Mao Zedong Statue Chengdu

Today we were meant to go across town and catch the 8 hour bus to Jiuzhaigou National Park, although we didn't really look into it in enough detail because we found out when we woke up and enquired a bit more that the buses only actually run before 8am so we had already missed the ones for today!! We travelled to our original destination which was …

Known as the land of milk and honey and capitol of the Sichuan province, Chengdu is a Chinese megalopolis and probably the most important settlement off the east coast. Despite its size there is little really to draw tourists here that is of course with one pretty sizable exception. Giant Pandas.

Day 261: Sunday 7th October 2012

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Dumpling en Flip Flop Il fait encore nuit lorsque nous sortons de la Gare de l'Est à Chengdu. Une rangée de taxi attend les clients. Nous montrons l'adresse de la Guesthouse ainsi qu'un plan de la ville, mais la dizaine de chauffeurs agglutinée autour de notre carte ne semble pas connaître! Nous tombons sur un chauffeur plus d&# …

So as I was unable to acquire my Western Union transfer yesterday, my plan to visit the panda sanctuary would have to be canned. I was on a shoestring budget as it were. I had enough to eat and get around the city but not enough for the tour to the sanctuary which was quite expensive. So I started off at about 830am and decided to try one more bank …

We're stopping in Chengdu for its star attraction - pandas! They have a breeding research base 18km outside the city and our hostel (Cozy Sim's) provides a good value tour. It starts early as the pandas are full of life for the main feeding period of the day (9.30am). We've lost count of the early morning starts in a row now and the tiredness is …

Dag 13 - 22 oktober 2012 Vandaag gaan we verder met onze reis richting Chengdu. Om 19.45 gaat de trein en zal ons n 15 uur naar Chengdu brengen. Dit is trouwens een fijne tijd om te reizen aangezien het al donker is en dus je mooi op tijd in slaap valt en genoeg tijd heb om lekker te kunnen slapen. De dag zelf hebben we niet veel gedaan, het was …

Hey everyone,

so after the delights of Yangshuo we got our first train journey to Chengdu, which is in the western province of Sichuan. The 26hr journey is the longest train ride we will do in China, and we wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Travelling by train in China is a great adventure and much better than travelling by plane. Once …

... speakers was just unbearable and within 5 minutes we both had massive headaches. On the way back we also walked past Mao Zedong statue located in front of the royal palace in Tianfu Square. The square also is home to large fountains and everynight ...

... . The earthquake was international news at that point and the only news in China. Afterwards we headed to the biggest Mao ZeDong statue in China, which is actually not that large. Mao was getting a little cleaning so he wasn’t completely visible. ...

... to the rest of the town. People told us that during the earthquake the sidewalks looked like waves and that the statue of Mao Zedong looked like he was waving to everyone. Mike and I couldn't understand how the roads and sidewalks weren't ...