Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 9

Day 11 - 27th Dec 2012

Set of 17 xiao chi dishes

Ahh...last day in Chengdu today. So we ended up sleeping until 10 plus, skipping the hotel breakfast. I woke up at around 10 plus and went to have a nice shower. My friend still nuaing on bed...kekeke...I had the roasted chestnuts which we bough last night. It was 500g and i ate half of it for breakfast...eat until abit scared...(came back liao..don't want to eat again for the time being...hahaha). After nuaing for the whole morning, we checked out at 1.30pm and went out for lunch. We went to Lai Tang Yuan and ordered a set of 17 items (small serving of each item) for RMB$40 each person. The set consists of rabbit meat, dumplings, dan dan noodles, fish, tang yuan, duck and etc. There were alot of people eating there as well as those taking away..good business there....The xiao chi are not bad, but some of them are quite ma la...i like the zhong shui jiao (dumpling with a red sauce..sweet one). The tang yuan also nice...After eating, we went to take the metro to head down to Wen Shu Temple.

Wen Shu Fang

After coming out from the metro, we walked a short distance to the entrance. The ticket booth was a small small window in the wall, where u can only see the hands of the staff. Then i bought the tickets (RMB$5 each) and we went in to explore explore. It was very big too (like Qing Yang Gong) but there were a few places in Wen Shu Temple that were not open to public. There was a bigger temple inside too for devotees to chant and pray. There were also alot of meaningful wordings displayed around the temple, there even have a room to let troubled person to pour out their troubles. We walked until around 4 plus, then as it was about time to get back. Then we slowly made our way back to Chun Xi Road. We walked around as it was still early for dinner, went shopping for jackets...After shopping around, we went to Long Chaoshou restaurant for dinner. It was having 4 levels, the first level is like a food court place and they were selling all their xiao chi separately. On the 2nd level, it's more like restaurant class and they were selling their set meals. So we headed up to their 2nd level as the 1st level was packed with people and cannot see any empty seats around. We ordered a set of 16 items for RMB$58 each..There were some dishes different from Lai Tang Yuan, but still like the zhong shui jiao best (there was more meat here, compared to Lai Tang Yuan..but still nice..). After eating dinner, we walked back to the hotel to take a cab down to the airport. When we boarded the cab, the cab driver was trying to get us to pay RMB$90 for the journey as he said still got don't know what road taxes/charges but we knew that the journey actually would only cost around RMB$60. But our luggage were all loaded up in the cab...haiz...so we went ahead with it...After a long ride, we finally reached the airport. It looked empty when you entered, not many people around there. We walked and shopped abit to see what else we can buy..bought some fruits back too..hahaha..
Then it was flight back to Singapore....and which ended my trip to Si Chuan... ^-^

Places visited:
1. Wen Shu Temple

Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 8

Day 9 - 25th Dec 2012

Mask

Today, we are going to walk around Chengdu by ourselves. So we got up slightly late (not very late too..hohohho), and got ready to go down for breakfast. It is buffet breakfast, and have cornflakes too..finally got cornflakes to eat...After breakfast, we went back to our room to take our bag and set off. We went to take metro down to Jin Sha Ruins Museum, but when we came out of the metro station, we still have a quite a distance to the museum (and it is not very near...). Finally we reached the museum entrance and bought the tickets (RMB$80 each...). Then we went in to explore the place, there were 5 halls, contained all the artifacts dug out from the site. They had preserved the whole site and let it for public display. There also had videos giving introduction on how it was first found and as they dug, the more artifacts they discovered. We even went for a 4D show, showing the life of the Jin Shan people's life (Can feel the snakes crawling very fast on your butt and can feel an arrow strike on your back...). The 4D show is RMB$20 per person...a bit exp...After that, we walked to another area to see the site where the artifacts are dug out from. We stayed there until 3 plus, then we went to buy admission tickets for the next place - Du Fu Thatched Cottage (RMB$60 each). Suppose there is a free ride between 3 places if you purchase the tickets for the 3 places (which is Jin Sha Ruins Museum, Du Fu Thatched Cottage and Wu Hou Ci Memorial Temple..didn't managed to visit the 3rd place as not enough time), so we expect there is a free ride to the cottage. Instead the lady from the museum told us that the free bus is not operating now as there was road construction going on, so she took us to a bus stop and take their public transport FOC to the cottage. She didn't take with us, she told us to alight after 4 or 5 stops. Luckily the alighting bus stop is near to the cottage entrance.

