Train Staff Selling Stuff

We took our sweet time finishing our last dinner in Sichuan. But soon it was time to go. We tried to hail a cab outside the commercial complex but no luck. We then realized that it was already rush hour. Rush hour and Chinese city do not make a good combination for someone who needs a cab. It was terrible, we kept switching sides to see where we can get a cab faster but there were too many people out to get one too. There were no taxi queues here so it was everyone for himself.

Bored Kids On the Train

My friend and I split and each of us took a side to see who can get a cab first. Just when we thought a cab was for us, it would be taken by someone else. Apparently, the citizens don’t seem to care who called first. As I said it is everyone for himself. We soon learned that playing nice here will not get us anywhere, literally, since we need to catch a 7pm train out of Sichuan. We needed to play their game if we were to get a cab. And sure enough we grabbed a cab from someone else and we were finally on our way.

Photo Of More Bored Passengers By An Equally Bored Passenger

Fortunately, there was no traffic jam going back to Sim’s Cozy Guest Hostel and we made it back there quickly. I didn’t want to let the taxi go so I got off and let my friend stay in the taxi. Maybe they could tell each other stories, who knows. When I got to the lobby the travel desk told me what I already know, “You are very late”. She gave us our bags and I rushed out of the hostel and asked the driver to bring us to the train station.

Tongren Train Station

It isn’t really that far, and again there was no traffic jam there. I thought we were very fortunate that we have this cab if not we would have surely missed the train. The train station was a huge facility since Chengdu is a major stop in the Chinese railway system. There is a huge sqaure in front of the station building where there were probably thousands of people waiting to get a ride. It was the worst case scenario since we haven’t been to the Chengdu train station ourselves. There were a lot of people adding to the uneasiness of the situation. Most of these people were waiting for a ride much later in the day or night. The train station can only fit so many people no matter how large it was.

The Rush

We finally located the entrance of the train station and they let us in, I guess because our train was already about to leave. Fortunately, my “excellent Chinese skills” came into fore and we were able to navigate the train station fairly easily. There was a wide overhead walkway to cross the tracks and there were signs for the trains. The train ticket has a trip number all we had to do is just follow the numbers. There was a stairway to get down to the train level, by that time the train was already starting to move. Talk about cutting it close.

Carrying Stuff To The Train

The staff let us in the train and we noticed there there a lot of people on the train and it seems that all the seats were taken. So we thought about just hanging out in some corner and just make ourselves comfortable. Fortunately, our tickets had seat numbers so I could kick anyone sitting on my seat. And there really was someone there, but they quickly made way for us knowing that those were our seats.

We got the hard seats. It actually has some sort of thin cushion so it is not extremely hard. I managed to get seated along the aisle. My friend, unfortunately, had to sit between two people. The train gathered speed and we were finally on our way out of Sichuan.

Another Train Going The Other Direction

This is my first time to ride this kind of train in China and it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. I had pictures of trains in India where people would sit on top of the train just to get a ride home. This train wasn’t like that at all. However, I would soon notice some of the peculiarities of riding Chinese trains. Most notably is how people would brazenly ignore the no smoking sign. It was supposed to be an air conditioned coach but people kept smoking inside. Just like they do on buses. I really dislike this habit.

This Is The Chengdu-Guilin North Line

There was one point that a female Chinese passenger got so ticked off by the smoke that she opened the window to let some fresh air in. It was fresh alright but it was also cold, but I guess she’d rather face the cold wind than suck in all that foul smelling smoke. Then a train staff dropped by and started closing the window, saying that she should not open the windows. She then complained about the continuous smoking in the train and why they are not doing anything about it. I don’t think the train staff did anything about it since she just shut the window and continued scolding the female passenger. Defeated, she just kept quiet.

The train wasn’t that full since we can still move around the car. There was a toilet between the car and I didn’t really like it. It was smelly and wet, who knows where the wastes go. Outside? It was also a squat type toilet, so anyone who needed to go there would have a terrible time inside with all the shaking and moving of the train.

