We arrived Christmas Eve in Chengdu at dusk and were driven to the hotel. We were within walking distance of the center square so the plan was to explore the area at night. BUT when we got to the lobby, the staff was putting on a Christmas pageant for the guests and many of the local families who had purchased tickets for the show. It was a hoot with dance numbers and Mariah Carey-ish songs in Chinese. They were giving away prizes and the kids had a contest to make the longest line out of their clothing (scarves, coats, etc.) There was this extremely cute, but aggressive, girl who resembled a chubby Mrs. Beasley. She was so excited jumping and clapping at the edge of the stage just desperate to be part of the show. She pushed her way into one of the contests and was so angry that another boy took one of the items from her line of clothing, she chased and hit him and ran to the hosts of the show to tell on him. When the contest winner was announced, she had a fit and pushed her way into getting a prize too because the boy had cheated. I was fascinated with here drive and tenacity; she would not be denied. She was more entertaining than the Christmas pageant, which ended with 15 young beauties dressed as angels in long virginal white gowns with white and silver halos sing Jingle Bells and Silent Night in English.
Chengdu is not as wealthy as Beijing and Xian, but they still have their fair share of high end stores like Cartier and Armani. An apartment in the city center will go for 15,000 Yuan per square meter (US$830 per square foot) and one outside is 12,000 Yuan (US$667 per square foot). BUT the outskirts of the city are truly the villages of yesteryear (that is if it ever was). It has clearly missed out on the gravy train or they are just the ones toiling to make the gravy and will clearly never get a ride on the train. The 1.5 hour long ride outside the city center to the panda sanctuary revealed China’s dirty little secret that the gleaming cities and towering buildings try to hide: factories and factories billowing black smoke and spewing and dumping toxic waste. We drove by what used to be a river but is now just a black swamp of filthy oily water (if you can even call it that). The roads were so cratered; it was like driving on the moon – a grey, dirty moon. Our driver did a great job navigating because I thought we were going to rip the undercarriage of the car. Between factories, there are little towns of dilapidated tin shacks that look like a good wind would blow the flimsy structures down. We did past some old abandoned villages that left behind remnants of the old communist block-style apartment buildings that had either collapsed in sections or just disintegrated. Some buildings looked a collasal giant came along with mighty a sledgehammer and hacked away half the building, but somehow the residents of the remaining half still stayed. I could see curtains in the windows and some had wash on clothes lines attached to their windowsills.
What’s awful is the air is so foul that you can actually see it. Grey soot covers everything. The wash that I could see on clothes lines set out to dry was still covered in a layer of grime. The people walking by the side of the road were bent from years of hard labor. Not to sound like the Grim Reaper, but it was like looking at death because their food and “water” all comes from this toxic wasteland. There were farmers with cows grazing for food in thrash and rubble. Little areas where there were patches of soot-covered soil had been planted with rows of crops producing god knows what toxin-filled mutant vegetable. The only way I can describe this is grey, glum, place is shameful. I know the government and the corporation’s (both foreign and national) view workers as expendable given the sheer numbers of people available to work, but this utter disregard for human life is shocking and disturbing.
The main attraction of Chengdu is the panda sanctuary. Tourists (and me too) make a pilgrimage here to marvel at the happy pandas that eat and eat and eat all day and then pass out. I volunteer one day at the Washington Zoo so I get to see the 2 pandas there on a weekly basis, but seeing so many in one place is a lot of fun. They are so jolly and calm. It was fantastic to see so many of all different ages and watch the babies play and roll around wrestling with each other. China may not heed the intellectual property laws of any other country, but they are very serious when it comes to foreign nations not having breeding rights to their rented pandas. Each panda that is leased to a foreign zoo will fetch the rental fee of up to $1M per year and China has the option at any time to end the lease. You may remember the nightmare in DC when China requested the return of Mailing (the baby panda born at the Washington Zoo), throngs of panda fans wrote letters begging to let him stay and when their requests were ignored, they flocked to the zoo to say a tearful goodbye. Well, China retains the right to all offspring of its leased pandas. Don’t even try to create one to avoid the rental fee.
