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  • 180 days around the World180 days around the World
    Day44

    Chengdu - Centre reproduction des Pandas

     October 20 in China ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Au petit matin, rencontre avec le symbole de la Chine. C est ici qu a été sauvée l'espece de ce gros nounours dont on a fait disparaitre l'habitat naturel. Magnifique de les voir dans leur milieu "naturel". Assez emouvant meme quand on pense que lorsqu'Alex et moi avions l'age de Vesper on parlait d'extinction totale sous peu. Bref il y a de l'espoir...tellement d'autres especes a sauver.
    Une petite bise au Red Panda également, il est bien marrant aussi !    Read more

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  • Japan & China
    Day6

    Chengdu

     October 21 in China ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    De Jan und ich hend eus gester Abig am Flughafe z Chengdu troffe und hend beid riisig Freud gha ☺️.
    Hüt hemmers dänn gmüetlich aaga la und sind zerst mal in People's Park go spatziere. Später simmer d Kuan Alley und d Zhai Alley go aaluege, das sind richtig schöni, alti Strässli.
    Was z Chengdu ganz wichtig isch: ÄSSE! Das hed hüt au en Grossteil vo eusem Tag usgmacht. Dumplings, Sichuan Nudle, Sache wo mer nöd so genau wüssed wases isch, und zum krönende Abschluss no Korean BBQ- eifach super.Read more

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  • Japan & China
    Day7

    Qingcheng Shan

     Yesterday in China ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Hüt Simmer ufem Qingcheng Shan gsii, das isch en Berg i de Nächi vo Chengdu.
    Es isch uu schön gsii, mit ganz vilne Tämpel, chline Wasserfäll und Wägli. Es isch de ganz Tag bewölkt gsii aber irgendwie hed das de grüen Wald grad nomal es Stuck verwunschener usgse la.
    Mer hend au es paar Tierli gse, e Wasserschildchrot, Vögel und Schlangene (im Wasser und an Land).Read more

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  • Japan & China
    Day8

    Giant Panda Research Base

     2 hours ago in China ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Hüt hemmer eus am morge "früeh" 6:30 us eusem kuschlige Bett kämpft zum zu de Giant Panda Research Base z'fahre. Und das hett sich definitiv glohnt. Es sind halt scho faszinierendi, wenn au sehr tollpatschigi Tier.

    I de Wildniss lebed nurna ca. 1600 Pandas alli da i de Sichuan Provinz.
    Ich finds chli schaad das sones grosses "Research Center" sich nöd meh für d'wieder uuswilderig iisetzt. 😏 Immerhin isches s'Nationaltier vo China 🐼
    Will d'Mittel wered da ganz sicher ume.    Read more

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  • Joel BaldwinChina, Korea and Japan 2019
    Day11

    Pandas and Hotpot

     September 7 in China ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Exciting day today, it was time to see some giant pandas! Although there's a World Heritage site covering panda habitats, unfortunately the place in Chengdu where everyone goes to see pandas isn't actually included. So we'll solve that problem tomorrow, but for now: pandas!

    Up super early in the dark, and on basically the first subway train of the day heading out to the panda breeding facility. A subway and a bus later, we arrived at around 8am along with lots of tour groups! But we'd heard that early morning was the best time to visit since that was when the pandas were fed and thus most active.

    It was drizzling steadily and persistently, but not heavily as we walked through the facility which did kind of feel a bit like a zoo. After several hundred metres of walking we finally reached the first enclosure and there they were: pandas! These were mostly juvenile aged pandas, a couple of years or so. Some were just sitting around munching on bamboo, but others were wandering around climbing the enclosure.

    Next up we walked over to the birthing pavilion where they had three pandas on show (behind glass) that had only been born in July! About the size of Schnitzel and very cute, though they were fast asleep. We were both surprised to learn that pandas are born hairless and although their white fur grows immediately, they don't get their distinctive black patches until they're a few months old.

    We visited a few other enclosures as well, being surprised and how agile the pandas are considering their gait and appearance. They're actually excellent climbers, and it was common to find an empty enclosure before spotting a panda high up in a tree fast asleep. We also saw one guy climbing a tiny branch which eventually toppled under his weight as he tumbled to the floor. Another little guy rolled off a bamboo platform while half asleep, saving himself with a lucky grab on a ladder rung!

