Blogs from Chengdu, Sichuan, China, Asia - page 107

Arrived in Chengdu after a very pleasant 2.5 hr flight. Within one hour of checking into our hostel we had arranged our flight and permit to Lhasa for the 27th and a morning tour of the Panda Reserve. The reserve was great, a beautiful parklike setting with about 20+ pandas that we saw. They were quite animated and fun to watch as they munched on their bamboo. The afternoon was spent at a beautiful Buddhist monestary. Chengdu is a less modern city with a little more communist feel to it mainly from the older block style buildings. Though they too have lots of plans for development with some amazing models of villas etc. Based on Shanghai, I don't doubt they will accomplish it. Lots of green space and wide avenues.... read more

28-8 - 2-9 Blog We spent these days not doing much in particular, just general things in and around Chengdu. Every person in China needs an ID card, and needs to renew it every five years or so. Michelle needed to renew hers at this time, but it took her two attempts. The first time she came to the office, where there was not so much of a queue but a crowd, but found that she needed to take her family register. This is kind of like an ID thingy for the whole family, and one needs to show it show that their parents are really their parents. It kind of makes sense. There was no problems when we came back, and after negotiating the gathering in front of the kiosks there was no problem after ... read more

I touched down in Chendu for which the literal English translation is perfect metropolis. ‘Perfect’ though is obviously from a Chinese point of view. It is basically the same as any Chinese city….. characterless sprawling grid of freeways, buildings put up in haste. China is embracing the western life while remaining a communist state which basically means it’s ‘out with the old in with the new’ on a scale you just cannot imagine. It’s hard to put a date on but I would say nothing in these cities is over 20 years old whatever was there before has been demolished and replaced by this formulated urban sprawl. Chendu however was a great city to first walk amongst the Chinese. The walk to my hostel (a story in itself) from the airport bus was a barrage of ... read more

It’s been my first full day in China and I am not as culture-shocked as I thought I would have been. Probably it was because I spent the first half sleeping, and the second half shopping in westernised shopping centres. I slept quite well, even though it was a tad warm. It was warmer than I would have liked, but not uncomfortable. After lunch, We hit downtown Chengdu with Michelle’s sisters. Well they’re not exactly her sisters but her cousins, but cousins are referred to as brothers and sisters. I’m sure the one child policy makes lonely children look further a field for siblings. The shops seem quite western, with only a few subtle differences and one big difference. The subtle ones being the open-plan shopping centres, Chinese prices and Chinese fashion. The major differences are ... read more

I woke in Chengdu, thankfully minus my headache and pleasantly surprised with our accommadation which I hadn’t even noticed the previous evening. The décor was very modern and upmarket. Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy it as very early that morning we set off to visit the Panda Breeding Centre. You have to arrive early if you wish to see pandas as after they finish their morning meal of bamboo shoots around 10am they curl up and sleep for the rest of the day. We saw about a dozen pandas and really enjoyed the experience. Their enclosures were fairly small and I felt that they could have been improved. However the centre does have a lot of success breeding pandas, though there were no babies in the nursery the day we were ... read more