doesn’t believe that we can rush through the entire thing in an hour. Well, he was really nice to ask us that, but we really need to get back to the Dazu long distance bus station.

Unfortunately, his little motorcycle can only run so fast. After 25 minutes, he dropped us near a rotunda and asked us to wait there since there will be buses passing by. We paid him the promised fare and went to a nearby shop to buy snacks. One thing Sichuan and of course Chongqing is famous for is their snacks. I was waiting to be able to sample some of their snacks, but I think I need to make do with the pre-packed ones.

Shopping Centers at Jiefangbei

Shopping Centers at Jiefangbei

Since it was almost six in the evening, there is a good chance that we will get back to Chongqing at around nine in the evening. We would be starving by then. Some snacks along the way won’t hurt. As I was paying I noticed a bus with the destination Chongqing written on it, but it didn’t stop since it wasn’t a real bus stop and no one flagged it down. When we got out our cab driver came over and mentioned that there was a bus that just passed by. Apparently, he was waiting all this time for us to get on the bus. That was really nice of him. He did mention that there will be buses all night long so there is no cause for worry.

True enough, after a few minutes another bus came along and we flagged it down. We waved goodbye to the nice cab driver and boarded the bus. By this time, we were very tired from long commute and went to sleep the whole journey. At around nine in the evening, we reach the city of Chongqing and they dropped us off at the Caiyuanba bus station 菜园坝.

Now, our itinerary says we will be visiting the shopping district of Chongqing called Jiefangbei 解放碑. Being the official navigator of this trip, I didn’t know how to get there nor did the guide books mention anything about it. We walked across the main square of the Caiyuanba station and asked how to get to Jiefangbei. But it seemed like they didn’t know where it was. Either that or my Chinese was really bad. They kept pointing different directions but all seemed to be generally pointing to a long flight of stairs at the end of the plaza.

Shopping Centers Abound Here Jiefangbei

Shopping Centers Abound Here Jiefangbei

Chongqing, as I had mentioned before, is a mountain city, thus the terrain really flows with the mountains that were here. The stairs was quite a long climb considering that we were really tired from the long trip. At the top there was a highway again with bus stops. I asked a commuter how to get to Jiefangbei and she pointed me to the bus. We got on the bus and asked the bus conductor to drop us off at Jiefangbei.

Come to think of this this is our first time on a public bus. Interestingly, bus fares in China are either RMB1 for non-airconditioned buses and RMB2 for air-conditioned buses. That is really cheap, I thought. Soon enough the bus conductor told us to get off the bus since it was already at Jiefangbei. We were at some dark street where most of the shops were closed. This can’t be the Jiefangbei that we were expecting. We walked a few blocks until I noticed a sign with Jiefangbei on it.

Well Lit Shopping Street

Well Lit Shopping Street

We followed the sign and to our relief, there was the shopping district. The entire street was lit up with shoppers walking all over the place. It really reminded me of the streets of Hong Kong with all the bright neon lights. There was a big square with a clock tower in the middle I guess this is some kind of time Square here in Chongqing. Along the way to the clock tower, there was this old lady who was asking for RMB10 to go home. I cold heartedly waved her off. Then another group of young ladies apparently prostitutes offering their services to us. We reluctantly waved them off as we continued.

The central square was certainly impressive and I would assume that this is a place for activities like concerts and promotions. The square was surrounded by shopping centers in all directions. For a moment, you can really forget that you are in China. We took a lot of photos here and started to make our way back to our hostel.

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