My first days in Chengdu

Hey guys!


So I got on the plane last Friday at a pretty late time, at 10 in the evening and took off to my next destination. Somehow people in China do not care too much about the entertainment system in planes, because the plane again did not have anything to do in (do something about it ChinaAir!)
I arrived 2 and a half hours later at the land which is known for its spicy food, pandas and pretty girls… Yes, I have arrived in Chengdu in the province of Sichuan. 

I thought the weather in Beijing couldn’t get worse, but somehow I managed to throw myself into another even worse place than before. Chengdu is surrounded by mountains and is located in a valley. This causes the wind in the valley to be stuck and not move. High temperatures and non-moving air causes a very humid and warm environment. Be prepared to sweat all day long and have a layer of sweat covering every centimeter of your body constantly. On the first day I arrived I managed to get a heat stroke, so always take a lot of water with you and wear a cap or hold an umbrella against the sun.

The solution to the hot weather for the local Sichuan people is something that I find very interesting to say at least. By eating spicy food, they say that they will sweat and cause their body to cool down (as if I needed to sweat more) and that brings me to the aspect that Sichuan is most famous of: the Sichuan kitchen. For the last two days I have mostly eaten spicy food for dinner. 麻辣, which translates to numbing-spicy, is what the local people like, spiciness to a level that it will numb your whole mouth, which it of course did for me, a non-experienced eater of spicy food.

 

But don’t get the wrong image, the food here is great! If you like spicy food, then this is your Mecca that you have to visit at least once in your life. If you cannot handle spicy food, there are still many things to try out here that aren’t spicy. Food is an important aspect in the lives of Chengdu people and they are prepared to travel dozens of kilometers to a restaurant. 


On the hot noon that was yesterday, I went to a large piece of land where they were growing many different plants and flowers, such as lavender, for large scale use in perfumes and such. It was surprising as I did not expect these flowers to grow in such warm climates. The area is also planned to be a tourist attraction in the future where people can go and look at flowers, something that is going to be very similar as Keukenhof in the Netherlands.

After I’ve seen many flowers and lost another 2 liters of water, I went to a small ancient village called 黄龙溪, the Yellow Dragon Stream. As expected, there was a small stream of water with a stone dragon going through it. I noticed it was a very popular place, as it was very crowded with children, elder people and couples. What seems to be common is that people will play in the stream of water and have water guns to shoot at each other. Almost every shop in the whole village seems to sell them. All in all, it was a interesting place to go to, but the heat made me want to leave to the feeling of an air-conditioned room as fast as possible.

That’s about it for this time, hope to see you next time again!


We Fong