tanithryudo: (Messenger)
My parents are planning to spend a few months in China this fall. They're going to tour a lot of places, Xi'an is just one of them. Most of the other places I am also not all that interested in. Xi'an though, although I've been there before (and more than once, I think), it was a long time ago, and I am interested in visiting again on a self-guided tour.

Tentatively, they are planning to arrive in Xi'an around Oct. 22-23 and spending around 5 days there. So I am thinking maybe doing Sat, Oct 18 - Fri, Oct 31, giving me a weekend's time to recover from jet lag when I get home.

Also, looking at airline bookings, if I go by Air China, the transfer is at Beijing, so I suppose I could also spend a few days there? Though that makes round trip bookings a bit more of a hassle if the source/destination locations don't match when booking... Hrm, maybe book round trip between SFO and PEK, then separate round trip or one way between XIY and PEK?

Still thinking about it. My dad hasn't bought his plane tickets yet, after all. So I still have time to ponder...

Some places I am interested in visiting:
昭陵 (tomb of 唐太宗) -- very far from city, might stay 1 night in nearby town (袁家村)
茂陵 (tomb of 汉武帝) -- outside of city metro reach
大唐不夜城 - specifically, the night scene (+陕西歌舞大剧院?)
北院门 (pedestrian food street?)
华清宫 - from what I hear they have performances?
汉阳陵 (汉景帝), 汉长陵 (刘邦) -- Uncertain if these are open/excavated

Places I've already been to before:
秦始皇陵 - IIRC I've been there twice before
乾陵
大雁塔
大明宫 reproduction

Also, shopping wise, thinking of buying a set of 唐装/汉服...not to wear out or anything, just for...reasons. :p Then aside from that, looking to buy 1-2 sets of pants because it's easier to find fitting sizes in China than here. -_-

For main city hotel, I am liking the look of this place
tanithryudo: by cashew (Mail)
My visiting family members from CN are back from the East Coast for a weekend layover til their flight back to CN tomorrow. Yesterday, they rested and sorted out all the souvenirs they bought to see how everything will fit on the trip back.

Today I played chauffer and guide for a one-day tour of Silicon Valley.

Started off at Facebook (now Meta) HQ this morning. Though this place is pretty average looking and not very photogenic, IMO. So we didn't stop for too long. Parked at one of the random parking lots (at least the parking here is easy) and took some pics. Then drove a circle around its campus.

Then we moved on to Stanford University. Had a leisurely stroll through all the touristy hot spots there. Had a quick lunch at the food court south side of campus. They spent some time deciding on buying souvenirs at the student store. Then strolled back north and looked through the Cantor Arts Center. By the time we were done it was already near 4 PM (meaning we spent around 4 hours there -_o...)

After that, went to the Google Metroplex. Parking was a pain to find, and we ended up parking at the Google Store short term parking lot. Took some pics of the Google Store... doesn't seem like the Metroplex itself is too photogenic...at least, we didn't find the "front door" with the Google lettering on the building.

Next up was Apple HQ. It's a much smaller campus. Parked across the street from it at another company's empty parking lot. Took some pics of the rounded building. Though couldn't find an Apple logo to include in shots.

After that was Intel HQ. Again, this campus was even smaller. But very photogenic in that the company name is prominently displayed on the building. XD

Last stop was Nvidia. Interesting building, but no parking (its underground visitor parking lot was closed) and we ended up parking at a nearby business' lot instead. Pics could capture some parts of the interestingly shaped building, but the company logo was blocked by some tall grass (it's too low!)

Didn't have time to make the last stop on the wish list, Adobe, as we had plans to drive back and have dinner with some other relatives here. But we did get most of the items on the list done. Tomorrow I'll be seeing them off to SFO!
tanithryudo: (Default)
Was finally able to avoid getting up early yesterday morning. Had a leisurely breakfast buffet at the Circus Circus hotel. Then took the noon flight to LA.

Finally, normal CA weather instead of the heatwave that is Vegas. We got to the hotel 2 hours before check-in time. Left our luggage with the concierge.

