Chengdu, China Days
Anshun Bridge, Chengdu China
This restaurant over a pedestrian bridge is apparently well known as an icon of the city. That’s not surprising as there aren’t many crossings over the Jin river and this is by far the most notable. According to Wiki, Marco Polo wrote about an earlier version of the bridge.
Chengdu, China
Our planning for Chengdu was hampered by our lack of Chinese
which inhibited us from going on tours outside of Chengdu and taking the trains from Chengdu to Hong Kong as we
had originally planned. Fortunately, our friend Alex and his cousin came to our
aid and not only offered us a place to stay in Chengdu, but set us up with some
friends there too. I’m not sure if I ever mentioned it, but I always wanted to go to China, but didn’t have any specific areas in mind and we choose Chengdu because our very good friend Alex is from a nearby smaller city.
Our transfer from Japan to China was a big surprise and surprising change in culture. Getting to the airport in the morning was simple and
straight forward and the flight over the East China Sea was pretty normal. The Chinese Visas worked fine and we were both excited
to get a Chinese stamp. Unfortunately, we had a 5 hour layover in Pudong Shanghai
airport without anything to do because it was too far to go into town. We ended
up napping and snacking for the majority of the time before finding our gate in
the back closet of the airport and transferring to the plane via bus.
Worse off, the plane was delayed 3 hours because of thunderstorms in
Chengdu so we sat on the tarmac playing cards. Then the plane ride was turbulent and
caused motion sickness for Yukes and there were smokers who filled
up the cabin with coughing people. Not the greatest start to a country but I took note that this is what travel is- unexpected stories to tell.
Fortunately, when we arrived in Chengdu, our contacts were
able to pick us out of a crowd thanks to some photos and whisk us away. Alex’s cousin, Ke Zeng, had stopped in Vancouver on his way to Montreal for grad and not only set us up with his place to live but also gave us the contact of two of his friends Jacky
and Allen. They helped us get to one of the few
HSBC ATMs around to withdraw some cash and then took us to get food at 7-eleven
and get a sim card. Then we landed at Ke Zeng’s place which was grand two bedroom apartment on the 31st floor some 3 or so hours later than we expected.
Our crashpad, Chengdu China
This is the building across the courtyard from where we have a balcony on the 31st floor. The complex has some 6 or 8 buildings. For a country of billions of people, these more luxurious apartments are fairly large inside but the exterior is always left plain.
Jacky had to work so the next day we took the bus to Chungxi street following
his directions. This is a pedestrian plaza with a lot of shopping that didn’t
interest us all that much so we ended up wandering down a major street that led
us to an underground mall that went on for blocks but didn’t have much in it.
When we exited several blocks down, we found a big glass mall but like the
underground mall it was empty inside. Dinner was a funny attempt at ordering in
Chinese to which I got confused when they began asking which type of noodles I
wanted and I didn’t known there were different types than what was shown on the
picture. But, we made it through alright and got home okay too.
Crossing roads in Chengdu can be challenging because not
only do car’s rule, but it’s important to look behind to ensure we’re not run
over. The road has a narrow median
between bicycle and motorbike lanes on each edge and the vehicle traffic in the
middle. Unfortunately, the bus stops are on these medians and the signs take up
the entire medians so that people have to wait on the street in the lane. When the
bus does come, it doesn’t pull over even if there’s a space for it but just stops in
the lane. I actually didn’t realize, but we never took any photos of this. Fortunately, because there was a global forum a couple of months
previous, all the city buses had been upgraded so there were plenty of them on
every route we took, and many of the roads had been repaved. Also, major work is ongoing with the subway where the two lines have been renovated and extended and three more are in construction.
The day after, Jackie took us to Jinli street which is a major tourist attraction. It is a reconstructed ancient looking street with shops and trinkets for sale. It is one of the top things to do on Trip Advisor is in Wuhouzi park that has a nice pond for pictures.
