Quick stop in Chengdu and then onto Yunnan (the province above Thailand/Myannmar/Laos) !

It has taken a few months but I have finally made it to Sichuan (in this case , Chengdu) but this is a quick stop for now....drop the excess bags for a couple of days and then grab the nearest train heading south and find some sun!
      The flight from Shanghai to Chengdu was quick enough, maybe 3 hours. Flying within China is no diferent to flying outside China. Actually, there was no hassle at the airport at all so this was cool...I must remember one thing though... There are two airports in Shanghai , one is used for domestic flights and one is used for international flights... I must remember to go to the correct airport if I ever visit Shanghai again! I completely forgot this 'oversight' and after chatting to a man at the international airport, I grabbed a metro all the way to the other airport. (I always factor in an extra few hours when I travel in case I do silly things. This was one time (when the extra few hours set aside for silly things to happen) where I was really glad that I had plenty of time to correct my mistake!!!
       Anyway, I was able to get to the hostel in downtown Chengdu (The flipflop hostel) After a quick stop at a friends house, it was time to rest for the night.
        The hostel was the biggest one that I have ever seen, so many dorm rooms! If you ever go traveling around spring festival/ Chinese New Year time, make sure to arrange places to stay as it might get very difficult. This was just before the spring festival so I was ok. As regards the atmosphere here, it is a bit different to other hostels that I have stayed at as most of the residents are Chinese. Chinese people tend to stay in groups (That is a MASSIVE generalization as there are many Chinese people who like to chat with anyone!)   so the atmosphere was a bit different. At one point, I ended up playing foosball with a few guys and that broke the tension a bit...Ah foosball never fails me!!!
       The people at the hostel are friendly, There are trips that can be arranged to visit Tibet (If you have the necessary visas [It normally takes 15 days to get the visa] The hostel has 4 day trip there, That sounds pretty cool!) They give a free map  around the town here so That comes in handy if....I mean when I get lost!
      So, I got up the next morning and had a quick walk around the city. What is there to see in Chengdu? Well, this is the home of the panda and I am sure I will get to see many pandas throughout my stay, not this time though! Sichuan is known for its cuisine so I had a quick taste of the food. eep!!!!! My body better get used to spicy food quickly or my internal organs will start to melt!
       The food on the street (as with most of Asia) tends to be just as good as the stuff that you can buy in the restaurants. It is a real shame that there is no culture like this in Ireland.( I guess it could happen in Ireland but only if the weather changed from rainy and windy to just rainy!)

Crispy fried crust with vegetables thrown in

 but thes
     The walk around the city revealed somethings....
1. Like Shanghai, there seem to be statues of ordinary people dotted throughout the city. This is  a nice touch.
2. There seem to be lots of colorful 'objet d'art'. I guess these were put up to celebrate the spring festival. It is a good idea as cities tend to be a bit drab looking after a while.

Tough day, boss?

Flowers, flowers everywhere

Happy New Ye...No, wait that was a few weeks ago ..I guess it means 'Happy Chinese New Ye..' , No wait,people do not say that here, I guess it means 'Happy spring fesiva...' , ah, let me just say 'Happy Everyday!'

Some of the sculptures on the side of buildings seemed to be quite unique. (to me anyway!)

Cool sculpture of buildings beside ...ugh...a building

It is nice to just grab a map and walk around a city as you can see many different types of things like this hidden among many streets.
         People need to make money everywhere and in China, a fanfare seems to be the best way to get attention such that people will buy your product. If you have a microphone and you talk REALLY LOUD or dance , then you can grab someones attention long enough for them to become interested in your product.
I am not sure what this woman was advertising so I guess it did not work in this instance...

I think she was selling fabric or was it lanterns...

I don't know . Time for an ice-cream.

Of course, you still see many people performing Taiji here or walking backwards or dancing in general.
People love to dance on the streets here. I guess it's like organized line dancing without the Garth Brooks hats but It is quite interesting to see it as the people seem to take it very seriously when they are dancing.

Follow the guy in the traditional costume, Press the start button on the C.D player and 'Go'! 

Everyone seems to know the dance moves. China does seem to be a dance crazy nation as well as a chanting nation! In the morning time, you will always see all the employees of a shop marched out to the front of the shop where a role call is observed and then a chant is observed. I am not sure if many people like the chant though as it just sounds like people are going through the motions when they say those few sentences.
         Anyway, I digress. I walked on the sidewalk remembering that the sidewalk can sometimes be used by pedestrians as well as motorcyclists! This is very important especially if people start fighting for space. Look at the following picture..

yikes

2 motorcyclists diverge on the path...Nobody is giving each other an inch. I better get out of the way before I get knocked down!

I thought that I better get my train ticket and get out of here before I fall victim to a stray motorcyclist!
If you need to get any form of transportation during the spring festival, remember to try and book as early as possible as things get very hectic, very quickly over here. You can find a ticket office around the town (The hostel will give your directions if you are stuck) and then, it's just a matter of grabbing a hard seat for a 15 hour train journey (yikes) in my case to a place called Kunming in Yunnan.
The waiting at the train station was an epic event as the queue for the train seemed to go on forever. It was like sitting at a cattle mart (with a few more people shouting.) When we were called to get ready, there were 5 long queues and 100 people were allowed to go from each queue at a time. It felt like a good 30 minnutes to get everyone on the train. Good organization , though!

Rows and rows of people all waiting for the one train to Kunming

They are a very patient bunch, here in Chengdu!

As for the scenery that I observed from the window seat, it was breathtaking. This is a very mountainous region so the views were stunning.

Sorry about the glare from the window. The view of the countryside is still pretty cool , though!

The fields look very small but all are utilised

The photo says it all (so I don't have to say anything!)

Sunset on the border of Sichuan and Yunnan.

It was nice to get a glimpse of Sichuan but the Leshan buddha and the pandas / visit to Tibet can wait for another day. Time to see Kunming!