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Published: April 2nd 2009
Day 7-8 (March 20-21)
Next morning we were escorted around the local market, selling every meat (including dog but it was in a rear area we chose to avoid) and every part including duck heads, chicken feet, and cows stomach. The vegetables were equally as interesting with many different greens and roots and mushrooms. As we exited there was a motorcycle outside and on the back were two dead dogs.
From the market we headed to a cooking school just out of town. Here we learned to cook about 6 dishes and enjoyed eating them for lunch. Apparently I didn’t do too bad (it helps to have a coach saying do this now, or add this and turn up the heat). It was fairly simple but produced really delicious results and I’m thinking that I’ll try them again when I get home (I bought the recipe booklet as I‘m sure my memory will fade).
We had a late flight so we sat around drinking sweet ginger tea (another local favourite) and doing some local watching. An enterprising young man made shadow figures of a couple (very nimble despite his extremely long fingernails).
A long drive back to
Guilin and then out to the airport. Arriving at 6 for an 8 o’clock flight to Chengdu. The flight was smooth enough and plenty of leg room for a local flight. It was a large plane and we reached our destination quite late.
Our local guide entertained us on the bus ride to the hotel. She informed us that Sichuan (Chengdu being the capital of Sichuan province) girls were spicy girls. They speak out loudly and have strong opinions. They arealso beautiful girls as they have fair skin (prized in China) because Chengdu is cloudy 300 days of the year. Chengdu is surrounded by mountains and is a very fertile place and has prospered fairly well continuously not being impacted by too many natural downturns (apart from earthquakes).
The local guide pointed out that with such beautiful and spicy women, the men needed to be different or there would be compatibility problems. So the men in Sichuan are known to be short (but strong) and laid back. The men are happy to share the household duties such as cleaning and cooking. If any did give cheek she said that the girl are known to grab the man by
the earlobe and pull it, so Sichuan men are known as “soft-eared” men. This is the basic tenet of the local comedic play that we were to see the following day, which we would recognise as from the entertaining account of our guide.
After a good nights sleep we headed out to the Panda park. The pandas are of course very cute and we watched the older ones eat and the younger ones play. The grounds they are in are quite beautiful and you can see that they are a national treasure, there are many guards stationed around the place to make sure people behaved. Lots of pictures were taken. We were also treated to a 6 star toilet facility (very welcome).
Our bus dropped us off at the old town area (Jinli Street) which had crafts, and stalls with snacks. I chose some tofu balls on a stick with chilli sauce of course as this is Sichuan. Then it was time to explore some of Chengdu armed with map.
My first wrong turn took me up a road that got narrower and narrower until it looked like it was a dead end (I think it went
around the corner but I chose not to find out and reversed). Back on track I crossed the river and walked along the little park beside. There were birds in cages hanging from trees. I wasn’t sure whether the birds were there just to add to the ambience or not.
The map was vaguely useful but as only a few streets were shown in English I went a little too far and had to reverse again back to a gigantic intersection that took 3 light changes to cross. A street cleaner came down the street watering the middle of the road and playing happy birthday (it sounded like a loud version of my candle)! Finally I came to the entrance of the park that I was looking for.
Renmin Park (People's Park) is famous as a place where people just turn up and do their favourite thing, be it singing songs from Chinese opera, tai chi, dancing in unison (similar to line dancing but different), playing various instruments or flying a kite. You can even get your ears cleaned. Of course there were many tea houses where people meet to drink tea and play cards or just watch
the world go by.
My favourite was a group who had brass instruments and some male and female singers who sang rousing anthem type songs with real vigour (the surrounding crowds singing along) it really lifted your spirit and I must say brought a tear to my eyes as they were singing with such passion.
The gardens were perfect for strolling in and around the back in a quieter section I encountered a woman taking kung fu lessons complete with shiny sword. Others were on their own sitting on rocks and reading or practicing their flute.
I decided I best make my way back with plenty of time to get ready for tea and exited on the other side of the park being the closer side to the hotel, according to the map. Things progressed really well until I turned down what I thought was the 1st of the 5 main ring roads (There were no English translation that I could see but reasoned that it must be the right one as it was suitably enormous). I tried all four directions at this point and no hotel.
Finally I went inside another hotel to ask for
directions and the girls at reception, who didn’t speak English, eventually figured out where they were on the map and so I had another block to go. I think they were as happy as me to have sorted out my problem. So I reached the hotel with 2 minutes to spare and a little exhausted.
Dinner however, was one to revive the spirits. It was the famous Sichuan hot pot. You sit at a table with a large stainless steel container in the middle full of a vegetable oil and broth and chilli’s. When heated you put the ingredients you have chosen in to cook and then fish them out with your chopsticks and dip in another bowl of oil(peanut I think) and coriander and garlic. Our leader selected a good mix of meats and vegetables to cook.
To start we needed our burner turned on. Should be fairly simple but our waiter nearly set us all on fire, he’d turned on the gas bottle located under our table (bumping his head twice on the table) but did not light it. When we pointed out after a while that the gas and wasn't lit and was smelling our
waiter enthusiastically set out to light it - you can imagine what happened. We all went back in our seats to avoid the flames. The waiter ran off (imagine Manuel from Fawlty Towers and you have a good picture of our waiter). We were to find out later that he was around 14 and just a trainee.
We had a lot of fun with our hot pot, our leader very sensibly chose not make the chilli too hot. I bravely tried the cows stomach which was not too bad at all and most importantly not chewy. It had a texture a little like edible rubber but tender if you can imagine that, and a pleasant taste. The guys were not to be outdone and they also had a try.
After dinner we made our way to see a local Sichuan cultural performance at the Shu Fent Ya Yun tea house. You were able to drink tea while you watched with a waitress pouring the tea perfectly from the end of the aisle with an extremely long spout. The performance included Sichuan opera, playing of traditional instruments (wind and string), puppetry, hand shadow images, face changing and of course
Face Mask Changing
The mask changed on their faces too quickly for my camera.the comedic play about the spicy Sichuan girl and her soft-eared man.
The whole performance was excellent. You wonder how they can get the mandolin type instrument with only two strings to make a full range of notes.
The puppetry included the spinning of a square of cloth on the puppets finger tip (reminiscent of the young waiter's attempt at dinner to do the same with a serviette - the puppet was far more skilled).
The face changing is done in less than a blink of the eye and extremely impressive. There was also one performer that changed not only the face mask but also his complete outfit. Magic.
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TezzaKezza
Terry & Keri Johnson
Love the Pandas...
How cute is the video. I also love the sound of people chattering away in Chinese, and the little girl's voice. Can't wait for you to try some cooking school recipes out on us...minus the cows stomach please. You are very brave for trying that.!!I was laughing out loud again reading the Manuel story, and your humorous recounting of some of the other stories, including the street version of your candle's song, and an option of getting your ears cleaned at the People's Park!! The local cultural performance sounded fascinating, and funny again with the story of the spicy, ear pulling girls. I know what I'm going to go and try now. x Keri