    But the best part was hanging out at a deserted enclosure where suddenly three pandas ran over to roughly where we were standing. They started wrestling right in front of us, reminding us rather of Schnitzel and Nemo having a rumble! They were close enough to hear the grunts and pants of exertion as they wrestled, and we were instantly pinned against the fence by hundreds of people wielding cameras. Not that we were doing any different! But it was a lot like being back in a mosh pit at a Green Day concert.

    We wandered around for a couple more hours, visiting all of the enclosures and as many pandas as we could. They really are cute and funny animals. There were also a couple of red panda enclosures, which of course aren't pandas at all but are also endangered. These were harder to spot since they're quite small, raccoon-sized, and blended in better with the trees.

    Having had our fill of pandas, we got the bus back to the subway station and then headed for the hotel. Spent the afternoon in the rooftop cafe/restaurant working and doing laundry.

    Later in the evening we headed out for a traditional Sichuan dinner of hotpot, at a good restaurant nearby. We had to wait over an hour for a table! It was difficult as well since they were only calling the numbers in Chinese, and I'm not good enough at Chinese to really recognise the numbers just yet. If only we had the app where it would buzz your phone when your table was ready. It didn't get much easier inside, as apparently you're supposed to order your food using the app while you wait in line! But I somehow doubt the app is on the Australian app store.

    We managed thanks to a kind waiter and copious amounts of Google Translate. We ended up ordering a three-way hotpot, which is a pot of three simmering broths that sits on your table. One spicy, one was a tomato-based one, and the other just a plain non-spicy broth. We ordered a few plates of different meats and vegetables which you then dip into the broth yourself, season to taste with condiments like garlic, sesame oil and hoisin sauce and then eat. Very tasty.    Read more

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  • Joel BaldwinChina, Korea and Japan 2019
    Day12

    Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan

     September 8 in China ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    A double-header of unusual World Heritage sites today. Another early start on the subway heading north-west out of Chengdu, where we switched to a high-speed train for about an hour, eventually arriving in Dujiangyan. Here is an unusual World Heritage site: an ancient irrigation system!

    Essentially, the river here is one of the main tributaries of the Yangtze and every summer the snowmelt coming down from the mountains would turn it into a raging torrent, flooding towns and villages for miles around. In around 200 BC, a local engineer named Li Bing came up with a system of canals and diversions, calming the floodwaters and channeling the excess into managed canals that could be used for local agriculture. This same basic system is still in use today and has made Sichuan province the most agriculturally productive in China.

    As is often the case here, the World Heritage site has been turned into a bit of a theme park. There's a Song Dynasty era "ancient street", replicating what the town might have been like when the waterworks were originally built. Full of shops and souvenir stalls of course! We skipped all that and headed up on a nice walk above the water ways, complete with some temples and forts. Quite a nice environment.

    One side-effect of this Disney-fying means that a huge amount of money has been pumped into these places as tourist attractions, so they always have excellent signage and so on. It's hard to get lost, and you usually know what you're looking at - even if the descriptions themselves can get a bit lost in translation.

    The walk was relatively quiet, though at the far end on the main dam (far more modern), there was a rope bridge swaying across the river. It's apparently quite famous in China, and there were hundreds of flag groups tottering across - unfortunately we had no option but to join them! We opted against the electric car from the bridge back to the entrance - another thing that's quite common here. It was only 900 metres, not exactly far!

    Grabbed a couple of snacks for lunch, then boarded a long local bus to the other spot for today: Mount Qingcheng. This spot is actually two sites in one: it's one of the Giant Panda Sanctuaries, and as a Taoist holy mountain it's included in the irrigation system site. I have no idea why the two sites are linked other than that they're nearby, but it's just an odd combination.

    The mountain has a Front side and Back side, where the Front side is focused on the Taoist temples and monasteries, while the back is more remote and panda focused. We wanted to visit the back but couldn't find any way of getting there aside from an expensive taxi ride (and neither of us trusted the taxi guy who wanted 100 yuan to get there, thinking he'd want 300 to get back when we were at his mercy).

