Wee glimpse of Himalaya - Sidestep back to Mainland China

One thing I love about Asia the most, beside of course the people and the scenery, is all the tuk tuks and rickshaws. Where I come from they just wouldn’t be practical.
But here, need I ride home when you have blister from all the walking (not me, Toni with his new crocs)? No problem, tuk tuk just stopped beside you.
You are looking for the mall? No problem, rickshaw just stopped beside you (in India we had the best day touring around, and just because we stopped to listen to our driver).
Or you are needing the ride to the airport? No problem, there are tuk tuks everywhere.

Well tomorrow, we are going to walk to the airport, since our hotel is just across the street, but I am currently enjoying watching all the traffic. You can see my huge windows in the photo below. Quite fitting really, because my story will take us back to mainland China and Chengdu, the panda capital of the world, and you can see a picture of one on a billboard in the photo.

Our flight from Lhasa to Chengdu went smoothly and I think both of us was a bit relieved to be back to lower altitudes. At the airport we were greeted by lovely Casey, one of the best tour guides we have ever had. Could be partly that we instantly clicked and the conversation flowed easily between us the whole time we were there. And she also was a good guide who knew what she was talking about so it was not just because of the good talks we had.

Originally, I hadn’t thought to come back to mainland China after Tibet but there were no direct flights between Lhasa and Kathmandu so it made sense to spend a couple of nights here if we needed to fly in anyway. And I am very glad we did!

First night we didn’t have anything fixed up planned so we went for a stroll. I had read this tea place in the People’s Park and wanted to check it out. True China-fashion the park was packed so we didn’t order any tea. I should have known that I had somewhat outdated image of what the park would be like. In my head I had this vision where there is tranquil tea shop by the lake and in the park there would be tables where people are playing Mahjong. But there wasn’t anything quiet and relaxing about it, people where everywhere and no mahjong-tiles to be seen. I wasn’t disappointed though. Well maybe a little of my own preconceptions, I know better than to rely my expectations on history books that are decades old.

We did stroll around the park and see people playing card games, and some of them were kicking this huge shuttlecock around, boats on the lake and all the venders selling everything between souvenirs to food and snacks. We did try some of the meat skewers which were good and these fried dough thingies which were really good!

On our way back to our hotel, we met this lovely lady who was out with her family, and who wanted to have a chat with us to practice her and her children’s English. They invited us with them to an mall they were going but we opted to call it a night.

On our only full day in Chengdu, Casey was going to show us what Chengdu is famous for. The Giant Pandas in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, or more familiarly, The Panda Base.
As well as tourism, the Panda Base also concentrates of the studying and wellbeing of these goofy animals. And goofy they are, have you ever seen videos of baby pandas and their caregivers? Imagine that fluffy little goofball climbing on the tree when he can’t even stay upright most of the time on the flat land. Or clinging to their caregivers leg while their human tries to clean up their clutters. They really make their humans work to keep them safe! Did you know that the baby pandas have the same caregiver for their whole life? Talk about a committing to your job!

There are lots to see in the area. The area is so vast that they have these little busses moving people around. Including giant pandas there are also red pandas but the baby pandas were my absolute favorite!

After the Panda Base, Casey took us to Chunxi Road to do a little shopping. Affter futile attempt to find me a new jacket (the zippers are starting to fail on me), we had coffee and I tried those berry-skewer thingies I have seen all over China. I couldn’t decide which one to get, so I got both, strawberry and grape, and the guy selling them were nice enough to give me the blueberry one to try for free! There is glazed sugar on top of the berries, so they were very sweet but good. I liked the strawberry one the best!

Wuhou Temple area was next on the agenda and, even repeating myself, I enjoyed walking around there. It is historical, but not religious memorial site, which honors Shu Han Emperor Liu Bei and strategist from the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang is told to winning several battles by only by his wits (is told to had won? Now my english is failing me, hopefully you understand what I mean. And if don't, feel free to correct me!). Once he made enemy spending 100 000 arrows on empty boats. There were figures made of straw in the boats to look like enemy forces. Another time he knew to be outnumbered so he ordered the fort to be evacuated and stayed behind. At that time, he was already known as a great strategist so when he was alone playing a stringed instrument, enemy thought that he is so sure of his upcoming victory that they fled without attacking.

After the Temple we took a stroll in Jinli Street. It was very similar to the ones we had visited in Singapore (The Old Town) and in Linhai (Walled City of Taizhou Fu) but fun nonetheless.

Even if we only had an glimpse of Chengdu it was nice surprise for me. I hadn’t anticipated liking it so much so I am glad that I was “forced” to stay there. Definitely wouldn’t mind to go back someday!

Same goes for Laos where I am writing this entry. As I mentioned in the beginning, we are leaving tomorrow for our next destination. Even here being hotter than I am truly comfortable being in, I still loved our stay! As per usual, I liked the smaller cities/towns better than the bigger ones, and I am glad to add Laos to our ever-growing list of countries visited.