China Doll: Pandaland

I promised you 熊猫, and 熊猫 are what you're going to get!

熊猫 means panda, and I spent last weekend in Pandaland, AKA Chengdu. Of course, I didn't go to Chengdu just for the pandas, though they are worth a trip in and of themselves. Chengdu, located in Sichuan province, is known for having the tastiest and spiciest food in the country. Plus, the surrounding towns have some interesting tourist sites that draw in big crowds.

Who's that random girl?

This was an impromptu trip to say the least. I had just finished lunch with a friend and I went to a popular "laowai" cafe (a cafe where mostly foreigners go) to get coffee and do some lesson planning, when a nice German girl struck up a conversation with me. After chatting (procrastinating) for quite some time, she told me about her upcoming trip to Chengdu that weekend, and how sad she was that she had to go alone. I told her how much I wanted to go to Chengdu, but how I couldn't find anyone to go with me. So, completely spur of the moment, we booked flight tickets to Chengdu together and began planning our trip... for which we left four days later.

Even though we had just met, Berrit and I had a really wonderful time traveling together. I arrived very late Friday night (Saturday morning), and then woke up really early to get a head start to Leshan. Leshan is a nearby town (two hours by bus) where you can visit the Grand Buddha. The Buddha, built during the Tang Dynasty, is 230 feet tall and is carved into a giant riverside cliff. For a small fee, we could enter the park and see the buddha from the top, then wait in a long line to climb down and see the buddha from a better vantage point.

Damn that's a long line.

Along the way, Berrit and I met three older people traveling from Canada and Liverpool (two were married and the third guy was the wife's brother.) We ended up spending the whole day with them. I was really impressed that they climbed down the stairs at the Grand Buddha, they were really difficult even for me!

While still in the Buddha park, Berrit and I went to go check out a temple. At the top, a Tibetan woman was preparing to pray. Berrit struck up a conversation with the man who was with her (she didn't speak any Chinese) and we ended up getting a picture with her. It was really interesting to hear her speak and watch her pray.

Some other Chinese ladies insisted on hopping in too.
Ruined my picture or made it better? Not sure.

After seeing the Buddha in the park, the three older travelers wanted to take a boat ride so that you can see the Buddha from the best vantage point: the water. Not really sure if it was worth the money, but they wanted to do it so we joined them.

But at least I got to wear a cool life vest

We didn't get back to Chengdu until really late, but Berrit and I had already planned to go to a Tibetan restaurant. Even though it was 9 PM, the five us walked to the touristy temple area and found this back alley Tibetan place. Although the restaurant was next to a well-known youth hostel, we were the only foreigners. It was us and the monks. And the food was incredible! The only thing I didn't like was the yak butter tea, but I'm glad I tried it because it's so typical Tibet. It was salty and gross and ew. The rest of the food was great, and unlike anything I had ever had before... even the Tibetan food I had tried in Beijing.

Made me want to yak

The next day, Berrit and I just walked around Chengdu. We went to three tourist sites that were each about a 30-40 minute walk from the previous one, so we had a route with destinations, but we also got to wander a little bit. We went to a monastery, an ancient tomb, and a Taoist temple (which was interesting because I had only been to Buddhist temples in China before.) We also stopped at a famous Mapo Dofu (spicy Tofu) restaurant and had the most delicious mapo dofu I've ever had. It's one of my favorite dishes in China, so I was pretty excited to eat it.

At the monastery

"Only above ground tomb in China."
Big woo hoo for you, above ground tomb.

Taoist monks look really different from Buddhist monks. That hair!

Monks in training

THE BEST!

Our older travel friends from the day before recommended that we see a Chinese opera performance that could be booked from our hostel (we were all staying at the same hostel, believe it or not.) Even though Berrit and I knew it would be really cheesy, it was a fun experience and I'm glad we went. There was a man who played the arhu (a traditional Chinese instrument) and scenes from a traditional Chinese opera. There was also a man who, for some reason, did these weird tricks with a bowl of fire on his head. He was supposed to be a "stupid husband" and there was a woman who was supposed to be his exasperated wife. Even though they spoke with an extremely strong Sichuan accent and I couldn't understand a word of their dialogue, their body motions made it obvious that they were a typical comedic arguing couple. The most amazing part with the Sichuan "face changing" and "costume changing." Within a blink of the eye, the performers changed the mask they were wearing from happy to sad, then from green to red, then from full mask to only an eye mask, it was crazy! One guy changed his whole costume, from black to red to gold to green. I still have no idea how they did it.

Chinese opera

Dude with a bowl of fire on his head. Why, just, why?

There was also an AMAZING shadow puppetist. Puppeter?

Really amazing.

Day 3 was the day that will go down in China Doll history: Panda Day. Our panda tour left at 7:40 (with transport and the price of the ticket, it was actually cheaper to go through our hostel) because the pandas are most active in the early morning. By 10 AM or 11AM, they settle down for a nap, which usually lasts the rest of the day.

Seeing the pandas was AMAZING. There are no words. I almost cried in the panda nursery, I just really love baby pandas. Really, really, really love baby pandas.

I had been going back and forth between whether or not I wanted to pay the exorbitant extra fee and actually hold a panda. But in the end, I was convinced by my family and friends and the fact that I am sometimes a little too frugal for my own good (as a child, I saved my tooth fairy money for a car. I was seven.) And oh, my friends, it was so worth it.

OH. HAI

CUDDLEZ TIME

U DA BEST

I CAN HAZ PANDER?

OOOOOO

I LUV U

Believe it or not, that's actually a toddler panda, not more than two or three years old. They grow up so fast... literally. I am so glad I got to hug a panda, I feel insanely lucky.

When the pandas settled down for their nap, we headed back to the hostel. Berrit and I, along with the two other people on our panda tour (a boy from Canada and a girl from South Korea) went for Sichuan hot pot. Even though Berrit possesses truly phenomenal Chinese language skills, she accidentally ordered us the second most spicy hot pot, instead of the second least spicy hot pot. Sichuan food features these little spiceballs called "Sichuan peppercorns." They literally numb your mouth. The hot pot was so spicy that I felt like I had just chugged Seltzer mixed with pop rocks. Or maybe like I had done the exploding Coca Cola with mentos experiment in my mouth. I've never eaten such spicy food in my life. It was, in a word, amazing.

Afterwards, we walked around the biggest temple, and the touristy street next door. Even though we were still full, we went to a Xinjiang restaurant for dinner, and she got to try Da Pan Gie (big chicken dish), another one of my favorites. From there, I went straight to the airport for my flight back to Nanjing. Unfortunately, the flight was set to arrive in Nanjing at 1 AM, giving me just a few hours of sleep before my 7 o'clock bus to the satellite campus for class. Even more unfortunate, the plane left 1 1/2 hours late, so I was especially tired for my Tuesday class, but c'est la vie. My trip to Chengdu was totally worth 95 minutes of sleepy teaching.

Big plate chicken, amiright?

I wanted to go to Chengdu for the Buddha, the pandas, and the food. And I was not disappointed at all. Another amazing place China Doll can check off her China "to visit" list!

Here are some more pictures of pandas and food. Just because.