June 2018

Back to Hong Kong from Chengdu, but not for long.  Within 24 hours we both turned around and went back to China for work.  We went two different directions, but ended up in the same city on the same plane home together.  They were nice enough to seat my "stalker" next to me.

Patrick sometimes keeps busy with puzzles - and this one was crazy.  21' of Sudoku.

The end of May included my friend Helen leaving Target.  She will be greatly missed, but we sent her onto her next adventure in a proper manner.

We had another colleague who is repatriating back to the US.  At her going away party, the center pieces were classic Hong Kong.

A week later Gwen was back to north China for work, but had a little fun.  1 1/2 blocks from her hotel in Shanghai is a Goose Island brewery.  Yes - Goose Island from Chicago.  They do have a few different beers which are unique to Shanghai.

Highlight of the week was a new fruit - Yangmei fruit.  After some Google searches it was discovered to be a Chinese bayberry or waxberry.  They come in season around Dragon Boat festival, and every factory office had a fresh bowl.

So, while we were in Chengdu we discovered another Cirque do Soleil in the area (Singapore) and began to look into it.  We found out the show would be in Bangkok during the a 3 day weekend holiday coming up - so we booked it.

So - Gwen returned to Hong Kong and did another first - did not clear immigration and customs but transferred and waited for the flight to Bangkok.

Woke up on the Chao Phraya in Bangkok with some amazing views.

We had a day on our own to explore Bangkok and decided to head to a weekend market - Chatuchak.  It was huge.

We decided to do our own impromptu food tour while in the market. 

Did we mention this market was huge!  There is an app dedicated to helping you find what you want.  As we continued to roam, we found the home furnishings are - rather unique.  We did not buy the wooden horse.

Rest of the day was pretty relaxing.  Here are some more views from our hotel.

Sunday was the reason for the trip - Cirque de Soleil's Toruk.  The interesting part of the show was that there was an expectation of audience participation via Smartphones.  You downloaded an app, and as the show progressed notifications were sent.  As an example the phone might change the display, so the audience could hold them up and become stars in the sky.  It was impressive.  Below are 2 screenshots of the app.

Here are some photos of the scenery and costumes.  If you don't pick up from the blue people with tails - The show is inspired by Avatar.

In the concession area there were a lot of props from the show available for photo ops.

Definitely worth the trip.

Oh - I didn't mention the holiday - Dragon Boat.  If you have been following this blog you might remember last year, we spent the holiday in Taiwan.  It is not celebrated in Thailand, but our hotel did have a nod to the holiday with a serving of Zongzi Dumplings (glutenous rice in bamboo leaves) 

We then hopped a hotel boat to Asistique, a more organized tourist night market.  Again - we found food.

During our multiple boat rides I snapped some photos of the more traditional-looking fancy boats.  Here is the boat for Peninsula guests during the day and at night.

We went back to Hong Kong for a little over a week to prepare for our next visitors.

Patrick's Mom and Brother are with us now.  We will be heading to Thailand with them to do some more exploring.  Next Blog will feature them.

May 2018 - Chengdu

BEWARE! - if you don't like Pandas, please close this page now.

Pandas, Pandas, and more pandas....  This blog covers our trip to Chengdu and some of the surrounding area.  

The pandas in Chengdu start as soon as you step off the plane.  Every welcome sign had a panda.

We arrived in the early afternoon on a Saturday. After checking into the hotel, we took a stroll around the neighborhood.  After walking for about a half hour, we both had the same feeling.  For a a big city (14.5 million people), it was extremely relaxed and quiet.  More important than that, people were smiling!  Our guides told us later that Chengdu is considered the happiest, most-relaxed place in China.  We agree wholeheartedly.

As we were looking for things to do (other than see pandas), we decided to rely on one of our favorite other hobbies, eating.  Chengdu is in the heart of Sichuan, and Sichuan is known for their spicy food - numbing peppers.  We decided on a Lost Plate tour - http://lostplate.com/chengdu-food-tours/#eveningtour. 

