---
author:
    email: mail@petermolnar.net
    image: https://petermolnar.net/favicon.jpg
    name: Peter Molnar
    url: https://petermolnar.net
copies:
- http://web.archive.org/web/20160709135327/https://petermolnar.eu/sichuan-chengdu-2/
lang: en
published: '2016-05-05T18:00:00+00:00'
summary: There are places you know you want to go back to, and there are places you
    have to go back to, because you loved it and you missed too many things to see
    there.
tags:
- travel
title: 'Another 2 weeks in Sichuan: Chengdu revisited'

---

The previous[^1] two[^2] weeks[^3] there[^4] was just barely enough for
about the half of the places we wanted to visit, so it was easy to
justify revisiting a place - besides, we were still fond of the memories
from Chengdu.

## The flight

This time we'd flown in a Dreamliner[^5] - it was nice, airy and
comfortable. While the electrically darkening windows are cool, they to
remove your option of peaking out when the crew sets them to dark
centrally. One other thing I disliked: the media center screens. No
privacy filter, very bright, so a nightmare for those who'd actually
want to get some sleep; but in the end, not getting any sleep helped a
lot preventing the jetlag; this time, it was much less of a pain.

I had some wonderful sights outside: finally it wasn't always cloudy.
We'd flown on a surprisingly northern route, but I could not see the the
Ural Mountains. These ones I think were somewhere around the Altai
Mountains.

![View of mountains from the plane on our way to
Chengdu](up-in-the-sky-1.jpg)

![View of mountains from the plane on our way to Chengdu
2](up-in-the-sky-2.jpg)

## The city

Chengdu is still lovely, although first it was too warm, too sweaty and
way too humid after months of English winter, which is 0-6 °C for a long
while. This time I counted the floors of a few buildings: 40-50 floors
are the most common.

![A view road with light traffic in Chengdu during the day - there is
both humidity and smog in the air](chengdu_01.jpg)

![Pavement view in Chendgu with a restaurant around
lunchtime](chengdu_02.jpg)

Unlike the nightscapes in Europe, nightscapes in China are hard. There
will be no straight white and red lines of car lights in Chendgu :)

![Street busy with traffic during the night in
Chendgu](chengdu-night-lights.jpg)

In Chengdu, most of the things, especially the shopping oriented areas,
are open till 22:00, so late night shopping is by default a thing. I
believe there is at least one street like this in every major city in
the world, but unlike the usual, there were much more local brands
present here.

![Late night shopping street in Chendgu during the
night](chunxi-road.jpg)

For some Hungarian friends: there are constants in our world. Adldas,
Rebuk, ah, the good old days. ![Newbailunlp store](chengdu_10.jpg)
![Newbunren store](chengdu_11.jpg)

And of course, there are less developed streets, just like in every
major city. ![Back alley in Chengdu next to a busy 4x4
road](chengdu_14.jpg)

## Baihuatan Park 百花潭公园[^6] {#baihuatan-park-百花潭公园6}

We've been to this park on our previous trip and we enjoyed it well
enough to know, it's not crowded and there are many things to see.
Indeed: this time the bonsai garden was open, and we could take a look
at some magnificent miniature trees - until Nora[^7] spotted the Chinese
landscape painters in one of the corners and decided to watch them for a
while, in case she can get a glimpse of some special techniques.

If you're just arriving in Chengdu and you want some nature, cool
climate and not too much of a crowd, I can highly recommend this spot.
It seems many young creatives prefer the park as well.

![One of the beautiful moon gates in Baihuatan Park which is the
entrance to the bonsai garden](chengdu_baihuatan_park_02.jpg)

![A beautiful, tiny bonsai mountainscape in Baihuatan Park in
Chengdu](chengdu_baihuatan_park_04.jpg)

![Chendgu has a great amount of friendly and creative young people, who
are happy to use the features of the city as background to their
work](chengdu_baihuatan_park_03.jpg)

![It is quite usual to bump into photographers and their models in any
of the parks of Chendgu, but the Baihuatan Park seemed to have a
lot](chengdu_baihuatan_park_05.jpg)

## Du Fu Thatched Cottage 杜甫草堂[^8] {#du-fu-thatched-cottage-杜甫草堂8}

Inside a city of 14 million, there is a rather large park, hosting a
cottage, that was rebuilt numerous times (with original materials, the
same way it was) since \~700BC. It is said to be the former residence of
Du Fu, a well known ancient poet of China.

Unfortunately we went there on a weekend, and during weekends,
everything can get seriously crowded in Sichuan. Apart from that, this
is a rather pleasant place and the cottage does look like a thing from
those Chinese movies from the ancient times.

