Chengdu and Tea
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2007
1
31
58
Trip End
Oct 22, 2007
Loading Map
Chengdu,
China
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Lhasa's airport is the second highest airport in the world, second only to the airport in Bangda in Eastern Tibet and only about 400 lower. It's unlikely that we will get to Bangda any time soon so this is probably the highest airport we will ever fly from.
It was quite amazing that, for quite a long way into the flight, we were flying just above the top of the mountains. It shows how high up we were by being in Tibet. We were also treated to a view of the Himalayas in the distance again but this time Mount Everest was standing out proud and clear of cloud cover. What a sight and what a day for the people visiting Base Camp!
On arriving in Chengdu and meeting our guide for the next few days the first thing we did was change the program for today. No temples or city tour thanks, we have just some back from 8 days in Tibet and the chance to see and experience some of the most amazing temples and monasteries.
Instead we checked into our hotel and, after an hour of relaxing and unpacking some stuff, went off to the Renmin People's Park. We knew that being the holiday week meant it would be busy but it was beyond busy. There were two pavilions right next to each other, one had Karaoke and the other had singing and dancing. Imagine the sound of these two competing "concerts"?!
We knew there was a tea house on the edge of the rowing lake and so suggested to our guide that, after a walk around the park, we should take refuge there. What a nice way to while away the afternoon. We tried Green Tea and Bamboo Tea. The Bamboo tea was a bit bitter for me so Annie bravely drank that one while I sipped on about a gallon of Green Tea. We sat and watched the people who were watching us, had offers of having our caricature drawn, shoulders massaged or, best of all, having our ears cleaned! You'll be surprised to learn that we turned down ALL of these wonderful offers :-)
Although our guide offered to take us to a restaurant for supper, we are still not able to eat supper at 6:00 PM so we declined politely and ended up having supper at a famous Indian restaurant which is just behind the hotel we are staying in. it was definitely the better choice.
