Chengdu Day 1 - 10.20

(This entry is written 3 weeks later according to original key-word jogs)

This morning we set out in search of SiChuan snack foods. The friendly hostel counter girl pointed us to Jing Li, just down the street from Holly's. Jing Li was a total tourist place, newly built "street" in the fashion of traditional chinese architecture, complete with carved windows, lanterns and wood board doors.


Being such diligent travelers we got up earlier than some of the stall owners. Most stalls were just opening up and stoking their fire. In the chilly misty morning we went through almost all the booths trying everything that looked interesting or yummy:

1. beef pancake. A little like a curry beef filling, sort of a crunchy/flaky pastry (pan-fried), not too spicy. Very good.

2. Dan Hong Gao (sweet egg crepe). A tiny egg crepe made in a tiny cute pan, with some fillings (forget what). Very good. We had one and then went back for a second.

3. sweet rice custard. This was another item at the same store as egg crepe. We each had a bite and threw it out. It was like rice jello squares in soy sauce. Yuck.

4. Pearl yuan zi (sticky rice balls). Not very memorable. It was a type of sweet snack you'd expect to find in Shanghai, not Sichuan.

5. Tang You Guo Zi (sugar oil fruit). Deep fried (I think) dough balls on a skewer with a sugary glaze. Ok.

6. Sweet tofu hua. Nothing like the cantonese type. The tofu was very soft and silky, drenched in a cup of thick light brown syrup that tasted very smokey. I was quite fond of this one, but syl didn't much go for it.

7. Guo Kui. I tried to ask one store owner what this word meant, and she rudely mumbled something. Perhaps she couldn't speak mandarin. I watched people making this in another store and bought one. It was like a shanghainese Da Bing except shallow fried in a very golden oil, then kept warm in the alcoves of a barrel oven. But tasted nothing like Da Bing! It was spicy and very Ma (numb, from the sichuan pepper), not a very breakfasty-snacky food at all.

8. Fried noodle crisps in spicy thick sauce with peanuts and preserved vegies. Well that's basically what it was. The sauce was also laden with sichuan pepper, but not too bad.

9. Su Jing Hong Feng (mixed vegetable red noodle). Translation: semi clear noodle in a red soup (meaning spicy) with a host of vegetarian condiments. We watched the very focused chef toss the grayish almost liquid dough, then cast it out in beautiful dancing strands out of a drilled-bottom pan. Once boiled the Feng is a translucent slippery noodle with a slightly chewy center. We also watched mesmerizingly the helper girl that scooped an array of 12 condiments, spices and sauces into 5 bowls that she rotated on one hand. The result was a very spicy very hot and very satisfying bowl of noodle soup.

10. Lamb skewer. The first of many lamb skewers I would try that wasn't Xing Jiang style. The spices are different and these weren't grilled over charcoal. So not very good.

The snacks ranged from 2-5Y. Most were ~3Y.

On our full tummies, we ducked over to the next "street" and strolled through all the nifty stores there. An apothecary complete with gingsen, winter worms, and a whole stuffed fawn (young deer). A silk store where we watched artist hand paint scarves and handkerchief's, witnessed how silk was made from cocoons, and drooled over silk square pillows and luscious bedding. In a crossbow store I fired shots on a wall target using a crossbow from the Three Kingdom era (2nd-3rd century AD). Then a wine shop with dozens of specialty chinese wines. Stores selling chopsticks and feather fans, gourd flutes and bamboo scripture scrolls, etc etc. A hotel in the old style buildings, the very idea that came to me not two days before (squat or sit toilet, I wonder). And real street artists making animal and people figurines out of flour, or blown sugar. I know these were made just for the tourist, a replica of the ancient times. But damn did I love it there! So much fun.



Next door, we wandered through Wu Hou Ci one of Chengdu city's main attractions. This was a garden temple built in honor of Zhu Ge Liang, the most brilliant tactician to ever live, adviser to Liu Bei who was the Emperor of Chu in the Three Kingdom era. At the end of a serene red-walled corridor, flanked by bowing bamboo trees, enclosed in an exquisite bonsai garden, was the massive round tomb of Emperor Liu. We also saw the Peach orchid where supposedly he and his two most capable and loyal generals were sworn as blood brothers. All in all, a tranquil escape from the hum and bustle of the city, if a tad expensive.

Three-dragon bronze vessel	Emblem on screen wall

We hopped on the now familiar bus 1 to check out Sim's cozy hostel, enroute to the Wen Zhu Miao (Wen Zhu temple). On the backstreet we walked through, all manners of chinese people were sitting outside playing cards or mahjong, or sitting inside old shambled houses and watching movies on giant flatpanel tv. Their low bamboo chairs yellow and shiny from years of use, looking just like chairs we used to have at my grandma's house. I reckon if I shipped these to UK or USA and sold them in a new-age asian "antique" store, I could make a good killing. I know I'd buy these for a good roll of dough!

