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Published: December 17th 2008
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Chengdu is located in the middle of a big plain and is bordered by the Tibetan plateau. It is famous for its spicy Sichuan food and the world famous Panda bears that live in the Bamboo forests. We planned to use Chengdu as a base for the discovery of some Sichuan highlights before travelling to Tibet. Chengdu was also praised as the best place in China for Tibet permits. The reality of Chinese politics would disappoint us here. A caver friend of mine suggested a kind of weekly mansion apartment building where rooms can be rent on daily base. This resulted in plenty of practice of my Chinese skills since it was difficult to communicate in English. But the staff was very helpful and it worked more or less out. Later during our China trip we stayed in very good private rooms at youth hostels having a good travel service, maps and plenty of information what to do and how to get there. This was one of the big surprises for me. Traveling in China has become easier than several years ago with a good standard of accommodation.
We wandered through the streets of Chengdu and hunted in the evening for
the famous mala tofu specialty. Bean curd (tofu) mixed with minced meet and a lot of fresh spices. It is a dish simple to do by yourself and Yuki wanted to taste the original version. We found a place in one of the old streets and Yuki was delighted. Chengdu and also other cities have more and more the so called new old streets. These are pedestrians zones with shops and small malls built in old Chinese style. It is usually very pleasant feeling since to wander around since there is no traffic and plenty to see. Often are old temples nearby and some have Sichuan opera performances. It is a usually a mixture of Chinese traditional entertainment with the famous face changing act at the end of every performance. One Sichuan family keeps the secret how to change the color of the face mask of the actor in split seconds. It was once done right in front of me - I could not follow - so quick was the change!
The plan to travel around Tibet failed totally. We visited two hostels that can arrange permits, but independent travel group was not allowed yet and it was unsure
when it will be available. The only option was to get into a group and to have a fixed schedule with guide/car and booked accommodation. It was possible to get on the train to Tibet (2 ½ days), but overall it was expensive with around 700 Euro per person for around 1 week. Beside we could not visit the Namtso lake area due to the uncertain onset of the winter. Additionally the permit process took5 workdays. Se we skipped this idea and hoped for another possibility at another time to get a glance on Tibet. Actually we did later to our surprise! Sometimes it is amazing what you find if you are forced to look for alternatives.
We opted instead for a 3 day trip to the holy Buddhist and Taoist mountain E-Mei. It is only 3 hours by bus and the area is protected as national park area and a UNESCO world heritage site. It was the right decision. The town with the relaxing Teddy Bear hostel and plenty of fresh air was a perfect choice for some nature and exercise after many big million people cities. And it is not a short hike. The mountain is 3099m
high and the ascent starts at 500m and it needs 2 days. Several monasteries provide therefore accommodation. Some one can imagine it as a landscape out of Kung f Fu movies with limestone pinnacles and monasteries and temples nestled and squeezed into valleys or perched mountain ridges. The names are very creative like Elephant bathing pool or Temple of eternity. What brings you back to reality are thousands of stairs winding up to the top, some attacks of wild monkeys and a mostly rainy sky. Sichuan is also known for its cloudy weather and most of the time we hiked in clouds with only a limited view, but we could partially see the rivers below us and the surrounding limestone hills. We managed to reach the golden mountain top stupa at noon time the following day with heavy wind and rain at a temperature of around 0 C. We decided to take the bus back from the upper bus station and relaxed with good food and heating the rest of the day in the hostel.
The next morning we did a nice walk to nearby monasteries with phantastic bamboo forests. As experience tells, sometimes the best is just nearby and
waiting. We were glad to have done the trip and returned very refreshed to Chengdu with a stop at the famous Leshan Buddha statue - the biggest in the world.
We had another hunt for spicy tofu in Chengdu and visited the next morning finally the famous Panda sanctuary. The best time is the morning since the Pandas are more active. The sanctuary is huge and Pandas can be seen in large open air areas chewing their morning breakfast. The high light are the baby pandas and occasional play fights in the one year old cage. Unkown to me the sanctuary also breeds the less talked red Pandas. It is an also cute looking Panda remembering more on a raccoon. Yuki discovered in the souvenir shop a Panda hat, but could not decide to buy it to her letter regret. The hunt for it in the airport shop was not successful. We left the same afternoon by plane to Xian with many pleasant memories on Sichuan.
Practicalities:
Flight Guangzhou - Chengdu 480 RMB (80% discount ticket)
Hostel private room with bath 150 - 180 RMB
Taxi midrange around 20 RMB
Bus Chengdu - Emei 70 RMB
Entrance
E-Mai mountain 150 RMB
Accomodation monastery >200 RMB (new building)
Entrance Leshan Buddha 70 RMB
Entrance Panda sanctuary 35 RMB (?)
Exchange : 1 Euro = 9 RMB
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Tibetan style place in Sichuan
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You can visit the west of Sichuansuch as Kangding, Litang. Tibetans also live there.