Chengdu was our base this trip as our international flights were in and out of Chengdu. We stayed at 4 different hotels in Chengdu for convenience. Once we checked out of the hotel at Tianfu Airport, we walked over to the domestic airport side to have lunch before took the more than an hour long train to the city. Our second hotel was at Taikoo Li as our flight out to Nyingchi the next day was from Chengdu Shuangliu Airport, plus it would be easier for sightseeing. On this day we went to Kuanzhai Alley (宽窄巷子) and Jinli Street (锦里古街). The visit to People's Park and to see the cute pandas was at our last day before flying out of Chengdu.
Kuanzhai Alley 宽窄巷子
It consists of three parallel alleys - Wide Alley (宽巷子), Narrow Alley (窄巷子) and Well Alley(井巷子). These alleys showcase traditional architecture, local craftsmanship, and Sichuan culture. Kuanzhai Alley has a history dating back to the Qing Dynasty.
Jinli Street 锦里古街
Jinli Street was one of the oldest and the busiest commercial streets in Chengdu in the Kingdom of Shu, during the Three Kingdoms Period about 1700 years ago. Jin means brocade because Chengdu was famous for its Shu Silk Brocade and referred to as Brocade City at that time.
This street was rebuilt near to Wuhou Memorial Temple dedicated to Marquis Wu (Wuhou) of the Kingdom of Shu in the Three Kingdoms Period, Zhuge Liang to boost economy as many tourists visits Wuhou Memorial Temple many year. The street was restored and imitates the ancient street with contributions from the Wuhou Temple and opened to public in October 2004.
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| I was told that it was named after koi fish but apparently it wasn't. |
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding 成都大熊猫繁育研究基地
Our visit unfortunately coincided with China's May holiday which meant crowd. Which probably explained why the morning session tickets were sold out when we tried to get it from trip.com. As it was our last day in Chengdu, we went ahead with the visit. No surprise - it was crowded.
By the time we got to Panda Express Bus stop at Kuanzhai Alley, we have missed the 12:00 pm bus and the ticket counter was not unattended. We decided to just get a Didi ride, we paid CNY 27.30. Return trip to hotel near People's Park was CNY 25.40.
It was also a hot day so the pandas were indoors except the red pandas but they were also hiding to get some respite from the heat.
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| "I am a panda, not a racoon" |
Brunch at Heming Teahouse 鹤鸣茶社 at People's Park 人民公园
Said to be one of the oldest tea houses in Chengdu, Heming Tea House has a history of over 100 years. We were looking up places for breakfast and as the People's Park was only a short walk away from the hotel we stayed, naturally this came up as one of the search results. It wasn't busy yet when we got there but very few people were eating, most were just drinking tea or munching on sunflower seeds or some fruits. Appears that it is a popular place to drink tea, enjoy the flowers or have their ears cleaned.
We picked a table and sat down. One of the staffs who was in charge of tea approached us for our tea order. The teas were not cheap, some were charged per cup. We were recommended one of the black tea and placed our order. We asked the staff if we can order food, she told us she was only charge of tea orders and to wait for the food staff for order.
After awhile another staff came with our tea, teapot, cups and a flask of hot water for refill. Still no food order staff in sight. I gave up waiting so I decided to walk around to look for a staff to place our order. Then I realised there were some food stalls where one can get the food directly. It was a little like Malaysia's coffee shop set up where you pick a seat, the drinks staff will take your order at the table and you order your food from respective stalls. However, there are a few elusive staffs who go around taking hot food order, and I managed to track down one where we ordered a bowl of zhong dumplings 钟水饺.
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| Pork zhong dumplings 钟水饺, CNY 15 |
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| From top left, clockwise: mung bean fillings, chocolate mooncake-ish (this taste the worst of the lot), custard filling crane pastry, chewy bun, red bean (if i remember correctly) pastry, panda tang yuan. CNY 36 |
Dragon wonton 龙抄手
This was also brunch and we had it at the airport before taking the train out to Chengdu city. Overall, all the wontons we had in Chengdu were better than any of the ones we had in Australia. We also picked up a coffee and egg tart from KFC after this.
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| Dragon wonton 龙抄手, CNY 38 |
Ice jelly 冰粉
Ice jelly or bing fen is made from the seeds of the Nicandra physalodes plant. The texture is similar to aiyu jelly and served with different toppings. The version we picked had various toppings including sweet fermented rice wine. It was refreshing for a hot day. We got it from a random stall near Kuanzhai Alley.
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| Ice jelly 冰粉, CNY 12 |
Chunyangguan Yuxiang Paigu Noodle 纯阳馆鱼香排骨面
青羊区吉祥街6号附6号 吉祥结店 – Qingyang Qu Jixiang Jie 6 Hao Fu 6 Hao Jixiangjie dian
I was back here again for dinner as we were at Kuanzhai Alley and sis hasn't been. As I ordered the 'fish fragrant' spare rib noodles the last round, I chose dan dan noodles this time. The staff recommended chilli oil wontons to every table including ours. We were rather hungry so we got both chilli oil wonton and steamed egg with ground pork. I didn't realised the last round that they also offered pickled cabbage for free.
Fish fragrant' spare rib noodles was less heavy compared to dan dan noodles but all four dishes were tasty.
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| From left, clockwise: chilli oil wonton, steamed egg with ground pork, 'fish fragrant' spare ribs noodles 1 tael, dan dan noodles 1 tael. Total CNY 42 |
We walked in to a random shop near the hotel for an early dinner before going to the airport. Even though I ordered zhajiang hand cut noodles and sis ordered beef rice noodles, we thought the soup stock looked very similar. I thought it my order would be dried noodles so was a little surprised to see noodle soup instead.
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| Total CNY 21 |
Side note: Japan or China for a year end holiday?
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