Chengdu

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We had the pleasure of spending four nights in Chengdu at Sims Cozy Guest House. For anyone who has travelled China and has been missing that sense of home, Sim has set out to recreate it in the middle of a city full of hustle and bustle. Chengdu would be my favourite city of our brief journey. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province and boasts a population of around 3 million people who live within its urban area.

Clearly the visual highlights of Chengdu are the opera and pandas that we have already blogged. The heart and soul of Chengdu lies within its many lane ways, markets and teahouses. Unfortunately Brent managed to trash one of his CF Cards on a computer at Sims and hence the lack of photos of Chengdu itself. The images we have included here are from our second visit and are missing our journey to the Peoples Park on our first day in Chengdu.

Walking the streets of Chengdu and catching public transport for that matter gave us a chance to reflect on our time in China and what we had witnessed as surface tourists.

The buses...on our first day in Chengdu we caught a bus from near Sims to the Peoples Park. The bus was packed full. We paid our 2rmb (apparently 2rmb if its air conditioned and 1 if it is not or not in good condition...if only Sydney buses had this policy in place). We witnessed some amazing sights in the crush, none more so than people entering through the middle door and then handing over cash or electronic bus passes to the stranger next to them to watch them journey hand by hand to the front to be deposited or swiped and then returned to the rightful owner. I cannot imagine any other country being able to rely on this system for payment. One our second day we had become more adventurous and entered buses from the middle. The look of surprise on the face of the guy next to me when I handed him 2rmb to pass forward was priceless, better than any photo we have taken on the trip. Once he passed the money on he turned back to me and acknowledged what I had done with the most wonderful smile and bright-eyed look I have ever seen. It was a wonderful moment of local acceptance that transcends any language barrier.

The streets...walking the streets of Chengdu and Xi'an for that matter gave us a wonderful sense of the local community and how engaged people are with each other. Seeing people sitting out on the streets at night, sharing meals and stories whilst kids played together was very heart warming and I guess what the real China is about. Most of these people were relatively poor in a material sense; probably not poor by Chinese standards but certainly by the Western Standards we are use to, but incredibly rich in spirit and heart. It was a pleasure to walk amongst it and observe without (hopefully) being too obtrusive.

The health of the elderly...having risen early mornings to watch Tai-Chi and from walking the city streets and seeing the endless outdoor gyms being used we were not at all amazed by the sprightliness of the elder citizens of China and the contrast they provided to the elderly overweight (American...now we can't be sure but the accents and clothing was a bit of a give away) tourists we encountered at airports and outside city hotels. People who had to be in their late 80’s were constantly passing us in city lanes going about their daily lives with real vigour and purpose. I guess it is also a reflection of comparatively how little we have eaten on this trip and how much exercise we have been doing as compared to our normal lives. We continue to massively over consume and pay the health consequences.

Misconceptions…I would not say that my views on China were completely off the mark prior to arriving but not far from it. Yes it is polluted but the steps being taken to reduce emissions were striking. Buses run on CNG not diesel. When they stop at traffic lights or in a traffic jam and expect a long delay they switch off their engines. Scooters are electric. The streets are clean, constantly swept (okay 1 billion people need work to do) and washed. Recycling is encouraged at every opportunity, seeing televisions’ being repaired was a big surprise. Building materials are recycled (again labour plays a huge roll in this). The slogan for Chengdu was something like…Chengdu Lets make it beautiful, only you can make a difference. And maybe it is out of necessity and maybe the electric scooters are powered by coal fired generators but how about also giving China credit for the steps it is taking. The openness and acceptance of us surprised me. This was an easy country to travel around. Language was not a barrier, signs were almost always in Mandarin and English, on buses people sat next to us and unlike Japan did not shy away. We were embraced and made to feel welcome wherever we went.

I really don't feel that I got to know China in the short time that I was there and it would have been arrogant of me to expect to. But even in two weeks I would have expected to gain a better understanding than I have. I guess being a surface tourist it is very hard to penetrate the shell that China is protected by. I do know that I feel a passion for this country and its people. I have a desire to learn more and to begin to understand the people and the country.... it feels like a long first date! I have now left for Hong Kong and Richard continues his journey for another 3 weeks.

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Comments

[jim]

amazing snaps
Hi Brent and Rich, i have thoroughly enjoyed reading your travel blogs so far.. Kind of sad that Brent will not be joining Rich for the remainder of the china trip as I know Brent would have had an amazing time seeing the rest of china and we as readers get to follow your journeys thru some incredibly funny and articulate stories.. Keep those awesome photos coming.. :)

[mark op reis]

China
Hi Brent, I have just read all your blogs back to back and have enjoyed reading about your adventures and views as a first time visitor. I'm sorry we missed each other when you were in chengdu, i would have loved to see some more of your photos over a beer somewhere :). Mark