Chengdu and Songpan

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We have been having a great time cruising around Chengdu and Songpan, of the Sichuan province. Chengdu is a far western city with fewer historical attractions, and thus fewer tourists. Hardly anyone here we encountered could speak English, even in American style pizza joints and cafes. We visited the poet Dufu's museum, a Taoist monastary, and some nice parks. The panda breeding center, with a large number of pandas, was excellent. We got there early to watch them active, during feeding time. Otherwise, we soaked in the local atmosphere lots of young people on the street, and great spicy Sichuan food with special chili peppers that numb your gumbs which, according to my sister, are illegal in the U.S.? They give you tons of pepper sauce on your noodles, but it isn't all that spicy, more complex and multilayered. After a few days in Chengdu we headed up into the Min mountains which are a massive set of mountains which go up into Tibet and keep China isolated on the west. Our bus trip took 9 hours, ascending the whole way through the mountains next to the fast and brown Min river. Eventually we landed in Songpan, a mostly Tibetan rancher/frontier town, and hooked up on a 3 day horse trek led by Tibetan cowboys. These days were very exciting and eye-opening: we crossed two fairly large mountain ranges twice, slept under many layers of wool blankets, watched our guides cook excellent Tibetan/Sichuan food and set up tents out of trees they cut down, explored the landscape of woods, canyons, fields, caves and springs, crossed through small Tibetan towns, and learned about riding horses about 5 hours a day, as well as caring for them. At night we sat around the fire and traded songs. None of them could really speak English, but we got along fine, developing our own methods of communication. There was a Korean girl there who could speak Chinese and her friend could speak English, so if we really needed we could have three language conversations. The guides, the horses, the towns, the wilderness and the 8 or 9 other travellers we met all made a very strong impression. The town of Songpan itself was very interesting, I (Jeff) ate a yak burger, and mostly we cruised the streets with monks down from the local monastary, local women who rub jade on their cheeks to make rosy red circles and wear red head scarves, young children selling wild strawberries, and men sporting nice wool suits, leather shoes, and stylish haircuts and hats for their time in town. After another long 9 hour bus ride back, of which the last hour the bus was stuck in second gear, we are now in Chengdu. Tomorrow we head to Emeishan to hike around a mountain with many Buddhist monastaries that we can rent beds in. Check ya later,
Jeff

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Photos

noddles before eating
our first taste of Sichuan Bliss!

noddles after eating
mmmmm!

Comments

[Sue in Florida]

Great pictures
Hi Jeff and Kaley, Glad you are having fun, learining about a different way of life, and taking the time to document it. Enjoy your travels, and I will stay tuned for new pictures so I can pretend I am with you on this journey! It is very hot here in Florida, with alot of hurricane activity early this season. So far they are going west of us, and hopefully the rest of the summer will be the same. Have fun, Sue