Asia living: Sichuan peppers, pandas, pedestrian walks, pollution and people's park

Normally I'd be happy to update my blog about our weekend in Chengdu, Sichuan province China - but this is my 3rd try - thanks to crappy Android's cut-and-paste basic problems, and China's Great Firewall of an Internet :(

Chengdu is the 5th or so largest city in China with 14 million under administration or supposedly 10 million in the urban area?! Still Tier 2 city! Its the largest city in China's sprawling south west region which borders Tibet and Vietnam (I think).

I summarize Chengdu into 5 P's:

Pandas

Pollution

Pedestrian Walking Areas

People's Park

Peppers (Chili peppered hotPot or Ma Po Tofu originated here)

The most interesting part of our trip was a lunch we had a famous local eatery with a random old couple (he from chengdu; she from fujian then nanjing then chengdu... now the city's biggest fan!). They spoke proudly of their daughter who is an engineer in San Fran Bay Area and how their visit to the USA was 'too quiet', not enough people, drivers are too careful, chinese food in US was 'too sweet' and how groceries and clothes are SO affordable! She raved about Chengdu's quality of living, affordable housing, great food, decent weather and seemed overall pro-China (worrisome?! there could be another Billion people like her!). It was entertaining and informative and worth the getting lost 3x to find this bustling cafeteria like Sichuan canteen.

Of course people come to Chengdu to see the Panda Research Base. Pandas are lazy after they feed in the early mornings, and slothy and fat! But so cute. I'm NOT a fan of the scary Red Pandas who look almost like raccoons, and chase past my feet (thankfully not stopping)! At least we could breathe a bit of air at the panda site which is outside Chengdu city.

The Pollution in China is SO bad these days we couldn't even tell if the sun had risen yet (you can't see the sky; Beijing metrics were off the map with record pollution and governments finally admitting an issue).

Great Pedestrian areas included Jilin (touristy) market and Chunxi shopping area. Jilin was a smaller version of Lijiang Yunnan province's Old Town, a traditional rebuilt set of hutongs (chinese homes) with souvenir wares and snack stalls. At least there was a heated Starbucks as the temperatures were 5-10C (we're wimpy now!). Chunxi had very wide promenades that went on for blocks and blocks... mixture of Chinese local stores (361, Yuishun, Lining), Asian brands (Isetan, Giordano, Watsons) and Global shops (Nike, Adidas, Uniqlo, Zara)... reminded me of Guangzhou's Beijing Lu shopping area or Beijing's Wangfujin... although seemingly MUCH larger and less busy! Again Heat Tech clothes from Uniqlo saved the day as it got frigidly colder through the day.

The People's Park (renmin gongyuan) is a lively centre of musical groups, tea drinking, swan lake viewing and dance lessons in Chengdu local life. Dance lessons and groups from chinese hip hop to tibetan traditional dance to ballroom to cha cha to laptop karaoke stands... very LOUD yet interesting vibe. A good exposure to the people of Chengdu... very different from the manicured lawns of Shanghai gardens, and the tai chi / hacky sack /kite flyers of Beijing parks. A bit like Central Park or Golden Gate park with its tea garden and swan lake too!

PEPPERS. Sichuan is famous for their chili peppers. Chinese from around China rave about the food here. To be honest its flavorful but TOO spicy for my tastes (I prefer curries over chilis). Anyway we had a great lunch of chili soup dumplings and chili peppered rice custard and dan dan noodles. Then yinyang hot/clear hotpot with 4 dozen sticks of meats and veggies. Needless to say, most of the sticks ended up in the clear soup once we were done!

I liked Chengdu, a lively large city with a good mix of people, food and things to see. Too bad time didn't permit for us to continue onto Tibet (lots of people use Chengdu as a base before heading into the Himalayas to Llasa)...!