During the flight we passed above the 8000m peaks of the Himalaya's, including Sagarmartha, or Mt. Everest as its better known. But because of the photo addictive chinks we didn't get a window spot, and didn't see the damn thing. (Guess we'll just have to incoorporate it into our next adventure). We actually had a stopover in Lhasa, Tibets capital (didn't see anything special) where we had to be screened for swine flu/influenza. We basically walked through the screening, through customs and all the security checks, walked around the airport and reboarded the exact same aeroplane, so pointless.
When we arrived in Chengdu as the only foreigners, yet again, we were approached by a few women taxi drivers, speaking complete gibberish to us. We ignored them for the time being to change what we had left of Nepali Rupees, only to find they could not be changed here (or anywhere else in China for that matter). So we were left with 20 pounds (currency, not weight, for any american reading) worth of Yuan (thats about Y-200 ). We had to be very carefull with the papes.
We stayed at Sims Cozy Guesthouse for our first few nights in China, as recommended by Lonely Planet China! (Yep, were back in buisness). Chengdu is famous for its Panda breeding research facility so of course we had to pay it a visit. It was exciting to see our first Giant Panda up close, but after a while (5 mins later) it got a little dull. They just lounge around in a pile of bamboo, munching foxes bisquits and trying to look sick, they got it made. The smaller redder panda were more entertaining, they move more. Then we saw an educational flick about the life cycle of a panda, they are taught to learn kung fu as soon as the black patches develop, and you could pay Y1000 to fight one.
That evening we took a walk to the central area in Chengdu, and let me tell you, Chengdu is a big city. They have an awesome musical fountain within the main square plus a huge golden statue of Mao Zedong (more about him later).
Finding our way around, ordering food, or asking the simplest of questions turned out to be such a hard task. Because of China's crazy independance it is rare to come across an English speaking Chinese person, especially out of the touristy areas. (With the exception of the hostels). We figured it was going to be a frustrating couple of months, requiring much patience (after India, no problem).
We visited the Wenshu temple (our firts of many) and also went to search out the home ground of the Chengdu Blades, Sheff Uniteds sister team in China. We found it, but were told they hadnt played in the previous season (Just as whack as the British counterpart).
Our final bit of excitement in Chengdu involved a meal at a restaurant called Yuan Yuan (Money-money maybe?) As me and Maj walked in, a gay little waiter instantly turned around and ran away, laughing his little yellow arse off! Racist bastard! This only increased our determination to stay and eat there. Again, no-one spoke English but we were lightly aided by a couple sat behing us. What we didnt realise was that we were eating at a 'hotpot' restaurant. You have to go collect your 'meat n veg' that are all on skewers, and cook them yourself in a spicy hotpot/broth that is bubbling away in the middle of your own table. Combined, me and Maj are probably the worst cooking team EVER! (Though I do whip up a good tuna sarnie and he can a cracking beans on toast). I enjoyed the food there for the most part, but Maj wasn't too keen (missing his curry already).
Afterwards we sneaked over to Dico's (Deezo's in Chinese) and he had a chicken burger, real Chinese cuisine......
Chengdu Photo Link:
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