I woke up at around 10 and got out of the hostel at noon. It being my first day of three in Chengdu I decided to walk around and see the city and how much it's changed.
To be honest, Chengdu is a lot smaller than I remember it being. I think that has a lot to do with how insular I had been when I was there before. It makes me feel all grown up to have that type of perspective. It was a lot like when you were a kid and you would go to the same park to play all the time, then when you revisit that park later when you're all grown up, you almost can't believe how small at is, at how big you used to think it was. Compounded on that, having been in Beijing for the prior three weeks, I had warped expectations of what I was returning to. Beijing is an enormous city that dwarfs pretty much every other city that I've ever been to. Geographically, Beijing is the 4th largest city in the world with only Washington DC, Ottowa, and Moscow being ahead (but much of what is counted as 'Beijing' geography is very rural, areas where I probably will never go). Nevertheless, it is physically almost 3 times larger than NYC and in terms of population, it is has almost 3 times the number of people. In the area of Beijing where I actually live and explore, the city center, there are upwards of 13 or 14 million people.
Anyway, the first day back in Chengdu I was really excited to see a bunch of the spots I used to frequent when I lived in there in 2005-06. I walked down the main road just looking around and taking in all the small shops and street vendors. I soon found myself back at Tian Fu square with Big Mao, and even though it wasn't the same as it was the night prior (no light shows and not as many people), it was still very pretty. Sometimes when I'm in China and I see some remodeled square like Tian Fu, or a new building, or maybe a la-di-da plaza, I feel like I could be anywhere in the Western world. I was thinking just this thought as I was admiring a huge abstract sculpture made out of marble, considering the master craftsmanship that it must have taken to construct it, and how the square it was in was just as impressive and would never have existed anywhere in China even 10 years ago, when suddenly an old man on a beat up bicycle pedalling just faster than I was walking, leans over and hocks a huge loogie that misses the sculpture by an inch and lounds with a loud splat. He didn't give it a second glance. Good old China. I looked at the whitish, grayish flem on the ground next to the sculpture and couldn't help but think of the line: sticking feathers up your butt and clucking does not make you a chicken.
The first place I went to was my old school the Southwest School for Nationalities (Xi Nan Min Zu Da Xue). I think they changed a lot of the campus, but it was hard to tell. They added a section of basketball hoops and redid the flooring of the sports courts to a shocking blue grid type of pattern. The ping pong tables got new nets (still made out of metal, obviously), and the cafeteria was still jumpin. I went in and got a lot of food for something like 7 or 8 kuai. After, I exited out of the west gate and I found myself in the Tibetan quarter of the city. Suddenly nostalgia hit me like a slap in the face. I would come here all the time after my classes with my friends and get dumplings. The best dumplings in the world in fact. I had to see if the dumpling spot was still there. I heard about lots of restuarants closing in the 5 years since I was last there, which wasn't surprising, but I was hoping a spot that served the best dumplings in the world could survive. If they couldn't make it, I don't know who could. I couldn't quite remember what the outside of the restuarant looked like, my legs were pretty tired from all of the walking, and I was starting to get worried I wasn't going to find it when all of the sudden, BAM, there it was. Inside, 3 or 4 people ranging from about 12 - 40 years old were making the dumplings at a table right next to the entrance, a metal bucket between them full of some sort of seasoned, delicious meat. All of the tables inside were covered in clear, thick plastic, and on the ends of them were all of the garnishes for your make-your-own sauce. I was stuffed, tired, and relieved all at the same time. Even though I was stuffed, I could not look this resturant in the sign and not have some dumplings. I went inside and ordered 2 liang (I forget what liang stands for, I think it's a measurement of grams, maybe 50?) of pork dumplings. Even though I was stuffed, I easily finished off the delicious dumplings and was thinking about getting more. I decided that I should probably restrain myself because I didn't have any toilet paper with me and I wasn't confident I'd be able to find a public toilent regardless in the case of a catastrophic meltdown in my large intestine.
