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We woke up at 5:45 a.m., took nice showers, got packed up, and went to breakfast at around 7:30. The dining room was very busy but had an excellent buffet with lots of choices. We had very fluffy scrambled eggs, cheese, waffles with fresh raspberry jam, fried eggs, fresh doughnuts (custard-filled and covered with powdered sugar - so delicious that we had 2 each!), chocolate covered donuts, dragonfruit , coffee, orange juice, watermelon juice, marble cake, toast, etc. It was the best breakfast so far - delicious, fresh, and plentiful.
We went back to the room at 8:15 and checked out at 8:30. The elevators move very quickly. We missed our elevator due to the fact that it arrived and then left again before we even realized that it had stopped on our floor! When we finally caught an elevator, we rode down to the lobby to meet Mia. We all got into the car and were driven to the brand new (~ 1 year old) Chongqingbei bullet train station. Mia and I got into line 11 for tickets, but when we got to the front of the line, the woman was a trainee and didn't know how to handle a foreign passport. So we had to get at the end of a different line. Luckily we had plenty of time before catching our train, so it didn't matter. We got the tickets - car 9 seats 4A and 4C. When we got back to where Craig was waiting, a little girl was handing him a peanut nougat candy. He had said "Nihao" to her, and she had responded with "Hi" and gave him a candy. She gave me one as well, and offered one to Mia. She was so cute, and we got a photo of her with her grandmother. Mia walked us to security, and we said our goodbyes. We had really enjoyed our time together, and we were ewspecialy grateful for her help in procuring a replacement battery charger. She is a very sweet young lady. After security scanned both us and our bags, we went up into the waiting lounge. Cute animated safety/informational videos were playing on the screens which displayed the timetables. There were several stores in the concourse, and I bought 2 small waters for 3 yuan each (50 cents). The train was scheduled to depart at 10:10, and we were allowed to start boarding at a few minutes before 10 o'clock. This train had even more spacious seats than the previous bullet train. It seemed more like a first class experience. The train attendants were dressed very fashionably. A little toddler kept walking up and down the aisles with his grandmother, and he stopped to put his hand on Craig's knee. I got a photo and when I showed it to him, he pointed at the screen and got a big smile. His grandmother coaxed him to say "xiexie" (thank you), and he started clapping and dancing. So cute! The train ride was incredibly smooth, and we passed some lush, green, rural landscapes. The train never exceeded 200 km/hour. It was a non-stop journey which arrived at Chengdudong Station, Chengdu at 12:05 p.m. When we disembarked, the platform was extremely crowded. Since we were carrying all of our luggage, we decided to wait for the crowd to dissipate before descending the escalator, since it felt rather claustrophobic. There are two areas where passengers can emerge from the platform, so our driver was waiting at one and our guide was waiting at the other, to make sure that they caught us. We saw the driver (Mr. Liao), and he immediately called our guide (Keely) on the phone. She quickly met us. We walked to the parking garage and got settled in the car. Keely is a very friendly and intelligent young lady, and we all felt a connection immediately. She commented on hiw smiley we were and said she knew we would be friends. She said that she was immediately comfortable, and didn't feel that we would be difficult like some of her previous "picky" clients. We stopped for lunch on our way to the hotel. At lunch, Craig had a Snow beer and I had a Coke. We told Keely we like spicy food, so she ordered us some Sichuan cuisine: a spicy peppery beef dish, greens with mushrooms, and puffed rice soup. It was delicious, and we enjoyed it very much. At around 2 p.m., we checked into the St. Regis Hotel. Now, we have stayed in some amazing hotels over the years (Taj and Oberoi properties in India and The Metropole in Vietnam come to mind) but this was mind-blowing. We've never experienced anything quite like it! It started off normally enough, as we were served a cold local specialy drink at check-in. The lobby was beautiful, with marble walls and floors and beautiful fresh flowe arrangements. The desk clerk asked if we would like tea or coffee delivered to our room. We said no thank you. She replied that if we changed our mind, we should "just call our butler." Wait, what? Keely said that she would meet us later in the afternoon to explore the city, and that we should go and get settled in our room. We got into the elevator and waved our room key in front of the sensor. It automatically set a course for the 17th floor. The elevator's crystal chandelier tinkled as the elevator ascended. Room 1711 was enormous. We entered through the foyer and found ourselves in a very spacious bedroom/office with 20-foot tray ceilings. A large flat-screen TV rose out of a cabinet, and a personalized welcome message scrolled by on the screen. Relaxing music was emanating from Bose speakers. There was a huge walk-in closet / dressing area. Every room had its own crystal chandelier. And then there was the bathroom! The toilet lid opened automatically when you entered the bathroom, and it had a whole control panel to control its myriad of features. The toilet seat had its own nightlight for easy nighttime use, and was also heated. There were various bidet rinse and dry functionalities. It flushed automatically. The brand of the toilet was Toto, which caused Craig to remark "We're not in Kansas any more! The toilet paper was embossed wit the hotel seal (and we would later find out that each time they made up the room, they re-embossed the paper). There were double sinks and a large marble shower with glass door, rain shower head, and body jets. A separate bath tub had a TV embedded flush into the wall (it looked like a mirror hen it was not on). There was a remote control and a tray to hold things while you were in the tub. They provided fancy bathrobes and amenities including toothbrushes/paste, sewing kit, mouthwash, cotton swabs, hair dryer, emery board, loofah, bath salts, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, razor + shaving cream, comb, cotton facial pads, shower caps. There was a phone in the bathroom, as well as a scale and bottled water. We got settled and our butler arrived to check that we had fresh fruit. We did (apples, orange, and Chinese peaches). He asked if there was anything he could do for us. While we normally wouldn't call a butler, since he was here, we requested coffee. He asked what kind we would like, and gave us a list of choices. We chose coffee "Americano", and he brought it straightaway. It was, of course, fancy and delicious. We were blown away by the room and its amenities, and we itemized them in a thankful e-mail to Toni at Myths and Mountains. Come to find out, Wang Jun had actually selected this hotel for us, as he had stayed there once himself, and knew how much we would enjoy it. In addition to the things already mentioned, the room featured the following:
After a couple of hours' rest, we met Keely downstairs at 4:10. Mr. Liao drove us a short way to People's Park. It was the first public park in the city, established in 1911. It was a lovely, green park. People were dancing, as they always do in Chinese parks. Keely was the first one to explain to us why this is so popular with mostly middle-aged women: dancing was outlawed during their lifetime during the Cultural Revolution. Now that it is fully allowed, they are getting their Footloose on in public as often as possible. Keely pointed out one 70 year old gentleman who looked very youthful and is famous in the city for dancing in the park every single day, even modern hip-hop dancing. We watched him dance very elegantly with a young lady. Families were punting on a picturesque small lake. Keely led us to the Heming Tea House, established in the 1920's. There are tables for enjoying tea next to the river, and then there is another section with mah jong tables. Keely offered to buy us a cup of tea and teach us to play mah jong. We had been very curious about mah jong, after watching so many people playing on the Yangtze River Cruise. It would be nice to get a chance to learn to play ourselves. Keely got us tea (jasmine for herself and me, and green for Craig), and we sat at a table. We shuffled the mah jong tiles and then laid them out in a square line two tiles high. Keeley led us through a game with all of our tiles showing. It is basically like rummy, using tiles instead of cards. The gist of it is that there are 3 suits (coins, sticks, and numbers) and you need to collect 3-tile numeric sequences or 3-of-a-kind in a given suit. You discard tiles that you don't need. Keely explained that many people gamble on mah jong. If someone wins by using one of your discards, then you give them money. If someone wins off of drawing a new tile, everyone gives them money. Two Americans being taught mah jong by a young Chinese woman was indeed a spectacle for the locals, and many people snapped our photos and gave us a thumbs-up. Craig won the first game, and a silver-haired Chinese man asked Keely if he could join the next game. We played another round with our new friend, as another man stood beside Craig and coached him. Our new friend won the second game, and I won the third. It was a lot of fun. The man's wife noticed me struggling to keep tea leaves out of my mouth because the tea cup had loose tea and no strainer. She instructed us on the proper way to drink tea. The cup had a lid and a saucer. You are supposed to pick up the cup and saucer together, and use the lid to strain out the tea leaves as you sip. The saucer represents the earth, the cup represents humanity, and the lid represents the heavens. There is also a shelf under the mah jong table on which to place your tea cup, so it doesn't spill when shuffling the tiles. This was a very nice, impromptu activity, and we were very grateful to Keely for suggesting it. We got to feel like a local, playing mah jong and sipping tea in a beautiful, relaxing urban oasis, meeting some nice people along the way. The mah jong area closed at 5:15 p.m., so we took our last sips of tea and wandered around the rest of the park. Keely pointed out sheets on paper tucked under rocks on the walkpaths, so the wind wouldn't carry them away. On them were written Chinese characters and a phone number. They were advertisements from parents looking to arrange marriages for their children. People walk by and read them, and call the number if interested. Several men (one Tibetan) wanted to get their photos taken with Craig. Keely suspects it was due to his Tilley hat, which made him resemble their notion of an American cowboy. We went to an area of the park devoted to the commemoration of the Railway Protection Movement, which " erupted in 1911 in late Qing China against the Qing government's plan to nationalize local railway development projects and transfer control to foreign banks. The movement, centered in Sichuan province, expressed mass discontent with Qing rule, galvanized anti-Qing groups and contributed to the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution. The mobilization of imperial troops from neighboring Hubei Province to suppress the Railway Protection Movement created the opportunity for revolutionaries in Wuhan to launch the Wuchang Uprising, which triggered the revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China"There were monuments and statues here in honor of the 32 protestors killed during the associated strikes and boycotts. After exploring the rest of the park, we walked down Upper Changshun Street. This area was very tourist friendly, and contained many murals and displays depicting the history of the area. Life-sized tintype photographs on walls highlight the differences between today's modern Chengdu and the Chengdu of days passed. Three-dimensional protrustions, such as a bicycle sidecar jetting out of a photo of a man on a bicycle, or a brass horse head protruding from an area where people used to tie up their horses provided interactivity for guests. Street performers in black and bronze body paint stood like statues, and then came to life unexpectedly, scaring passersby and causing fits of uncontrollable giggles. One set of old wooden doors had carvings of opera characters, and you could spin the faces around to show different makeup. It called to mind the Sichuan Opera face-changing shows that we had seen on TV and briefly on the cruise, but that we would see here in Chengdu in person tomorrow night! The area was a charming blend of past and present. After exploring this area, we arrived at our destination, Kuanzhaixiangzi Alley (wide and narrow alleys). This area has the largest concentration of ancient buildings in the city, and is viewed as a microcosm of Chengdu. Built in 1718, the alleys were originally part of hutongs (small neighborhoods) built for quartering soldiers and their families. Today, these ancient buildings have been converted to shops and restaurants as part of a government buy-out of the area to foster tourism in 2008. There are a few private residences sprinkled in, whose owners had held out and refused to sell to the goevrnment. The late afternoon sun was very pretty, and we enjoyed strolling down first the Wide Alley, then the Narrow Alley, and then the Well Alley. The area has been featured in the news and pop culture recently: Michelle Obama and her daughters had visited, and it is also a setting for the film Kung Fu Panda 2. The architecture was very traditional, and there were statues evoking various professions from history which are still practiced in the alleys today: cigar sellers, waiters, and silversmiths. There were hawker stalls and sit-down restaurants, candy makers, tea houses, and stores selling panda paraphernalia. We watched modern day artisans demonstrating candy making and silversmithing. We saw a CCTV (national television) still photographer here. People sat on chairs on the sidewalks having their ears cleaned, as a man or woman wearing a headlamp peered into their ears and cleaned them with metal tools that looked more suited for the dentist's office. This is fairly commonplace in China, but seems a bit unusual by American standards. We would tend to go to a doctor and pay a premium for such a service (in private) rather than getting it done for cheap on the street in front of passersby. We passed a bar called Walden, whose sign featured a little cabin amongst some trees. Goes to show the worldwide cultural impact of Henry David Thoreau (Walden Pond is around 30 miles from our home). We laughed when we saw a perfume store called "Odor Trip Scent Library". I think that they need a new marketing team. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner. It had an open kitchen where we could see the chefs in action cooking up heavenly spicy Sichuan delights. Having seen how much we had enjoyed the spicy food that she ordered us at lunch (and now truly believing that we can handle more heat than the average foreigner), she stepped it up a notch. It was delicious: fantastic spicy tofu, sweet and spicy pork, dumplings, very tasty local noodles, Snow beer, and Coke. For dessert, we had a sticky rice bun in brown sugar and soy sauce. It was an amazing meal! At around 7:30, we drove back to the hotel. We passed a park which was decorated with a huge flower arrangement for the upcoming Labor Day holiday on May 1. There was also a large statue of Chairman Mao. We got back to the hotel at 8 o'clock. The room had been turned down and a gift was waiting for us on the bed...a porcelain bell decorated with a black Beijing Opera mask. It was in a fancy little drawstring pouch. Wow! It was now dark outside and our view overlooked the beautifully lit city. "Lost in Translation" came to mind again, as our view was reminiscent of the view from Scarlett Johansson's hotel room in the movie. Craig went into the mini bar and perused all of the complimentary coffee, tea, and espresso options. He decided to make tea. I filled the tub with hot water and bath salts and took a relaxing bath. While soaking, I wrote in my journal, sipped tea, and watched the World Table Tennis Championships Suzhou on CCTV5 on the TV embedded within the bathroom wall. This place was over the top, and we were determined to enjoy every amenity! We went to bed at 10:45 p.m., excited for our day of volunteering at the panda center tomorrow. |
 Saying goodbye to the lovely Mia at the Chongqingbei train station  Keely, our lovely Chengdu guide  Room #1711, St. Regis Hotel  Our butler brings us coffee  Lake at People's Park, Chengdu  Learning to play mah jong at Heming Tea House at People's Park  Learning to play mah jong at Heming Tea House at People's Park  Monument to the martyrs of the Railway Protection Movement  Changing the faces on the opera characters, Upper Changshun Street  Getting a ride from a stereotypical Chengdu "hen-pecked husband", in one of the Upper Changshun art installations  Kuanzhaixiangzi Alley  Kuanzhaixiangzi Alley  Photo mural  Restaurant  Sichuan cuisine  The amazing St. Regis Hotel, Chengdu  Preparing my bath (complete with table tennis championships on the TV) 
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