Interestingly the train also has “in flight service”. The staff would drag out their boxes and start selling stuff, like no-run stockings for ladies. The staff would talk in the middle of the train and then start to distribute it to the passengers to sample. Later she would also sell a night lamp for reading. And finally there was the human powered flash light. It is basically a flywheel based flashlight where you pump the handle a few times and the kinetic energy of the flywheel generates electricity and stores it in the batteries. It was really quite neat.

Tongren Train Station

As the hours dragged on, the seat became more and more uncomfortable. There was no give in the seat and my back started to ache. I would have to endure this for the next couple of hours until we get to Tongren wherever it is. If you have an empty seat next to you, then you are in luck since you can lie down on your back. I didn’t have any such luck. Once in a while, there will be stops and we would go to buy food. If we can’t sleep might as well eat. They don’t close the lights on the train so it makes it even more difficult to sleep. I already have difficulty sleeping in moving vehicles to begin with. I guess, even with the way we travel around in China, we still need to get used to this.

Finally, after several hours, there was light outside, which meant that we was already near, I’m keeping my eyes peeled since I don’t really know when to get off, fortunately, the station was well marked and we prompty got off. After crossing to provinces in China, Sichuan and Chengdu, we were on to our third province – Guizhou.

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Twice Cooked Pork 回锅肉

We still had a few more hours before our train leaves, but we really can’t start to visit fsome other site anymore since there probably isn’t much time. From the Wenshu Monastery we wandered into a high end commercial district. There were malls and tall office buildings in this area and they have Starbucks!

Gong Bao Chicken 宫保鸡丁

Well I would say I couldn’t resist the pull of a Starbucks even though I was deep inside China. Actually, I must confess that I am crazy for their Starbucks City mugs. I try to collect them wherever there is a Starbucks, even if it is China. My friend brought his laptop along and he managed to connect to their wireless network. There were a few customers here too but most of them were foreigners. Once in a while a Chinese looking customer would walking in.

We don’t get too many chances to spend time like this since our schedule is usually quite tight. So with a mocha frappucino in my hand I relaxed the afternoon away.

The Restaurant

Our train leaves in 7:00pm and obviously we won’t be able to have a proper dinner on the train itself so we decided to have an early dinner. There were a couple of restaurants here and I couldn’t really find a nice one here. Then again, I couldn’t really tell if they were good just by their looks. We entered a Sichuan restaurant, hoping to get a last taste of the wonderful Sichuan cuisine while still in Sichuan.

Streets of Chengdu

We ordered Twice Cooked Pork 回锅肉, which is bacon cooked in Sichuan spices. It is called twice cooked because the pork is boiled first then sliced then refried, giving it a distinctive texture. The black beans used in the dish impart a very nice flavor to it.

Streets With Bicycle Paths

The other dish we ordered was the Gung Bao Chicken 宫保鸡丁. This is quite widespread all over the world and has its origins here in Sichuan. It is bascially chicken with a special salty sour taste from a mixture of sugar, salt and vinegar. There is usually peanuts sprinkled on top to give some contrast to the texture of the chicken.

While the dishes weren’t that bad, they weren’t that great either. I was mildly disappointed by our last dinner in Sichuan. I still have a reason to go back to Sichuan, since we were forbidden to enter the Aba prefecture areas, which included Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong. Those two destinations are surely good enough reason to come back here. in the meantime, I would keep in my heart the wonderful experiences I had here in this Land of Plenty called Sichuan.

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Wenshu Monastery 文殊院

Another well visited sight in Chengdu is the Wenshu Monastery. It is a big Buddhist temple in the heart of Chengdu. Tour group usually visit this place so it would advisable to come early. This monastery is old, it was founded in the 7th century during the Tang Dynasty. It is also noted for its cultural relics.