Then walked over to crypto.com stadium, a requested destination by my nephew who is a basketball nut. He and his dad then proceeded to spend over a hour taking pics of the statues in front and in the gift shop. He also got scammed out of $50 by some rando posing as a sports star selling autographs... 😑

We got back to the hotel an hour after normal check-in time, but got told our rooms were still not ready. Apparently they're booked full for the weekend and housekeeping is backed up. We waited another hour and got one of the 2 suites, and the second one not til 7 pm. 😑

For dinner we went to a nearby Brazilian steakhouse, probably the most formal dining we had on this trip. Food was good, especially given that my nephew who hates veggies actually ate the veggie portion of the dishes of his own accord.

After dinner we called an Under to go to Griffith Observatory. Unfortunately, due to the late start, the traffic... by the time we got there, it was only like 5-10 mins from closing. We only got a chance to take some night pics of the city before we had to leave.

Sigh.

This morning we met up with our driver for a one-day LA city tour package. Basically it involves hitting most of the famous spots of the city, including Hollywood Hills, the Walk of Fame, The Last Bookstore, Rodeo St., Beverly Hills, Sunset Blvd., Getty Museum. For lunch we went to the local Chinatown and had dim sum.

I'm more or less meh about most of these places, but my cousin and nephew had a blast, and bought a bunch of souvenirs. Makes me concerned if they're gonna need an extra trunk by the time the return to China.

At the end, we were delivered to LAX at 6. Unfortunately our flight is delayed to 9:15ish... So it's gonna be a long wait.
tanithryudo: (Default)
Got up early again and had standard hotel breakfast, before the group set off.

First stop was the native guide tour down into the lower Antelope Canyon. I didn't join this one because didn't want to do steep climbing in this heat.

Second stop is the top of Antelope Canyon. Took some pictures there from the railing part.

After that we had lunch at a Thai place. I thought it was average... The pineapple fried rice didn't even come in a pineapple.

Then was the long drive back to Vegas, where we checked in at the Circus Circus casino. The city was definitely busier today than the previous time, most likely due to the upcoming weekend.

We didn't do any further shows tonight. After a quick dinner of fast food, we went to the Bellagio to watch the fountain display. Also too some photos of the surrounding places, before heading back.
tanithryudo: (Default)
Got up early for the ~5 hr drive from Vegas to Grand Canyon with a tour group. Caught some sleep on the way.

We got there around lunchtime, and ate at an IMAX place. The show itself was also nice. My uncle's family also purchased a helicopter tour nearby. I waited with the others who didn't purchase the flight at the IMAX. Bought a Grand Canyon T-shirt to remember the trip by.

We then drove to a scenic stop at south Grand Canyon, then east, then circled north to Page where our overnight hotel is. Ate at a (Americanized) Chinese buffet nearby for dinner.
tanithryudo: (Default)
Got up way too early and ended up waiting for 2+ hours in the airport.

Arrived in Vegas around noon is, which was too early for hotel check-in. So we grabbed a quick lunch at the food court and bought tickets for the 2 pm presentation at The Sphere. The short walk from taxi drop off zone to the building felt like we were eggs in a simmering pot.

My uncle surprisingly had fun with the Aura robots before the show. The show itself was very nicE. The huge screen encompassing the entire dome created 3D effects without needing special glasses. The only complaint I have is in a intro about Earth, none of the geographical locations nor people shown were East Asian. Lots of representation of India, middle-east, Europe, North America... But nothing from China, or even Japan, Korea, Vietnam... Tsk.

After the show, instead of braving the heat in the parking lot for a ride share, we took an indoor sky bridge to The Venetian, and then got a taxi there back to our hotel at the Excalibur.

For the evening, it turned out all shows for the Cirque were sold out. So we ended up doing a magic show by David Copperfield. Have to admit it was fun. I'm sure a lot of the jokes went over my uncle/cousins' heads. But the magic demos were impressive.

Tomorrow, the tour bus for the grand canyon leaves early. We tried to buy some stuff for breakfast ahead of time, but... Eh. Seems like Vegas just doesn't do breakfast.
tanithryudo: (Zen)
This week had daytime temperatures in the mid to high 90s. Thank goodness for AC, keeping my room temperature to around the high 80s. Next week looks to be better.

As an aside, have relatives visiting from China next week. I am ending up their chauffer / tour guide / translator while they're visiting the west coast sites. Temperatures in LA is about the same as here, actually, high 80s at the most.

