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Hello from Chengdu!
Apparently, the must-see attraction in Sichuan province, and particularly when one is staying in Chengdu, is the pandas. The Panda Breeding and Research Base just outside of Chengdu is among the best in the world, and is one of the only places where tourists can see pandas in their natural habitat. And with a Panda Card it costs less than $5 to see them!
(By the way, I really love the hostel I'm staying at. It's called Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel, for anyone who may be inclined to travel this way. They offer so many trips and tours and they have so many amenities - the owners are former backpackers, so I guess they know what to include - and the rooms are wonderful. The restaurant is fantastic when so many hostel restaurants aren't and, as the name implies, there is a garden - two actually, complete with roaming rabbits and guinea pigs and a fish pond. I think that if I don't leave here today I may never leave - I've been here just long enough to start to settle, and it's so easy to settle at a place like this!)
Anyway, several of the backpackers in my room (Lucy, Rachel, Sandi and Chatham) and I went on the half-day panda tour together. We left early to arrive at the base before feeding time. The park itself is beautiful - there are a variety of birds living on the base as well. We spent about four hours making our way through the base. The pandas are mostly allowed to roam the base, separated only from the tourist paths. They are enticed to come near the paths with large quantities of bamboo. After browsing the museum and seeing a film on the pandas, our group went back to Chengdu.
We all went our later that night to try a regional specialty - hot pot. Sichuan cooking is famous for its spices, and hot pot is supposed to be a classic dish. It's fun to try and is certainly meant to be eaten with a group. First, the servers bring out a large pot of broth mixed with spices. Then the pot is set into the table, which is designed just for this purpose. A burner is lit underneath the broth and it begins to boil. Then you throw in the ingredients of your choice (beef, fish, crispy intestine, duck's tongue, dumplings, vegetables, etc.) and allow them to cook through before fishing out pieces with your chopsticks. The cooked food is then dipped into a mixture of sesame oil, fresh herbs, garlic and whatever else you want to season it. Then enjoy! The dish certainly lives up to its name - it was incredibly spicy.
Lucy, Chatham and I also took in an opera performance at a local teahouse. If anyone is heading out to this area, I highly recommend it. Sichuan opera consists of sitting around in the teahouse drinking tea or beer, munching on peanuts, perhaps getting a massage or a haircut, while listening to opera and performances on traditional chinese instruments, comedy skits, watching shadow puppets, hand puppets, face-changing and fire-spitting. I'll post some videos soon - it's pretty incredible what some of them are able to do.
Sandi, Rachel, Romy and I spent a day at the Wenshu Temple. The gardens and buildings in the complex are incredible, and one can easily spend a whole day there. We browsed the shops for incense and fans and had lunch at the temple's vegetarian restaurant. We tried seweed soup, shredded "eel", sichuan eggplant, "eight delicacies over pumpkin", "pearl-like dumplings", spicy beancurd, rice and fresh fruit juice. The food was incredible and the amount of it was amazing. The total cost? Less than $4.50 per person.
The People's Park is another place to go if one is ever in Chengdu. While walking through the park we came across groups flying kites, ballroom dancing, singing opera, performances on instruments, tai chi, traditional dance... it seems like anything you might want to do can be found in the People's Park. Then, once you're done with your dancing or singing you can treat yourself at one of the teahouses. Chengdu is apparently well-known for its teahouses, so we made sure to sample the local fares while we were there.
That's all I have time for now. My train to Kunming leaves in two hours and I need to stock up on supplies before I go.
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