Strangely Tiny Ticket Booth

The monastery is just off a main highway of Chengdu an is very accessible. To enter the ground of the monastery, there is an entrance just along a street off the main road. It is probably the first time I saw a ticket booth that small. I’m sure people will miss it. I wonder if the security guards don’t get tired to pointing to the ticket booth just a ffew meters away.

Offering Their Prayers

The Wenshu Monastery grounds as a park like feel to it. Just like the People’s Park in Chengdu, this also seems to be a relaxing place to be. In fact, it would seem that that Chengdu parks are all like this. There is an altar at the entrance of the Wenshu monastery grounds where believers offer joss sticks to Buddha. It feels like the temple scene at Mount Emei again minus the cold.

Nice Park Ambience

Further inside the grounds are people just sitting around and talking. Some of them just here to give their pet birds some air. Others were just here for a simple stroll in the park. It is hard not to be taken in by the relaxing atmosphere. Just around the corner was one of those Sichuan tea houses, which has the exactly the same atmosphere as the one in People’s Park.

Tea House Inside The Monastery Compound

Deep inside the park is the actual Wenshu Monastery itself. It is a nice and elegant and considering it is an old structure surprisingly well maintained. There is an undergrond passageway to enter the monastery but we didn’t have time to go in. There is a separate entrance fee to the monastery itself where all the cultural relics are kept. It was too bad, I guess we should have allocated more time for the Wenshu Monastery. But we have a schedule to keep.

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Barbeque Anything You Want

Having filled our memory cards with endless photos of giant pandas, we made our way out of the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in Chengdu. Watching those adorable pandas continuously eat made me hungry too. Outside the research base was a queue of taxis waiting for visitors to exit. For once we had an easy time getting a cab. We asked the driver to bring us to the the Wenshu Monastery since it was near central Chengdu it took us a while to get there.

Some Shaomai For You?

The monastery itself was was still a walk inside but we were already hungry. Along the way, we saw old style Chinese buildings which may or not be really old but they were nice. There were a lot of shops selling Buddhist related stuff. We were going around the compound when we stumbled into some sort of food street. We hit the jackpot! We’ve been wanting to sample the famous Sichuan street food and here we are on one of those streets.

Sichuan Snacks With Brokenhearted Cold Noodles In The Rear

The street was lined with rows of hawkers selling small snacks like dumplings, noodles and barbequed stuff and I mean stuff. One of the snacks we tried was the amusingly named Brokenheart Cold Noodles 伤心凉粉. It is said that if you are brokenhearted, you can eat this and feel better. I can’t say it works but it was nice. The “noodle” didn’t actually feel like noodle but it was more similar to jelly. It came with Sichuan spices and it was cold.

Some, Er, Animal For Barbequeing

My friend ordered shaomai 烧卖, a common snack made famous by the Cantonese the world over. But what we needed to try was the barbequed stuff here in the food street. The stalls here display everything they can barbeque on their table and you basically point at what you want to have and they will barbeque it for you. Squid, fishball, chicken, beef, port, mutton and even vegetables are all barbeque-able. While being barbequed they are liberally sprinkled with chili powder and some cumin to great effect.

Yes, That Is Rabbit Head

It is great to just point at what you want to eat here but I have my limits too. One of the stalls along the road was serving much more exotic stuff – insects skewered and put inside a refrigerated display. It was a little intimidaating and I lost my nerve to eat them. There were grasshoppers, crickets and beetles on display and all are edible. The lady at the store asked me to try it, “Very nutritious” she said in Chinese. Yeah right.

Insects For Foreigners

I read a funny article about how a blogger observed during a trip during the Olympics last year how he noticed that the locals don’t eat these delicacies. But it was rather the foreign reporters who had to eat them since they had to show something to their viewers back home. He called them reporter food and were there solely to be fed to some poor foreigner.

