Last day trip – Dujiangyan Irrigation System

On our second to last weekend in Chengdu, I wanted to see this irrigation system.  It is the oldest existing water system in China and it is very famous, especially after it survived the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.  It has been an ongoing project for several hundred years, and I was really glad to be able to see it.

Remember, Qingchengshan at the beginning of the semester?  Dujiangyan is very close to this mountain.  It’s actually very appropriate that I used my second to last weekend on going back to this area.  Kind of poetic, actually.  =)  

I liked the irrigation system much better than the mountain.  Part of that might have been because we were not surrounded by people.  We just spend time looking at an architectural marvel, walked across a kind of scary suspension bridge, found some magical spots.  It was just as much the company as the place.  Alex, Lindsay, Lizzy.  If you are reading this, thanks for making this experience in particular so wonderful.  If not the entire semester.  =D  

 We had some transportation mishaps, comes with the territory of language barrier, but we got back to Chengdu in one piece with another Chinese experience under our belts.  Another piece of our China puzzle, as I like to say.  Win!

Day explorations of Chengdu

I’ve been hitting you one after another with blog posts so this one will be fairly short.

Chunxi Lu - A major shopping, pedestrian street in Chengdu.  Overwhelming.  Looks neat at night.  Has both western and Chinese shops.  We went there to shop for some clothes, and I ended up going to H&M.  Sad for a Chinese shopping experience but I had no idea what to do otherwise for some clothes I needed.  Lol

Tianfu Square – The Center of Chengdu.  A statue of Mao.  The bookstore I spent way too much money at.  Neat.

Antique Market – Pretty large.  Who knows if some of the things that they were selling were actually antiques but got some exploration in and some souvenirs.

Renmin Park – People’s Park.  This is the place to be.  Outdoor karaoke, being able to write calligraphy with water on the sidewalk, tea houses and good conversation.  Plus outdoor personal ads, kids with amazing artistic talent and many, many vendors selling toys.

Wide and Narrow Streets – We actually went to this street on our first day in Chengdu as part of our city tour, but by ourselves we were able to see it a little more thoroughly.  Another pedestrian street.  Cool to walk on if you just want something to do.  The best parts were the statues coming out of the walls and the explanations that came with each one.  I would definitely say that it defined that particular area.

Jinli Street – The most famous pedestrian street in Chengdu.  Which is justified.  It was really hip.  That makes me sound old but it is the only way I can describe it.  =)  I did like this street the most in Chengdu.  Yay!

That was longer than I thought it would be.  Lol 

Panda-monium!

*Props to Sharon, who coined that phrase for me*  

What is one of the first things that you think of when you think of China?  That’s right.  You think pandas.  And I really just had the privilege of seeing them in the Panda Research Institute here in Chengdu.   Sichuan is known for being the first place where a foreigner encountered a panda.  It’s definitely one of the draws of coming to Chengdu.  A lot of us were really looking forward to this particular field trip.  Especially, after our trip to Dongla Canyon when one of our classmates kept on calling out, "Panda!"  We would all look, even though we knew it wasn't true.

I know that this sounds silly, but the first thought that came to mind when I saw my first panda was, “They do exist!”  They just aren’t mythical creatures, my friends.  They are real and just as adorable in person as you would imagine them to be.  Lazy.  Sleepy.  Eating bamboo.  And dirty.  But that’s beside the point!  What more can I do than show you pictures.  Taken by me.  On my camera.  In real life.  Yep!

First sighted panda!

Eating bamboo.

So cute!  Huddled together and sleeping for warmth.  Just babies!

Look behind me!

Yep.

 Believe it.  I sat next to a panda while it was eating honey.  My purse got sticky.  My arm was around a panda.  I practically lived the dream.

And now back to reality.  Next post coming soon!

Another temple - bear with me!

One of the most famous temples in Chengdu is Wenshu Temple, the oldest Buddhist temple in Chengdu.  I wanted to go here just because I figured that if I was living in Chengdu, I at least needed to see one of its temples.  This temple is right off Chengdu’s only subway line and you think that it would be easy to find right?  

No.

  

Closed!  Oh no!

 Part of it was that the main entrance was not open.  And part of that was because, well, I dunno.  We were just being silly I guess.  And we were looking for the “tallest iron pagoda” in China.  Psh.  But more on that later.  The first time that we tried to find the temple, half of us were able to get inside, but I was a part of the half that just kind of failed at basic common sense and navigation.  HOWEVER, we were able to find a nunnery and a neat pedestrian street!  

Nunnery – Something that was unexpected and really amazing.  We just wandered in and one of the ladies started to teach us an Indian chant (at least it sounded like it) and then she just let us wander around.  All the nuns had their heads shaved, and let me tell you, Chinese ladies look stunning with their heads shaved.  Not that I would ever do that myself.  But Chinese ladies can pull it off.  It was a practicing monastery/nunnery and inside the temple portion was the usual statue of Buddha.  But instead of statues of male monks in front of the Buddha were also female monks.  That really sticks in my mind as especially unusual.  