We found our way to the meeting point for our tour via the subway - very clean and orderly (no pushing), and shiny, happy people.  

There were 8 other people on our tour - a couple from Boston,  a couple from Philadelphia, a couple from Colorado but currently living locally (she teaches English to kindergartners), and two British teachers currently living in Guangzhou.  They were all a blast.  We were very lucky.

As we left the subway we had our first taste treat - fried rice balls.  Yes, they're simple, but they're awesome.

At the end of the block, tuk-tuks were waiting to take us on our tasting adventure.

And everyone got a koozie to keep the unlimited cans of beer cool.

Our first stop was a street corner stall for pancake-like treats (reminded us of Hong Kong egg waffles).  You could choose the filling - something sweet (chocolate), savory, or...

...one of the other filling options was translated as "Strange".  So, yes, Patrick had to try that one.  The food happy dance began.

Next stop was to try the most famous dumplings in the city.  The restaurant was essentially someone's home.  I suspect they live upstairs.  Top left picture was our entrance through the back door, and the top right picture was the general public entrance through the apartment courtyard.

Next stop - spicy noodles.  Most everyone lost all feeling in their mouth.  
Woooooo - Hot stuff.

Then we were off for stir fry. Top right picture is Pumpkin Sticky Rice - pretty good.  The picture on the left is Kung Pow chicken.  It was unlike any in the US.  They use a local vegetable  instead of bell peppers and celery, and the flavor was fantastic.

Next stop was for hot pot.  Hot pot in every area is different.  Here in Chengdu, all the meat and veg was on skewers, and you paid by the skewer.  A bit like fondue, only not... Yummy!

Last stop was at a a local tavern - Gwen had Tsingtao White Beer.

It was everything we could have asked for.  There wasn't a stop along the way we would have found on our own.  They were all truly local.  We hope to use this company again and can't recommend them enough.  Lost Plate Tours... check 'em out.  If you're ever in Chengdu, ask for Chin.

PANDA DAY
🐼

There are about 6 "panda bases" in this area of China.  Their purpose is to increase and protect the panda population (and raise funds, of course).  One of the bases is in Chengdu.  It is the easiest to access and very popular.  We chose Chengdu Bamboo Tour Company and their 2 Day Dujiangyan Panda Tour HERE.  Ask for Lynn.

The start of our day included donning our super-official badges and polos with (of course) pandas on them.   We figured out later - that they actually were important, and distinguished us from other visitors. We had some "normal" visitors throughout the day who tried to sneak in on our activities and were quickly removed by the staff.

Our first activity was the least fun.  We cleaned a panda pen.  A pen includes a large outdoor  play area outside and their shelter or "house".

We removed the leftover bamboo the panda did not feel was fit to eat.  Apparently, they're pretty spoiled and will only eat the freshest bamboo.

Aaaaaaaand we scooped panda poop.

If you've ever wondered what panda poop looks like.  Well, here you go.

The panda  we took care of was Dai Li.  He was the oldest panda in the base.  They think he's around 19, which is pretty old for a panda.  They're not certain of his age since he was born in the wild.  When he was found and rescued, he had just been in a bad fight.  The vets had to amputate his left, rear leg.  That did not slow him down when there was bamboo and panda cakes to eat.

After cleaning Dai Li's pen and watching some of the other pandas eat breakfast, we moved to a different part of the base for Gwen's "panda holding" experience.  Along the way we saw a lot more pandas.   

Little-known-fact... It's impossible to walk past a panda and not take their picture - even if they are sleeping.

The highlight of the trip was Gwen sitting next to an 18 month-old panda and making friends with her in 20 seconds.  #1 - they are not soft as you would expect like a teddy bear.  #2 - they can be aggressive, which is why this part of the trip was not guaranteed.

Here is my friend Mu Yun!

After the photo op - we went to feed another panda friend some carrots and panda bars.

Then, we were off to see some more pandas on our way to lunch.

