The day was not starting out on a good foot but the early start allowed us to get out of town with minimal traffic. The traffic problem in Chengdu is not due to the volume of cars on the roads or the roads themselves but the fact that there are a large volume of mopeds and bikes sharing the roads with cars and no one (on cars, mopeds or bikes) believes traffic signs apply to them. I would wake up and watch the traffic 30 floors down below us, counting the near miss traffic accidents. For example, when a car turned into our lane, our driver would just move over, speed up and then lay on the horn.. in that order. The mopeds were a completely different animal all together as they would even drive on the pedestrian sidewalks(!!) and not stop at traffic lights. I could never drive there! It was a challenge enough just crossing the street!
After about an hour, we arrived at our first stop, Duijangyan Irrigation. The complex was not that impressive except for the fact that it was constructed in 256 BC! The entrance is a maze of temples and pagodas to explore and get lost in, which is very easy as 99% of the signs are only in Chinese. After a while we found the river, where a handful of rickety wooden bridges connect you to the other side of the river. The problem is that the Chinese tourists thought it was a joke to shake the bridge back and forth.. guess they have much more confidence in their Chinese construction than I do! The bridge was moving so much I had to hold the side rails as to not trip.
After the irrigation complex, we stopped at a typical tourist trap for lunch. On the way there, the driver made a call then proceeded to hand me his cell phone. It was Jack, the concierge at the hotel. Jack asked what we wanted to eat for lunch. After explaining what we were looking for, he told the driver, this back and forth happened a few times before we arrived at the restaurant. The two things we requested were Sichuan food and an English menu. When we pulled up to the restaurant, if I would call it that, we were presented with menus on which there were no words in English and no pictures.. this was going to get interesting...real fast.
So we gave Jack a call to tell him what we wanted to eat, but how were we to guess what was on the menu!? The driver took me to a vegetable stand to choose some vegetables which was simple enough, then the fish tank. They showed me a fish then wrote a price on a piece of paper.. $90 USD for a single fish.. no thanks. Arriving back at the table I was not sure what to tell Melissa what I had ordered except vegetables and possibly chicken but not sure what exactly or how they would be cooked. While we were waiting the driver was using his iPhone for "small talk" using an app that would translate what he spoke into written English..Since it was a direct translation from Chinese to English it often didn't make sense but we entertained him with a nod and a smile.
Once the dishes started arriving it was a bit overwhelming. There were a few we had had before and a few were new to us. After 5 dishes arrived, I told Melissa I thought this was all we ordered but the dishes just kept on coming. We ended up with eight dishes and a wooden bucket full of at least 5 cups of rice. When the bill came I was a little concerned, but it was less than US$50 - not bad for so many dishes! The best dish was a Sichuan noodle dish. We have never had it before and were a little intimidated as it had chillies floating throughout, but after taking a big scoop we were rewarded with mixed vegetables, chicken, and noodles. It was excellent!
Mt. Qingcheng was the last stop of the day. As we just had a big lunch, we planned to take it a little slow, but were in for a rude awakening after going through the main gates. The "park" was a series of temples and pagodas scattered on a mountain side = lots of stairs!
At the steepest point, they have a cable car to take you further up the mountain. There were a few shops at the cable car base and I saw a familiar sign.. 3 star bathroom, guess this one is not as nice as the 4 star I saw in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Melissa assured me it wasn't - no Western toilets - just squat pots - which while they do exist in Hong Kong are much more prevalent in mainland China. In Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, they are optional, in Chengdu (outside of the hotel anyways), they were pretty much mandatory.
There were two man porter teams that will carry you up the mountain via a bamboo stretcher for a small fee. We are not sure how far up the mountain we went but after a several hours, a few incense filled temples and a few thousand stairs we were ready to call it done and head down. It was very intimidating because if you looked at a map, the place is absolutely massive. You could literally spend days there if you wanted to see it all.
On the way home, the driver stopped to do some shopping at a road side stall.. he picked up some fresh vegetables for himself and some sliced watermelon for us... When Melissa finished, the driver stopped the car and signaled for her to throw it out the window - plastic bag and all. She hesitated but he kept motioning towards the window. So not wanting to be rude, she finally threw it out the window.. guess she has been in China too long! Guess there's not a "Don't Mess with China" anti-littering campaign - yet. Oh well, after finishing mine, I hid it from the driver to throw away at the hotel..
After about an hour, we arrived at our first stop, Duijangyan Irrigation. The complex was not that impressive except for the fact that it was constructed in 256 BC! The entrance is a maze of temples and pagodas to explore and get lost in, which is very easy as 99% of the signs are only in Chinese. After a while we found the river, where a handful of rickety wooden bridges connect you to the other side of the river. The problem is that the Chinese tourists thought it was a joke to shake the bridge back and forth.. guess they have much more confidence in their Chinese construction than I do! The bridge was moving so much I had to hold the side rails as to not trip.
The irrigation complex is absolutely massive, so much so that they have 10 passenger golf carts to shuttle people from point to point, but we decided to take it slow and enjoy the scenery. We explored the area for a bit then headed back to the entrance, stopping a tour guide to borrow her phone. She just asked if it was a local number and handed her phone over with a smile. After quickly making the call, I handed the phone back with a Xie- Xie (thank you in Mandarin) and handed over 10 RMB with two hands (sign of respect) but she just smiled and declined the money.
After the irrigation complex, we stopped at a typical tourist trap for lunch. On the way there, the driver made a call then proceeded to hand me his cell phone. It was Jack, the concierge at the hotel. Jack asked what we wanted to eat for lunch. After explaining what we were looking for, he told the driver, this back and forth happened a few times before we arrived at the restaurant. The two things we requested were Sichuan food and an English menu. When we pulled up to the restaurant, if I would call it that, we were presented with menus on which there were no words in English and no pictures.. this was going to get interesting...real fast. 
So we gave Jack a call to tell him what we wanted to eat, but how were we to guess what was on the menu!? The driver took me to a vegetable stand to choose some vegetables which was simple enough, then the fish tank. They showed me a fish then wrote a price on a piece of paper.. $90 USD for a single fish.. no thanks. Arriving back at the table I was not sure what to tell Melissa what I had ordered except vegetables and possibly chicken but not sure what exactly or how they would be cooked. While we were waiting the driver was using his iPhone for "small talk" using an app that would translate what he spoke into written English..Since it was a direct translation from Chinese to English it often didn't make sense but we entertained him with a nod and a smile. 
Mt. Qingcheng was the last stop of the day. As we just had a big lunch, we planned to take it a little slow, but were in for a rude awakening after going through the main gates. The "park" was a series of temples and pagodas scattered on a mountain side = lots of stairs!
At the steepest point, they have a cable car to take you further up the mountain. There were a few shops at the cable car base and I saw a familiar sign.. 3 star bathroom, guess this one is not as nice as the 4 star I saw in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Melissa assured me it wasn't - no Western toilets - just squat pots - which while they do exist in Hong Kong are much more prevalent in mainland China. In Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, they are optional, in Chengdu (outside of the hotel anyways), they were pretty much mandatory.
There were two man porter teams that will carry you up the mountain via a bamboo stretcher for a small fee. We are not sure how far up the mountain we went but after a several hours, a few incense filled temples and a few thousand stairs we were ready to call it done and head down. It was very intimidating because if you looked at a map, the place is absolutely massive. You could literally spend days there if you wanted to see it all.
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| By the look of the porters face, grandma needs to loose a few pounds.. |
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