In planning our trip to China, Mr. Selfish and I chose to spend a few days in Chengdu primarily to visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. We  also found the city of Chengdu itself to be quite charming.

First, we visited Wenshu Temple, which is dedicated to the Buddhist representation of wisdom, the Manjusri Bodhisatva. The temple contains more than 450 Buddha statues and other relics. Mr. Selfish and I just walked around and enjoyed the scenery.

Admission into the temple is typically 5 yuan. Mr. Selfish and I entered through the back entrance and didn’t realize it until we left the temple that we had never paid the admission price. By then, the temple was closing up and they were not letting anyone back in.

Mr. Selfish and I wandered over to Jin Li Lu, which is a pedestrian shopping street. Although we didn’t purchase anything, we browsed around for quite a bit. We also had the worst tasting beer in my life. At least, they were only 5 yuan each.

Mr. Selfish and I also visited Qingyang Palace, which is also known as Green Ram Temple. It is a large Taoist temple in the middle of Chengdu.

It is said that if you rub the green ram, all of your life’s worries will vanish. Mr. Selfish was keen to rub it. Thereafter, we had a long tea break, which is quite the local thing to do.

Finally, we went to the People’s Park, which is the best place to observe the locals. We saw many older ladies and gentlemen hanging out in groups. We ran into about a dozen people doing some kind of line dancing, and I attempted to participate. We even witnessed an impromptu fashion show where the same “models” (without changing their clothes) just kept going up and down the runway.

What I enjoyed the most was the older man writing in Chinese characters with water on the sidewalk. I couldn’t read what he was writing but it still looked pretty cool.

Of course, there is also a teahouse in People’s Park. Around the teahouse, we received many offers for ear cleanings, which we declined.

Tomorrow, I’ll go over the Sichuan food we enjoyed while in Chengdu.