Du Fu Thatched Cottage

And so, we went to explore the house of Du Fu. The place was also big, spent an hour or so exploring the place. There was a 4 storey high tower inside, i climbed up to 2nd storey and took some photos. When i came down, my friend was nowhere to be found. So i tried to search for her around the area..Gosh..i walked in and out the tower and even climbed up to the 4th level (when i don't have the intention too in the first place). Finally i gave up looking around the tower and walked to another area, there she was...(from far saw her walking at another area..haiz..). She still asked our friends in singapore to send sms to me to meet up at the south gate (already saw her before i saw the sms...kekeke). After done exploring the house, we headed out to Kuan Zhai Alley. We exited at the other gate of the cottage house, and we walked for about 15 mins to the bus stop to take the bus. It was 2 or 3 stops away. But when we alighted, we don't know where to head too...later when asked a passerby where is the alley, she told us it is just opposite the road..the name for the alley is super not easy to see, (unless you know ancient Chinese characters....hohohoho). And so we walked in the alley, there was not much people too....very nice and not squeezing to walk in the alley...We ate some xiao chi as dinner and went back to our hotel after eating..After reaching the hotel, my friend went down to shop around while i stayed in our room to watch tv... kekeke..tv time!!

Day 10 - 26th Dec 2012

Schwarze Ziege

Today, woke up at around 8 plus to get ready for breakfast. After breakfast, we made our way to the bus stop to Qing Yang Gong (青羊宫）. It was 4 or 5 stops away from our hotel, and it stopped at the bus stop opposite the temple...Quite convenient compared to taking their metro.....Apparently the places of interest are near to bus stops, rather to metro stations...And when we reached, we still need to pay an entrance fee of RMB$10 to go in (A Taoist just sat outside and issues the tickets..). The Taoist temple is the oldest and biggest of its kind in the area, located in the west of downtown. While it has a long history, the buildings are modern, cheaply-made concrete constructions, and it quite frequently shows. The statues inside are also cheap modern constructions of no real interest.All the things inside are very old, and the place is super big. There were  a lot of gods inside, and there was an animal statue (shown on the left). It was made up from a small part of the 12 zodiac animals'. (Can you figure out?) We spent about half a day exploring the temple, saw a Taoist washing her super long hair too....really super long (going to touch the ground)...And there was a place for tea too, at the back of the temple. After exploring the temple, we set off out for lunch..hungry...We decided to go back to Chun Xi Road, after finding out the original place we wanted to go had closed. But along the journey back, we alighted at Tong Hui Men Road and went to walk at a street (Qin Tai Lu) where the whole street was filled with gold jewellery shops. After walking for a while, we decided to go into a restaurant there - Tanyoto....MaLa Steamboat time.....

