Weekend in Chengdu - in photos

Thursday night
We spent the entire evening at the airport, due to typhoon-style winds and rains. We put our family up in the hotel airport, and took a flight out first thing Friday morning.

Friday
We spent the morning on the airplane, the afternoon napping, and the evening ducking under cover from the rain. Our first few days made us nervous about the rest of the weekend.

Saturday
It rained. Again. But we soldiered on. We hopped a taxi, and pushed through the driving rain to the Panda Preserve at the edge of town. As it turns out, pandas have no fear of rain. And once we got over our fear of the rain, we enjoyed their company. The highlight was the baby pandas - two weeks old, and smaller than my hand. These tiny things had peach fuzz, and bodies the color of their hair - a dark stripe across their arms and shoulders. No photographs aloud. But their big brothers or cousins were happy to pose.




Sunday
The rain cleared. The fog did not lift, but at least we could spend the day outside without making ourselves sick. We headed out of town in a rickety, surprisingly small little van with no seatbelts. Two hours later we stopped at a small mountain covered with shrines. Typically Chinese, it was covered with tourists in fancy dresses and high heels, and people selling packets of Oreos and boiled corn on the cob. Still, lovely - and the higher we hiked, the less crowded it became.

We cheated a bit on the hike - and enjoyed a cable car ride partway up and down.

The fog clouded the view tremendously... and it was still lovely.


Monday
As our flight didn't leave until 8pm, we took it easy all day. We walked around town a bit, finding traditional architecture showing how connected Chengdu seems to its Chinese roots. Shanghai only shows this type of detail in fancy restaurants exclusively for tourists. But we found moon gates and pagodas around every corner in this town.


Oh, and easy access to the construction of the town's metro. Look at that hole!







The park full of moongates, pagodas and bridges also had a children's playground full of carnival rides. And the girls loved it! Check out the blurry look of torment and joy on this faces!

Lunch at a ma po do fu restaurant. Their spicy tofu was tasty - and tasted nothing like Wendy's. Much more oil, full of Sichuan peppercorns, and neglegible pork.


But here's the best part. On the flight home, a crew of 40 or so elementary school kids boarded the plane behind us in matching bright orange t-shirts. And check out where they seated the 8 year olds - in all of the emergency exit rows. Gotta love China - where they leave 9 out of 10 doors locked at the mall, and where they seat children in the emergency exits. At least these little guys had plenty of leg room!