As expected the Sichuan street snacks are very good. Despite it being considered street food, it is possible for one to have lunch or dinner here. I’m sure that the nearby office folk all come here for their lunch since it is a cheap way to fill your stomach. Actually rolling snack stalls used to be much more common in Chengdu, but for better or for worse, the city government has cleaned up the streets along with the street stalls. But the street food culture lives on places like these in Chengdu.

It is really a wonder to bear witness to the wonder of Sichuan food from formal dishes to streets snacks like this. It is one of the great cuisines of the world, and the Chinese know it.

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Giant Panda at the Research Base

After being turned from Jiuzhaigou, we decided to spend the next day exploring the charming city of Chengdu. One of the must-see places in Chengdu and the one it is famous for, is the Giant Panda Research Base. While this is not the giant panda sanctuary I was hoping to visit, that one is in Wolong 卧龙, which is unfortunately, off limits to us, this is a more accessible version of Wolong.

I'm Too Cute for You

According to the travel guides, it would be tough to take public transport to the research base so we took a cab to the research base. The research base is some distance away from the city center of Chengdu, which was necessary since the pandas would need lots of fresh air and space to move around. The research base feels more like a park and a research base. However, a lot of serious research really goes on in this facility.

I Don't Want To Get Up Yet

So why research on breeding specifically? Pandas are notoriously difficult to breed naturally, even if they decide to procreate, the young often do not survive. In the wild, pandas feed on a specific type of bamboo that grows only in the mountains of Sichuan. They are naturally very shy creatures. However, the continued encroachment of humans in their habitat has made the more and more difficult to find. Thus they also have difficulty finding each other and as a consequence mate even less. And to just to make life more interesting, the bamboo plants they feed on go through a mass dying every 20 years or so. With nothing to eat, the pandas starve and die, whittling down their numbers even more.

A Red Panda or Firefox

The Chinese government has responded to this threat to the giant panda by establishing wide swathes of protected land for the giant panda. They have also established research centers such as this one to help improve the survivability of the giant panda. China has also raised international awareness of the plight of the giant panda and how people can help preserve the species.

Eating Together

The main reason why visitors visit the giant panda research base is to get to see the fabled giant panda up close. The giant pandas are house in wide pens where they can walk about and do their thing. There is a deep trench which would prevent them from getting out of the pen. Because of this, there is no need to cages so the visitors get an unobstructed view of the giant pandas.

Mooncake Shaped Treats for the Giant Panda

I must say that the giant pandas are truly adorable and I really couldn’t stop myself from taking shot after shot of them. We were lucky enough to witness feeding time. Apparently each of these pandas have their own caretaker and they would get fed by these caretakers everyday. Their food looks suspiciously like a mooncake but it is stuffed with tablet and capsules to make sure that they pandas get their vitamins. Bamboo apparently, is a poor source of nutrients which is why they need to consume huge amounts of bamboo everyday.

Another Day In The Life Of A Giant Panda

Interestingly, the panda can strip the tough outer layers of the bamboo with their thumb-like appendage, this can give the pandas access to the jiucy stuff underneath it. We would watch the panda just gorge themselves with bamboo and thinking how it would be wonderful to be a panda here in the base. People come everyday to adore you. You get fed with lots of bamboo everyday. You have your own personal caretaker. What a life.

Um nom nom

Pandas here in the research base do not only come in black and white. There is also a red panda. A red panda actually looks more like a cross between racoon and a fox than a “regular” panda. Its fur is bright orange and it has a tail. If you haven’t heard of a red panda then maybe the name firefox would be ring a bell. Yes, a red panda is also called a firefox, just like the browser.

Visitors can get a chance to get even more close with a panda via pictorial session. The cheapest one would be a photo with a red panda. More expensive are the regular black and white pandas. I didn’t go for this but I contented myself to just admiring these immensely adorable creatures.

Sculpture At the Giant Panda Research Base

Near the exit of the reserach base is a souvenir station where you can buy, what else, stuff panda toys. I bought myself a shirt before heading out go to our next destination.

