Travel Notes | Impressions of Chengdu

*This trip will be from 2024.8.24 – 2024.8.30

DAY1 Sichuan Museum, Chengdu Museum, Kuanzhai Alley

DAY 2 Daci Temple, Taikoo Li, Sanxingdui Museum

DAY 3 Jinsha Site Museum, Chunxi Road, Jinli

DAY 4 Dujiangyan, Fangsuo (Taikoo Li)

DAY 5 Qingyang Palace, Huhuaxi Park, Wenshu Temple

DAY 6 Wuhou Temple

*Museum recommendation index [good looking + air conditioning value]

Sanxingdui > Chengdu > Sichuan > Jinsha Site

High-temperature warnings were issued several days in a row, the streets were quiet, and major shopping malls and museums were filled with people.

There are too many children during the summer vacation.

Either they followed their parents, reading about practical tasks with their eyes blank, occasionally forcing themselves to read a few brief introductions. Then they wanted to run out of the exhibition hall as fast as possible.

Either they stamp their feet and ask to hold it because, after all, they can't see anything if they don't have it. After they finish looking at it, they kick their legs off the ground in boredom, thinking it is just a piece of junk that was put together with little interest.

Or just run, like I did for several hours, and I always saw the wet furry kid running too far away and crying because he couldn't find his family.

There are only a few adults on weekdays.

Everyone in the tour group wore headphones and followed the tour guide, whose only sound could be seen moving his mouth and whose voice could not be heard at a distance of one or two meters. They swam in front of the display cabinets like a school of migrating fish.

Cute pig head from Sanxingdui
 

The day we went to the Sanxingdui Museum, Guanghan was stuffy and hot.

The sun was almost burning my butt, and I was left curled up like a frightened mimosa under the umbrella, not feeling comfortable at all. The driver even teased me about "true love" a few times, which was laughable.

However, if it is a hot day, the air conditioning in the Sanxingdui Museum is worth the trip. Sanxingdui has three main exhibition halls, and the most famous exhibits are concentrated in the middle and back sections of the second and third exhibition halls, including bronze masks and several restored sacred trees.

Looking back, the only thing that still shocks me when I see the real thing is the sacred tree No. 1. The holy tree is abstract and beautiful, tall and detailed, with birds, dragons, branches, and fruits.

During this trip to Chengdu, I gradually came to believe that there had once been dragons, phoenixes, and dragons in the world, and I was more willing to believe that the three sacred trees were real things.

Otherwise, it would be too unreasonable.

Although the cultures are different, different places have created similar totems. It is only possible that some came up with the same idea out of thin air.

All the hotel signs I saw along the way were red.

I am not afraid of spicy food, and I get excited when talking about spicy food.

Unfortunately, my stomach was not very good. I read too many soft articles about the spiciness of Sichuan food, so I was a little scared before going out. But I don’t know if it was because of good luck on this trip or because Chengdu merchants were more considerate of out-of-town tourists. Anyway, until I got home, I had no meal that made me cry.

I don't know why the rabbit head on the upper left looks so much like a duck head.
 

Looking around the streets of Chengdu, apart from the cute panda-related products that make me want to commit violence, the most common shops are spicy rabbit heads and Mom's Pig's Trotters.

I prefer a crispy texture and always crave Baiyun pork knuckles, but I have no interest in soft and rotten pig's trotters. Plus, the pig's trotters have no taste, and I have to dip them in chili, which I don't like.

The rabbit head is delicious, and it has replaced the duck neck in my heart. But it must be carefully cut, which tests your strength and patience. You must be careful not to poke your mouth or get oil all over your face. I was so tired that I was panting after eating.

What I mean is it’s precisely because it’s cute that we want to eat it so that it can never escape.

In addition to snacks, the main dishes are also to my liking -

With crispy intestines, yellow throat, and tripe, this offal lover is ecstatic.

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Grilled fish, beef with legs crossed, and shrimp with vermicelli in garlic sauce are all delicious and springy.

