Chengdu Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province in China, is a city known for its rich cultural heritage, spicy cuisine, and adorable giant pandas. It was the third major city I visited on my trip to China.
Today, we left Xi´an after breakfast. A coach at the hotel picked us up and drove us to the airport to catch a flight to Chengdu. As soon as we landed in Chengdu, we were taken to a restaurant for an early lunch before we took a tour of Chengdu.
Jinli Street.
Jinli Street dates back over 1,800 years to the Qin Dynasty and was one of the busiest commercial areas during the Shu Kingdom.
When we visited Jinli Street, it was packed with both tourists and locals looking for bargains. The buildings were very ornate, with decoration on the rooves of the tall buildings. We passed small buildings with people gambling and playing Mah Jong and shops selling all sorts of foods, including squid, duck, shrimp, dumplings and what looked like rats.
I did like some of the shops with local artists in them, selling their pictures, many of which they did in front of you.
Jasmine tea, massages and ear wax removal.
After visiting Jinli Street, we returned to the coach for a short trip to a city park, where we visited a small pagoda and were served Jasmine tea. We were seated outside under some trees, which provided cover from the short light rain shower that had arrived.
The tea was served, and it was nice to rest after all the travelling today. Some of the tour group took up the offer of more services offered by locals in the park whilst we sat and had tea. Dave opted to have his ears waxed whilst the rest of us drank tea and watched. He had his ears syringed and the wax heated so that it could be removed from his ears. It's not something I think that the local Starbucks offers in England. Liz then had the same treatment.
Mel, Tracy and Cecilia all sat around me and decided to have a massage. I´m not sure if it felt as good as they made out or if it was my comments and the fact that they knew I was taking photos, but they all seemed to be smiling a lot. I'm unsure, but Cecilia may have even dropped off to sleep. John also decided to have a massage, but unlike the girls who had a neck and shoulder massage, he went for a lower back massage.
When we had finished our tea, massages and ear wax treatments, we all boarded the coach to head to our hotel.
Photos from the park where we drank tea.
Sichuan Dinner.
After booking into our hotel and resting, we were taken for a Sichuan dinner. I loved our spicy food, but others were not so keen. While we sat there, I told the guide that I was surprised the food was not spicier, and he told me it was because tourists don't usually like it and that we had been given a different meal than the locals.
He then went to talk to a large family group at another table. After a while, I noticed the head of the family group looking at me and saying something to our guide. He then placed different food items on a plate and instructed the guide to give them to me to try. It was a lot spicier than the food we had been given, but it was very nice. It was strange eating the food and being watched by a family of Chinese people at the nearby table. I thanked them and told them it was beautiful and that when I go somewhere new, I like to try what the locals eat, not a tourist replica of it. They all thanked me for my kind words. Chinese people are so polite and hospitable, and it is a shame British people can't act the same way to visitors to Britain.
After dinner, Judith took me on an emergency beer expedition. We soon returned to the hotel bar and discovered my bottles weren't screwtops. Luckily, the bar staff were only too happy to open the beer I bought in the supermarket opposite the hotel and even provided me with a bottle opener to take with me. After a few beers and a chat, we all retired for an early night.