Impression Chengdu

After a week of non-stop traveling all over the Sichuan province, we were relieved and happy to stay put in Chengdu, albeit for two more nights before we flew home. The provincial capital was recently voted the tenth happiest city to live in China. (Hangzhou topped the list.) Yang, who moved to the city five years ago, thought the accolade was well deserved. But as he said, we tourists, especially the ones who use Chengdu only as a base for exploring the region (guilty as charged) would not even begin to appreciate what makes this city so alluring. Frankly, I would pick someplace else to chill out for an extended period of time. Pollution itself is a big push factor (more on that next time).

The sheer number of parks (There are three big ones in the vicinity of our hotel alone) and saunas (complete with pink neon lights… you know what I mean) there are in this city is astounding. We visited People’s Park, the largest park in the city, on a number of occasions, mostly using it as a shortcut to other places. Elderly folks whiled their time away by practicing tai chi or ballroom dancing, belting out opera classics on a portable karaoke player, sipping tea and playing mahjong by the artificial lake. (I did not visit a sauna, so do not expect a field report here.) Where did all the young people go? Shopping, at the bustling Chunxi Walking Street, like teenagers around the globe do.

There are at least three 'ancient' streets in Chengdu. We stayed at one of them, Qintai Road where some of the most extravagant eating establishments in the city congregate. Another one is where Wenshu Monastary is situated. There are lots of family-run eateries and confectionaries over there. The one that receives the heaviest human traffic is Jinli Street, adjacent to Wu Hou Ci. At least two locals had highly recommended it. Under the (false) impression that it would be at least culturally or historically interesting and since it was free, we decided to check it out. It turned out to be yet another shopping street! We thought we had returned to Lijiang! We spotted many photographers with their big guns that night.

We gave both Dufu’s Thatched Cottage (I had not even heard of this renowned Chinese poet before I came to China) and Wu Hou Ci (I was never a fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms) a miss. Besides, we thought 60 yuan (SGD 12) was way too much to pay for places we had, at best, marginal interest in. On hindsight, we should have done the same for Wenshu Monastary. It paled in comparison to the temples we had visited in Mount Emei earlier, and the temple seemed to be falling into a state of disrepair. I wonder where our 5-yuan entrance fee had gone to and it is a busy temple. Ironically, the statue of Wenshu or Manjusri was nowhere to be found, unless we missed it.

We did, however, catch a Sichuan Opera performance at Shufengyayun in the Cultural Park, across the street from our hotel. The finale - fire spitting cum face changing - was particularly anticlimactic (so much for the hype), although the rest of the show, especially the hand shadow puppet segment, was absolutely delightful. I enjoyed it more than I did Impression Lijiang. It would been more enjoyable had the morons sitting a couple of rows in front of us, who were more interested in photographing or recording the show than savouring the moment, not blocked our view whenever they raised the cameras above their heads. Mom was so pissed that she marched up to tell one of them off. Commercialism reared its ugly head at the end of the show. One of the ushers held up a signboard that read “Photo taking with artistes. Twenty yuan per person.” Hey, they are not pandas!

Panda watching at the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Centre, just outside the city, is a must-do. The young pandas were especially fun to watch. There were too many priceless moments to be captured (I took 4 gigabytes worth of photographs, although many of which are blurred or too noisy. I blame it on the poor lighting and not having a fast super telephoto lens.) I could sit and observe them all day if it was not bone-chilling cold in the park. (Winter officially started the night before.) DO NOT miss peering through the tinted glass of the nursery. The panda cubs inside were so cute and playful. Everyone went ohh and ahh at their every move. We all wanted to pack one in our luggage. I sure did.

When in Chengdu, do what people in Chengdu do. Have a hotpot dinner. Trust us to, unknowingly if I may add, pick the classiest (read: priciest) hotpot restaurant in the whole of Chengdu - Huang Cheng Lao Ma, just a couple of doors down the street from our hotel. We paid dearly for being lazy. Actually, it was affordable by Singapore’s standard (just slightly more than a meal for two at a budget Chungking hotpot outlet at Beach Road). Besides, we ordered from the chef’s recommendation page (Mom did not realize until later that there were cheaper selections in the menu). The ingredients were very fresh and exquisite. Taste wise, honestly, they all taste the same after they are dipped into the spicy broth. Besides, your taste buds are too numb from all the spices to tell the difference.

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