    So we ended up getting the electric car up to the front mountain entrance, but then essentially wandering off into the forest. We walked for about half an hour, got some atmospheric footage of potential panda habitats, and then took a long forested trail back down the mountain to the car park. We also popped into a couple of temples on the way down, though to my untrained eye they don't look different from other Chinese Buddhist temples - aside from not having Buddha, of course.

    Back on the local bus to the train station nearby, where we managed to move our train tickets forward a couple of hours and get back to Chengdu earlier than expected. Nothing super exciting in the evening, just dinner at a restaurant nearby with a couple of Sichuan specialty dishes.    Read more

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  • Joel BaldwinChina, Korea and Japan 2019
    Day9

    South to Chengdu

     September 5 in China ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Time for the next train trip. Not quite so early today, which gave us time for a cheap-ish hotel breakfast which was nice but quite greasy. Subway to the station and then onto the train with plenty of time to spare. Not quite as nice as the previous train, and not quite as fast either, only maxing out at 240km/h.

    We didn't have the best seats here either, in the first row of a carriage which meant we couldn't quite see out the window, and we were in the window/centre of three seats which was a bit annoying, especially when the guy in the aisle seat claimed the armrest immediately.

    At least the journey was only a couple of hours, and mostly in tunnels underneath mountains as we headed to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Arrived around midday and figured out another subway system, arriving at our hostel by 1pm.

    Pleased to discover this hostel was great, with a huge room and large bed, even big windows with a view of the city. Not that you could see much - Chengdu is quite hazy at the best of times, and today was no exception. It was also quite overcast as well. Popped downstairs to a small noodle place with no English menu and no pictures, but the hostel staff had written down a suggestion for us to eat: dan dan noodles.

    Sichuan province is famous for its cooking style, usually involving lots of chilli, oil, and of course Sichuan peppercorns which have a spicy and numbing flavour. Noodles were very tasty, basically spaghetti type noodles in a peanut and chilli oil sauce with ground pork on top. Very tasty but very fiery too, even when we asked for 小辣!

    Back upstairs to relax for a bit and get some washing done, the hotel's rooftop serving as a makeshift laundry. They also have a large restaurant and bar area on the top floor, so we chilled in there for much of the afternoon and evening, relaxing and doing work. In the end we didn't feel like going out for dinner so just stayed in and had some Sichuan style food in the restaurant. Nice enough, though a little overpriced.    Read more

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  • Joel BaldwinChina, Korea and Japan 2019
    Day10

    Leshan Giant Buddha

     September 6 in China ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Change of pace today! More old stuff, but this is the first of the sites we're going to visit around Chengdu. The Leshan Giant Buddha is a, well, giant Buddha statue in a place called Leshan, about 160km south of Chengdu. Originally we'd planned to get a high-speed train or a couple of buses there, but we noticed the night before on Klook (a sort of marketplace for tours) a return coach tour leaving from right near our hostel at much the same price, so we went with that option.

    It was an early start, alarms at 6:15, out the door at 6:30 and walking the few blocks out to the coach stop where we found our bus with no issues. Comfortable modern bus (there are lots of Chinese companies making coaches these days so they're often quite new), and the lady running it spoke a little English. We were the only foreigners, as usual.

    The drive down was about 2 hours and I passed most of it by dozing and catching up on sleep. Eventually we arrived and although it wasn't "busy", busy is kind of a relative term in China - there were lots of people. The site is actually part of a larger complex over a smaller mountain that is very sacred to Chinese Buddhists, and is apparently packed on weekends which is why we'd visited on Friday.

    Wandered around a little through the Buddhist shrines, niches and pagodas before heading for the main attraction. The statue itself is 71 metres tall and carved directly out of a mountain. It's overlooking the confluence of three rivers which was apparently once quite treacherous for boats; they erected the statue in hope that Buddha would calm the waters. Ironically, given the huge amount of stone quarried from the mountain and dumped in the river for the project, it actually massively calmed the rapids! Not bad for a project carried out in the 8th century.

    It's currently the largest stone statue in the world (a distinction it originally held, lost, and then regained as some large Buddhas were built in Afghanistan and then destroyed by the Taliban in the 90s). We had a good look from head height on both sides, then shuffled our way down the stairs with a few hundred thousand of our closest friends. You can't see that much from the bottom as the statue just towers above you!