We paid an extra fee (1000 Yuan — US$167.00) to hug a baby panda and have our picture taken with him. What can I say, I am an American and I am wild for pandas). We had to wear plastic gloves, protective surgical gowns over or coats, and paper booties over our shoes before sitting next to the 1-year old panda. Everyone looked like puffy blue MichelinTire Men. The panda was so hilarious. He just sat there happily eating apples nonstop. He didn’t give a hoot who sat next to him or touched him. Pandas only absorb 20% of the food they take in and the rest just passes through. Therefore, they need a lot of food to get enough nutrients to sustain themselves. They are not very active because they need to preserve their energy. In the wild, they are solitary animals and breeding is an ordeal because they have to search for a suitable mate to breed with and that takes a lot of energy and the need for lots of food.
Afterwards we went to a museum with artifacts found from the Shang Dynasty (16th – 11th century BC). There were lots of intricately carved bronze, gold, and pottery items used for everyday life and for rituals. The guide told us that the people of that early time did not have any language. She must mean written language because I cannot imagine that the people who made such detailed items had no organized verbal way of communicating.
We went to another local eatery. Now that we are visiting the smaller cities, the buildings do not have any heating systems so the restaurants are freezing. You have to keep on your coat and scarf. Veta is having a hard time with some of the restaurants. At home she always has special requests for her food (sauce on the side, no raw tomatoes, no cucumbers, etc.), so here she is having a hard time because the idea of special orders or requests does not exist. I am, however, chewing, slurping, and burping my way through this trip. I’ll try anything, even to the point of making my stomach a tad queasy.
At night we saw a terrific variety show of musical performances, scenes from an opera, a physical comedy skit where the man did all types of acrobatic moves while balancing a fire bowl on his head, and the dance of the changing face (the dances face and costume magically changes colors with each twirl. The show is played in an open theatre so everyone remains bundled up and drinks hot tea to keep warm during the show. The show ended around 9pm and I was happy to go back to the hotel because it was a long day.
Our last day in Chengdu, we went to the Wu Hou Temple, which is actually a shrine to the Emperor Liu Bei and the military strategist Zhuge Liang. It’s a series of impressive halls with statues of generals and government officials inside a very relaxing park. All roads lead to the tomb of the Emperor Liu Bei. Next we visited two historical old streets: Jinli Old Street, which was once the commercial center many years ago. Then we went to Chengdu Kuan-zhai Lane, which was the home of soldiers and generals. Now both streets are shopping districts for tourists and filled with restaurants, tea houses, and Starbucks.
The restaurant we went to for lunch was fabulous!!!! Veta was able to order food that she liked so eating was not a problem. She happily ate the food with chopsticks and was delighted with the flavors and presentation. She also loved the electronic menu that worked like an IPad.
We finished with a visit to the People’s Park and I had a grand old time! I want to be a retiree in China — that is if I am a rich one. People retire at 55 and participate in lots of free social events in the parks. We entered to find 2 old gals, with a desire to perform, in full costume, sound system, and makeup dancing and singing a traditional number while a crowd gathered to watch and cheer. They were very popular with a crowd of 70 followers. Right next to them with an equally loud sound system was a woman singing to a crowd of three. In the center of the park were three different crowds doing group dances. We kept strolling and came upon a huge crowd doing aerobics. The moves were simple enough to follow so I jumped in the middle and danced until the music stopped. It was the first time I didn’t feel like a foreigner. Smiling and laughing with the other retirees as we shook our hips and waved our arms – it was a perfect end to my time in Chengdu. When the music stopped, I said goodbye and jumped into the car and zipped off to the airport.
WOOOOOHOOOO! The airport in Chengdu has a bar and free WIFI – a perfect day!
Now off to Guilin, which is known for its beautiful scenery.