The only picture of the nunnery that you will get.

Outside of the nunnery, we walked around the pedestrian street, and it was surprisingly empty.  I did find some neat souvenirs though.  I also ate me some deep fried Sichuan cricket.  And more sad, but I had to do it, was a seahorse.  Cricket was good.  That was an experience that I shared with my friends.  Good times!  Seahorse was not so good.  It tasted fine, but some parts of it were so hard that I wasn’t able to finish it and had to throw the rest away.  Sad day for being unable to conquer that particular challenge.  But a good day overall, if that makes sense.

Cricket on a stick.

 The second time that my friend, Alex, and I tried to find the temple was a success.  The ticket window that we had found previously was open, the main gate was open, and we got in with no problems.  Yay!

This had to be one of the best maintained temples that I have been to.  Well lit, pretty well dusted.  Even better were the grounds where monks are able to just enjoy their days and contemplate.  I think I always enjoy those outdoor parts the best.  There was also a library full of Buddhist teachings and a hall full of 1000 Buddhas.  So cool!  Each row of tiny Buddha statues had something a little different than the last.  Again, no pictures.  But if you get the chance, take a look at the ceiling.  I can’t tell you how much detail the Chinese have put into their religious places.  You could spend days at one place and never see all the details.

And the iron pagoda.  Man.  It was pretty big.  But it wasn’t nearly so tall that you could see it outside of the walls surrounding the monastery.  Which is why we couldn’t figure out if the walls we were walking around belonged to the monastery or not.  Talk about misleading.

Cool, even though it was so misleading.

 And once again, we headed to the pedestrian street to look at more souvenirs because the end of our time was definitely coming down on us!  Holy crap!  And it was there that we were pulled into a tea house and asked to sit.  I was immediately on guard because I didn’t know if it would be one of those situations where they would serve you and then charge you an obscene amount for a beverage.  But it was a nice tea performing ceremony, Alex bought some tea, and we escaped with no extra charges.  Whew!  

That was definitely a long one, so I’ll leave you with that!

Xi’an and some Terracotta Warriors

One of our planned field trips was to Xi’an, the former capital of several Chinese dynasties, and it was another piece of the Chinese puzzle that we were lucky enough to see.   There was so much to see in Xi’an that this one will have to be about the pictures.

However, before I get into those, I have to say if there is one thing that I really love about China are the pedestrian streets.  Usually they are for the tourists, but each pedestrian street has its own personality, and I love to just experience street life that is going on around me.  Therefore, my favorite part of Xi’an had to be the pedestrian street right outside of our hotel.  All the historical stuff was cool and walking through the excavation site where the Terracotta warriors was unearthed was awe-inspiring to say the least, but walking streets are really a vibrant part of China where you can really get a feel of an important facet of China.  Tourism and capitalism.  =)  Okay!  On to the pictures.

Walking street.  So many souvenirs!  Don't even ask.

This was the complex our hotel was in!  So pretty!

Yes, it was as epic as it looks.

I would want these guys to look after me in the afterlife.

That wasn't just my camera.  It does lean like that.  Just a little bit.

One of the best views over the countryside in Xi'an.  Breathtaking.

Can you see the statue?!

Dufu’s Cottage

Here will be some quick rundowns on some of the things that I crammed into my China experience before I left Chengdu.  It was a lot of stuff in about a period of one month.  Wow!  Okay, so here we go.  

One of the most famous tourist spots in Chengdu is Dufu’s Cottage, the retreat of one of China’s most famous poets. It was less of a “cottage” and much more of an estate.  If only we could all have cottages such as his.  But it was certainly a retreat and is said to be the home he occupied during the most peaceful time of his life.  His cottage has been preserved because he is credited with preserving Chinese history through his poems.  

The cottage!  Sorry I couldn't get a pure picture.  But the boy adds character right?

After some adventures on the public bus and not quite knowing which stop to get off at, we were able to explore.  The actual cottage was modest, however, I do need to remember that cottage is the key word. There were many outdoor sitting areas that could inspire any artist.  That was the bulk of the estate, with buildings interspersed among all the scenery.  I would say that it is something uniquely Chinese that way.

Usually, I end up exploring at least some portions of these adventures by myself, and that day was no different.  There’s just something really great about walking around and relaxing.  It’s not about anything else but yourself at that moment.  Just you and your thoughts.  Some of my favorite moments in China were just being able to walk away for a few minutes and collect myself.  I liked doing that back home in the United States, but I never realized how much until I got here in China.

But then again that might be because walking is my main mode of transportation.  But we’ll just ignore that fact.  =D  On to describe the next adventure!