Chengdu: City of Panda

It was around the third week of August 2009 when I was in Kangding. I remember that I was contemplating if I’m going to retrace my route to Litang or head on to Chengdu. I allotted almost two weeks for my “Kunming to Chengdu Overland Adventure” trip before heading on to Nepal. I realized that I was actually five days ahead of my schedule.

However, I’m running out of money as well, so I decided to head on to Chengdu to stay with a friend. I got a generous offer to stay to Dhane’s house and it would be a big help to my dwindling budget. And besides, I figured that I missed seeing an urban jungle.

I left my hostel early in the morning and waited in the bus station for almost an hour. We boarded and after a few hours I started seeing traces of the concrete jungle. And then after a couple more hours, buildings started to rose from the horizon.

I was kind of excited. I’ve only been to a few quite cities (Guilin, Hong Kong, Macau and Kunming) and I didn’t spend much time. I’ve had almost a week to spend in Chengdu, enough time to get to know the city.

Some facts about Chengdu from Wikipedia

“Chengdu is located in southwest People’s Republic of China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a sub-provincial city. Chengdu is also one of the most important economic centers, transportation and communication hubs in Southwestern China. According to the 2007 Public Appraisal for Best Chinese Cities for Investment, Chengdu was chosen as one of the top ten cities to invest in out of a total of 280 urban centers in China.”

I stayed in a hostel on my first day. The hostel was in a very good location in respect to the tourism business. Just right across the road was one of the most visited tourist spots, the reconstructed Jinli Street.

The 350 meter Jinli Street looks like a historic town. You could see buildings in old Chinese site. Historically, Jinli Street came about in the Qing Dynasty and was known as the “First Street of the Shu Kingdom.”

Now the street is full of modern shops enclosed in traditional buildings that give the visitors the ambiance of Old China with the convenience of the modern world.

Aside from the Jinli Street, I also visited numerous temples though I couldn’t remember their names. Whenever I go to a new place, I always make sure that I go to their markets. I go there to shop, but most of the time, just to observe the local life.

I went to one of their dry markets and it’s massive. I was walking down the street and I saw a guy selling a tiger paw. WTF!!! I thought tigers are endangered. LOL!

I also went to their commercial shopping district and man, the goods and overflowing. There’re shoppers everywhere, it’s like there was no recession at all in that area.

The market that I enjoyed the most was the Antique Market. You would see that in your Chengdu Map. It was full of old and interesting Chinese relics and some old books. There were few shoppers though, maybe consumers would rather have modern day stuff.

After doing my usual temple and market hopping activities, I’ve decided that it’s about time to see the Pandas. I love animals and seeing the Panda would be like the cherry on top of my traveling ice cream.

I checked the price of the Panda tour and it was way beyond my budget. I asked the hostel receptionist if they have anything cheaper than that. And then she said that I could buy the Panda Card for only 1 Yuan and then go there myself. I could save 50 Yuan ($7) for the entrance, plus I could go to other tourist sites as well for free.

Wow! My eyes widened!!! I went back to Dhane’s place and invited his two other guests to see the Panda the next day.

Due to sheer laziness or perhaps just plain stupidity, I couldn’t figure out how to add a video on this blog so I’ll just post the Youtube link here. Click Here to view the video.

Some Travel Tips in Chengdu

1. Get the Panda Card in the supermarket across Jinli Street. It could save you a lot of money.
2. Utilize the buses, Chengdu has an efficient network of buses that could take you anywhere in the city for a cheap price (1-2 Yuan).
3. If you’re interested to buy some travel gears or electronics, Chengdu has a lot of cheap stores that you could check. You can find them also on your tourist maps.
4. For those who are traveling from the Philippines, you could fly direct via Philippine Airlines to Chengdu.
5. Alternatively, you could fly from Kuala Lumpur via Air Asia to Chengdu
6. There are water dispensers in most hostels, and you could save some money by just refilling your water containers.

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