The panda research base is a worthwhile place to visit especially if you do not have the time to visit Wolong. This place become even more important with the destruction of the Wolong research base because of last year’s powerful earthquake. The pandas have now been relocated to various parts of China awaiting rehabilitation of their home. In the meantime, this is the best destination for pandas in all of China. Just be careful you don’t use up your storage photographing them.

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Recreational Area at Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel

When looking at guide books the best place for backpackers to stay in Chengdu is always Sim’s cozy Garden Hostel. This hostel was established by a Singaporean surnamed Sim and his Japanese wife Maki. This is a hostel built with backpackers in mind. It doesn’t feel luxurious like a hotel but it is a great place to stay here. As they say it is a home away from home.

Little Pavillion at the Garden

We had quite a bit of trouble finding their new place. They just moved to a different location when we arrived and we had a tough time finding them. Even the taxi driver didn’t know where it was, even when looking at a map. As we found out, maps are never drawn to scale. The fortunately, there was a small print-out of their name stuck just outside their door, no wonder everybody misssed it.

Lobby and the Travel Center In The Background

The best way to get there is to tell your driver to just bring you to the Beimen Bus Terminal 北门汽车站. It will be a short walk from there. At the time, they didn’t have the big sign so we didn’t know where it was. When we finally found it, we were thoroughly satisfied with their facilities. The bedrooms were clean and tidy. They even have a heater in the bedroom in case the weather was too cold. I didn’t like using the heater though since it felt like I was having a fever or something. The toilets are western style thankfully and the showers come with hot water.

Nice Little Garden In the Middle

They now have a much bigger place with places for guests to relax and enjoy the day. There are lots of spaces just to bum around and talk to fellow travelers. I like this a lot since it give guest a place to get to know the other travelers. You can always order food and eat it anywhere. There is a terrace outside to admire the nearby apartment buildings, which are unfortunately, not interesting at all.

Slightly More Private Room

There is a garden at the ground floor where one can meditate and just relax in the garden atmosphere of Sim’s Cozy Guesthouse. Sometimes the hostel will hold events like Christmas parties and all that. It is an interesting way of involving the guests in things other than sleeping in.

They have an excellent travel center where you can arrange for trips to Tibet and other places in China. They can also help guest book train tickets. Unfortunately, they weren’t that much help with bus tickets. However, it was easy enough to get to Chadianzi Bus station from here. Best of all the travel center staff spoke great English. I’m sure my friend was very happy to be able to speak to someone else other than me. The staff is very comfortable speaking with foreigners and would gladly give advice on how to go about their itinerary. We quickly made use of their travel service by booking a train ticket from them, we would get it in the next day. So convenient. They also heard about our troubles going to Jiuzhaigou, but there was nothing they can do about it though.

Terrace For Recreation

As for food, they have a nice bar below where people can order even non-Chinese food. There is also an internet surfing station for those who need to be connected. If you have a wifi enabled device you can also connect to their network for free.

I would seriously recommend Sim’s Cozy Garden Hostel to anyone visiting Chengdu. It is truly a home away from home. It is not intrusive enough to make you forget you’re in China but the travel center and the staff’s great English speaking skills are a great thing to have. They may be a little more expensive than the others but this is great value nonetheless.

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Tian Lu Home Style Food

With our aborted trip to Jiuzhaigou still fresh in our minds, my friend and I desperately need something to keep our mind away from that unfortunate incident. We took the bus from the Chadianzi Bus Station towards Chengdu city center. We were wondering where we will be having dinner this time – which was a strange question because Chengdu is probably the last place you’d start to wonder where to eat.

The previous day, I remember passing by some old Chinese style buildings which looked nice and probably worth taking photos of. But I wasn’t sure where to get off. I didn’t even know what the place was called. Fortunately, the bus passed right by it and we promptly got off the bus. The buildings weren’t really old, but they were designed in the traditional Chinese building design. At the ground floor were rows of restaurants. It was basically a food street, just perfect for us.

