Pretend that this was posted on about July 1st.

In June, after school was over for me and during Mandi's accumulated week and two weekends of vacation from work, we travelled to Sichuan province, in China's "southwest." Geographically it's really more comparable to someplace like Arkansas, but it's the southwest of the traditional Chinese heartland (i.e. not including Tibet and Xinjiang). Sichuan is known in China for the giant panda, spicy food, and "spicy" women (Chinese people have really funny stereotypes for everyone in their country, and share them in a matter-of-fact way that seems either offensive or extremely amusing to Americans). It's also the ancestral heart of the state of Chu from the Three Kingdoms period of ancient Chinese history, if anyone is into that. Sadly we had to save the museum of Chu artifacts for next time.

For this trip we really wanted to experience some of what China's natural wonders had to offer, and so we chose Sichuan based on the presence of perhaps the most famous national park in China - Jiuzhaigou. Of course, being who I am we didn't intend to go camping for nine days, so the trip was attenuated with some time in Chengdu, the provincial capital. Ultimately, though, we definitely found what we were looking for at Jiuzhaigou, and it would have to stand as one my all-time highlights.

With that said, I'm going to leave it for the next (or next next) post. For now I'd just like to cover some of the cool stuff we did in and around Chengdu during our first half of the trip.

Chengdu as a whole gave one overwhelming impression: oppressively polluted. Being located in China, it has a populaton approximately equivalent to New York City crammed into the footprint of Detroit. The entire time we were there was marked by gray clouds, smog, and heat, making it really unpleasant. Also, while the lack of a subway/metro (but under construction, of course!) did force us to get out into the city and be a little more adventurous, taking buses or walking for blocks is a sure-fire way to find yourself sweating through clothing in the constant 90 degree heat of southern Chinese summer. Fortunately I think that the experiences we found there made it (mostly) worth it, and the city as a whole seemed nice enough if the weather had cleared up. If I ever go back I'd aim for earlier in the spring.

Our hostel was located on the north side of town, just a couple blocks from the river that bisects the city. While the hostel was useful for arranging our activities, it was one of the less stellar experiences we had, culminating with a send-off (on one hour of sleep) from a belligerent drunk guy sticking his headphones in my ears at 4am. I laugh about it now...

Anyway, enough with the negative. Our first day there (we flew direct from Beijing, and I wish I had gotten pictures of the new airport to share) we headed down to the Wen Shu Temple since it was nearby and easy for us to handle. There are a few pictures below - very beautiful grounds, along with a still functioning monastery, Buddhist library and so on. Hundreds of Chengdu natives were having tea in a sort of open air tea house, while others just enjoyed the parklike setting and greenery. We also had a lunch in one of my favorite Chinese styles - monk-inspired vegetarian. Essentially, since Chinese monks had to be vegetarian, they mastered the art of imitating every (Chinese) food using different combinations of vegetables and tofu. It sounds terrible, but I would simply point you to anyone who has eaten it. Beef, pork, meatballs, sausage, fish, seafood - everything comes out looking, tasting, and feeling the way you would expect it to. Of course, it's generally pretty good for you in addition to being delicious. But to tell the truth, I love it because it lets me order things I never want to order for real - such as hui guo rou (returned-to-the-pot meat, basically a sort of fried pork that must be about 95% fat by volume in its non-vegetarian form). And that's not to mention all the great vegetable and tofu dishes that are exactly what the yare supposed to be. I was fortunate enough to live across from a restaurant serving this style of food in Beijing, and we visited with some frequency.

So the temple was an entertaining and delicious couple of hours. Check out the pictures below.

That evening we saw a sort of "Sichuan Opera," which was really more of a variety show for Chinese tourists than an opera. But given my tolerance for Chinese opera that was perfect, and being aimed at the Chinese crowd we didn't have to suffer through (much!) bad English or attempts to make things "accessible." Instead we just enjoyed watching some acrobatics, the sweetest erhu performance ever covering both classical and modern genres (erhu = two-string, that sort of thin violin-looking Chinese instrument), a comedy sketch that was a lot funnier to me than to most of the other five white people though it was fortunately a lot of physical comedy, and finally a brief demonstration of actual "Sichuan Opera," which is famous for the ever-shifting masks of the performers. They have headpieces which are rigged to allow them to change their mask, or even their entire wardrobe, in one sweep of a sleeve across their face or cloth in front of their body. Very cool to watch.

This is getting long so I'm going to leave you hanging after only one day, but I promise I'll just spend one more entry on Chengdu highlights before getting to Jiuzhaigou. It really will be worth the wait.

Walking along the outer wall of the Wen Shu Temple. Gotta love those roofs.




The temple-y part. Similar to a lot of other places I've been, though I always find it interesting that on balance more people seem to still be using it in a religious way than as a point of tourist interest. Contrast with the cathedrals of Europe, for instance.



I loved this elephant, both for its reminder of the importation of Buddhism from India, and for the small child tickling (?) its trunk. Sorry you can only see his hand.



Who wouldn't want to study in a library like that?



I love this picture - a very elderly gentleman and a young monk playing a game of Chinese chess while someone else looks on. Exactly what I hope monks do all day when not contemplating the spiritual.



A lovely rock garden on the grounds.



Mandi digging into the "sweet and sour pork." On the table we also have "lion head meatballs" and some vegetables as vegetables. No, I don't know if the sprinkles come standard or if that was because we looked like we needed a party.



Yes, Mandi was just an excuse to try and get a surreptitious picture of all these elderly folks hanging out in the pavilion. There is a real sense of public community that this age bracket gives off in China, but as an outside I'm sure I miss all the ways people are probably excluded. (Cynicism alert!)



I don't know why the central districts of so many "second-tier" Chinese cities end up looking so...broken. It's like a bunch of local officials each tried way to hard to cheesily prove how great their part of the street was. Anyway, you can see why we spent a lot of time getting out, though to be charitable this was hardly what the entire city looked like.



A pretty picture Mandi took of some waxberries? Lichees? Not sure.



An opening scene of drama at the show we attended.



The table is blurry because it's spinning really fast. Kind of silly stuff to be honest, but still impressive in a guy-riding-a-unicycle-while-juggling sort of way. Not that my roommate in Beijing could do that or anything.



This guy suffered many indignities at the hand of his "wife" for our amusement. It's hard to tell because he's lying down and it's Chinese, but he's also cross-dressing.



The "Sichuan Opera" troupe, with three of the performers fully unmasked.