Grand Canyon is low to mid 90s...

Thu 11 Mostly Sunny 94°/57°F 35°/14°C
Fri 12 Mostly Sunny 91°/57°F 33°/14°C

Las Vegas on the other hand... T_T

Wed 10 117°/88°F 47°/31°C
Thu 11 117°/88°F 47°/31°C
Fri 12 114°/88°F 46°/31°C
Sat 13 112°/88°F 44°/31°C
tanithryudo: (Work)
The making it home part was the easy part. The aftermath...ah-haha... -_-

Pretty much all of the foods in the refrigerator (not the freezer) had to be thrown out. Just the eggs and various canned stuff/bottled sauces left. I figured I would buy some groceries the next day, along with other errands I needed to run...

And then the next day, I try to start the car, and the battery on the Prius dies again. LOL. I have no idea where the charger we used last time is located; searched the garage and couldn't find it. We do have 2 other cars, but the keys had been left at a relative's place, because my parents were paranoid about the house getting robbed or something while we were out. (Me: -_- ...)

So I end up buying the Duralast aux battery I researched the last time this happened, because that place makes same day deliveries. (Oh, and also ordered delivery for food that day.) It arrived pretty fast, just a few hours after I made the order.

Then it was an effort to open up the back trunk to get to the Prius aux battery, because there's no way to open the rear door once the battery is dead. So I had to put down the back seats, crawl in and remove the floors in the trunk from inside, and then stick my hand into the trigger thingy to open the hatch manually from inside. It's a good thing I am small, and the whole exercise still made me bend in unwieldy ways. (-_-)

Then, I tried to loosen the bolts holding down the aux battery using the spanners found in the garage...and none of them fit. Blergh.

In the end I still had to wait for the next day, when my relatives came over to deliver the car keys and other stuff my parents left with them, and also brought over some spanners they had (I sent them a pic of the bolt in question). This time I was finally able to loosen the bolts and replace the battery using directions from youtube. Car is now able to start properly. In time for my dentist appointment this afternoon, to drop off the laptop I need to send back to Cisco at the USPS, and to buy groceries.

Speaking of USPS. I had used the hold mail system for the duration of being out. It worked pretty well. They delivered all the held mail in a bundle on the morning of the 18th, which is when I believe I set the holding to end.
tanithryudo: (Read)
A little belated post, but I am back home in the USA. Still the 17th though, due to time zone shenanigans, despite it being over 24 hours since I got up "yesterday".

Got up "yesterday" 4/17 in Chengdu a little before 6 AM. Had breakfast at the hotel. Then checked out a little after 7 AM. (BTW, looking over the receipt they gave me now, I am not sure they charged me for the last morning's breakfast. The charges stop at 4/16 and doesn't contain an entry for 4/17 breakfast. Actually, I am not sure they charged me for any of the breakfasts... the numbers don't look too different between each day. o_O)

The hotel called a taxi for me to get to Shuangliu Airport. Due to the early morning, there was no traffic, and the drive was quick. Also, this was the first time I saw rain/drizzle since coming to Chengdu. I guess the rain usually happens in the night/early morning, and is gone by the time the typical Chengdu morning (~8-10 AM) rolls around.

Check-in for Air China was pretty smooth. I did end up checking in my suitcase. The flight actually included a meal despite how short it was! That was a surprise. Departure and arrival at Shanghai were both on time. At Shanghai, I checked all the way out and got my baggage, then checked back at the departures section, which was thankfully just a floor up from were our arrivals ended up.

Since I was able to do online check-in for UA this time, I didn't need to manually check in at the counter (the counter wasn't even open yet when I got there). Directly went through security, and waited the next few hours at the gate. Since I ate on the previous flight, and I knew UA tends to serve a meal shortly after takeoff, I didn't feel like going to buy something else. BTW, Shanghai was the coldest place of the 3 airports I visited today. Not sure if they have the AC turned too high, or if it's the weather itself; it was raining quite a bit there.

The UA flight actually boarded and took off earlier than schedule. I guess because they're underbooked and everyone got there on time, they could leave early? The flight back was shorter, just 10 hours, but I wasn't able to get much sleep on it. Partly because my seat was a little too close to the bathroom section, so there was a lingering smell...

