Chengdu is a city in Sichuan province in southern China. It’s known for spicy food and the home of that cute bear that’s famous in China, not Winnie the Pooh but pandas. As a lover of spicy food, I was eager to find the spiciest dishes on the offer and if we got some time to see some pandas, we could squeeze it in on the agenda between meals.
We awoke on Saturday morning to blue skies ready for the first of many fiery meals. Hannah found a local place and we ordered duck, noodles, a tofu dish, and dumplings – none of which were spicy. I wasn’t going to display my displeasure to her as we’d only just commenced our fun weekend away, but I was absolutely fuming inside.
We strolled around town and if I didn’t know about the panda hype before, it wouldn’t have taken Sherlock-esque detective skills to work it out. Pandas are a symbol of China, but despite living here for 4 years I had only seen them in recent weeks at the Beijing Zoo - the unhappiest place in the world. The day we went to the zoo, the pollution was horrendous, the enclosures were tiny and filthy, and the animals looked depressed. If I were to see pandas this weekend it was only under the proviso that they were treated well.
We headed to the People’s Park where Hannah promised me that it was the spot to get your ears cleaned in Chengdu. I wasn’t totally sold as I don’t usually seek medical cleanings in a park. As you well know, I’m a people so I agreed to it. We paid the 30 RMB (about 3 quid) fee and sat down to let the “professional” at our orifices. The measly sum of 30 RMB lets you know that the highest standards of hygiene and know-how are on offer. The procedure was over in about 2 minutes and consisted of him tickling the inside of your ear with some feather-like apparatus with the climax of him rattling a piano tuner for an odd vibrational feeling which I’m sure isn’t recommended by actual professionals. 3 quid down and ear infection imminent.
After this cleaning, we headed to the former residence of Chinese poet Du Fu, who the BBC dubbed him “China’s Shakespeare”. He is famous for his poems which were inspired during the An Lushan rebellion. The rebellious Yan dynasty tried to overthrow the Tang dynasty in a battle lasting over 7 years. He escaped the fighting and moved to Chengdu in 759 AD. He wrote the poem (below) in 760 titled A Guest Arrives, his first in Chengdu.
客至（喜崔明府相过）A Guest Arrives
舍南舍北皆春水
但见群鸥日日来
花径不曾缘客扫
蓬门今始为君开
盘餐市远无兼味
樽酒家贫只旧醅
肯与邻翁相对饮
隔篱呼取尽馀杯
South of my hut, north of my hut, all is spring water,
A flock of gulls is all I see come each day.
The floral path has never been swept for a guest,
Today for the first time the rough gate opens for the gentleman.
Far from the market, my food has little taste,
My poor home can offer only stale and cloudy wine.
Consent to have a drink with my elderly neighbour,
At the fence I'll call him, then we'll finish it off.
While the rest of the country is fighting a rebellion, the “great” Du Fu is getting pissed. If he’d picked up a sword instead of the bottle, I’d have a little more respect for him. Overrated.
It was eventually time to fest on the famous Sichuan hot pot. For years, people have told me about the mouth-numbing, tongue-smoldering, lip-burning hot pot in this part of the world and it was time to try. I was a little cautious, but very excited to dip my meat, so to speak. The table was adorned with a variety of meat and vegetables. Hannah had to bring me back to a Chinese reality by ordering some weird dishes. She ordered duck throats or cow stomach or something equally weird, what’s wrong with a normal cut of beef? To be fair, she had the courtesy of putting the odd meat in last so that it didn’t taint the rest of the food.
The oil simmered away cooking everything in a wondering mix of chilies, spices, and peppercorns. The food was cooked, and I took my first bite. As I chewed the delicious, scalding meat my mouth filled with ecstasy. Flavourful, hot, and peppery, I had gone to a fiery heaven. I continued to fill my belly with potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, beef, pork boiled in the oily broth. My sinuses felt the effects of the spice (and other parts of my anatomy the following day) but it was all worth it. My nose was running, and my eyes filled with tears of joy. What a delicious ending to the day.
Our plan for Sunday was to visit the Leshan Giant Buddha, located about an hour away from Chengdu by train. When we arrived at the scenic area, we laid our eyes on the queue just to get into the park. I don’t know what the queues are normally like, but on this Qingming long weekend, they were enormous. Hannah wasn’t having any of it and spoke to one of the rickshaw cyclists. He told us that if we entered via the east gate, we could skip this enormous queue. He said he’d take us there in his rickshaw. The journey was mostly uphill, and I felt bad especially as he was about 90 years old, and I’d eaten a lot of hot pot the night before.
By entering via the east gate, we got to visit the Hanya Tomb which houses many Buddhist statues. It was pleasant to pass through the spacious gardens and see the weird and wonderful effigies of Buddhist Gods, but easily the best thing about the Hanya Tomb is the ability to skip the queues into the scenic area.
We made our way to the giant Buddha but the next queue was unavoidable. 2 hours we had to wait in the tightly packed line. I managed to pass the time with some Football Manager, which displeased Hannah. I suppose she’ll just never understand the joys of leading an underdog Fenerbahçe team to the Champions League semi-final with a squad of free transfers that defeated Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in the knockout rounds.
You weave through the final moments of the queue through the rock and down steep steps which hang over the Min River below. I even put FM away as the steps were unnervingly daunting.
For all the waiting, the statue was mightily impressive! You stand at the feet of the statue and it’s hard to believe how monumentally magnificent it is. Neither Hannah nor I are religious, but I asked Hannah to pray to Buddha on my behalf as whenever I have visited religious monuments in the past my prayers go unanswered. I think my lack of faith diverts my prayers to the God’s spam folder. I asked Hannah to pray for Arsenal to return to their former greatness, but the look on her face knew it was too much to ask, so I asked her to pray for fewer errors leading to goals because my mental health can’t take it anymore.
It was worth the journey to see, but my advice is not to go on a bank holiday.
On our final day in Chengdu, we went to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, which doesn’t roll of the tongue so easily. My original qualms were dismissed when I saw the facilities of the panda center. These pandas were living it up in a haven. They are protected, they have been removed from any potential predators and have copious amounts of food brought to them. They even have the zookeepers bring them a mate! They don’t have to worry about dating, they have free bed and board, and the more they eat the fatter they get, and who doesn’t love a big, chubby, cuddly panda? They have a perfect life!
The only downside was that it got me thinking about the tough lives of the pandas up in Beijing. It’s like they’re doing a prison sentence or military service for a few years before they can be freed in Chengdu. It made me question why I live in Beijing. The pandas are forced to live in that zoo, but I willingly made the decision to live in the same polluted environment.
