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Published: June 22nd 2015
Moving on from Xi-an, it was a 16h train ride southwest to Sichuan province, which I'd come tantalisingly close to the last time I visited China, when I spent some time in the neighbouring province of Yunnan. This time, I made it to the provincial capital of Chengdu, a city known for its spicy hotpot, pandas, and pretty, fair-skinned girls.
As mentioned, the big attraction of the city is the nearby Panda Park, which houses the largest collection of pandas in captivity in the world, and where the cutting edge research and conservation efforts are being undertaken. Sichuan is one of just three provinces in China where pandas can still be found in the wild (the others being Shaanxi and Gansu), and souvenir shops all around town sell panda-related trinkets to obliging domestic tourists. Chengdu will also be the launch-off point for me as I subsequently head northwestwards for the famed Jiuzhaigou national park.
Contrasting Chengdu with its two adjacent provincial capitals Kunming and Xi-an, which I've both seen, it's somewhat appropriate that it evokes vibes to me that are somewhere in the middle of the two. Still not quite as gleamingly modern as Xi-an, and yet not quite
Jinli Street
One of those "new-old" zones, reminiscent of Lijiang to me, and a veritable tourist trap. Still, pretty much worth dropping by when in town...as ethnically diverse or edgy as Kunming. It figures, I suppose, since it sits geographically somewhere in the middle of the two!
Stayed at Jiuxin Shangwu Bingguan.
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