重慶，緣何如此愛你

◇ 文圖|（加拿大）

“I was sweating through my shirt, tired from carrying everything I owned on my back, and confused by the seeming maze of streets, all on top of each other. In other words, I was hooked.”

“我汗流浹背，背上的行李愈發沉重，迷宮般的街道也弄得我昏頭轉向，這種感覺遍布全身。換句話說，我完全被迷住了。”

Spicy food, spicy girls, and getting lost 辛辣的食物，辣妹，還有迷路

My first year in China was spent in the hustle and bustle of Shanghai.

It was a culture shock to say the least, especially coming from a small town in Canada of around 15,000 people, a number that would fit in one of Shanghai’s apartment complexes. Everything was bigger, better,more convenient. Glamorous people were everywhere.

Money was flying at me from my high-paying teaching job, and being spent just as quickly in the fastpaced status culture.

I needed out.

Once my work contract was finished, I set off to find a different environment.

Thus began my half year of traveling throughout China, not knowing exactly what I was searching for,but knowing what I wasn’t.

I passed through the South, the crowds and modernity of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou quickly turning me off. I settled into the Guilin,Beijing, and Xi’an, only to find them to be super touristy towns. I met up with the pandas of Chengdu,but still couldn’t find the vibe I was looking for.

Then, as a single male, I decided to check out the almost mythical city of Chongqing, where I had heard the most beautiful women of China live. What single guy wouldn’t want to at least check to see if the rumours were true?

Three years later I’ve come to think of Chongqing as my second home.

I’ve grown to love this city, and am confident that if given a chance and the right mindset, you can too. Of course there are struggles, nothing in life is perfect,but this is true of any city in any country in the world.For me, Chongqing is as close to perfect as I’ve found, and these are the reasons why.

辛辣、油膩、超級美味的火鍋，當之無愧是重慶最有名的菜肴

在上海的喧囂中，我度過了來中國的第一年。

對于來自加拿大一個只有1.5萬人口小鎮的我來說，上海密集的人口給我極大震撼。至少可以說，這是一次文化沖擊，因為僅僅上海一棟公寓大樓里就有很多人。一切都好像變得更大、更好而且更便捷了，我身邊的人也都魅力四射。

在上海當教師工資高，但在快節奏的文化狀態中，錢來得快去得也快。

我感覺我應該離開這里了。

當工作合同到期后，我決定重新出發，去尋找一個不同的環境。

于是，我開始了為期半年的中國之旅，雖然我不確定自己到底在尋找什么，但我十分清楚自己不想要什么。

我游歷了許多南方城市，不過，我很快就對香港、深圳和廣州的人潮和現代化感了到厭倦。沒多久，我又選擇了離開。我也曾在桂林、北京和西安住過一陣子，但這里擠滿了游客。我去成都看過熊貓，但仍然沒有找到我尋找的感覺。

最后，仍然單身的我決定去重慶看看。重慶是一個近乎神話般的城市，聽說中國最美麗的女人都在這里。有哪個單身漢不愿意去驗證一下這個美麗的傳說呢？

三年后，重慶于我而言，已經是第二故鄉了。

我漸漸愛上了這座城市，我也相信如果你有機會和正確的心態，那么你也一定會愛上它。……