Arrived at SFO in the early afternoon. Customs took an hour to get through. I actually think the non-citizens line got done faster, because there were less people who went to that line, and about the same number of officials servicing it.

Anyway, took the BART back to Fremont, which was surprisingly warm and...soothing?. Or maybe it was just my tiredness catching up, because I did nap a little bit on the train. Once back to Fremont, I took an Uber back to the house (and paid about the same amount, converted, as the taxi in Chengdu, for covering just a small fraction of the distance...the difference is a little jarring).
tanithryudo: by cashew (Mail)
I had originally set a day aside for adjustments or making up for missed opportunities, and we had thrown ideas around like doing a 熊猫谷+都江堰 combo or 四川科技馆+人民广场 combo. But then my period started, and cramps hit, and thw weather is still hot... So we just ended up taking the day off for rest.

Slept in this morning and had breakfast at the hotel.

Around noon, dropped by a stand my mom found which were selling shoes at discount for 50 rmb. Since my old shoes were falling apart, went ahead and bought a new pair to directly replace them.

For lunch, we ate at a 钵钵鸡 shop. Portions were about 3x that of the stand we previously bought from, and the end result price for our meal was lower. Wow, in retrospect, the stand next to the hotel was quite obviously overpriced. Taste was much the same. We picked the red spice sauce base, but it wasn't unbearably spicy. Afterwards the tongue was a little numb, but nothing some pastry and milk tea couldn't cure.

In prep for tomorrow's departure, I tried to do the check-ins ahead of time. UA worked this time, but Air China did not, as expected. So will need to do that check-in in person. And since I didn't buy these tickets together, it probably means I have to transfer between them the long way around, fully check out domestically and then check in internationally.

For dinner we also went to a nearby place. Afterwards tried a few fried skewers. Tasty, but probably not healthy.

Then came back and packed things up for tomorrow. Some things will get left behind to save space, but got things all stuffed in.
tanithryudo: (Red Lady)
Today we went to 武侯祠, except for my mom who booked an early one day trip to Mt. Emei. Breakfast was a 豆碗面 nearby, and was ok but nothing special. We then took the bus to the tour site.

I somewhat knew what to expect for this place. So had fun looking out for the block of wood representing 阿斗, the 出师表 supposedly written by 岳飞, etc. Also saw the stone stele written by famous Tang politician, then transcribed in the handwriting of a famous calligrapher, and etched by a famous smith.

Nearby the Tang and Ming steles ere some steles from the Qing, and they were in much worse quality and falling apart at the edges. Ironic when compared to their older counterparts.

There were also a few surprises, such as a carp in the waterways valiantly trying to make its way upstream. Such as being in season for the flowers of the 400 year old 古旱莲 near 刘备's tomb to be shedding themselves like fine snow.

After we finished up 武侯祠, we also walked along the western side of the place to visit the tomb of Liu Xiang, a Republic era warlord who ruled the Sichuan region. Then after that we wandered a bit through 锦鲤, though didn't end up eating lunch there.

Instead we rode the bus back near the hotel, and from there split up with my dad. He'll do his own thing for lunch, and we ordered in. Eh...only the fried rice was good, the rest were too spicy.

Rested the afternoon and ordered more takeout for dinner.

Will probably take tomorrow, my last day here, easy too, and prep for departure.
tanithryudo: (IDIC)
Today's visit was to the Chengdu Museum, which opens at 9, so we left the hotel at 8 for a random breakfast serving place nearby. The taste was meh.

Museum entry was free. Unfortunately it was also very crowded. Were started on the upper floor is and worked our way backwards chronologically. So from near modern, to WWII, to republic era, to late Qing. A lot of this was complicated texts.

Then floor 4 was Sui, Tang, 五代十国, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing. Then floor 3 was Pre-Qin through Three kingdoms/north & south. Floor 2 was prehistoric times and mostly stuff we'd already seen at other sites.

The place was big, and by the end we were flagging and rushed through floors 2 & 3. Skipped floor 1 as that had a separate international historical jewelry exhibit, which cost a separate fee to enter.