Wen Zhu Miao was an actual buddhist temple, not a shrine like Wu Hou Ci. Outside I spotted a street vendor roasting chestnuts (with black coarse sand) in his peddle cart. Of course we got a newspaper cone of that. But inside I was disappointed to find that we missed the monk's lunch hour (usually at the lunch hour outsiders can purchase the same food monks eat, which can be very delicious, for very cheap). So we settled for a local-style afternoon tea, with some snack food.

We ordered one expensive and one cheap green tea, took our tea bowls to an empty table and sprawled out on those antique-y bamboo chairs. There were water attendants walking around with a kettle that'll fill anyone's cup that looked less than full. Spread out a package of peanuts (very yummy), a pack of guo ba (roasted rice crisps, not so good), and a couple sichuan tofu skewer (spicy, gross), we kicked back and just let time melt away. At the beginning of today, we decided to make it a take-it-easy day, to unwind and rest for the coming Jiu Zhai Gou adventures. And this tea garden was exactly the kind of relaxation we were searching for after the initial hustle of Shanghai and Huangshan.


But all good things come to end. So we dragged ourselves out of the temple to catch a bus downtown. Seeing a Chengdu CYTS (china youth travel service) with an adjoining air ticket agency, we hopped in to check for JZG flights again. This time there were two flights on the day we wanted (two days later), but both only had 1 seat left. And asking the travel agents there we still couldn't piece together a semblance of schedule and availability of buses running between the JZG airport, JZG, and Huang Long. At our moment of frustration, the travel agents showed us a 3 day fly package tour to JZG/HL for a very good price, on a decent departure day, with an itinerary that looked very attractive. She then "found" us two cancellations on an even better day with a cheaper price. Facing such onslaught of slick salesmanship we caved and signed ourselves over to the tours. The date was set for the day after tomorrow, when we'd leave in the afternoon for the legendary JZG.

I also made many inquiries to a three gorge tour, as it looked very much like I would actually be able to squeeze out enough time for a trip there. As well Sinyee bought a plane ticket to Xian for the night right after we come back from JZG. So when we left the office it was nearly dark outside.

Taking the 55 bus to the bright downtown area of Chengdu, we looked for a recommended restaurant from Sinyee's Let's Go China book. On the dinner menu, husband & wife liver slice (literal translation, really a plate of sliced mixed beef parts), tea smoked duck, a plate of fresh vegetables. The place was more a semi-fast dining room than a real restaurant, but the dishes were all very passable. The duck was especially succulent and well, smokey, with distinct tea aroma. The beef plate may sound a little scary what with all the offals, but in fact it wasn't bad at all. Most of the organs, ahem, just tasted chewy/slippery, with no particular flavor by themselves, seasoned only with the spicy sauce in the dish. The vegetable was delicious as we were by now very used to in China.

"Husband Wife Liver Slices"

Next door to this duck place, we sampled some Tang Yuan (sticky rice ball with sesame filling) and Dan Dan Mian, also recommended by the book. But these sucked donkey butt.

We walked the busy pedestrian street of Chengdu (equivalent to NanJing road in SH) and each got done something we have been waiting to do. I got new battery put in my watch for 30Y (I expected cheaper in china). Sinyee had the 2 yuan McDonald cone she has been eyeing since Shanghai. A sellout to be sure, but I was powerless to stop her. Then we passed by a fancy Hagendaz shop that were advertising "Ice Cream Teppanyaki", but neither of us felt like we could walk in with a McD cone in hand (her hand, not mine). I got some "Shanghai" egg crepe crisp thing and a carton of yogurt at a street kiosk, in part in protest to syl's corrupt western ways. But they didn't taste so good.

By the time we got back to the hostel, again on bus 1, the night was deep and our bedtimes were overdue. But still we had to visit the Internet cafe to do some emails and blogs. The place was a packed 2-floor joint filled with cigarette smoke and boiling hot from all the machines running. Teenagers dug themselves into the high-back chairs playing all kinds of games (including World of Warcraft) and watching movies or TV show, or just chatting. After some email I couldn't take the heat so I went back to the hostel solo.


Breakfast items 2-5Y each, lamb skewer 1. Crossbow 10 for 20 shots. Wu Hou Ci 60. Bus 1 1Y. Chestnuts ~20 pieces 5Y. Wen Zhu Miao 10 with free incense. Tea 6+10. Peanuts etc 10. JZG 2770. Bus 55 1Y. Melons 3. Dinner 56. Watch battery replacement 30. Shanghai egg crepe 1. Box yoghurt 2.5. Internet cafe 2Y/hr. Holly hotel night 2 70Y.