This cub was still in the same enclosure as momma panda.  She decided that sleeping in the tire swing was just the thing.

 Mom was napping too... 

The base was at the foot of a mountain, but all the roads were paved, and we had our own panda bus to take us from the main lodge / entrance to the enclosures.  Pandas clearly like hills....

After lunch we had some more time to look around, and we found the red pandas.  They are related to the giant pandas in some fashion and technically are not bears.  There is still a running debate whether giant pandas are bears, too.  Who cares, they're all awesome!  The red pandas are a lot more active than giant pandas, and we think they're cute.  The blond one is a younger panda.  They're coats darken as they reach maturity.

After we chilled out with the red pandas, we saw a few more sleeping giant pandas.  Yes, you got it - they essentially, eat, sleep, and poop.

We had time to feed another panda friend some carrots and panda cakes:

Here is a super cute video of her eating her panda cake:

Our last volunteer activity was to make panda cakes - which are oats, soy, corn, and some vitamins and minerals.

Next we decided to broaden our horizons (ha ha) with some history.  We visited the first irrigation system in China - Dujiang Weir. It was built around the same time as the Great Wall (~256 BC)  Patrick is always fascinated by early engineering. 

Here is a map of the area.  What the map does not show is elevation.  We started at the top and worked our way down.  Yeah, waaaaay over 10,000 steps.

Here is the official divide/diversion creating the irrigation flow to the Chengdu basin.  It has been modernized over 2,400 years, but the original "fish island" shape has been maintained.

As we walked through the area, we saw a few temples and a wall of love locks.

More shots of the river diverging.  The left fork is the controlled irrigation flow, and the right fork is a spillway.

Our last stop in that area was to see a beautiful bonsai garden.  Unfortunately, we didn't spend a lot of time there.  We were running behind schedule, and it started to rain.  We got more video than photos.

After we got back to the hotel, we walked to dinner - yes, MORE street food.  This time, we didn't have a guide.  Here is some of the delicious chicken we found.

Before leaving Dujiangyan, we took this photo from our hotel of another divide in the river.  This is quite a bit downstream, but it's the same river system in the pictures earlier that was split off to feed the city.

For our last full day in the area, we started by visiting Qingcheng Mountain.  We learned it was the inspiration for the movie Kung Fu Panda 3.  Betcha didn't know that... The goal was to get to the top of the mountain and see one of the oldest Tao Temples.

Here is the bottom of the mountain.

Here is the map of what was ahead of us.  The right picture is our trek to the top.

To get to the top, it took some hiking, a ferry across a lake, a cable car, and MORE hiking.

Here is the lake.

This gate was a short hike after the cable car.

At this point - Gwen decided a cup of tea would be more enjoyable than more hiking.

Patrick and our guide make it to the top in the rain and a lot of fog.  Patrick said it was worth it.  Gwen was not so sure she believed him and was glad she stayed dry and had tea.

The way down was much easier than the way up.  Here are some views from the cable car ride down.  The weather had cleared a bit.  The pictures don't do it justice.  The greens are eye-popping.

Patrick getting ready to take the ferry back across the lake.

Here is the stream heading down the mountain with us.

A beautiful painting of the area greeted us at the bottom.

After all the hiking, it was time for a traditional Sichuan lunch.  The large picture is more Kung Pow Chicken.  It was even better than what we had on the food tour).

For dessert we had some local cherries.  They were almost as good as the ones picked off the trees at Perry Acres.

Heading back to Chengdu I got a few shots of the local taxis - yep, more pandas.

For our last night, we checked out a new part of town.  We did not know we would see the "largest freestanding building in the world".  It was completed in 2013 and included a large (understatement of the year) shopping mall along with a waterpark etc. etc.

After a stroll around the mall, we found ourselves a much-needed foot massage before turning in for the night.  

CONGRATULATIONS for making it to the end of this blog.  As your reward you get to see an 8 1/2 minute video of our panda visit. 🐼🐼🐼