Set on Sichuan

Over the years I have had many experiences travelling in a multitude of countries and conditions, the following being the most horrible yet. The first leg, a 10 hour bus up to Panzahua was incident free, I knew we were getting close to this industrial town when a brown haze seemed to engulf the countryside. Our only hold up were some road works coupled with impatient dump truck drivers, something I hardly noticed while checking out my first ever nuclear plant encounter. A lovely couple on the bus helped me find a transport to the train station and a gentleman I caught the share taxi with very kindly insisted on paying my fare, he did not speak a word of English either.

Boarding the train at 11pm for the 13 hour journey, I was in high spirits to catch up on a couple of movies and grab at least a few hours sleep on my hard seat, which is actually a slightly cushioned seat in the lowest class carriage, the best ticket available at booking. Once my carriage was located, I showed a family my ticket to find my seat and in basic English they delivered a terrible blow, I had incorrectly been booked a standing ticket even though seating was clearly requested. Standing in an oversold train in China is not somewhere you want to be for any kind of distance. This carriage had a sign saying it was licenced for 110 people although my head count placed this number closer to 250. There was literally no space left anywhere, the bathroom area had six people crammed in to it, three people had to move to open the toilet door and every spare corner in the carriages and between were jam packed with people or large cargo bags. To make matters worse my upset stomach had turned into intense cramps and my pale sweaty face meant the contents would probably not stay down for long, although I was determined not to hurl my guts with so many eyes on the sole foreigner. One nice man helped me find a small plastic bin which buckled under my weight when I sat in the middle of the isle, having to stand every couple of minutes for people to walk past. Some people attempted to lie under seats, not an option for me as the ground was a disgusting mess of children going to the toilet, food scraps, lugies and unidentifiable gunk. After arriving in Chengdu without a wink of sleep on a journey that felt like forever, I swore never to catch a train in China again!!

I was now in the Sichuan province, my second of 22 provinces in China after initially visiting Yunnan. Checking in to the Flip Flop hostel gave me time for a quick arovo nap before the Friday night dumpling party. Basically an excuse to drink beer and make Chinese dumplings which the staff cook up after. Here I got talking to Amy and Chen during the Friday night dumpling party at our hostel, they had met a few days earlier in Zhongjiejae as Chen was taking 4 month road trip around China. They were off to the Panda sanctuary in the morning followed by a visit to Mt Emishan which had previously been on the cards after Dequin, though I bailed after hearing of the relentless steps involved to reach the summit. The offer seemed like a decent way to travel and the option to defer from my rough itinerary to head up to Xian on a a train I jumped on board. I did mean missing out on the cliff walking experience on Mt Hua, a one foot wide plank attached to the rock face with a sheer 2,400m drop below.

The following morning we headed out to the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre, arriving for the opening at 8am in an attempt to beat the hordes of Chinese tourists(who usually start flocking at about 10am) and to make the feeding times which happen in the first two hours. The pandas were big and cute as expected, I was however a little disappointed to find that during the hottest time of the year (36c on the day we went), they were all inside and could only be viewed behind glass windows. We still got to see them eating, relieving their bowls and generally lazing about. I even got close up with a Red Panda, who is actually quite small and looks nothing like the traditional Panda. On the way back Cheng decided he was going to buy a new camera and having no idea what to look, for he wanted my advice. Just as I expected he ignored all advice to go for one of the smaller yet quality compact cameras and opted for the wank factor biggest cannon DSLR with zoom lens, one that will likely never switch from auto mode.. its an Asian thing.

Our hostel organises plenty of tours and sightseeing around Chengdu, that evening was the Sichuan face changing opera show. Although opera did not sound like my kinda scene, I was assured it was not the traditional opera I was used to so I purchased a ticket to see what all the hype was about. The performance consisted of various acts including fire breathing, shadow puppets, musicians, dances and for the finale, a face changing show. A bit of research shows this ancient art can be performed in a number of ways to mystify the audience who are kept guessing as to how these actors change the entire face makeup in an instant, it was actually rather impressive.

So far in China I have encountered some amazingly kind people who will go out of their way to help a stranded and confused traveller find their way. This is a stark contrast to other extremely rude and inconsiderate locals who will push in front of you, fell compelled to speak at extreme volumes in public and on their phones or just stare like your some strange exhibit. We have been given directions which make no sense, the food is drowned in oil (maybe this is just Sichan and Yunnan), yes seems to be a common reply even if they can't understand a word we are saying and spitting or throwing rubbish / food scraps anywhere is common practice. Apart from a few minor downsides it is a very beautiful country and an experience I thin everybody should get to enjoy at least once in their life.