The Chengdu Report
I spent last weekend in Chengdu with the express purpose of catching up with my AYAD mates and visiting the renowned panda breeding centre. Chengdu is the nearest city to Chongqing and the capital of neighbouring Sichuan province. Chongqing was the largest city in Sichuan until 1997 when it became its own municipality (ie. managed by the Central Government) leaving Chengdu as the major city. Some Chongqing natives have told me they really like Chengdu however others appear to have a distinct disdain for it. When I mentioned to one of my Chinese colleagues that I would be spending a weekend there she queried why I was spending so long, suggested I only needed half a day to see the pandas, and recommended that I go to Shanghai instead. I didn’t bother explaining to her that Shanghai is a long long long way away and anyway, I’ve already been there!
I skipped off work early on Friday afternoon in order to catch the bus to Chengdu. I discovered that the hotel just across the road from my apartment building has a twice daily coach service and while it was slightly more expensive (about $5 more) than a regular bus it was a nicer ride and way too convenient to pass up.
The bus ride took about 4.5 hours and when I arrived in Chengdu I made my way to the hostel. This was the first time I’ve stayed in a backpacker’s hostel in China and while it was simple it was remarkably clean and very very cheap.
Chengdu is a fairly central location for the four of us on assignments here in south-west China so we decided it would make a good meeting place for a weekend away. Sichuan is the home of the Giant Panda and Chengdu is world renowned for its Giant Panda Breeding Centre – so naturally this was our first stop. Cute pandas were only part of it - we got a lot more than we bargained for on our visit. Stay tuned for more details (oooh suspense!).
After the excitement of the panda centre we decided that a bit of serenity was in order so we headed to Wen Shu Monastery, the largest Buddhist monastery in Chengdu. We arrived in time for the monk’s lunch time... while avoiding various OH&S issues (ie. managing not to trip and break their necks on dodgy construction sites) the orange-clad monks headed for the lunch hall for a spot of chanting and rice. We headed to the restaurant within the temple where we were served I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fish and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef (mashed potato and tofu, respectively). It was actually a really tasty meal if you don’t count the pumpkin and banana-flavoured dessert rice-concoction.
Our afternoon was spent wandering through the city and the Tibetan district. If anyone had been after Tibetan arts/crafts, monks clothes, blenders (for your yak milk smoothie, perhaps?) or witches hats this was the place to be. This sequence of shops continued for about 4 blocks with shop after shop selling one or the other and nothing else. A curious mix, indeed. After wandering through the area for a while we noticed that it seemed that we were being followed by two Chinese Mafioso dudes (bad suits and big hair). I’m not sure what they were doing exactly but nothing sinister happened and they ended their pursuit when we left the district.
The evening was spent kicking back Melbourne-style (ie. on dingy couches in a dimly-lit bar) for pre-dinner drinks before heading to Grandma’s Kitchen for dinner. I know that eating hamburgers and apple pie shouldn’t be a highlight but after eating rice and hotpot* for six weeks it was a welcome change. We gorged ourselves silly at this American-style café and even returned the following morning for breakfast (mmm, pancakes!). Chengdu is smaller than Chongqing but appears to be more of an international city, I would suggest due to the numbers of tourists attracted by the pandas and also the fact that Chengdu is one of the few gateways to Tibet. There were several bars, restaurants and coffee shops aimed at the expat market which we simply don’t have in Chongqing. This can be good or bad depending on your mood, but we certainly all enjoyed catching up over a big meal of western-style food! Being more slightly international it also meant that I could buy shoes (yeah!), something I can't easily do in Chongqing.
Catching up with my friends was just fantastic, I think we all enjoyed being able to share our experience of China so far and debrief a bit. It’s reassuring to know that we are all dealing with similar issues and it was also great to just be able to chat and talk about nothing in our unique Aussie way. We are all looking forward to the next catch up – most likely Xian for New Year’s Eve.
I skipped off work early on Friday afternoon in order to catch the bus to Chengdu. I discovered that the hotel just across the road from my apartment building has a twice daily coach service and while it was slightly more expensive (about $5 more) than a regular bus it was a nicer ride and way too convenient to pass up.
The bus ride took about 4.5 hours and when I arrived in Chengdu I made my way to the hostel. This was the first time I’ve stayed in a backpacker’s hostel in China and while it was simple it was remarkably clean and very very cheap.
Chengdu is a fairly central location for the four of us on assignments here in south-west China so we decided it would make a good meeting place for a weekend away. Sichuan is the home of the Giant Panda and Chengdu is world renowned for its Giant Panda Breeding Centre – so naturally this was our first stop. Cute pandas were only part of it - we got a lot more than we bargained for on our visit. Stay tuned for more details (oooh suspense!).
After the excitement of the panda centre we decided that a bit of serenity was in order so we headed to Wen Shu Monastery, the largest Buddhist monastery in Chengdu. We arrived in time for the monk’s lunch time... while avoiding various OH&S issues (ie. managing not to trip and break their necks on dodgy construction sites) the orange-clad monks headed for the lunch hall for a spot of chanting and rice. We headed to the restaurant within the temple where we were served I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fish and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef (mashed potato and tofu, respectively). It was actually a really tasty meal if you don’t count the pumpkin and banana-flavoured dessert rice-concoction.
Our afternoon was spent wandering through the city and the Tibetan district. If anyone had been after Tibetan arts/crafts, monks clothes, blenders (for your yak milk smoothie, perhaps?) or witches hats this was the place to be. This sequence of shops continued for about 4 blocks with shop after shop selling one or the other and nothing else. A curious mix, indeed. After wandering through the area for a while we noticed that it seemed that we were being followed by two Chinese Mafioso dudes (bad suits and big hair). I’m not sure what they were doing exactly but nothing sinister happened and they ended their pursuit when we left the district.The evening was spent kicking back Melbourne-style (ie. on dingy couches in a dimly-lit bar) for pre-dinner drinks before heading to Grandma’s Kitchen for dinner. I know that eating hamburgers and apple pie shouldn’t be a highlight but after eating rice and hotpot* for six weeks it was a welcome change. We gorged ourselves silly at this American-style café and even returned the following morning for breakfast (mmm, pancakes!). Chengdu is smaller than Chongqing but appears to be more of an international city, I would suggest due to the numbers of tourists attracted by the pandas and also the fact that Chengdu is one of the few gateways to Tibet. There were several bars, restaurants and coffee shops aimed at the expat market which we simply don’t have in Chongqing. This can be good or bad depending on your mood, but we certainly all enjoyed catching up over a big meal of western-style food! Being more slightly international it also meant that I could buy shoes (yeah!), something I can't easily do in Chongqing.
Catching up with my friends was just fantastic, I think we all enjoyed being able to share our experience of China so far and debrief a bit. It’s reassuring to know that we are all dealing with similar issues and it was also great to just be able to chat and talk about nothing in our unique Aussie way. We are all looking forward to the next catch up – most likely Xian for New Year’s Eve.
* Okay, I've only had hotpot once.
posted by bvc @ 7:41 AM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home