Chengdu, 12-13 June:
After the historic wonders of Xi'an, another marathon rail journey (17 hours, this time by soft sleeper) brought us to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Sichuan is one of China's most populous provinces, but it is also the gateway to the natural treasure trove that is south-west China. And, of course it is best known as the home of the giant panda.
We arrived at Chengdu on Sunday morning, 13 June (having had a very peaceful night's sleep - the soft sleeper class provides private, 4 berth compartments, so none of the noise and cigarette smoke of hard sleeper), and quickly realised that this was not a country town but another huge, bustling city with a population in excess of 10 million.
After checking into our very plush hotel, the whole group heaed for the youth hostel around the corner for brekkie, and to deliver dirty laundry. We planned our day's activities over breakfast, and Rich and I, along with most of the others, signed up for a Sichuan cooking class!
After a shower, the two of us wandered along to Wuhou Temple, close to the hotel. The temple complex, built to commemorate the great generals of the ancient Shu dynasty and the founder of the city, is a labyrinth of interlinking courtyards, ornate pagodas and lofty halls, all set in peaceful, well-kept gardens. We marvelled at the hundreds of bonsai trees, of all shapes and species, arranged on benches and stones in shady courtyards.
At 2.30 everyone gathered for the cooking class, to be held in the kitchen of the nearby youth hostel. Our recipe sheets showed five dishes: in the course of four hours, all nine of us cooked (and ate!!) our way through sweet and sour pork, Gangbau chicken, crispy rice with vegetable sauce, fish-flavoured eggplant and three-vegetable spicy salad.
Our instructor spoke no English, but she had several young, bilingual assistants, and demonstrated the chopping, mixing, frying and garnishing with supreme dexterity. We were all issued with chopsticks, mixing bowls, heavy butchers knives and plenty of frsh produce, and did our best to keep up with her. When it came to the frying, her assistants were on hand to ladle spoonfuls of oil into the woks. After cooking each dish we would sit down to enjoy our handiwork...the results were delicious, and we all over-ate completely!
In the evening, everyone gathered for...well, more food, and a birthday party. Stuart, our Aussie traveller, had his 28th birthday, and a cake had been arranged at the Tibetan restaurant we were heading to. Those of us who had been on the cooking course (including the birthday boy) were not keen at all on the idea of eating again, but managed quite a few morsels when the Tibetan delicacies of yak meat, yak butter noodles and spicy veggies were set before us.
Our tour leader, Natasha (a tiny Korean girl who hardly ever drinks) had quite a few glasses of wine and ended up providing the evening's entertainment with her antics! These included a bizarre game called 'ling ling chi' (007) - a mime of James Bond shooting around the table. Hilarious!
Monday 13 June:
Today it was up early for our visit to the Panda Research Centre on the outskirts of town. Our bus rattled down a badly pot-holed street to bring us to the beautifully landscaped grounds of the panda centre, incongruously surrounded by industrial areas and slums. However, once you're inside, it's another world: the grounds are large and the animal's enclosures are spacious and stimulating.
We arrived during the bears' breakfast, just time to watch big bunches of bamboo being tossed into the enclosure of the sub-adult bears. Each of the four residents would grab a pawful of shoots, literally lie back and start munching away contentedly. It's fascinating to watch: they peel the bamboo with their front teeth and then get munching using their molars - all while retaining a Roman banquet style reclining pose. And yes, they really ARE as cuddly-looking in real life!
Our stroll around the other enclosures also took us to the infants (6 months old, clumsy and cute) and the adults (where Rich and I saw what seemed like courtship in progress, with much bleating and humping going on). The centre also keeps a number of the not-so-rare red pandas. Incidentally, red pandas are not related to giant pandas at all, but are members of the raccoon family.
All in all, our visit to the panda centre was super fun, an experience of a lifetime. It just seems such a pity that we are not able to head out to the national parks of Sichuan, such as Wulong, to experience the natural beauty of this province (and the ever-so-minute chance of seeing a giant panda in the wild). That will have to wait 'til our next visit to China!
After a super vegetarian lunch at Wenshu, a Buddhist temple near the centre of the city, we took a look at the river-side Bamboo park. We rounded off our final day in Chengdu with a visit to the theatre for a 'Sichuan Cultural Show' - a sort of variety show featuring opera, acrobatics, puppetry, hand-shadows and music - excellent.
I must say I haven't enjoyed the feel of this city quite as much as Xi'an, but the panda centre is really worth it. We're both a bit sick and tired of big cities now, so looking forward to the mountain retreats of Emei Shan - we're heading there early tomorrow morning.
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