Advertisement
Published: April 18th 2010
After being met at the train station in Chengdu we were bundled into a taxi which took us to Mix's Hostel. We were quickly booked in, but informed that our bed wasn't ready yet as the sheets were still in the wash. They were happy however to let us dump our stuff in the room and chill out there.
When the cleaner eventually arrived she didn't speak a word of English and had the endearing habit of just speaking her own native language louder in the hope that we would understand her. Needless to say, we didn't, but we left her to it and went downstairs to inquire about a tour to Lhasa.
Getting into Tibet is just an expensive thing to do. After lots of research and many questions to the travel agent, we established that we would need to arrange to get a permit for Lhasa and fork over money for a tour guide that we didn't want. We would also have to pay for him to collect and drop us off upon arrival and exit. On top of that we would have to pay an entrance fee into pretty much everywhere in Lhasa. It was starting
to add up, but the bottom line was that we were
so close to Tibet that we really couldn't miss the opportunity.
The price of the tour guide reduces if you can group a few people together. There were several people advertising their travel dates in the hostel, so we picked one that matched our dates and sent him an email. Leonardo from Argentina turned up outside our bedroom door at seven that evening. We had a quick meeting downstairs and decided to go ahead and book together. Leo would travel to Lhasa by train and we would meet him there once we landed. We had a lot in common as Leo had spent the previous eight months working in Galway in Ireland, and while he was there we were visiting Argentina! We set the wheels in motion to acquire a permit and agreed to meet Leo again when the permits were approved.
The following day we wandered through Chengdu in search of the Mao statue. It would be difficult to miss it though, as it is apparently the largest one in China. Chengdu itself had a relaxed atmosphere, and, like the rest of China, was highly under
construction. On our way back from the statue we strolled through the old quarter near the Wenshu Temple. Looking at the old style buildings it was easy to imagine China of old. It was fascinating to consider what life was like back then, and to reflect on how much China has changed.
Back at the hostel that afternoon we signed up for the free walking tour the following day before setting out to find ourselves a traditional Chinese meal. The old quarter that we had walked through earlier on seemed as good a bet as anywhere, so we wandered through there until we found a place that looked nice. As we mounted the stairs we began praying for a photo menu. There was none. And none of the staff spoke any English. Eventually an a4 sheet with a few English translations was produced and we pointed to a few of them to order them. We hadn't a clue what would turn up, but from the look of the other tables, we were definitely going to get a hotpot to cook the food in.
A large bowl of broth was produced and slotted into our table. Then a waitress
arrived with a tray full of raw food. We smiled but didn't make any attempt to touch the food. Eventually a kind waitress took pity on us and essentially spoon fed us. She whipped up a spicy sauce in the bowl in front of us and threw some bacon and mushrooms into our broth, which she set to simmer. Then she grabbed some different bowls and scooped some broth into them and motioned us to drink it. She returned regularly over the following hour to cook something else or to tell us when something was done. The food was tasty enough, but it was the personal attention that made it a meal to remember. When we were finished we weren't even able to tip the kind girl as they wouldn't accept any extra money!
At 9.30am the next morning we boarded the mini bus that would take us out of the city to see a bit of Chinese countryside. Generally we have not been city-lovers on this trip, so we jumped at the chance to have our hand held while we walked the country lanes surrounding the town of Longquanli Luodai. We walked around a lake for about
6km chatting to fellow travellers. Towards the end of our walk we passed a primary school where the children were out playing in the yard. Their reaction to our cameras was adorable. Some even managed a (very cute) 'Hello'.
Back in the town, Laura, our guide, was happy to point out some of the finer delicacies that were for sale. My personal favourite was the deep fried rabbit heads. Further down the street we found a restaurant and sampled a few
safer local dishes - which, true to Sichuan style cooking, were still quite spicy!