    Followed the path and climbed back up to the main part of the mountain, looking at other shrines and temples in the area which was quite nice. Had a minor alteraction with a local who took a surreptitious photo of us which usually doesn't bother me, but when she showed it around to her friends and they all laughed I decided to say something. Of course, I don't know how to say anything in Chinese so I just said HEY, stood over her while glaring, wagged my finger in face and made the teeth-clucking noise that Chinese make when they disapprove of something.

    Chengdu is kind of the last outpost of civilisation in China, west of here it's sparsely populated all the way to Tibet and the 'stan countries, so it's the place where all the farmers come for their holidays. More urbane city-dwellers aren't that interested in the laowai.

    Munched on a few different bits and pieces for lunch, including stick sausages and Sichuan-style jianbing (crepe). Eventually it was time to head back to the bus and back to Chengdu. Super slow trip with a lot of traffic, so we didn't arrive until around 7pm when we were both starving! Headed back to the same noodle place as last night, this time fumbling around with a couple of other dishes. Wontons in chilli oil, ground pork noodles in clear broth, and sweetpea chilli oil noodles as well.

    Afterwards we walked a few blocks to the centre of Chengdu to get some dessert - fried balls of glazed dough on sticks which are delicious if not especially healthy. Also a few interesting buildings here; large ones like museums, libraries, city hall, a bit square and the requisite statue of Chairman Mao.    Read more

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  • one drink a dayChina. Tibet. Vietnam
    Day3

    Chengdu

     May 17 in China ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    First Stopp in dieser 6 Millionen Metropole.
    Zuhause bei Bettina und Michi.
    Während beide heute dem Arbeitsleben nachgingen, schlenderte ich zum größten Gebäude der Welt - anscheinend - auf Quadratmeter Basis ☝️Überall wuseln Menschen, überall sind Menschen und keiner spricht englisch 🙈 Essen der Hammer, Bier günstig, Kontrolle abnormal.
    Morgen geht's nun direkt weiter nach Tibet.    Read more

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  • Ida travelsChina
    Day33

    De nachttrein naar Chengdu

     August 6, 2017 in China ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We waren vooraf gewaarschuwd dat de Chinezen weinig hebben met personal space, maar voelden dit pas echt op de nachttrein naar Chengdu. In de wagon heb je een lange wandelgang met wat klapstoeltjes en tegen de andere muur kleine partities waar stapelbedden tegenaan staan. Per hokje twee stapelbedden van drie hoog, waardoor wij met 64 Chinese mannen, vrouwen en kinderen deze 'slaapzaal' deelden. De oudere mensen mogen in de onderste bedden dus Jens en ik sliepen boven elkaar op de middelste en derde verdieping. Onder ons sliep een wat oudere vrouw en tegenover haar, haar moeder. Tegenover mij lag een moeder met haar dochtertje. Haar zoon sliep weer boven haar. Chinezen hebben op zijn zachtst gezegd hele andere (tafel) manieren dan wij. Ze verwonderen zich graag over die twee jonge blanke mensen met hun enorme rugzakken. Zij reizen zonder uitzondering met een rolkoffertje of twee. Telkens wanneer ik iets uit mijn rugzak haal of überhaupt maar mijn schoenen uit trek, wordt dit door iedereen om ons heen gevolgd. Ze lachen, ze wijzen en ze praten over ons, maar ze zijn allemaal even vriendelijk. De twee vrouwen onder ons zorgen dat we minstens 20 koekjes eten en ook de druiven blijven ze voor onze neus houden tot we er een aantal pakken. Ze proberen het kaartspel te volgen dat wij speelden en zitten nu zelf iets te spelen met onze kaarten, dat wij met geen mogelijkheid begrijpen. Het ziet er grappig uit, drie volwassenen met de katten speelkaarten die wij in Beijing hebben aangeschaft.

