We flew from Lijiang to Chengdu yesterday. Our hotels have been hit or miss especially for plumbing, but wow have they consistently been in the right area. This one is right on the river and an historic street. There are lovely parks both to our left and right and the Sichuan Opera house is several doors down. We took a walk through the parks and down a few blocks to an area like the hutongs (back alleys) in Beijing. These are narrow little walks dense with housing. This one has been gentrified and turned into a shopping destination for tourists.
We had a very nice lunch upon arriving. Chengdu is in the Sichuan region of China. This is where they grow the chilis and use them in their cooking. Much livelier fare.
One of the parks had what appeared to be a very large bonsai exhibit. Instead of going very tiny, some of them where four feet tall or wide and fruiting.
Last night we enjoyed the famous Sichuan Opera. More like a variety show, the opening act was the only Opera-like act. There was a nice erhu performance (Chinese violin), hand shadow puppets, fire blowers, a clown act different from anything I’ve ever seen, and the face-changing which was fascinating.
Today we visited the Panda Breeding Research Facility. I’ve seen some of the cuties recently but there were nice areas where you could walk through bamboo forests and see them in large enclosures. You could also see the juveniles playing together and get a look at little ones in the nursery. They also had a nice couple exhibits for red pandas. We saw quite a lot of them. Some were way up in the treetops.