MaLa Huo Guo

We went in and ordered steamboat with mala and tomato soup based...and ordered a fish head, mixtures of balls (got pork, cuttlefish and prawns), lotus root, cucumber, a duck (cold dish) and got a free side dish (corn..don't know what is it called...but still nice to eat..hahaha). We waited for some time before all the food came...The fish head was divided into 2 and boiled in both the soups (i took the mala and my friend took the tomato....). Wah!! The mala is super super ma....cannot tahan...When i ate the fish, my tongue was ma...until cannot talk already...hahhaa..i almost wanted to cry out....really cannot tahan...I told my friend to put all the rest of the food into the tomato-based soup...Cannot eat any more with the food in mala....We spent 2 or 3 hours for this meal..hahaha....Super full after eating....Then we slowly made our way back to Chun Xi Road for shopping (snacks and souvenirs time....). We went back to hotel room to rest for awhile first..then we went down to shop around and bought souvenirs (panda items) and snacks back...After bringing back the stuffs back to the hotel, we went down again to buy some food back...heavy lunch...can't even eat proper dinner...Bought alot of snacks again in the supermarket...kekeke...We had instant noodles for dinner and my friend bought a few yogurts back to try...after that, we went back to hotel to make our noodles...ahh..the instant noodles also oily and no taste..plain plain de...kekkee...Then is back to tv and ipad's time...night night!


Stay tune for the last day's journey in Chengdu..... ^_^

Places visited:
1. Jin Sha Ruins Museum
2. Du Fu Thatched Cottage
3. Kuan Zhai Alley
4. Qing Yang Gong
5. Qin Tai Lu
6. Chun Xi Road

Hotel Stayed:
Haiyatt Hotel

Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 5

Day 6 - 22nd Dec 2012

Mount ErMei

Today woke up super early again (everyday woke up early, much earlier than work days...hohohoho). We went down to the hotel's restaurant after getting ready for our buffet breakfast. Ahh...oily food for breakfast again..nothing much and nice to eat too...We saw Annie they all and sat with them for breakfast, we also asked them whether their toilet in their room smells...kekeke...Apparently theirs too, and the heater was also strong, which the room too warm. Had to open window to sleep. Their room was near to the lift, they could even hear people outside pulling luggage and talking..lol...And they told us their experience on their full body massage the night before. So funny, it was not a good and disappointed experience for them..hohoho..
After breakfast, we all boarded the bus to set off to Mount Er Mei.The tour guide gave us an introduction on the 4 scared mountains and the 4 Great Bodhisattva in China (for Buddhism). These are:
1.  Er Mei Shan - House of Puxian Bodhisattva
2. Wutai Shan - House of Wen Shu Bodhisattva (Bodhisattva of Wisdom)
3. Putuo Shan - House of Guan Yin Bodhisattva (Bodhisattva of Compassion)
4. JiuHua Shan - House of Dizhang Bodhisattva (taking care of the afterlife beings in hell realms)
Then the tour guide also told us the 4 weird sights in Er Mei Shan -> Sunrise, Fu Guang (really needs to depend on your luck), Ermei Monkeys (very brown and super big) and frogs sounded like singing.
 
We reached the mouth of Er Mei Shan at around 8 plus (going to 9am), then we went for a toilet break while the tour guide went to get out tickets. The tour guides later distributed out the tickets to us and we went in to wait for a mini bus to go up to somewhere near to the top (It is a 2 hour ride up there and we still need to take a few mins cable car ride up to top summit). So we went up the bus and went off..We stopped a shop halfway after 1 hour late, in the shop, they sell Lingzhi too, big big ones. Then we continued the way up..the bus stopped after some time, to put chains underneath the bus as the road is having ice on it. Then the bus continued moving up...We also put on the so-called to prevent slipping socks over our shoes. It felt like normal socks (costs RMB$20 for a pair), anyway we just put on.

