Chongqing's Neon Depths

Being in Chongqing is a bit like being in Blade Runner—that 1982 film with Harrison Ford. The city has that same cyberpunk quality: towering buildings piercing through mist, neon bleeding into rain-slicked streets, a sense of controlled chaos that feels both futuristic and slightly overwhelming.

Tom Ching metro station is the crown jewel of this urban theatre. The escalator ride down to the platform takes over twenty minutes—an almost meditative descent into the belly of the city. By the time you reach the platform, you've already traveled deeper than most people ever go. The station itself is cavernous, industrial, magnificent in its scale.

Above ground, the cable car is the perfect counterpoint: a gossamer thread strung between the giants of steel and concrete, carrying you across the river and weaving through the landscape of tall buildings. From that vantage point, suspended above everything, Chongqing reveals itself in full—a city that feels less built than imagined, less real than dreamed. It's extraordinary.