Chengdu in Sichuan is famous for giant pandas, Giant buddhas and hot food.
Everyone was more than happy to say goodbye to Beijing but as we were flying Air China, there was no guarantee that we would ever leave on time, or even leave the same day, During the night Skye vomited and then again in the morning upon wake up…which triggered Willow to follow suit. Good start…. We knew we had to walk about a kilometre to the subway then a good 40-60minutes by subway to the airport. Both were troopers and we made it but poor Skye hurled again in the corner of a subway station. At the airport we were then told we all had separate seats….excellent! And true to form we sat on the tarmac for 2+ hours. Also excellent. And despite being on the ground for that added time – our luggage didn’t make it – the triple crown of excellent!!!
Finally we were off and made it to Chengdu. Tummies had settled and sleep was had by all. Our apartment-Guesthouse owners gave us good (but not great) subway directions so we got close….but close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and big bombs. So much like in Beijing, kind folk pointed us in the right direction and the landlord called me to zero us in on our little apartment in a cool neighbourhood. Our luggage got delivered that night.
We had decided to do some visa work and take it easy in Chengdu so we spent a few days wandering and using a local hostel for tourist info. Chengdu is a MUCH nicer looking city than Beijing in every way. So many universities thus so many students. And of course Sichuan food! The crowds and the pushing and shoving wore us down so we looked forward to our tour day – morning with the pandas, afternoon adventure to the little town of Leshan (population only 6.5 million) where they had a huge (71 metre) Buddha carved into a cliff.
The Pandas
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_panda
The pandas were all in enclosures and the place packed up instantly. Wherever there was a panda there was a mob with cell phones. Our kids were amazingly adept at pushing their way to the front. It was intense. There were the expected giant pandas but had a few enclosures with red pandas too. When it came to seeing the baby pandas it was like Wrestlemania. Insane! I do not know how people can live like this everyday. When they weren’t taking pictures they were walking, heads down looking at their photos….
Hahahaha