I must confess that the first thing I longed to do when I arrived to the mecca of SPICY FOOD, TEA & PANDAS..was to go to Starbucks for Hot chocolate and brownie, cause we simply don`t get that in Rizhao ;) Once my "appetite" for Western treats was satisfied I was ready to return to China with its tea, spices, etc... :)
Chengdu felt good - cosy, cool, relaxed for such a big city, with some authentic feel to it...well, I liked it and I`d definitely go back! There are pandas, plenty of tea, some nice streets to wonder around, 1 metro line, Tibetan quarter, Xiaotong "cafeteria" alley, Kuai zhang alley (rebuilt old quarter...think shops, restaurants, tea houses), temples, parks and much more..
Pandas were not a part of my plan...BUT...I`m really happy they squeezed into my plan after all..
... `cause Panda Breading research base was definitely one of the highlights of Chengdu - it`s a nice walk in bamboo forest park and there are quite many pandas having fun in quite a natural habitat + I was lucky to see the real cute newborns!
TIP: Go there early (arrive 8:30....9:30) `cause pandas are being fed around that time and they were actively chewing their bamboo when I saw them. Another advantage is that Chinese tourists are also still being fed their hotel breakfast...so it`s not crowded yet! At 11:30 when I was leaving there were masses flowing into the park and ticket line was loooooooooong...
Chengdu is full of tea-houses, but we headed to the one that was told to be the most popular among locals - HeMing tea house in People`s Park.
Magical cup of tea...sip some ...forget about rush and enjoy the sun!
You can also have your ears cleaned at an extra fee..no, thanks...no,thanks...no, really, I don`t want it..;)
Somewhere in the Kuai Zhang "Wide" alley
MAO by day
MAO by night
The view from top or...from Anneli`s place :) (Anneli is an Estonian living in Chengdu that we knew from "living in Shanghai times"
Bye bye Chengdu...time to move WEST (11h by bus) to discover Tibetan areas of Western Sichuan!
On the way to Danba..
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