Chengdu

The mountain range came suddenly to a halt not too far from where the world famous Wolong Panda Sanctuary once stood (it got closed down after the quake, some pandas were crushed in their cages and the rest were moved to a different sanctuary) and onto the flat plain leading to Chengdu. You could tell the bus was getting closer to a city by the smog. Chengdu was only 80 kilometres from the epicentre but largely left intact. 


I met up with Arron and Susan and had a hotpot (which wasn’t all that spicy) and the hostel staff allowed me to swap my Genghis Khan book and Tom Sawyer book for A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It’s about the recent history of Afghanistan. It was available to buy for 50 kuai and I bought the two books I swapped for a total of 27. I’m chuffed. I’ve decided I’m going to go up the Tibetan plateau even if it is freezing and the roads are dangerous. I’ll most likely have no internet, so The Three Kingdoms and the Afghan book will keep me entertained.

I don’t have much to write about the city itself. Chengdu’s quite nice. If it was the first Chinese city I’d been to I’d probably have loads to write about but when you’ve been in the same culture for any great length of time you don’t take much notice of things such as toddlers peeing on busy streets and whatever other things occurred that were different to how things happen in a culture I've grown up in. The traffic is relatively tranquil for a city this size (I like my traffic congestion chat don’t I)? They have traffic lights and 4 traffic guides at every major junction.  I had some nice Chrysanthemum tea and had a really interesting wander through the cities main park. As usual there was a cacophony of sounds from the various dance groups and opera bands that congregate there. It’s certainly not a place to go for peace and quiet. Dancing groups are common in any large open space in China but I’ve never saw a fake catwalk in a park where mainly middle aged women would stroll up a tatty red carpet, strike a pose and then walk back. They’d wait a couple of minutes then do it again, in the same clothes that they did it in before which aren’t that nice in the first place. They’d take it so seriously, their pouts were unforgettable. Crowds of people gather to watch them looking as miffed about the whole phenomenon as me. I just don’t know what motivates them to go to a park to pretend to be a supermodel in front of a bewildered public. I was still chuckling uncontrollably in the evening whenever I thought about them.

The catwalk brigade

The catwalk area is also the only part of the park (and the only place I’ve been to in China) where people dance freestyle. Some of them are amazing dancers and some of them just look ridiculous. One of the dancing girls gave me a bunch of plastic flowers and had me up dancing. I was drawing more attention to myself by turning down her offer than by giving it welly for a minute or two so reluctantly, I strutted my stuff with the bunch of plastic flowers in my hand, to the Vengaboys if I remember correctly. It wasn’t my finest moment.

I was going to go to see a Giant Buddha with 7 metre long ears and toe nails the size of a human the following day but I was drawn back to the park. I just don’t get why people would go there to seek relaxation. I told myself I’d try my hardest to find tranquillity there. I spent the majority of the day in the various tea houses reading ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad and sitting contemplating in the gardens. I was free to ponder my thoughts for hours alternating between Jasmine, Wulong and Green. Only the occasional offer of an ear clean for 20 kuai from men with little feather dusters disturbed my peace. I got recommended Heart of Darkness by Charlie Walker the cyclist back in Yangshuo and found it highly interesting. It is an account of an expedition up the River Congo during colonial times. The tales of cannibal tribes and bloodthirsty murder for profit from the Ivory trade probably isn’t the best book in the world to read whilst seeking tranquillity.

There was one area of the park where they do calligraphy writing on the pavement using water. I liked to imagine they were writing subversive messages that could evaporate should the authorities come but it was most likely trivial poetry.

 In the square the same people were there doing the exactly the same thing as the day before. There are about ten different groups dancing, nine of which are choreographed so that everyone is doing the same moves. I sat for an hour in an area where I was getting the noise equally from 3 different speakers and watched the world go by. I obviously didn’t find tranquillity but I did get a sense of why the lack of individuality appeals to them. In the west having a sense of individuality gives people a sense of significance but in a country as populous as China feeling like an individual amongst the hordes of people does the opposite. I can see why being part of a group of strangers that has unity in its movement gives the person a sense of belonging and stability, which I suppose leads to a feeling of tranquillity. The loud beats from the other groups just metres away just needs to be put to the back of the mind and voila, serenity is all yours.

I find the people who move how they want possibly the most interesting bunch I’ve come across in my travels. The day before I thought they had completely lost the plot. This may be true but they are also possibly the most liberated Chinese people I’ve met. They don’t seem to care what others think of them, they are just interested in fun and if that means strolling up a fake catwalk or dancing like an idiot then so be it. The dancing was equally hilarious second time round. I joined in at the end and when it was getting dark quite a crowd gathered as I chatted with them. One spoke reasonably fluent English and the older toothless man who walked about with chalk all day drawing maps on the pavement could write a bit of English. He told me that 20,000 Jews fled Germany for Shanghai during World War II. I then drew him a map of my route to Chengdu on the pavement. I got a bit nervous when chalk man started talking about politics and how America is better than China because China is a one party state. I didn’t know who was in the crowd and don’t want to be held accountable for spreading political dissent and was glad to change subject. I got told to look for work in Chengdu and have a shave then Chalk man would find me a Chinese girlfriend. One of the older women (who is an excellent salsa dancer and rather attractive for her age) told me I could marry her 22 year old daughter (but only once I’ve shaved). I explained to them that I intended to go to Kangding in two days and needed my beard to keep warm, I don’t know whether they liked my justification for looking like a savage or not. Anyway, I think I’d prefer to check her daughter out first before I’d plunge into the deep end and if that were to happen it would be after I’d been up the Tibetan Plateau.

I did very little sightseeing in Xi’an and nothing in Chengdu and quite frankly I don’t care. I'll put up videos of the park once I get a stable internet connection. I’ve been considering returning to China to find work after going to Laos. Who knows?