Blogs from Chengdu, Sichuan, China, Asia - page 109

In an utterly random turn of events, my dad completely randomly suggested on the phone that I take a detour to Chengdu, in Sichuan, 561 miles away! The original plan was to head north to Shaolin, and then east to Xi'an, (look it up on a map if you want) but this kind of turbelence is typical of my dad, as any member of my family will know. Hence, here I am in Sichuan, dubbed as being host to the best food in China, and really very hot. There's a saying that goes: Visit Sichuan when you're old, because when you get there you'll never want to leave Some friends of the family were extrememly kind in letting me stay with them there, and I toured most of the sights with their daughter, Anna. Chengdu is ... read more

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 ... read more

My stopover in a mountain temple area was a success in that i was able to locate my monk (immediately, by quirky happenstance: i was looking for an adapter to a battery charger i had bought in korea for him, the monk, which i didn't think fit chinese outlets... which did in fact... but the adapter was, i suppose, the means to indirectly stumbling across the monk. I walked into a shop i didn't reallllly believe would have the adapter i didn't realllly need. Looked around: cameras, film, batteries, monk in red robes with a pointy elfin beard, camera accessories... Monk? Here was my monk, sitting at a computer, burning a photo cd. And even more startling, he recognized me right away "Eeefa!") and learn a little bit more about him and his previous life. He ... read more

I'm sorry, but it's true. With the exception of Yao Ming, we weren't meant to play basketball competitively at the highest levels. The NBA has done a pretty good job of marketing over here and the basketball craze is fairly substantial. I walk past a bunch of courts on my way to class and you should see how many people are hoopin' it up. And by hooping it up, I mean almost killing eachother. For those of you that went to Hopkins, remember open gym? When the Lamda the "asian interest" fraternity would be out there playing pick up games and hopelessly flailing about underneath the net? Probably half the guys there were breaking ankles...and I mean that literally, not in an Alan Iverson Crossover type way. It's the same here. These guys are fit, but ... read more

"Veerrry Goood... veerrry goood" drawled the driver in a smug, low, voice as our minivan was speeding along the bumpy dirt road, soon to rendezvous with yet another downhill hairpin turn. The ten or so Tibetans that had been crammed into this little 7-seater with us, for whom reckless driving was a rare treat, weren't helping, egging the driver on as he attempted to pass (yet again) his friend who was driving the minivan up ahead. "I've travelled the best part of twelve months in Western Sichuan over the last few years", lamented Isamu, my new Japanese traveller friend I'd just met trekking in the Yading Nature Reserve, "and I think I shall die in a van like this". They say the 'back-door' route from North-West Yunnan to Sichuan via the latter's wild Tibetan west is ... read more