There was also a basement floor which contained a natural life sciences exhibit, geared mostly for kids. We joked that this was probably made up of specimens donated by some dedicated big game hunter. I mean, it was obvious most of the herbivores were "real" preserved specimens. Thankfully the endangered species were just models and not "real". The best part of this exhibit was that the AC was turned up much higher (to preserve the specimens probably), and it was a reprieve from the heat generated by the masses from the above floor exhibits.

After leaving the museum, we went to the underground shopping at Tianfu Plaza for lunch. Picked a random place for soup noodles that were big on portions and meh on taste. Also ordered a 冒菜 veggie item which was quite spicy, but at least ticked off another item in sichuan cuisine.

At that point, the temperature was way too hot to be visiting the People's Park nearby. (High temp today is up to 31 degrees!) We had also briefly considered either the 四川科技馆 or 恐龙量子场, but both of those places seems to be targeted for kids and interest wasn't high. So we just went back to the hotel in the end.

On the way back by IFS, we found a shop for panda paraphernalia which included T-shirts. It's the first and only T-shirts shop with Chengdu related designs I've seem so far! Finally bought a panda T-shirt for the trip!

Back at the hotel, we rested a bit and avoided the high afternoon temperatures.

This evening we went to see the Sichuan opera performance 芙蓉國碎. Dinner was eaten at an upscale restaurant across the street called 柴门头啖汤. Their roasted pigeon and stone pot radish were delicious. Also ordered pig snout (拱觜) turned out to be like bacon. Tasty, but probably not healthy. 😔

The actual opera performance was quite fun. It's obviously been adapted for modern audiences, cut into segments containing the core techniques used, and reducing the amount of cultural context needed. Singing is done with a recorded track, and some of the scores have obviously come from adapted pop music.

The parts that stood out were the 水袖 dances, the acrobatics while holding a lit bowl on the head, the puppet bits, a hand shadow performance, and of course the 变脸 performance. Of these we saw a bit of the fire bowl and 变脸 tricks at Kuanzhai Alley before, but this was definitely more elaborate. Also, I think among the 'faces' swapped, there was a Doraemon and a Spiderman mask. 😂

My favorite bits are the puppets. First the one who plucked a flower out of a bouquet and stuck it in its hair. And then the puppet that also performed 变脸 and spewing fire.
tanithryudo: (Zen)
Got up at 8-ish to get breakfast around IFS, and went to the 鬼包子 shop recommended by my parents. It was good, and UNESCO approved. Then bought some drinks, only to find out there are no bathrooms around because all of the mall and office buildings don't open until 10, and that was when our bus leaves. In the end, [personal profile] cashew ended up using the bathroom inside the metro which was icky and had a long line.

(As an aside, it seems like Chengdu as a city just starts its day later, around 8-10 ish. We were guessing this is due to time zone differences. Even though China uses one time zone for the entire country, geographically speaking, Chengdu is around 2 hours behind Beijing in terms of sunrise/sunset. But then again, the city also seems to close down around 10 PM as well, rather than staying open until midnight... Hm.)

Bus to 都江堰 took over an hour and we slept most of the way. At the end of the ride we ended up buying the tour group guide services offer by the bus. The information was great, both for the history of the irrigation system and for how to navigate the place by ourselves after the official tour. But it was a bit fast paced for some of the photogenic spots at the beginning of the site.

We took the route along the west side of the canal, with a good view of 宝瓶口 & 飞沙堰. After looking over the 龟嘴, we took the tram over north to the 安澜桥 (aka 夫妻桥). I got some nice panoramic pics, but not sure what resolution they'll come out in.

There we parted ways with our tour guide. We then crossed over the rickety rope bridge and climbed uuuup to 秦堰楼 for the hilltop view. Then down through 二王庙.

By that time, my parents were well on the way to the bus stop and started rushing us to catch up. So we rushed the rest of the path back to the South Bridge gate. It's fortunate most of the way was downhill, but it was still a big rush. My knees definitely got the workout today.

After exiting the official scenic zone, there is still a small town there selling a lot of local specialties and souvenirs, but we were forced to skip all of that. By the time we got back to the bus parking lot, we found they had already left on another bus. So there was no point to us rushing after their bus had left! Bleh. The most disappointing thing about today was missing the entire last segment of the tour site due to blind rushing. 😤

The bus ride back to the city took longer due to traffic. They dropped us off at a place called 琴台故径, which is apparently the place where 司马相如 & 卓文君 met. The street is full of wine shops, jewelry shops, and hanfu (or just archaic styled clothing) shops, which I guess is appropriate. The only food places are either part of hotels or formal hotpot places. I did end up buying a 刺绣 top there though.

