FW: Chengdu

The last time I wrote was in Kathmandu. From there, we flew to Chengdu then to the train to Xi'an, but I'm going to focus on Chengdu in this post.

On our layover in Lhasa, Matt and I met a fellow American who turned out to be good friends with Tom Villalon (someone we know well from high school). His name is John Bailey (I know I'm writing in the wrong tense, sorry) and he's studying in Beijing. We ended up spending the next couple of days together and had a great time.

The evening when we arrived, we tried a 'hotpot' restaurant, which is a bit like Chinese fondue in broth. It consists of a big metal bowl, heated from below, which is divided into two sections. Both sections are filled with boiling broth, but one of them is extraordinarily hot, full of the type of pepper that lights your entire mouth and lips on fire, while the other is flavored mostly by onions and spices. The restaurant provides you with plates of any type of raw food that you would like, from cow lungs to cucumber. We chose vegetables and standard meats, mutton, beef, chicken, etc. Then we tossed all the food in the pot and grabbed it out with chopsticks. It was a delicious local experience.

The following day, we had noodles for breakfast then took a bus to Leshan where we spent the first half hour exploring the local markets (where we saw all kinds of animals for sale as food including big bags full of frogs). Then we took aboat upriver to see the town's main attraction; a giant Buddha carved into a rock wall. He was constructed in the 700's to protect sailors from the perilous river currents (which have since calmed down) and at 71 meters high, he's the tallest Buddha in the world. We departed the boat near the Buddha and spent a lovely afternoon exploring the temples in the surrounding hills as well as the enormous Buddha himself. Afterwards, we tried gong bao jiding (kung pao chicken, a local specialty) then hopped a bus back to Chengdu.

The following day, we said goodbye to John in the morning (he had to get back to Beijing) and spent the day exploring Chengdu. I'm certain that most people in the States have never heard of it (I certainly hadn't), but it's one of the largest cities in China and the population of the metro area  alone is over 14 million. First, we grabbed a snack (skewers of meat or veg which vendors deep fry and then you paint with spices) then our first stop was a local market area we had read about. There were many plants and garden supplies for sale there, but we were much more entertained by the pets.

The pet areas were sort of divided between reptiles and mammals. In the reptile sections, we saw scorpions, giant lizards, bags of turtles, and a variety of snakes. The turtles ranged in size from one which probably weighed at least 25 pounds to the quarter-sized ones that can sit in the palm of your hand with plenty of room to spare. As far as the furry creatures go, we saw mice, guinea pigs, a wide variety of rabbits, puppies, gerbils, and a grey creature that looked like a small rabbit except with short ears and a long tail. We also saw tons of birds for sale including African Grey parrots (they're the kind that can repeat full sentences) which cost about a tenth of what they would in the States.

After the market, we grabbed lunch at a corner restaurant where we pointed at the names (in Chinese characters) of two local dishes noted in our Lonely Planet China book. They brought over just what we asked for and it was delicious!! We also were able to ask for rice and specify that we didn't want the food too spicy. I was pretty pleased with our work and felt very fortunate to have my Lonely Planet in hand as we left with full bellies.
 
After our lunch, we walked across the street to Peoples' Park. The park was founded after citizens revolted against corrupt government officials. The pleasant irony is that the park used to be a private garden for a railroad official who embezzled money and now it can be enjoyed by everyone. We had a great time strolling around the premises admiring the beautiful landscape, the cute pond and streams, and the tiled gathering areas. In China, there is a great movement among the elderly to stay fit and exercise daily, and many of the parks we visited have been full of groups practicing tai chi, aerobics, or just going for walks. Parks also fuel a vibrant social scene as musical groups practice together, families come to play, friends enjoy a game of mah jong, and people play badminton, hacky sack (it's not exactly the same as hacky sack, but since I don't know the name, that's the best way to describe it), or ping pong. This particular parks also had paddle boats, many tea houses, and a small amusement park.
 
After the park we had a brief break and got right back to exploring. We decided to go back to the shopping area, where we had eaten the previous night, because it had been bustling with people. We had quite an exciting time wandering around (getting lost always leads to good adventures) but the best part would have to be the park in the center of town. We had passed by it many times during the day, but as we walked through it at night, we had a chance to really explore it, and it was amazing. First of all, the layout/architecture of the park was really beautiful, but also, there were incredible fountain and light shows. The park itself probably covered a city block and the fountains were almost the full length of one side. The fountains were colored and the displays were all set to music. It was gorgeous.
 
The following morning, we visited the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base!!!! and there were pandas everywhere!!!!! and I loved it!!!!
  
Our haphazard trip around the base began with the red pandas, which looked like a cross between a raccoon and a panda, but red and very fluffy. Then we visited the adolescent giant pandas, then the adults and finally, the ADORABLE baby giant pandas. If I could have one, I would take such good care of it and love it always. Unfortunately, I don't think it would have been possible to convince the staff of my sincerity. Matt and I stayed for about 45 minutes with our faces glued to the plexiglass, drooling over the little pandas. They were asleep when we arrived, but shortly after, they were fed some bamboo and they began to get up and eat and play. They had a climbing platform and a plastic rocking horse (!). Four of them were active in the room we were watching and at one point, two of them were sitting on the rocking horse together. It was one of the most adorable sights I have ever beheld. The only thing that pulled us away from the baby pandas was we had read that for $6US you could hold a red panda (you could hold a giant panda too, but it cost $140!). Sure enough, you could and we did. It only lasted a minute or two, but I love the panda and would give almost anything to have one for a pet (I could start growing bamboo!). With heavy hearts, we had to leave our panda friends, but we still had a big day ahead of us.
 
At People's Park, we had met a tour guide named Mr. Tray Lee. We were a bit skeptical of him at first, but we took his phone number and Googled him and he was recommended by numerous sources including Frommers and the New York Times. We called him and arranged a visit to a local Sichuan opera house. The Sichuan opera is apparently very famous in China and Captain Lee (as I decided to call him) took us to a small, local performance (not a tourist trap). When we arrived, he took us backstage to see the actors putting on makeup and costumes (very elaborate!) and then we had all the free tea we could drink before the play began. Captain Lee sat behind us and described generally what was going on in the play. I can't really describe it to you guys since I was so confused the entire time, but it was definitely entertaining and there were alot of theatrics involved. After the theater, we grabbed a bite to eat and then had to grab all of our things from the hostel and  the overnight train to Xi'an.

The picture is the city of Chengdu at night from the central park.

This evening, we are taking a train to Shanghai. I will try to update the blog with Xi'an info from there. I hope this all works.

Ok, I had to send most of the pics as a separate email because the file size was too large to send them all together, sorry it's not so aesthetically pleasing.