Longchang Gates

Our first time in AC Hard Seat from Zigong to Longchang was not bad as the attendant was attentive, our seat companions quick to laugh, the "hard" seats comfortable, and the 25-minute break in the Neijiang Station let me catch plenty of rail yard action as some trains are heading north to Chengdu and some like ours east towards Chongqing. Our train changed locomotives. Woohoo!

Once in Longchang, Sun-Ling took an hour to settle on the Long Chang Hotel, while I cooled my heels in the lobby of the 3-star Golden Swan Hotel using their free Wi-fi. Many of the hotels had raised their rates for the Qingming Holiday, including the Long Chang which turned out to be a well-run place.

With only a day-and-a-half of sightseeing before our train to Chongqing and flight to Shanghai we set out right away for Longchang's famous 6 Southern Gates and then on to a white pagoda we had spotted from our hotel window where we also bagged a Buddhist nun printing paper money, a 7th gate,and a section of old road.

The next day we made a quick trip to Longshi Village, then returned to Longchang and bagged 4 of the 5 Northern Gates (a surly security guard prevented the 5th), the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, a Buddhist Temple, and the Mosque.

The China Railways salesman hawking...er...what exactly is that ?


At Neijiang Station.


The 5 Southern Gates/Archways straddle the Old Road.




Nun printing fake money for QingMing.


The Old Road - Longshi Village


Re-fluffing a cotton comforter - Longshi Village.


Checkout the similarity in the design of the Catholic Church, Protestant Church, and Mosque. Neat!






The 4 Northern Gates (3 shown here) will soon be surrounded by a new park. Until then construction workers live in the unfinished buildings and the Old Road is lightly trod.