In the end, we went back to IFS for dinner. At the food court there, we ate at a japanese sushi buffet (the kind with nigiri dishes on a scrolling platform and they charge you by the number of dishes). The food itself was average, but we did see some surprises, such as a piece of cooked liver on top of an unagi nigiri. Or the concept of bacon nigiri (we didn't have any). Weird.
tanithryudo: (Nikki2)
Lighter day today so we left at a leisurely 8 am, when some breakfast shops are actually open (le gasp). Breakfast was eaten at a bun shop called 李与白包子铺, which offered a variety of buns and related breakfast foods. Taste was good, none were spicy.

We then took the metro to 金沙遗址博物馆. Unlike 三星堆, this site was more like a park with the museum as part of it, rather than just a single museum building. Also, since chinese citizens over 70 can get in without paying, it seems to also be a park for the elderly.

We went through the various exhibits and got pics of the iconic sunbird disc, as well as some souvenirs. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like chinese people believe in T-shirts? At least, almost none of the tourist spots we've gone to so far sold basic T-shirts in the souvenir shops. 😮‍💨

After finishing the last official exhibit, we also wandered around the rest of the site. Found a pen where they got deer! Not a petting zoo, but also no signs against sticking your hand in to touch them. There is a sign against feeding though. 😋

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Kuanzai Alley but then walked further onto 奎星楼街 and had lunch at a highly rated restaurant there. Food was good, and then then they gave us free dessert for filling out high ratings reviews for the place online. LOL, I guess that's where their high rating comes from.

After resting at the hotel for a bit, we went on to have a quick dinner and then to capture some night scene pics of the city.

For dinner we had turtle. It was OK, and spicy.

The we went to 交子之环桥 to watch the light show at the 双子塔. Unfortunately, Baidu lied to me. There was no special light display at 8:30, just a continuous 3 minute loop of LEDs. Ended up just taking pics and videos of that and the nearby scenery. Also, there was a drone that was flying around up there and taking aeriel pics too.

Next we went to 生机之塔 near SKP's plaza. There are 6 pillars there which spout water and perform a looping light display. Took pics ands vids. Then got trapped in the SKP underground shopping mall for like 40+ minutes before finally making it out to the line 18 metro station.

Overall the night light displays were underwhelming, and not quite worth all the time and walking spent.
tanithryudo: (Nikki)
Got up early today and had breakfast at the hotel so we could avoid the morning traffic rush for the bus to 三星堆博物馆. The museum itself was packed, but only had three major exhibits, so the contents were about the same amount as the Sichuan museum from yesterday. The harder part was squeezing into the crowd to get proper photos. In the end, we still finished it in about 2 hours or so. The round trip bus ride was probably the same length, ignoring the traffic near the end at our return.

Afterwards, we had lunch at a food court nearby Chunxi Rd. Got some noodles and bull frog. Didn't notice the place also had turtle on the menu until it was too late. Oh well, maybe next time.

Since there was more time left in the day, we thought to try going to see the official Sichuan opera performance, but there weren't any tickets left for today. Ended up buying for the 14th, based on current plans. Also, purchased 3 tickets for the bus for just 都江堰 on the day after tomorrow. Because 青城山 definitely would involve climbing (despite my mom's claims to the contrary), and I don't think my feet would survive that.

For dinner we went to the stand for 钵钵鸡 right next to the hotel. Was originally planning to get a few sticks to get a taste, but ended up having a bunch more pushed on us. I guess buying this is like haggling, you have to be able to tell the salesperson no. On the upside, the food was delicious, and actually the spicy version was better then the pepper version. It's not actually too spicy for me, not sure if it's because this shop is catered to foreigner tastebuds due to its location.

Newest update to the itinerary:

4/12 FRI - * 金沙遗址 (closed Mon)
4/13 SAT - * 都江堰
4/14 SUN - 成都博物馆 (closed Mon) + 川剧 8:30pm show
4/15 MON - 武侯祠(+锦里)
tanithryudo: (IDIC)
Stated off a little later today. Had breakfast at a nearby high ranked 面食 diner. I got a 酒酿豆花 which was tasty, and their 手抄 sizes are generous.

