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Published: October 28th 2009
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the wierdest place i have been, the city is like th twilight zone even the panda research base supposedly at the pinicle of animal breeding by getting animals too lazy to do it to have babys but the place looked like jurassic park after it had been abandoned and left for the dinosaors, still it was better than the animals being locked up like they were in beijing.
After half an hour bus drive from the train station i arrived at the ''hostel'' which turned out to actually be just a hotel with dorm rooms in, not exactly what i was expecting and the atmosphere around the place was the most disconcerting as it was nothing like any of the hostels i had stayed in thus far. i kinda feels like some poor hotel owner left the doors open one day and some guys walked in and decided that the place would be better of being like a hostel. that first night i met an italian girl called ylenia, still have no idea how to say that, we went for something to eat and of course as we were beginning to realise in chengdu it wouldnt be an ordinary affair.
the place had no english menus but at least had some pictures from which would could guess as to what the dish might be, turns out the menu was literally meat,fish,rice. the table was set up with a hotplate where you cooked the meat yourself but clearly as we were white we wouldnt figure this out ourselves so the waitress stood there cookng our food and watching us for the entire time! then she kept asking us questions in chinese, after 10 mins of not actually grasping the fact we couldnt understand her and repeating everything wasnt exactly helping she gave up and left. to be fair the food was pritty good but was the weirdest and most uncomfortable iv been in a restaurant and in china so far. but as if to comfirm the staffs suspician that we were just stupid tourists ylenia takes a big gulp of oil thinking it was tea...time to leave.
the next day i went to the huge statue of mao, one of the last left in china, the square its placed in looks so tacky but could be the kind of place that looks half decent at night....it didnt. got my
panda card so was now ready to get up early and see some kung fu action the next day, the pandas get fed at 8am and once they are full they roll down the hill and sleep all bloody day so we got about an hour or so action filled moments and that was it we were then usherd like sheep to the ''cinema'' a cafe with a projection sceen, and watched the breeding process, i learnt that pandas are too lazy to save their own species and that baby pandas being born is like the creature from alien breaking out of humans ribs, scary shit!
its clear the difference from chengdu and xian/beijing as far as the people are concerned they really dont know how to deal with tourists and it seems as if they dont come accross many either which was a bit of a surprise but they seem indifferent towards foriegners.
the tea house was a much more relaxed and chinese affair as we sat surrounded by old people playing chinese chess, pistachios are now an official addiction so when the green tea was average i decided it should be infused with nuts....they should appoint
me tea flavour....guy, it was lush. the teahouse itself looked over a few man made lakes and streams inside remin park which was the most famous and attractive park in chengdu. i was kind of expecting more as chengdu is renound in china to be the green city but the place was just a huge construction site.
chengdu hotpot was another story completely, we chose some random meats and vegg and things which resembled niether and sat down...id say it was more of an experience than a cullinary delight.
DAFO:
the giant buddah in leshan, very easy to get too but full of chinese tourists and no westerners at all the day i went which luckly was the best weather id had so far in chengdu. leshan town itself is a shithole of a place so i was glad not to stop over and just make the day trip, dafo is just outside the city accross the river so after catching a bus which seemed to go everywhere but dafo 40mins later i arrived. the big man himself is huge, probly why they call it the giant buddah! but its pritty usefull too as the rocks moved
to carve it went into the river and settled it down, the monk blinded himself to get it started mind. the temple here is also the most impressive i have seen so far as it just looks to be more alive rather than the watered down version the tourists are fed. the steps to get to the buddahs feet were soooo steep and small, chinese builders dont like tall people with big feet and a fear of hights! after wandering around the park for a bit idecided to make the long journey back to chengdu. when i got back i had the best wontons i think its actually possible to make, kindly recomended by the old guy opposite who kept pointing to his dish smiling and nodding.
i got my permit and tran ticket through which means im on my way to tibet!
xxx
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