CHENGDU city
pop: 11 Million
famous for spicy cuisine.
Friday Dec 17th
Our train pulls into the station. Getting cold.
We wait in line for a taxi outside the train station in the bitter wind.
Our taxi driver doesn't know where our hotel is even though we give him the address. He drops us off in the general area and then we walk around asking locals, who point us to a new hotel.
We walk to the area and see a bunch of buildings that look like apartments with guards at the front desks. We ask one and he tells us to go up to the 8th floor. For what we ask? For rental apartments. Okay.
We do and they run a kind of business hotel system for traveling businessman. The only catch is they don't accept foreigners.
*SIDE NOTE: I thought this was racist at first, but as it turns out you need to have a special license/permit which costs extra in order to accept foreigners to your premise, weird. (I run into this problem several weeks again in Nanjing). Luckily Chiao Chiao is Taiwanese and she is accepted even though I'm with her. And we are given what turns out to be the best hotel yet. With two double beds, hot water, a heater, tv, fridge, a washing machine and a kitchen. All for around $18 a night. We quickly settle in, throw some clothes in the wash and head out to try the local delicacies.
We head next door to try some spicy hot pot and even though it's freezing out and the door is open it's still good enough to keep us warm. This stuff is spicy. The legend is true. We order 2 dishes full of all sorts of veggies and they do it to a 'T'.
We go back several times.
Sat Dec 18th
Hit the town and do some exploring. I look for Mao but can't find him. I try to ask some army guards on a post in the vicinity but they look at me sideways.
Off to the People's Park Miranda gets her fortune told and we get to sample some bottom-less cha (tea).
The monument to the martyrs of the railway protection is nearby. There was an uprising of the People against the government when they found out that corrupt officials were skimming off the top.
Try to find a restaurant in the guide book but no dice. Instead find the 'hiking gear' section of the city and begin to get myself outfitted.
Another 5 weeks in the country then Mongolia and Russia, figuring the flip-flops I brought from Australia won't help me I need to buy a winter coat.
I do, wool socks and some gloves as well. I have The Chiao lend me some money. She knows I'm good for it.
Sat Dec 19th
Breakfast:
I find the best noodle dish of my life 'fan qie jiang dan'. Best Chinese breakfast ever. Bowl of noodles with diced tomatoes and sauce and two fried eggs thrown on top. It heats my soul.
After that we head off to the Pandas.
10 km north of Chengdu.
March and May is the falling in love period. Sweet sweet panda love.
Pandas have an early feeding time as they like to eat in the morning. And the afternoon is perfect for naps.
Pandas are lazy, they've adapted their diets to bamboo which isn't very nutritious and it shows. All they do is eat mass quantities of the stuff and roll around in slo-motion.
I understand what Jack means when he says he wants to put a bullet into the head of every panda who won't screw to save its own species.
Hey I'm a tourist I do my thing. Click click.
After we leave we're trying to figure out how to take a bus to get back into the city when a random guy pulls over and asks us if we want a lift. After we negotiate a decent price we hop in and get to where we want to go without too much of a hassle. He wins by getting a little extra cash and we win by getting to where we want to go. A good system.
Still not content with missing Mao I set out to find him. And do...
Then we head to the 'Green Ram Temple' - the oldest Taoist temple in Chengdu. Lao Tzu the original founder of the temple was a supposed to meet a friend one day and was surprised when a boy showed up with 2 goats and thought "Hey my friend is trying to play a trick on me and is the young boy!"
So anyway now it's a temple and there are two statues of the goats, one of them featuring all of the characteristics of the 12 animals of the zodiac.
Then we're off to Leshan to see the Biggest Ever Buddha In The Whole Wide World (stone carved). He's a whopping 71 meters, 233 feet, and one of his feet measure 8 meters. Chiao Chiao gets scared on the stairs on the way down as they're very vertical, so I throw her over my shoulder and fireman carry her. He's got some big earlobes too!
Sun Dec 20th
We take a bus to a place called QingChengShan
65 km West of Chengdu.
1600 meters.
Holy Taoist Mountain.
A famous little mountain that we're traveling to when they pull over and tell us to get onto this smaller bus where it seems like nobody knows what they're doing. We drive into town and park for awhile and wonder what is going on when some guy finally runs out. Feels like a drug deal or something. Anyway they drive us up the mountain and the guidebook says the entrance is busy. Well wherever we are isn't the entrance as there are only a couple people selling their wares, I think they must be family and there's a toilet carved out of the ground where you have to pay 40 cents I save my money and wait til I'm 2 minutes onto the mountain trail.
We pay a discounted amount to what the guidebook says. I know why as we have to find our way to the front up and down the mountain trails through the peaks. What an adventure. It rewards some great views and exercise.
Along the trail my Taiwanese co-pilot feels the strain of the trails and decides to change her clothes. Right there on the path! Oh those crazy Taiwanese.
We finally make our way back down after a couple of hours and see some locals carrying up supplies on their backs, like the guy with cement tiles for roofing or the little old lady with a basket full of cement on hers. Impressive, I couldn't picture my grandma doing this.
Mon Dec 21st
I change some travelers checks, already over budget. Shrug my shoulders and buy a military style back pack 'ba-yi' 8-1, is written on the back which I later find out stands for August 1st when the Communist army first came together.
Unlike the Party, my new backpack is falling apart within the week.
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