Two Pandas Walk into a Bar...

Friday May 14 - Chengdu 

We barely made it to the airport for our 7:30am flight to Chengdu because there were so few taxis to take at that hour. But their airport is like a small STL so you can just walk right through, even though there had to be a million people at the airport at this hour. Somehow, they do security pretty fast though, even though they end up wand-ing down everyone.

After a one-hour delay to a one-hour flight, we finally arrive in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan province. First stop is to the city to our hostel, Mix Hostel, which was literally a hole on the side of the street – but well located. It was my favorite hostel yet. Such a backpacker getaway. We quickly dropped off our things, got directions, and went straight to see the pandas – the main point of this stop.

I was very sad that our plane had been delayed 50 minutes because the pandas sleep for most of the afternoon. We didn’t get there until 12:30 because of bus travel issues, as usual, but we were able to see them along with what seemed like the entire Chengdu elementary school system. Sadly I didn't get to pay the $100 to get my picture taken with one of the pandas. They are quite cute and hilarious to watch though.

(In the middle of the road)

(After a lot of walking around, we finally found the pandas!)

(He looks like he's cooking up some kind of plan)

(Struggle for jungle-gym supremacy)

(Getting a little rowdy)

(Attempt at glory)

(Denial)

(Cute Panda 1)

(Cute Panda 2)

(Baby pandas kickin' it)

(Looking evil)

(The lovely Kathryn Sparks)

(A peacock... is it male?)

(Yup! Definitely male)

(Really beautiful up close)

(We realized later that we had followed them around like 100ft, they were eating blackberries off the ground here)

(Red panda)

(Definitely starting to see why people think they should be in the raccoon family)

(Definitely not a bear)

Around 2pm, we went back into the city to near the US Consulate. We grabbed lunch at a cheap noodle joint, and I got the local treatment, asking for the spiciest they had.  To my delight, I was quite capable of handling their spicy noodle soup. It just goes to show, just because I’m white, doesn’t mean I don’t know spicy! We had to go to the Consulate for Kathryn to have a background check for this summer (she is working at the State Department in Beijing). It brought back a lot of “fond” memories of my encounter in Phnom Penh. This time though, they didn't even let me on the sidewalk. I didn't have my passport so I didn't contest it, though I again wondered why they are so serious with the security in a place like China, which is pretty safe generally, and in a irrelevant city like Chengdu, not even an embassy. Kathryn went inside, and I relaxed on a bench in the sun, thumbing through my Lonely Planet, trying to plan my next day, a whirlwind trip through Xi’an.

(Area nearby the consulate)

(Nice little street close to lunch)

(Can't figure out what fruit this was)

In the afternoon we walked around the Taoist Wen Shu temple. Like many of the other temples I’ve seen so far, this one was surrounded by high walls, and really beautiful and peaceful on the inside.  Monks walking around amongst birds, trees and flowers, with the occasional pond or water element, really makes for a scenic stroll. Another great thing about traveling with Kathryn is that she was so full of little tidbits of information, which was very pleasing for my inner history nerd.

(Poor instructions)

(Inside the park)

(Some kind of good luck thing, putting rice and other stuff)

(Lots of preserved ancient writings)

(Ancient Chinese characters)

(We found big frogs like Kermit! Great day for animals)

Then we went back to the Mix Hostel for the free dumpling making/eating party night. We sat down twenty of us at a big table and made dumplings. I'm okay at it (don’t ask me to make you any), but some people were ridiculous and made all sorts of beautiful designs and shapes like flowers and a panda even!

Then we got some beers and twenty minutes of steaming later, had a fantastic, and free meal.

After dinner we started my favorite part of traveling – talking and sharing stories with the other backpackers. So many people who have just taken a year or six months off from work and have been trekking it since then. I met an Israeli couple who had cousins in Great Neck (Long Island) and a couple of Canadians just coming from a couple months in Nepal helping to build schools (a la Greg Mortenson in Three Cups of Tea). There were two other Canadians from another university in HK where they had also been for the semester. We were able to learn so much, and talk so much for so long. Four hours and many more beers later we went to bed…only to wake up once again at 5am to get to the airport.