After landing on, our tour guide Jerry was already waiting at the airport lobby, holding a big card, and my name was written in very big size. He works for Top China Trip, the excellent visit China who organized for us this trip. The following was easy, drive to the hotel and check in the room, then a good rest.
All things are ready, the hotel room is clean and tidy, with good air-conditioning. I am not so skinny, so you know air-conditioning is vital for me in summer.
Next day is to see the pandas for me, we got picked up at 8am and drove to the Rehab center about 30 minutes from the city, the giant pandas are so cool, cute and cuddly but extremely strong animals, they thrive in bamboo forests but their habitat is being taken away by development so they are endangered, we were there for 3 hours and went to different sites, all the pandas are eating bamboos and I enjoyed taking photos of them.My pictures are very arty as the pandas refused to stay still and pose for pictures. If anyone has advice on taking pictures in low light, where the flash makes it appear darker, but no flash makes things blurry please let me know. They are very cute looking lazy creatures who sprawl out on their backs to eat tons of bamboo.
Also Tony and I visited the Dufu Thatched House, the memorial of a very famous ancient Chinese poet, the guide introduced that he lived a poor life, and loved very much his country and people. He was praised to be the Poem Saint. Maybe I will read his poems when I back home, Jelly said his poems are very important in China culture.
In the evening, we had a taste of the famous Sichuan local cuisine, the hot pot. On the table there is a simmering metal pot of stock which is kept simmering and ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. The raw food include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, and seafood. They are supplied on the huge glass plates. We tried to figure out what each dish is, but probably is best not doing so. You pick them off the plates, drop them into the sauce and then a few minutes later fish them out. From then on, it is all about texture. And we ate the cooked food with a dipping sauce. Jelly told us that Sichuan hotpot is markedly different from the types eaten in other parts of China. Quite often the differences lie in the meats used, the type of soup base, and the sauces and condiments used to flavor the meat. The broth is often divided in half and a bubbling, fiery red chilli broth on one side, and a cooler white chicken broth on the other. The more the peppers in the broth boil, the spicier it gets. And we got a less spicy one, advice from Jelly, she said the peppers in Sichuan is famous for its hot taste!
I enjoyed this trip very much, perhaps I will come again! The next time I plan to visit Tibet, a mysterious place in China.
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