Sichuan - Part One

New and improved 1000px sized pictures vs. the old 800px size!  Remember when they used to be 400px in 2008/9?  that really sucked.

New and improved 1000px sized pictures vs. the old 800px size!  Remember when they used to be 400px in 2008/9?  that really sucked.  My first time to Sichuan, 四川, known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan).  Sichuan means 4 rivers, i'm gonna guess 4 rivers run through it.  Sichuan is famous for it's spicy food and hot peppers and hot women.

still amazed by the bamboo scaffolding.  First stop, Chengdu, the captical of Sichuan province.

the centerpiece of Chengdu.  Chengdu is just another Chinese city with 14 million people.  no prob, no sweat.  The air is moister here which many chengdu'ers say attributes to the beautiful skin on the women.

really obsessed with these scooter/bike shots.

renmin park ruled by old people.  

chengdu felt like a mix of shanghai and hongkong and the weather was more hong kong like than beijing.

i wanted to do this ear cleaning thing but we didn't have 20+ min.  remember that time i used an ear cleaning pick over zealously and had to go to the hospital in beijing?  that wasn't so smart now was it.

supposedly these rabbit heads are popular here.  Larry said that eating rabbits is also why the girls are so hot cuz the meat is leaner and some other blah blah.

there are these series of alleyways that have been re-done in downtown chengdu.  Each alley's name corresponds to it's width.  they are like nanluoguxiang in beijing except a little nicer

why is this dude always getting the short end of the stick?  anyone know?

entranceway of the teahouse we went to.

this is Larry, he's studying law.  He's very smart and is gonna go places.  The guy Caesar that I met in Beijing hooked me up with him via his friend who is a teacher.  Larry was nice enough to show me around Chengdu for a day.  Why are Chinese people so nice? (edit: some).

YMCA Chengdu

they make it work somehow.

ShuJiuXiang(蜀九香) hotpot chengdu, one of the most famous hotpot places.  hotpot is from Sichuan and it's famous for it.  it's my second favorite food after Beijing roast duck.

Will and Larry kept warning me that the next day i would just be sh!tting myself left and right.  Asked why people eat it knowing this they replied "because it tastes so damn good".  and that it does.  and the next day Will and I were both ok so all that scary talk was for nothing.  I'm not saying that YOU reader will be ok but I was.  I was skeptical already because I didn't eat anything in China in 1.5 years that gave me horrible debilitating bowel problems.

a straight up bowl of MSG as if we wanted anymore.

Chunghwa cigarettes.  Will smokes these because this is what the Communist party guys smoke so if they are fake or overly cancerous then they will be in big trouble.  They're still only like 1$. 

Quit smoking early is good for your health.   

1855 Club in Chengdu.  It was like being in the twilight zone.  so weird.  the lighting and atmosphere was so weird.  There was this table of lesbians and then girls that didn't appear to be lesbians.  I couldn't figure it out.  they didn't look like their girlfriends.  were the straight girls just so young and chinese and naive that they didn't know what was going on?  or were they all just lesbians?  or were they all just having fun as friends?  I don't get this place!

it was like being at a middleschool dance where they served alcohol and cigarettes.  There were tons of tables of young girls with their friends looking around waiting for something to happen or someone to talk to them, like what you do in middle school.

shot from the stage in the middle of the place.

a sh!tty dance show.

maybe if Chinese girls had more booty this stage built so your eyeballs and their gyrating bootys would be more appreciated.  Again it seemed so glaring that there would be almost all girls up on this stage dancing waiting for something to happen.  weirdsville.  but this is why we travel and i love weirdsvilles.

beer i didnt try yet, at least i dont think.

view from Somerset Riverview Chengdu where Will was staying.

In the AM it's up early and off to Leshan to see the world's biggest buddah, no big deal.