![Even with a 10s long exposition you can't get rid of the people -
there is a sea of tourists around the Du Fu Thatched Cottage
itself](dufu_thatched_cottage_02.jpg)

![The "Du Fu Thatched Cottage" is a large area which includes nice
scenes and ponds](dufu_thatched_cottage_01.jpg)

![Another beautiful pond opposite the cottage
itself](dufu_thatched_cottage_03.jpg)

![A vast amount of flowers during spring and a peek through the zigzag
of branches](dufu_thatched_cottage_07.jpg)

![Artificial or not, the waterfall is a nice extra - and, since it's
quite simple to photograph it, it's a good spot to practice
photographing water](dufu_thatched_cottage_16.jpg)

One of the smaller buildings host options for tasting teas. Without
knowing what to expect, we joined and instead of tasting the regular
green tea, we went for pure jasmine flower tea and another tea, which I
forgot the name of. The jasmine tea is much lighter and tastier than I
expected and the tasting was unique and atmospheric in a traditional
cottage.

![Tea tasting in a smaller building](dufu_thatched_cottage_04.jpg)

![The traditional way of brewing jasmine - the actual jasmine flower -
tea](dufu_thatched_cottage_18.jpg)

![There are a few places where the differences between Japanese and
Chinese design becomes blurry or nonexistent; this corridor was one of
them](dufu_thatched_cottage_15.jpg)

## Pandas again

There is no Chengdu without pandas! They are still an absolute cute
overload: real bears ( with all the claws, muscles, everything ) lazy
enough to decide that they rather eat grass ( bamboo is a big grass
after all ) instead of hunting.

![Be patient with pandas - you are totally secondary compared to food.
If you are patient enough, you can exchange looks for a
moment.](eating-panda-1.jpg)

![Food. On your belly. A lot of it. Good.](eating-panda-2.jpg)

![Soft panda, warm panda, little ball of fur...](chengdu_pandas_24.jpg)

![Even though pandas look clumsy and move funny, they are surprisingly
relaxed when it comes to impossible splits and
movements](chengdu_pandas_15.jpg)

![A simple way to make it certain nobody gets your food: lay down on
it](chengdu_pandas_10.jpg)

And the red pandas. I didn't know, but originally they had the name of
panda - the big black and white one only got it's name decades later.
This time we could enter an area where you walk into their territory, so
we could see them pretty close - just to realize again they act like a
mixture of cats and bears, so the alternative name of firefox is fairly
accurate.

![Lazy red panda is lazy, and indeed, deep down they are
cats](chengdu_pandas_33.jpg)

![Is it safe? I don't know, lick it! - thoughs of a red panda before
laying down](chengdu_pandas_45.jpg)

![Yes, it's safe - thought the red panda, and layed
down](chengdu_pandas_47.jpg)

## Jinli Ancient Street 锦里步行街[^9] {#jinli-ancient-street-锦里步行街9}

Last time we simply couldn't find this place; it turned out that due to
issues with maps vs. GPS there, we were looking for it surprisingly far
away from the actual entrance. According to the written mentions, this
street had been here for 2200 years and it's always been a shopping
mall-like entity.

Unlike most places, we came here twice: our first visit was on a weekend

-   not a good idea. Therefore when we were back in the city, we gave it
    another go, visiting it on a rainy weekday evening: trust me, it's
    much better, and looks pretty much like a scene from Spirited Away.

One important things: even though Sichuan food is expected to be spicy,
the snacks here are burning. Be careful :)

![There is a simple trick to overcrowded streets: wait until it rains
during the evening - it gets much spacious](chengdu_jinli_street_01.jpg)

![Jinli Street is full of modern, LED lanterns, which are beautiful for
the eye and hard to capture for the camera
sensor](chengdu_jinli_street_04.jpg)

![Jinli Street isn't just an alley as we expected - at the end, it
becomes a wide, open area, with a pond and some romantic looking
bridges](chengdu_jinli_street_10.jpg)

![](jinli-street-at-night-1.jpg)

![](jinli-street-at-night-2.jpg)

![](jinli-street-at-night-3.jpg)

**Nora[^10] captured the feeling of Jinli at night much better than I
did, so please check her gallery as well.**

## Chengdu Shu Brocade and Embroidery Museum[^11] {#chengdu-shu-brocade-and-embroidery-museum11}

The only museum we decided to check - it's much harder to find than we
expected - was a museum of silk, brocade and embroidery, because
according to the legends, Sichuan is the origin of silk. It's a nice
museum, just the right size, with some working, extremely complicated,
authentic, made of silk and bamboo machinery to create brocade.