On Wednesday morning we got up early to take part in another tour. This particular tour was the main reason that Chengdu was on our itinerary from the beginning: Pandas! Chengdu is home to one of the largest Panda reserves in the world. As soon as the gates to the park were open we set off in search of the sub-adults panda enclosure. As we arrived they were letting them out for the day. Five pandas waddled out looking for some fun and food. Our camera couldn't click quick enough. Every move they made was so adorable. Three of them took part in
a spot of wrestling, while the others munched away on bamboo. Our group were the only people there for the first ten minutes, but soon the area was crowded and we had to peel ourselves away from watching them.
Next we saw some small red panda bears. The sad truth is that next to the big cuddly black and white bears these little animals look pathetic and not so interesting. We moved on quickly and walked past several adult pandas that were enthusiastically working their way through a large pile of bamboo. Finally we came to the baby panda enclosure. These little cuties were only about a year old, and were still learning the ropes of climbing etc. For twenty minutes we stood awwing and ooohing over their every move. Despite a huge urge to hold/hug a panda, nobody in our group opted to pay the whopping price of 55euro for a photo with an adult panda or 110euro for a snap with a baby one. It would be a wonderful thing to do, but the price was daylight robbery for the two minutes you would spend with the pandas. We got plenty of pictures of them playing in
the park though.
The last part of the tour was a walk through an exhibit centre and a video about the life of a panda. It was educational to learn that a panda must eat 40kilos of bamboo per day to ingest enough nutrients to live. This results in over 120 panda poos, each day! We also learned why it is important to intervene in keeping pandas from going extinct. Several natural forces conspire to reduce the number of pandas in the wild. Pandas are naturally solitary creatures who rarely leave their own patch, so the chances of finding a mate during mating season and then conceiving a baby are really slim. Also, a mother panda who gives birth for the first time will be so freaked out by the sight of a baby panda that she often swats it away from her or stands on it! It was raining for the whole time that we were in the park, but not even that could dampen our excitement at seeing pandas up close. The pandas may well have overtaken Koalas as the cutest animal we've seen!
On Thursday we took another free hostel tour. This time it was
a cycling tour. Laura was our guide again, and she was looking forward to showing me some more weird food. Cycling through Chengdu reminded me of cycling through Buenos Aires last year, mostly because my fear of dying was the same! Chinese cars might occasionally obey a traffic light, but more often than not, one driver will think he's special and coming gunning for you as you cross a junction. Add to this the difficulty of avoiding pedestrians and other cyclists and it becomes a challenge to manage to look around at the city at the same time as cycling.
Our first stop was at a Greek orthodox church hidden away down a side alley. Then we cycled through back streets to reach a local market area that Laura described as dangerous and disorganised. She was right. After dismounting it took us twenty minutes just to make it through the throng of people milling in every direction. After this market we visited a fish market where we really started to see some weird stuff: Alligator steak anyone? Cow stomach? Turtle? Pigs nose, brain or tail?
After the fish market we walked around town to see various pet shops
and flower markets to try and settle our stomachs. For lunch we had spicy beef noodles for 50euro cent, sitting on tiny stools in a lane way at the side of a restaurant.
For the afternoon we cycled by the beautiful Baihuatan Park and visited a traditional silk factory. Laura brought us to the new Sichuan museum and then we had grass ice cream while walking through another lovely park. It was four o'clock before we saddled up to return to the hostel, but amazingly the whole day out had cost us 1euro. It's amazing what a bit of local knowledge can buy you! That evening Laura took some time to teach us and two Norwegian guys the Chinese game of Mah Jong. We had seen several old people play this game in the park and after a few rounds of it we could understand the attraction!
On Friday we firmed up our Tibet tour arrangements and hung around the hostel until dinner time. Then we participated in the weekly Dumpling party. Points were awarded for creativity, and both of us won a free cocktail with our amazing efforts. Sadly the cocktail was added to several beers and
shots of rice wine - leaving us in pretty poor shape when the alarm went off at a cruel 5am to get up to go to the airport for our Lhasa flight!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.109s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0358s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Eileen
non-member comment
I can see you fell really and truly in love with the pandas. Have you smuggled one in your bag. The food is amazing. Justin would love it.