Dun Tang

As we walked down the street, we discovered that the restaurants were all high end ones. Nothing that would fit our budget. We continued walking down the road until we reached another main road. This is it, no more places to see. Fortunately, that road also has a couple of restaurants serving different kinds of Chinese food. Most of the restaurants where were Sichuan food, I won’t complain there. We chose the one with people eating, not really knowing what to eat there.

Dry Fried Four Season Beans

The food was pretty standard Sichuan fare. We ordered the Dry Fried French Beans 干遍四季豆. Something which I have already had before. One of their specialties here is something called 炖汤 or basically soup which they throw anything in. Since it was their specialty we had to try it, in this case we ordered pork. It came with pork bones and meat mixed with lotus seed. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t really that special. It was pretty bland but I guess that is how it was meant to be. With Sichuan dishes so flavorful, a bland soup would be used to clean the palate.

Fatty Beef With Sichuan Pepper

My favorite dish was the Fatty Beef with Sichuan Pepper 花椒肥牛. As the name implies, the dish is beef with lots of fats cooked in a lot of Sichuan pepper. This dish was surprisingly good. The beef was tender, and the fat give is a wonderful texture. The pepper give the dish that distinctive Sichuan numbing sensation. It is not overly spicy either. A bit salty, oily, but just perfect for me. I just wished that I could find that dish somewhere else. If anyone out there knows how to cook this wonderful dish, please let me know.

Since it was a main road outside, we figured that there should not be a problem getting a cab to get home. I didn’t know how to take the bus back to our hostel. How wrong were we. Again, it took us almost an hour to get a cab. It was really tough here. First it was Chongqing, now Chengdu. I was beginning to ask myself if it is really like this in China. Finally, our luck changed as we got our ride. I instructed our driver to go to our hostel and we were on our way.

The restaurant was not in any guidebook and we practically stumbled our way in to the restaurant. This just goes to show everybody of the quality of food here in Chengdu. You could probably eat in different places everyday for a year and still not have explored all these wonderful food places in Chengdu.

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Dujiangyan Bus Station

We caught our bus back to the Dujiangyan Bus Station and quick got on the bus back to Chengdu. As expected, it was a short ride between the two cities since there are wide highways connecting the two. In no time, we were already back at the Chadianzi Bus Station in Chengdu. We still have an hour to spare before our bus to Jiuzhaigou leaves. So we went to grab some lunch first. We left our main luggage at the storage area of Sim Cozy Guesthouse, knowing that we would be coming back after a few days.

At 2pm our bus started to leave, we were so excited and we were looking forward to see the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟 and possibly Huanglong 黄龙 if the weather permits. Jiuzhaigou is a wonderful alpine lake studded valley in the mountains north of Sichuan with lakes with an unbelievably blue hue. Huanglong is also within the area and it is famous for its natural limestone terraces that take the form of the back of a dragon. These two sites are the primary reason why were we were here in Sichuan, or China, for that matter, in the first place.

Traffic In Dujiangyan City

The bus basically followed the highway connecting Chengdu and Dujiangyan passing by some small town along the way, most notably for me is the town of Pixian 郫县 which is famous for the chili bean paste which I use when attempting to cook Sichuan style dishes. The town isn’t really remarkable and it is just another run down Chinese town.

We got to Dujiangyan which is already more or less familiar to us. It went by the main highway of Dujiangyan before turning into a rough road. The road here isn’t as paved as the roads we’ve been accustomed to using here in China. This slowed down our travel considerably. Now I understand why the trip will take 9 hours to complete. The road would pass by several towns before going to a highway cut along the mountainside.

Bus Swerving In And Out Of Traffic

The ride along the mountainside highway was nothing short of spectacular, below the mountains are huge blue lakes which cover the entire valley below. It would have been great if we were able to get off and take photos. If the way to Jiuzhaigou is already this spectacular, what more the real thing. Long bridges would let us go from one mountain to another, truly spectacular.

