On our last full day in Chongqing we rose a little later and breakfasted with fellow festival performers, Netherlands gypsy blues band, Stompin’ Grounds. They were nice, bright, young men and it was a real pity that we hadn’t been able to catch any of their performances.
Opening the curtains on Sunday morning revealed a still overcast sky but the weather had definitely lightened and the rain had finally stopped.
If anything, the weather had deteriorated further over Friday night and the clouds seemed lower again on Saturday morning. However, given we had a day at leisure available to us before the concert, we were not going to be deterred from exploring Hechaun. So, after breakfast we bundled into a taxi with Clive and drove across town to a Buddhist monastery situated alongside the Jialiang River.
Chongqing is growing as a domestic tourist destination but, as yet, it isn’t seeing an abundance of international tourists. As such, the buffet breakfast in the hotel was very Chinese and very different to what businessmen and tourists might find in the international hotels of Beijing and Shanghai. It should also be noted that Chongqing has a reputation for having the spiciest food in the whole of China; lots of chillies.
After extensive planning, getting the necessary visas and careful preparing some appropriate set lists, the day had finally arrived for us to set off for China where Na-Mara were playing two concerts and engaging in a range of student related activities at the Diao YuCheng International Music Festival hosted by the Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CQUPT) in the Hechuan District of Chongqing in China. On this trip, Rob and I were going to