A Long Walk after the Long Train Ride

Monday, June 23, 2008--Changdu (Continued)

The neighborhood for 3-4 blocks in all directions around my hotel consists of many electronics stores, especially ones selling mobile phones. It is unbelievable how many big shops there are. How can there be so much business for all of them to survive? And sitting on the sidewalks throughout the area are individuals with 5-10 used mobile phones for sale.

I searched for a place to eat and had to go about 4 blocks from the hotel to get to an area with restaurants. I wanted spicy chicken with peanuts, a Sichuan specialty, so I asked until I found a restaurant that served it (by showing them the Chinese characters for that dish). It was a nice experience. And I was hungry since I only had a snack or two for breakfast very early this morning on the train. While searching for the restaurant, I found another cyber cafe and a supermarket. The former is even closer to my hotel (although I am back where I was yesterday since I was passing this way today). The latter is important because I can only find the big bottles of water (1.5 liters or more) at supermarkets, and supermarkets are not easy to find in China.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008--Chengdu

Chengdu has been rated as the second most livable city in China. It is nice. I may even like it better than Xi'an. What what is wonderful is that they have people stationed at each corner of major intersections to try to control traffic and teach them to go only when they have a green light. Bicyclists and pedestrians get to go in the same direction together, but those going other directions have to wait. And cars turning have to wait for pedestrians. Maybe Chengdu is trying to move up to the Number 1 spot on that livable city list!!!

I forgot to mention yesterday that in the city where I saw the tents for earthquake refuges in the streets, there was also an area near the train tracks that temporary housing was being built. It's with then walls (some modern material that is probably rather tight in terms of insulation) and definitely temprary, but it will be better than tents, espeically when the winter weather comes in a few months. What reminded me of it is that there was a report on the news last night about this project I had just seen that morning.

I made a big outing walking today. Based on my map and its scale, I guess I have walked 11 km (almost 7 miles) today. I started by going to the center of town where there is a big square with a statue of Mao. From there, I went to People's Park. It is a wonderful park in the center of town that has been designed to maximize the use of every bit of space (the way amusement parks pack a lot into a little bit of area). There were lots of trees providing shade. And there were restaurants and tea rooms within the park for people to relax and snack. Even though it is a weekday, many people were there. Most were elderly, but there was a mixture of others of all ages, too. Many were participating in activities: singing, exercising, playing board or card games, playing with their grandchildren, strolling, having tea, etc.

From People's Park, I headed southwest to the area around Wuhou Temple. I wandered through a new "old" area of town for tourists. It is a shopping/snacking street called Jinli Lu that is made to look like Old Sichuan. I skipped the temple since I am tired of temples anyway and couldn't imagine what would make this one worth almost $10 to enter it. I wandered into a nearby university campus and explored. It is the campus of Chengdu Sports University and had so many wonderful athletic facilities. They even had a nice, huge sculpture on campus dedicated to people playing polo which I guess is one of the majors there.

I wanted to head to the southeastern side of town from there, so I took a shortcut street that was shown on my map. Within a couple of blocks, I noticed that the signs had another language, in addition to Chinese, on them. Then I saw a woman in a strange outfit. Finally, I started seeing monks. It is a Tibetan immigrant area of town. There were shops selling Tibetan souvenirs and there were Tibetan restaurants.

I passed Peter's Tex-Mex restaurant and wondered what the food might be like. Unfortunately, nothing written on their chalkboard outside was Tex-Mex, so there was no way to judge what they might serve. Right past it, I entered the campus of Sichuan University. It is a HUGE campus with a nice atmosphere to it. I wandered and looked until I came out at the river on the other side of the campus.

By then, I was tired, so I followed the river back toward town. It was nicely landscaped with a narrow park along its side. There were some sidewalk bars along the way. But much of the area was filled with people who lived in nearby apartments and had come across to relax with their friends while playing table games, cards, etc. Back in town, I walked through the pedestrian-only shopping district and returned to the cyber cafe where I was yesterday. Whew! I am tired.