    Ik houd van reizen met de trein en sinds de trans Mongolië express in het bijzonder met slaaptreinen. Het voelt zo gezellig met zijn allen en het uitzicht over de groene rijstvelden en de glooiende bergen hier is schitterend. Ik lig languit op bed met een boek en niets anders te doen dan uren lang te lezen. Een ander zou er gek van worden, maar ik word er gelukkig van. De jongen, ik gok dat hij een jaar of twaalf is, zit in het gangpad, trekt een plastic handschoentje aan en haalt een vettig zakje tevoorschijn. Hij zet zijn tanden in een kippenpootje en trekt het vlees met een onsmakelijk geluid van het botje af. Ik heb het hier niet over een kippenpootje zoals wij deze eten, maar over de daadwerkelijke klauw van een kip of haan. Een doodnormale snack hier. Zijn kleine zusje gaat naast hem zitten en eet wat pootjes en iets dat lijkt op stukjes vis. Moeder ligt ondertussen te slapen. Iets waar de Chinezen wereldkampioen in zijn. Waar je ook bent in China, er ligt altijd wel iemand in de meest onmogelijke positie te slapen. Een serveerster die over de rand van een stoel heen hangt, een man die in zijn winkel op een paar kratjes frisdrank ligt, mensen die in een eettentje gewoon hun hoofd op tafel leggen en overal kinderen die in de armen van hun ouders liggen. De twee vrouwen onder ons liggen ook binnen tien minuten te dromen en iedereen valt om de haverklap weer in slaap. Als mij dit al zou lukken, zou ik vannacht geen oog meer dicht doen, maar daar lijkt niemand hier last van te hebben. De jongen heeft zijn koptelefoontjes opgezet, ook al best uniek in het openbaar hier, maar zijn muziek knalt er kei hard doorheen. Jens kijkt me aan en vraagt me of ik hoor wat voor muziek hij speelt. Ik hoor Celine Dion en de uren daarna hoor ik alleen maar allerlei soorten romantische dweilnummers voorbij komen. Af en toe haalt hij zijn koptelefoontjes uit zijn telefoon zodat de hele wagon kan meegenieten. Als hij ze in heeft schreeuwt hij alles naar zijn moeder en zusje, zo hard staat de muziek. Moeder corrigeert hem niet, ze is alweer in slaap gevallen.

    Om ons heen begint iedereen met zijn bakje instant noedels naar de heet waterkraan te lopen. Goed ingeburgerd als we zijn hebben wij het ook meegenomen. Makkelijk, goedkoop en lekker. Alle geluiden van de trein vallen weg en je hoort alleen nog maar mensen slurpen, boeren en smakken. Regelmatig hoest of rochelt iemand wat op. Daar kijk ik na een maand China al niet meer van op. Af en toe loopt er iemand naar het halletje tussen de wagons in om te roken. De geur van de sigarettenrook vindt af en toe zijn weg naar onze bedden. Een paar mannen zitten op zonnebloempitten te kauwen en een vrouw eet druiven. Ze neemt ze in haar mond, maakt een slurpend geluid en spuugt de schilletjes weer uit. Ze heeft lange vieze nagels net als veel van de mannen. Om 22 uur gaat het licht uit en klimt iedereen zijn of haar bed in. Ik verstop me achter mijn zwarte oogmaskertje en probeer het gesnurk op afstand te houden met mijn oordoppen. Ik kan niet meteen slapen en zet een audio boek op. Langzaam zak ik weg. Af en toe word ik even wakker van een huilende baby of mijn onderbuurvrouw die naar de w.c gaat.

    De volgende ochtend trekt iedereen weer de bakjes noedels tevoorschijn en begrijpen ze niet waarom wij niet op dezelfde manier ontbijten. Onze thermosfles thee vinden ze wel leuk. Iedereen in dit land loopt geloof ik altijd rond met een fles thee. Weer volgt ons publiek nieuwsgierig hoe we eten en drinken, kijken ze hoe ik mijn schoenen aan doe en luisteren ze naar onze vreemde taal. We krijgen koekjes die we braaf opeten, ook al zitten we al vol. Ik heb het stinkende hurktoilet weer overleefd en fris me op bij de wasbak. Ik heb van die fijne tabletjes die, wanneer je ze onder de kraan houdt, opzwellen tot handdoekjes. Echte life savers in de trein. Ik poets mijn tanden.

    Ik nestel me weer op het bed met een boek. Nog zes uur te gaan, dan zijn we in Chengdu. Heb ik al gezegd hoeveel ik houd van reizen met de trein?    Read more

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You might also know this place by the following names:

Sichuan Sheng, Sichuan, Province de Sichuan, Sujuão, 四川省

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