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Dujiangyan entranceAfter the Panda Center, we got back on the bus and went to Dujiangyan. Dujiangyan is an irrigation area as well as a really beautiful mountainous region. The park we stopped at also had a huge Bonsai tree garden, it was crazy. I have never seen a garden that beautiful, it was spectacular. There was so much green around me because of the richness of the area and the air was so fresh, it was like a paradise.
That night we stayed in the town near Dujiangyan, it was a pretty cool little town. It had a nice little shopping area for the tourists, but I wasn’t really interested in that. A group of us decided to walk into the area where the locals inhabited to see if we could find a more authentic meal. We stopped at one place but there wasn’t enough room for our large number of people. We ended up talking to a little hardware store owner, even though he had to use his daughter to translate from Sichuan to Mandarin because his Mandarin was not very good…a common occurrence in Sichuan, but anyway, he said he knew a place where we could all eat. He
walked us to the place, and no one was there other than two people who lived there. It was a small place, nothing I would even call a restaurant if it didn’t have a menu on the outside wall. It was more like their house with too many tables in the main room. We sat down and got some beer, but never ordered food. I was about to ask if we could order and the woman started bringing dishes. They were all delicious, I think it was definitely better that way, we got to try what they thought was the best. One of the dishes ended up being pig intestine, but I didn’t tell people until it was gone, and no one seemed to mind, they said it wasn’t bad. It was a lot of fun and the owners were very nice to us. Since we didn’t order anything or see any prices some people were worried they might try to rip us off, which of course happens from time to time. I feel like all the scam stories about China, although they may be true, are a very small minority of the huge population of China. Just as I
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Entrance of Dujiangyan expected the total bill was very cheap for a very good meal and a decent amount of beers since we had quite a few people.
The next day we climbed a mountain near Dujiangyan, where we had been the day before. The mountain was very beautiful and a pretty easy hike so it was very relaxing. Most of the time I walked with Andy, which was very fun because he talks to almost everyone he passes, despite the fact that his Chinese isn’t the best. On the mountain there were some locals selling cucumbers and some other snacks. I bought a cucumber from an old lady for 2 kuai and it was delicious. I ended up buying another one from a different lady further up the mountain. Two thumbs up for the mountainside cucumbers in Sichuan.
After climbing the mountain we went back to the same hotel we had stayed at 2 days ago, we waved at the girls at the front desk and headed up to our room. I had texted the girl I met on the plane earlier that day and we made plans to hang out together later that night. I asked for directions at
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Fish feeding frenzy the front desk and jumped on a bus to go meet her. When I got there she was really excited to see me, she is one of the most warm-hearted people I have ever met. We met up with her friend and went to a famous old shopping street in Chengdu. It was a little touristy, but it still had a lot of traditional Chengdu things that I have never seen in Beijing, such as some interesting food. They had a jelly type food that was slightly sweet and it is suppose to cool your stomach down after eating the extremely spicy food that Sichuan is famous for. It was a lot of fun and the girl and her friend were both very funny because they got excited about everything. Her friend went home after a while and we went to go eat. We ate Sichuan style barbecue. It wasn’t a whole lot different from Korean barbecue, but it was definitely delicious. My favorite was the squid and potatoes with the special Sichuan spicy sauce. Overall it was a lot of fun. After dinner she went with me all the way back to my hotel so I wouldn’t get lost.
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I was creepin on this old couple When I got back to the hotel it was already 10:30. Andy and I had made plans with two of the girls from the front desk to hang out when they got off at 11, so that was good timing. We hung out in the room until 11:30 when they said they’d meet us in the lobby. We headed down and there was a pretty girl standing at the front desk, I did a double take when I realized she was one of the two girls we were going to hang out with, she looked a lot different with regular clothes on rather than her work attire. The other girl came down soon and we were about to head out when Mack showed up. He didn’t have anything to do so we told him he could come with us. We took a cab to a big night club area. I’m not really a fan of night clubs but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to check out what Chengdu had to offer. We went in and found out it was a little spendy, for a private karaoke room, and access to the dance club as well. However, if you buy
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Enjoying the most amazing garden ever the private room you get to spend that much money on food and drinks, so we decided why not. Mack was also very generous, which meant it wasn't bad for me and Andrew.
We got in the room and it was very nice. There was a drink girl and a guy host taking care of us. They brought us some drinks and a free fancy plate of fruit, it was awesome. The girls sang some karaoke and we all hung out and talked. The host of the club came in and the tradition is that he has to cheers each person in the room, so he did that, I don’t know how many rooms he was the host of but that’s definitely not what I want to do when I grow up, I don't usually even go out more than once a week, I definitely wouldn't drink that much for my occupation. To be honest, when the girls brought us to that place I thought they would be kind of crazy partiers, but they were very chill and a lot of fun, the girl I hadn’t recognized earlier was also a very good singer. Since we didn’t get to
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Chinese wedding pictures the club until after midnight, we didn’t leave our room until maybe four o’clock to go dance in the club. At that time most people had already left, but we danced a little bit anyway, it was a lot of fun. After dancing we went back to the room for a little bit to sing some English songs before heading out. We were a little hungry so we went to a nearby restaurant. Mack bought us a rabbit head dish. I tried it, but didn’t eat much, although it was much better than just the plain rabbit head I had eaten last time I came to Sichuan, in fact it was quite good. The girls loved it too. After eating we headed back to the hotel. When we got back, the third girl we talked to the first night in Chengdu was working. She was pretty bummed she didn’t get to come out with us, but we hung out and talked to her for a while. Qinwen and I went to the gas station to get some water and go for a walk. When we came back we sat outside the hotel steps and talked as the sun came up.
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Awesome bonsai garden The buses start at 6am so
Luckily, the next day we didn’t have to check out until 11:30, which still didn’t leave me much time for sleep, but I actually felt fine when I woke up. After checking out Andy and I headed towards the big city park I had gone to last time I was in Chengdu. It was a weekend so there was a lot going on, dancing shows, music shows, people playing games and a bunch of high schoolers collecting money for the recent earthquake in Northwest China. It was a pretty fun day, nothing too exciting to note, but just another nice day wandering in Chengdu.
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