The empty pond, Wuhouzi Park Chengdu China
Fortunately, covered benches under the bridge make for a good retreat. There are quite a lot of people milling around at the bridge in a park that provides a break from the city.
I expected Jinli street to be more tourist than it was but
there were still a lot of tourists around. The buildings looked ancient enough
and it was nice to walk in but I’m told it’s completely fake having been recreated for the exact purpose it currently serves. We also went to
Tianfu square, the centre of Chengdu around which three ring roads orbit. For
the centre of the city, I thought it was pretty boring and was surprised that
there weren’t many tall buildings or government buildings around. There was a
large museum and a monument at the metro entrance.
Yuki at Jinli street, Chengdu China
From there, we took a metro to Wengshu Monastery which was an interesting look at Chinese temples in contrast to
Japanese ones. It looked both old and renovated at the same time. The walls and
pillars were evidently old but with touchups and new paint. We found that there
was a fish and turtle release pond. The latter was almost overflowing with the
little creatures.
The Streets outside, Chengdu China
After dinner in a slightly busier mall, we went to Kuanziang
zi and Zhaiziang zi (wide and narrow alleys) that are similar to Jinli street but this time at night.
We walked through and I didn’t see too many trinkets for sale, although there
were some; it was mostly drinking lounges and the kind of place where people go to socialize. The walls also had historical
murals that had 3D parts to them which is something we’d see again in Georgetown, Malaysia. I was happy that my D5200 worked extremely well at high ISO as it was
dark out and that I was able to hold a
steady camera at 1/10th of a second, something I hadn’t thought I would ever be able to do.
It was great to have Jacky around to show us Chengdu as we
wouldn’t have known how to get to most of these places on our own. Additionally,
the next day Yukes woke up feeling really sick from something she’d eaten the day
before. Jacky was wonderful in getting
us medicine and making sure we were alright while resting up in Ke Zeng’s
place. Having an apartment was great for the privacy and being able to sprawl
out anywhere. I spent most of the time designing and planning out a dream house that
would go in Vancouver west side with a view of the mountains while Yukes slept
day and night.
When Yukes felt better two days later and we were able to
finish up Chengdu by going to Sichuan University and hotpot. There are several campuses
and a graduation was in process at one but it didn’t seem like all that exciting or
interesting of a place, just old buildings and students playing sports like basketball. Sichuan
province is not just famous for hot spicy food but also hotpot. For this experience, Jacky took us to a
hotpot and ordered rabbit kidneys, sheep and pig’s stomach and intestine and
one of his favourites, pig brains. Yukes wouldn’t try the brains but I did — it
was mushy and over cooked. I figured I’d just eat it for a good story to tell and to say I’ve tried it but can’t recommend kidney or brain due to the smell.
The last thing we did with Jacky was a new park called the Sichuan
East Suburb memorial Park. It use to be the neighborhood that Jacky grew beside large factories until the government tore it down to make more housing; however, part of it was left as a industrial site and modified into a park where there are several
drinking bars and jazz clubs. It looks best at night because of the lights and
shadows on the old pipes running everywhere that also help to simplify the views into basic shapes. China’s first fighter jet plane, radar system, and locomotive are also on display here and I had a déjà vu moment on the way out of a fountain.
Sichuan East Suburb Memorial Park, Chengdu China
In all, it was good to experience Chengdu and see what a
smaller city in China is like. Even for being a smaller city in China, it still
has 14 million people in the urban area alone and was ranked the 4th most liveable city in China in 2006. Even for that, the city itself doesn’t
have very much to do that we found exceptional and we’re told that it’s for laidback and
old people. Even so, it’s too big of a city for me without much scenery to see.
The smog is endless and blankets the city like an eternal fog. It makes it hard to be optimistic when the sky is known for being always overcast or smog-filled. I think China still has a lot to offer in terms of landscape scenery but for that we’ll have to get out of the urban jungle and into the wild lands.