We took the metro to Dufu Cottage. Went in through the north gate directly into the garden area. Beautiful place. Took plenty of pics and selfies.

Also, it seems like in 2001, they found actual archaeological evidence of Dufu's residence and tools and stuff. So now some of that has been put into his cottage reproduction (the stone made stuff in the kitchen at least), and the rest were put into a 唐代遗址 exhibition. My mom didn't remember this place when she visited in 2019 though...

The main halls of the reserve weren't as interesting, so we went through them quickly and headed to lunch. There was a very high ranked mapo tofu restaurant nearby, but unfortunately it was so popular that it was full and had a long waitlist. So we ended up eating at another nearby place, with trotter soup, sweet roasted duck, and somewhat over ordered on the vegetables.

After lunch we went to the 四川博物院 which was just across the street. They had some interesting exhibits of civilization in the area from the prehistoric eras (旧/新石器时代) all the way through 隋唐/五代十国. After that I guess 蜀 region did not have much archaeologically that stood out from the rest of the country I guess.

Note: Also ran out of charge on my portable charger, after 3 days of partial usage = 50% phone.

We left for dinner early and went back to the mapo tofu place - 陈麻婆豆腐(旗舰店). This time there was no wait. The tofu was indeed delicious. And *extremely* spicy. Everything else we ordered was to reduce the effects of spice - 蓝莓山药, thick veggie/corn soup, fruit platter, coconut drink. Still couldn't finish the tofu, but got stuffed on everything else. Took the coconut drink to go back.

Walked a little bit in the park next to the museum afterwards to help digest. The view wasn't as wow as what we saw earlier in the day. Then we took the bus back to the hotel. Struggled with the app for bus payment, until [personal profile] cashew paid for me. I eventually figured out how to register with my passport number, but I'm not sure if I'll be using the bus again this stay.

Tonight is also when my parents get in. Some hotel, same floor. But they also brought a change in scheduling. Ah well.

New tentative schedule:

4/11 THU - * 三星堆
4/12 FRI - * 都江堰
4/13 SAT - * 金沙遗址 (in city)
4/14 SUN - 武侯祠(+锦里)
4/15 MON - 成都博物馆
4/16 TUE - free
tanithryudo: (Gods at Play)
Today is panda day.

Had breakfast at the hotel itself. Standard international breakfast. Nothing surprising. The egg tarts were tasty.

Then took the scenic tour bus to the Panda reserve. The commentator gave us tips about the hottest spots in the reserve. And then also sold me on two sets of panda magnets. These contain wechat QR codes that will randomly direct you to an official panda-cam, which is cool. Plan to keep the set of four for the house, and then break up the set of 8 for gifting.

Reserve tickets require real ID, but thankfully just the number, not the actual original document. Similarly, buying tickets for the internal tram car was also a hassle and the page refused to load on my wechat, but thankfully, after much struggle with the app, [personal profile] cashew was able to buy for 2.

At the reserve, we started off going directly to the Starry Sky (星星) section. Nobody was home at the indoor nursery exhibits, but we saw quite a few pandas in the outdoor enclosures.

Afterwards we got something to drink at the nearby Pedestrian Street. I also got a decent signed sundae to help bring down my temperature. Also, rested my feet which were starting to ache again. (There is so much climbing up and down everywhere...)

Next we rook the tram to the No. 1 Giant Panda Villa. Met a few "diplomat" pandas. Then detoured to the Moon Nursery House, which again was empty.

Then it was the two red pandas sections, and got some group pics there. Finally, hit the Sun Nursery House, which apparently didn't even have an indoor section. 😮‍💨

By this point we were four hours in and my feet were done for the day. So we started making our way out. Maybe if the rest of the schedule works out we could go back and visit a few more less popular enclosures...