Two hours into our trip, our bus came across a police checkpoint. This isn’t really something strange for me knowing how the Chinese are sticklers for security. A policeman came up with their weapon close to them and seem to be searching for something. Having found nothing, he went down and then came back up searching again. He then pointed to my friend, saying “佬外” or “foreigner”. He then asked my friend to get off the bus, and since he doesn’t speak Chinese I had to go down with him as a translator.

Buildings In Dujiangyan City

He told him to unload his stuff from the bus. When I inquired why, the head policemen there explained to me that there was a notice just the other day restricting the entry of non-Chinese into the Aba Prefecture area of Sichuan. He then showed me the notice itself. My mind turned to jelly upon seeing the Chinese characters and he just explained that there was a disturbance in the Tibet where rioters destroyed property. It has been all over the news in the Chengdu. As a precaution the Chinese government decided to restrict the access of these places only to Chinese folk. Aba Prefecture, which covers part of Sichuan province, has a huge Tibetan population.

It does make sense to restrict foreigners from going into these areas. Afterall, the Chinese government would not want to have more problems when some stupid foreigner gets hurt because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The policeman then asked me who I was and whether I was with my friend. I was really tempted to abandon my friend and just head on to Jiuzhaigou myself. But I confirmed my association with my friend and I too was asked to unload my stuff.

Chinese Shops Along the Main Drag of Dujiangyan

It then occurred to me that my friend didn’t look Chinese at all. I could easily pass for a local, which is why they ignored me. It was too bad that they had to do this but it is all for our safety. With a heavy heart, we unloaded our stuff with the people from the bus staring at us like we were prisoners or something. Minutes later they were on their way. The policeman even helped us get our things on the bench where they were sitting. The group of policemen were continuously apologizing to us for the inconvenience they have caused, but all of these is for our safety. I ask the head policeman whether we can go to Siguniangshan 四姑娘山 or Four Maiden Mountain, which was part of our itinerary, but he said it would be unlikely that we would be allowed there since it is still part of the Aba Prefecture.

I would have to admit that I had my own preconceptions of people of authority in China, but this incident has changed it all. They were exceedingly friendly, apologetic and professional. The head policeman gave us some money as compensation for the trouble this has caused. It is basically the money we paid to get to Jiuzhaigou. I was impressed, they even give us the bus fare. He even knows that it is actually more than we needed but he didn’t mind.

They flagged down a bus on its way to Chengdu and helped us load our things on to the bus. They even waved us good bye. Really nice people. In the bus, we snapped back to reality after what just transpired and we realized that our schedule was ruined. This incident basically wiped out four or five days from our trip. We needed to form a plan B.

Okay, I Was On a Bus, I Couldn't Shoot Straight

On our way back to Chengdu, there was another police checkpoint. I was thinking, what now? We can’t go back to Chengdu? This time they weren’t looking for foreigners, the police were using this gadget with this straight wire protruding from it. Metal detector? I really had no idea. Whatever it is they were looking for, they didn’t find it in our bus. We were soon flagged okay and we were on our way back.

I heaved a sigh of relief knowing that we would be back in Chengdu soon. Besides, we need to plan our next moved since Jiuzhaigou, Huanglong and Siguniangshan are all off limits to us now.

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South Bridge at Dujiangyan 南桥

Chen Mapo Tofu's Mapo Tofu

All that walking around the charming city of Chengdu has made me hungry. Now, I am ready for some excellent Sichuan food right at the heart of it all. One of the long time restaurants here is the Chen Mapo Tofu 陈麻婆豆腐 restaurant. Fortunately we are armed with a map to help us find the place.

