Coined "The Capital of the West", Chengdu is an awesome city with loads to offer. We were only there for three days and managed to fit in pandas, Jinli Pedestrian Street. I wish we could have stayed longer but, alas that's part of the deal with using a tour.
Day 5
Sleeper Train
08:30 start for our 25 hour sleeper train to Chengdu. We were in 3rd class which means 3 tier hard bunk beds with no doors, 6 to a “section”.
Each set of three bunk beds gets two seats, it was a little cramped to say the least.
But, we spent the journey in the usual way- playing cards, watching movies and reading books (although no plugs so electronics had to be used sparingly).
Day 6
Face Changing Opera
We met our new guide, Kid, in Chengdu- he’s a quirky character which the best English so far. We navigated the metro with our huge rucksacks and set of for MR Panda Hostel. This one was far nicer- clean rooms, nice bathrooms and better (not good) WiFi.
That evening, we were to go straight to the Chinese Opera “The Legend of Face Changing”. I would describe it more like a circus cross pantomime. It had a bit of everything: gymnastics, hand puppets, fire breaking, hand shadows, Jesters and of course, the famous changing of the masks.
Day 7
Pandas & Leshan Grand Buddha
In the morning, we went to the Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding which we all enjoyed apart from Kid, who goes every week and was sick of pandas. Admittedly, they are the most useless animals on the planet.
6 month old pandas
This research centre has the largest population of Pandas of all centres worldwide. Interestingly, Pandas survived the Ice Age because they were able to sustain themselves on Bamboo (although they need to eat for 10 hours/ day!).
The highlight of my trip was the Leshan Grand Buddha. It was breath-taking, this 71m sculpture took nearly 100 years to build and began in 713AD.
Despite the number of tourists, the grand Buddha was a very tranquil place to visit.
Day 8
Tibetan Quarter and Jinli Pedestrian Street
The Tibetan Quarter was a bit of a let down- just lots of shops, monks and starting, lots of staring.
The Jinli Pedestrian street however was lovely. It has been re-constructed to represent how the Sichuan Province (Qing Dynasty) would have looked in 221 AD.
It was full of market stalls, IT WAS CLEAN, street food and an original opera house. I would definitely recommend this, but perhaps go early as it’s a tourist hot-spot.