Chengdu

Chengdu

The experiences of the China trains have so far being brilliant, relatively cheap transport with some amazing views from the carriage windows. The train from Xian to Chengdu was a little different; we met two lovely Chinese men who had minimal English so we quite literally played pictionary for two or three hours with them breaking into fits of laugher when they understood some English. They were so giggly! The only difference was they snored like tanks (the loudest we have ever heard ). We got zero sleep and arrived in Chengdu like walking zombe's. We stayed in the Traffic Inn probably the nicest hostel so far. Chengdu is a big city with 14 million people living in the cities hinterland. The sky is filled with smog and the weather is generally rainy or over cast. We went to the cities bar street which is along the river bank for food and a good drink. We found a local Chinese restaurant, we tried to explain that we didn't want too much spice but we were given a giant dish with chilli's of all colours and peppers mixed with tiny bits of chicken. Guess we didn't get the translation right.... We enjoyed the meal though and marvelled at the sensation in your mouth when you eat the local sechuan pepper - hard to describe but sort of like a fizzy feeling. It was good until a cockroach ran across Sara's lap and when she stood up in fright and turned around to face a family of rats it was time to move on!  

We visited the giant Buddha and the Panda Park. The Pandas are pretty big and I think they are the only animal on the planet who are going extinct because they are too lazy to mate!!!!!   They just sit down eating all day. We got to see a range of panda's from the three weeks old newborn babies to the adults.

We went and watched the Ireland vs USA match in an Irish bar and we kinda gate crashed a couple's private party but the husband was Irish so we were welcomed with open arms.  The match wasn't great but we got the result.

So we have booked flights to Lijiang where we can start the Tiger Leaping Gorge Trek which has saved us in total 72 hours of travelling on trains and buses so worth every penny.  

Hope all is well at home chat soon

Roy