When I left the dumpling spot, it was almost 4 o clock and I felt oddly rejuvinated. My legs weren't sore, and I had a bounce in my step like Peter in Family Guy when he walks down the street with his own theme music playing. I looked at the English map of Chengdu that I gotten from my hostel and saw there was an English bookstore not far from where I was. I thought this would be a good opportunity to grab a book so I would have something to read once I finished Murakami. The bookstore was quite splendid. Inside there were large comfy chairs all along the large windows that looked into the street. The bookstore was made of 2 large rooms, on the far end of one room there was a bar and menus for food and drinks with chairs and tables for eating. It also had a large piano on the side wall with a saxaphone and guitar resting next to it so I could only assume that they would have live music from time to time. Next to the bar, there was a big sign that adverstised trivia night every Wednesday. I could tell I would be here a lot if I lived in Chengdu. In the other room, the walls were stacked high with shelves of books, most of them used. The rest of the floor space was filled with my huge comfy chairs and comfy leg rests.
After looking around for a while for a book, my eyes stopped on one and I immediately knew I was going to buy it- it was a paperback copy of A Game of Thrones. It was a thick book, easy to read, and I had been meaning to get around to that series for a while. I paid 100 kuai for it, which is rather expensive at roughly 16 dollars. Nevertheless I decided I needed it for the train ride back. I also ordered a cup of 'American Coffee' because god damn it I was on vacation and I hadn't had a real cup of coffee since arriving in China. I sat down with my coffee and read the first 30 pages of the book. I would read all 800 pages in the next 3 days. I was surpisingly happy with the coffee, it was legit and powerful. I found myself squatting over a hole in the ground only 3 or 4 sips in.
I took the subway home. Chengdu has only one line going north-south that is located on their biggest street. I am told that they are currently building a second line that goes east-west on their biggest east-west street. The subway was really clean, which isn't a surprise as it is only a few years old. After I paid for my ticket, I found 25 kuai on the ground. When I got back to the hostel I rested for a little while before heading out to the Xiong Mao (Panda) music festival, which I will get to later.
To be honest, Chengdu is a lot smaller than I remember it being. I think that has a lot to do with how insular I had been when I was there before. It makes me feel all grown up to have that type of perspective. It was a lot like when you were a kid and you would go to the same park to play all the time, then when you revisit that park later when you're all grown up, you almost can't believe how small at is, at how big you used to think it was. Compounded on that, having been in Beijing for the prior three weeks, I had warped expectations of what I was returning to. Beijing is an enormous city that dwarfs pretty much every other city that I've ever been to. Geographically, Beijing is the 4th largest city in the world with only Washington DC, Ottowa, and Moscow being ahead (but much of what is counted as 'Beijing' geography is very rural, areas where I probably will never go). Nevertheless, it is physically almost 3 times larger than NYC and in terms of population, it is has almost 3 times the number of people. In the area of Beijing where I actually live and explore, the city center, there are upwards of 13 or 14 million people.
Anyway, the first day back in Chengdu I was really excited to see a bunch of the spots I used to frequent when I lived in there in 2005-06. I walked down the main road just looking around and taking in all the small shops and street vendors. I soon found myself back at Tian Fu square with Big Mao, and even though it wasn't the same as it was the night prior (no light shows and not as many people), it was still very pretty. Sometimes when I'm in China and I see some remodeled square like Tian Fu, or a new building, or maybe a la-di-da plaza, I feel like I could be anywhere in the Western world. I was thinking just this thought as I was admiring a huge abstract sculpture made out of marble, considering the master craftsmanship that it must have taken to construct it, and how the square it was in was just as impressive and would never have existed anywhere in China even 10 years ago, when suddenly an old man on a beat up bicycle pedalling just faster than I was walking, leans over and hocks a huge loogie that misses the sculpture by an inch and lounds with a loud splat. He didn't give it a second glance. Good old China. I looked at the whitish, grayish flem on the ground next to the sculpture and couldn't help but think of the line: sticking feathers up your butt and clucking does not make you a chicken.