Took the same tour bus back to Chunxi Rd. Dinner was eaten at hotpot + skewers (钢管厂五区小郡肝火锅串串香). Got a 鸳鸯 pot and stuffed myself. The cilantro/parsley wrapped in beef slices were delicious.
tanithryudo: (Zen)
This morning breakfast consisted of the milk tea and rabbit head we bought last night and put in the hotel mini bar. One was normal spicy and one was non-spicy (五香). It's not a complete visit to Chengdu without eating rabbit. 😙 It's a good thing we had these leftovers, because apparently all the food places nearby the hotel don't open until 10 am.

On the way to the metro, we collected some info about the tour buses that run from the IFS plaza. There are buses periodically going out to the Panda reserve and 三星堆. Also found a bus stop with service going to 青城山 + 都江堰 (in that order). Good to know for future plans.

Then we headed off to Wenshu Monastery by metro. Entrance was free, I guess they make money from prayer donations and incense. Walked around, saw some monks and a black kitty, took some pics, did not pray. The place is quite pretty.

Then we went to Kuanzhai Alley which was on the way to the next scenic spot. Had lunch at a place which offered performances as you ate. The 酸菜鱼汤, 凉粉, coconut drink was good. The 担担面 not so much, too salty. The performance was also cool. There was one where the guy did tricks while balancing a lit bowl on his head, some dances, a wushu tea pouring exercise involving a teapot with a looong mouth, and of course the famous 川剧变脸.

After lunch we went onto Qingyang Palace (Temple). It had a 10 rmb entrance fee, and a lot more cats. 😋 Also a weird balance of gaudy decorations mixed with intricate ancient building style. The most surprising bit was one of the main temple rooms had 李渊 & 李世民. The local daoist explained that part of the temple was built in the late Tang at the order of the emperor who went to Chengdu to escape the 黄巢 rebellion, and of course they would honor their ancestors.

After taking the metro back to Chunxi Rd, we wandered around the IFS shopping area there (multiple levels of it). Eventually had dinner at a restaurant called 同仁四季 which served a coconut-bamboo-watercress-chicken hotpot. Not Chengdu style food, but it was tasty.

But by the time we came back to the hotel, my feet are once again killing me. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much lighter day. And I'm also considering rearranging later itinerary plans to reduce stress. (As well, we might need to scrap plans for 峨眉山 because all tours there depart too early.)
tanithryudo: by cashew (Mail)
Got up early for the train to Chengdu. The check-in process for trains is much easier than for plane. Physical tickets aren't used anymore. Just show ID at the entrance and at the final check-in. The passport number should be tied to the ticket in the system, so that's how they will find you. During the boarding part, passport users have to go through the manual entrance along with the business class tickets, because the rest of the entrance are all auto-scan for citizenship cards only.

Train trip itself was eventless. Was a little awkward seated between two men, but I made due with the space I had. There was one guy in the carriage who snored really loudly for quite a while, but nobody bothered to do anything.

Didn't buy any food on the train. Just ate snacks I brought with me. Someone had food ordered and delivered to the train on one of the stops, so that's a thing.

After the train, navigating the metro was straight forward. Was able to use wechat to buy a one time ticket (unlike Nanjing). Got handed a bunch of travel pamphlets (because I look like a tourist I guess). Then walked about 15-20 mins from the Chunxi station to the hotel.

Hotel is quite nice, clean, and fancy. Aside from check-in made me wait a lot, I have no complaints so far.

Met up with [personal profile] cashew, had some dinner that involved 馄饨/汤圆/抄手(aka oversized 馄饨). Got some boba-ish drinks and some rabbit heads to go. But won't be eating them tonight. Will have them for breakfast tomorrow I suppose..
tanithryudo: (Read)
This morning we went to the 六朝博物馆, which has exhibits from Nanjing during its term as capital from the Three Kingdoms era through Jin and the North/South dynasties. Found out the local museum ticketing system uses meituan and requires passport info (but not necessarily the original documentation?).

Took some pictures and collected some stamps as souvenir.

Afterwards it was too late to visit other museums, so had a quick lunch. Also browsed a local clothing shop and bought a new pair of jeans. (My previous jeans have either been discarded as worn out or… no longer fit.)

This evening, ate out at a restaurant with my uncle/cousins whole family. Topics that came up included the state of the work force, and especially the hospital work force my cousin's wife belongs to. Mom attempted to pay the bill but lost the fight with my aunt.

Tomorrow will be onwards to Chengdu!
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