ErMei Monkey

Finally it reached, we all got off and it started to snow.  Then we started to climb a very long stairs to walk up to the cable car entrance. On the way, we saw stalls selling gloves, anti-slip socks, corns, sausages, etc and monkeys. The monkeys are very big and people are throwing fruits to them to eat. The tour guide had told us that the monkeys are very fierce there and tend to snatch tourists' bags if they see you open your bag and digging to take something out. And even plastic bags, they may even snatch it from your hands if you are carrying them. But when we saw the monkeys, they are busy eating their food and a lot of people were trying to take photos of them. Then we continued to climb up, so tiring and it was very cold..the stairs are slippery too as some of them are already frozen with ice. Finally reached cable car entrance after 1 hour later, we went in. The cable car was so cramped with people (luckily it was only for a few mins...). Then we reached and alighted, we even bought some sausages to eat, got hungry. Nice to eat in old weather...kekeke..There is another type of hot dog..smells good, luckily we didn't buy it cos later we got to know it was ma la flavored hot dog. Christina's family they bought and they were all saying very ma...tongues cannot feel anything liao..hahaha...We continued to walk up to the golden summit, but when we really reached the golden summit, it was a super white scene greeting us. The fog had covered all the temples and statues. Cannot see anything beyond, everything was white. Cannot even see the giant golden PuXian Statue..i can only see the 4 elephants at the below, managed to see the bronze and sliver temples though. Didn't went up to see the golden temple, but we went to light the candles to wish for families' health...When i came out, i saw a group of people taking photos of the mini elephants around the giant Puxian statue. One of them was really an idiot, he was standing on top of the mini elephants and posing to take photo. Our tour guide saw that, and went over, politely asked him to come down as the elephants are also scared. When he did that, whatever good he did was gone. hohohoho....Then i continued to make my way downhill to the cable car station for meetup, near the cable car station, there was a stall selling locks for wishes. You can buy the locks, write down your wishes and lock it there. While waiting for the others in the cable car station, we bought some food to eat...still hungry...lol....

Skiing Ground

After everyone had arrived, we made our way to the cable car and waited for the car to come. After waiting for 5 mins, it came and everyone was forcing their way up to the car. Again it was packed with people...haiz...the car went down and when you see outside, the whole place was super white..We arrived and alighted from the car, some of the people wanted to take the sedan downhill, my friend also took it..hohoho...It was a sedan carried by 2 person and instead of you do the walking down the stairs, they carry you down for a price of RMB$220. But they were fast..i was still slowly climbing down the stairs, they were already gone from our sights. The stairs were really slippery, as some ice was formed, i almost slipped a few times. Was grabbing on the sides to help climb down...also saw people slipped when climbing the stairs. The tour leader told us that he last time brought a group here, the stairs were actually covered with ice, they literally needed to slide down to get down. And the people there actually put water to let the stairs covered with ice, so that they can sell those socks to walk on ice. I finally reached at the bottom of the stairs after 20 mins later...kekeke..feeling tired already....Then we went for our lunch...many dishes...and with fried egg omelette (having omelette for days and for every lunch and dinner...lol). After lunch, the group was split..one group to go skiing and the other to go back to hotel. My friend and me went for the skiing, then the tour guide took us to the skiing place. We didn't play..just watching other people play. Bought sausages to eat again..hahaha....My friend went to hide inside the rental house with Annie, then i went to take photos around with Annie' friend. After 1 hour, finally can leave the place..cold cold and nothing to do there...our tour leader brought some of us down to the main entrance first while those playing will stay on...My friend and Annie were so fast in getting out of the place, mi and Annie's friend were calling loudly from behind, but they didn't hear us shouting..hahaha..in the end, we just walked and hope the 2 of them will stop at the top of the stairs to wait up..hohoho....

As we were walking up, we heard the song that was sung during the Zhan Zu's performance.hohoho....the road was white color (already covered with snow)...then we waited for a while for the tour leader to come..then we walked down to the car park to take the bus downhill..which is a 2 hrs ride again...soo sleepy, almost fall asleep in the bus...Finally we reached the mouth of Mount Ermei and we got on our tour bus (bus B). The tour leader told us we need to wait for those still up there skiing..so in the meantime, the driver played a movie for us to kill time..it was a china movie, a comedy (stupid one...kekeke)...Finally the rest appeared, we went back to the hotel for dinner and to rest for the day.

To be cont'd.....

Places visited:
1. Mount ErMei

Hotel Stayed:
Jiajiang Venie Hotel