Chongqing Municipality Scenes

6. Chongqing Passenger Dock

The Chongqing People's Hall built in 1953 to serve as a 4,000-seat conference hall and hotel. We stayed in that hotel in 1984. It was the only hotel in the town allowed to have foreign guests. Bernice and I tried to check in and were told that there were no rooms available. I knew the routine so I told Bernice to start taking her clothes off and to sleep on the couch in the lobby. While she was slowly doing this they suddenly discovered they had some rooms and asked me what kind of room I desired. We settled on a room that costs $8 US a night. Each day I had to pay for the next night. The next day the rate, they said was $6 US. The following day the rate, they said was $4 US. We did have a nice stay in the city before we caught the boat down the Yangzi river. We boarded the boat at this dock.