According to the map, it is just a couple of blocks north of the statue of Mao Zedong, which is where we were. We just kept following the main road all the way up north. Then we realized how Chinese maps are never drawn to scale. Just traversing a block takes us a more than a while. We passed a huge stadium which was no operating at that time. Now, we were no longer sure where the place is since the map is not that reliable. The roadside eateries are beginning to look very tempting.

Spicy Rabbit Dish

Just when we hit a main road where we thought the restaurant was supposed to be, we couldn’t find it. Could it be that they have shut down and the map was not updated? I walked to the next block and discovered where they were. Finally, after exploring Chengdu on foot we can start eating.

I ordered their specialty Mapo Tofu, as I have talked about earlier, this can be considered the signature dish of Sichuan. Red. Salty. Spicy. Numbing. And what better place to try it out than the very place where it was invented. Yes, it is said that this is the place where the dish was invented.

Fried Fish with Sichuan Spices

It was supposedly invented by a pockmarked old lady serving the salty and spicy dish to workers. Apparently word spread around about this dish and it has spread all around the world. The serving here in Chen Mapo Tofu restaurant isn’t that huge then again, this is high quality mapo tofu we’re talking about here. The tofu was soft and the sauce was salty, spicy and numbing just the way I wanted it to be. I will say that it is the best Mapo Tofu I had, ever.

Next dish is a spicy dish made from rabbit. Yes, I eat rabbit. And I’m sure you’ve heard this before, it tastes like chicken. The dish is made from bony parts of the rabbit, which made eating the dish quite a chore. The Chinese value the meat closest to the bone as the tastiest and it follows for any kind of animal. Fortunately the rabbit dish wasn’t that deadly spicy because the next one was.

Chen Mapo Tofu's Restaurant

Final dish was a fish on barbeque sticks with Sichuan spices on top. I’m not fond of eating fish, especially if they still have bones but I needed to try this. The fish was the fresh water type so it was also a little bony. Sichuan is a land locked province so most of their fish come from rivers. Of course, salt water fish can still be “imported” from the coast. As expected, the fish was tasty because of the spices, but as we kept eating I noticed that the spice kept getting more and more deadly. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to scrape the spices on top and eat the fish instead. I seldom back off from spice, but this was something else.

My friend isn’t as big an eater as I am, so I ended up having to finish all of the food. Not that it was a problem for me. By this time, the restaurant was already cleaning up all the other tables. There were only a handful of customers left. Fortunately, we were already done, and having finished all of the food, I really needed to walk it off.

That dinner was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. It is too bad they do not have branches outside of China, yet. I’m sure that Chen Mapo Tofu isn’t even considered good by Chinese standards. To think that there can be anything better than that boggles the mind. This will be our last night in Chengdu since we will be leaving for Jiuzhaigou the next day. I will remember this meal for a long, long time.

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Fountain At Tianfu Square

Just a short distance away from People’s Park in Chengdu is another landmark in the city. This is the Tianfu Square. Just like any other self respecting Chinese city, Chengdu also has their own square. This square is also a place where people can walk around and do activities. At night there are a lot of people just hanging around and admiring the things on display.

Huge Sculpture at the Square

Tianfu Square is a little more high tech than most other squares. This square is actually multi-level. At when viewed from above, it looks like a yin and yang figure. There were a lot of people enjoying themselves and taking photos of the scenery. At the northern end of the square is an imposing statue of Mao Zedong. This is also another landmark in Chengdu.

Visitors Looking On, Note the Carvings Below Them

Also at the northern end of the square is a dancing fountain. The fountain will burst to life at fixed times in the day and would preform with music. It is mesmerizing to watch the fountain dance that I completely forgot about my friend who was busy taking photos.

Posh Shopping District Near the Square

At the northeastern end of the square is a small shopping district. It looks quite expensive with brand name products on sale. I wasn’t really expecting to see such a posh place here in Chengdu, but it seems that capitalism has made its mark here. Interestingly enough there are still vendors selling street food right outside the fancy shops. I guess you really can’t live without them.

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