![An ancient brocade machine in the Chengdu Shu Brocade and Embroidery
Museum - and it is even more complicated than it looks in the
picture](chendgu_shu_brocade.jpg)

## Eastern Suburb Memory 东郊记忆[^12] {#eastern-suburb-memory-东郊记忆12}

We got a trip from a friend we met in Cambridge to check out the Eastern
Suburb Memory but we had no expectations. After being there I looked up
a few reviews, and came across this line: "A Memory of Soviet-Style
Communism and A Cosplayer Gathering Place"[^13]. It perfectly captures
the base feeling of the place, but it's much, much better live.

When you look at the style of 1960s industrial building of anything
somewhat connected to the Soviet Union, you'll see not just patterns but
exact same looks. This particular place used to be a cathode display
factory - now it hosts art places, pubs, dance halls, a huge outdoor
stage, numerous coffee houses - and it's all soaked in anime figures and
cosplay clues.

If you're from Hungary, and you're a bit of a nerd, this will feel home.

![Early night lights, old airplane, reinvented cathode light factory,
and a little red on the picture - a nice little summary for our evening
at the Eastern Suburb Memory](chengdu-eastern-suburb-memory-1.jpg)

![The fact so few people were around, yet every light was on made the
place unreal, something out of a cyberpunk
novel](chengdu-eastern-suburb-memory-5.jpg)

![A leftover tower from a different era, now a nice jewel in the night,
lighted with lots of LEDs](chengdu-eastern-suburb-memory-4.jpg)

![Just some windows and reflections at night in the
Memory](chengdu-eastern-suburb-memory-3.jpg)

![I was a little sad and disappointed, because the area was quite empty
given we visited it during a Tuesday it shouldn't be that much of a
surprise, but I'd love to see it once when all the places are
open](chengdu-eastern-suburb-memory-2.jpg)

![Another view of the fountain at the Easter Suburb Memory including one
of the mascots of the place on the
wall](eastern_suburb_memory_chengdu_03.jpg)

![Far ahead you can spot the unmastakable clue you're i Asia: those type
of buildings can't be found anywhere
else](eastern_suburb_memory_chengdu_05.jpg)

![This is what happens when old factories get a new life in the form of
artists, LEDs, and music](eastern_suburb_memory_chengdu_13.jpg)

![One of the central parts of the Easter Suburb Memory was surprisinly
deserted during the day, but we did meet a few local photographers -
some were doing gorgeous wedding shoots around
here](eastern_suburb_memory_chengdu_18.jpg)

![The Easter Suburb Memory even has a fountain made of a rusty old piece
of metal that looks like it's from a Studio Ghibli
movie](eastern_suburb_memory_chengdu_02.jpg)

![Chendgu has escape rooms games as well - this is the exit ... if you
manage to get out...](eastern_suburb_memory_chengdu_52.jpg)

![The only "newly built" part of the area is the outdoor stage - but
even this was using parts fitting and original
looking](eastern_suburb_memory_chengdu_10.jpg)

![Emily's coffee, a Totoro themed coffee
house!](eastern_suburb_memory_chengdu_46.jpg) (here: [^14])

## Wen Shu Fang 成都文殊坊[^15] again {#wen-shu-fang-成都文殊坊16-again}

We still love this place, but this time, instead of taking numerous
photos, we enjoyed a nice tea in the vegetarian restaurant of the Wen
Shu Monastery.

## Notes

### Public transport and metros

Earlier we didn't use any public transportation - apart from the trains
-, but this time we did make great use of the metros. They are air
conditioned, clean, quiet, new, and cheap, so if you destination is on
the line, use it. Price wise: 5 yuan for \~1 hour of run from one train
station to another for a single ticket, one person.

[^1]: <https://petermolnar.net/sichuan-chengdu/>

[^2]: <https://petermolnar.net/sichuan-jiuzhaigou-huanglong/>

[^3]: <https://petermolnar.net/sichuan-shunan-bamboo-sea/>

[^4]: <https://petermolnar.net/sichuan-mount-quingcheng/>

[^5]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner>

[^6]: <https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297463-d546619-Reviews-Baihuatan_Park-Chengdu_Sichuan.html>

[^7]: <http://norahamucska.eu/>

[^8]: <https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297463-d488516-Reviews-Du_Fu_Cottage-Chengdu_Sichuan.html>

[^9]: <http://www.cometochengdu.com/index.php?app=article_viewer&action=view&id=655>

[^10]: <https://norahamucska.eu/chengdu-nights/>

[^11]: <http://www.sichuantravelguide.com/chengdu/attractions/chengdu-shu-brocade-and-embroidery-museum.html>

[^12]: <http://www.cometochengdu.com/index.php?app=article_viewer&action=view&id=20>

[^13]: <https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g297463-d2411494-Reviews-Chengdu_Eastern_Memory-Chengdu_Sichuan.html>

[^14]: <https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/30.6712377/104.12088>

[^15]: <https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297463-d5302983-Reviews-WenShuFang_Folk_and_Culture_Street-Chengdu_Sichuan.html>