The first place I went to was my old school the Southwest School for Nationalities (Xi Nan Min Zu Da Xue). I think they changed a lot of the campus, but it was hard to tell. They added a section of basketball hoops and redid the flooring of the sports courts to a shocking blue grid type of pattern. The ping pong tables got new nets (still made out of metal, obviously), and the cafeteria was still jumpin. I went in and got a lot of food for something like 7 or 8 kuai. After, I exited out of the west gate and I found myself in the Tibetan quarter of the city. Suddenly nostalgia hit me like a slap in the face. I would come here all the time after my classes with my friends and get dumplings. The best dumplings in the world in fact. I had to see if the dumpling spot was still there. I heard about lots of restuarants closing in the 5 years since I was last there, which wasn't surprising, but I was hoping a spot that served the best dumplings in the world could survive. If they couldn't make it, I don't know who could. I couldn't quite remember what the outside of the restuarant looked like, my legs were pretty tired from all of the walking, and I was starting to get worried I wasn't going to find it when all of the sudden, BAM, there it was. Inside, 3 or 4 people ranging from about 12 - 40 years old were making the dumplings at a table right next to the entrance, a metal bucket between them full of some sort of seasoned, delicious meat. All of the tables inside were covered in clear, thick plastic, and on the ends of them were all of the garnishes for your make-your-own sauce. I was stuffed, tired, and relieved all at the same time. Even though I was stuffed, I could not look this resturant in the sign and not have some dumplings. I went inside and ordered 2 liang (I forget what liang stands for, I think it's a measurement of grams, maybe 50?) of pork dumplings. Even though I was stuffed, I easily finished off the delicious dumplings and was thinking about getting more. I decided that I should probably restrain myself because I didn't have any toilet paper with me and I wasn't confident I'd be able to find a public toilent regardless in the case of a catastrophic meltdown in my large intestine.
When I left the dumpling spot, it was almost 4 o clock and I felt oddly rejuvinated. My legs weren't sore, and I had a bounce in my step like Peter in Family Guy when he walks down the street with his own theme music playing. I looked at the English map of Chengdu that I gotten from my hostel and saw there was an English bookstore not far from where I was. I thought this would be a good opportunity to grab a book so I would have something to read once I finished Murakami. The bookstore was quite splendid. Inside there were large comfy chairs all along the large windows that looked into the street. The bookstore was made of 2 large rooms, on the far end of one room there was a bar and menus for food and drinks with chairs and tables for eating. It also had a large piano on the side wall with a saxaphone and guitar resting next to it so I could only assume that they would have live music from time to time. Next to the bar, there was a big sign that adverstised trivia night every Wednesday. I could tell I would be here a lot if I lived in Chengdu. In the other room, the walls were stacked high with shelves of books, most of them used. The rest of the floor space was filled with my huge comfy chairs and comfy leg rests.
After looking around for a while for a book, my eyes stopped on one and I immediately knew I was going to buy it- it was a paperback copy of A Game of Thrones. It was a thick book, easy to read, and I had been meaning to get around to that series for a while. I paid 100 kuai for it, which is rather expensive at roughly 16 dollars. Nevertheless I decided I needed it for the train ride back. I also ordered a cup of 'American Coffee' because god damn it I was on vacation and I hadn't had a real cup of coffee since arriving in China. I sat down with my coffee and read the first 30 pages of the book. I would read all 800 pages in the next 3 days. I was surpisingly happy with the coffee, it was legit and powerful. I found myself squatting over a hole in the ground only 3 or 4 sips in.
I took the subway home. Chengdu has only one line going north-south that is located on their biggest street. I am told that they are currently building a second line that goes east-west on their biggest east-west street. The subway was really clean, which isn't a surprise as it is only a few years old. After I paid for my ticket, I found 25 kuai on the ground. When I got back to the hostel I rested for a little while before heading out to the Xiong Mao (Panda) music festival, which I will get to later.
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