Bobo Chicken

The red pot gets spicier as it cooks, with the spices taking up most of the plate. I don’t know where the red oil has splashed onto my clothes. Even if I don’t like rice, I’ll want to eat some by looking at the eye-catching color.

People always say Guangzhou is the best food place, but Chengdu is just a little behind.

After overeating hot and spicy food, my mouth becomes numb and painful, and my stomach is always bloated. I always want to eat something cold to relieve the pain and greasiness.

The Kuixinglou Food Street fruit jelly is the best I have ever tasted. The fruit, red beans, raisins, and brown sugar in this store are just the right amount of sweetness, the taro balls are dry and chewy, and with a large piece of ice that is not completely crushed, the visual, auditory, olfactory, and taste senses are very satisfying.

Sichuan pepper ice cream makes your mouth numb.

I drink iced sour plum soup almost every day. It keeps me alive after eating spicy food. It has a twin brother called sour horn juice, which tastes similar, and I like it, too.

Laozao Bing Douhua combines my favorite tofu pudding and Laozao. Eating it after eating spicy dishes gives me the feeling of "having a big fight with someone and then going home to my mother's arms." It is icy, soft, not too sweet, and very comfortable to eat.

Panda Boy Plays Me

I went shopping at Chengdu Fangsuo that day. With fantastic potential that I didn't know where it came from, I walked around for nearly three hours even though my legs were so sore that I wanted to kneel at any moment. The cheese panda I ate in the store then helped a lot.

Although it is a cheesecake, the cake base is only a thin layer, and the rest is smooth and delicate cheese, with chocolate added as eyes. It has a small shape and is icy cold. It doesn't make you feel nauseous when you eat it. It's so cute.

Dujiangyan has apparent wind and calm water.

I arrived in Chengdu around nine or ten in the evening. There were no lights on the way from the airport to the hotel.

So, quiet and resting early became my first impression.

The x in Qingyang Palace does not look like a sculpture.

This initial impression remained unchanged during the trip's next five or six days. Except for famous pedestrian streets such as Jinli, Kuanzhai Alley, Chunxi Road, Taikoo Li, and Yulin West Road, the other places we visited were not too noisy at night, and there were not too many people. I don’t know if it was because the weather was too hot or if the places we chose were tricky.

The weather was hot during this trip, so we relied on Didi to get around.

But no matter where we go, the money spent by our group is about the same as taking the subway or bus, which is very cost-effective.

Pat, the cute kid behind the drawing paper

The same is true for eating.

You can eat as much as you want and vomit it out, but it will only cost you two or three hundred yuan at most. Add group purchase coupons, scan the code, and get a free drink. You will be full every time and will feel good about patting your wallet.

Tea art lady at Wenshu Temple

But the driver said Chengdu has a rich nightlife, and I believe him.

How can a city with so many skewer restaurants go to bed early?

Be it Sichuan opera face-changing, comedy, or shadow play, all involve drinking tea from a covered bowl poured out of a long-spouted kettle; add in the teasing dialect, chatting, and eating, and, understandably, people don't want to stop.

There are many folk music bars on Yulin West Road.

Seeing the master's mask falling from his forehead was like seeing the falling special effects in PPT. At first, I was excited, thinking I had seen through the magic trick, but later, I found that it was not that simple, so I watched it again with reverence. How can you make the mask rise and fall on your face like a curtain?

Although I don't watch opera, I listened to Cantonese opera with my grandparents as a child. I only remember the beautiful sleeves and the older man singing humbly. I am trying to figure out what they are singing. I have also listened to many opera excerpts in the Spring Festival Gala in recent years, but I still can't hear the beauty. I only know that the costumes are gorgeous and the makeup is exaggerated.

I watched the live performance of the Sichuan opera Lü Bu Playing with Diao Chan this time. Lü Bu's eyes instantly struck me. They were lively, handsome, and affectionate. No wonder people in the past liked to listen to music, just like people today like to watch TV series. Watching the flirtations between handsome men and beautiful women, listening to the melodramatic stories you can't stop, drinking tea, and killing time is very comfortable.

People say you should go to Chengdu to experience a slow life, and it is indeed good to slow down.