I just got back from a wonderful 6 day trip to China's southwestern Sichuan province (about the same land size as Spain). This is a summary of highlights of our trip where we were mesmerised by amazing natural scenery, awed by the cradle of Chinese civilisation and savoured the flavours of a UNESCO world culinary capital. All destinations were within 180 km or 2 hours from Chengdu city centre and connected by excellent highways and high speed rail. I will follow up with detailed posts on the individual destinations.
Day 1 (Singapore to Chengdu)
We departed Singapore on Air China CA404 at 4pm and arrived in Chengdu at 8:30pm. The 3200km flight took 4.5 hours. Checked in at Shimao Yuluxe hotel at about 10:30pm.
Can't wait to try authentic Sichuan cuisine, so we dashed out to hunt for food. Found a random spicy mala hotpot place 15 minute's walk from the hotel that hasn't closed yet. It turned out better than those I've tried in Singapore and Malaysia already (though I've to admit that I haven't tried that many). On hindsight, it actually compared well even with those we tried during the tour.
Sichuan is the home of China's most famous and loved animal. So, naturally 成都大熊猫基地 Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was the first stop of our tour (just 10 km from Chengdu city centre). Chengdu Panda Base rescues wild pandas for research and breeding purposes. We set off early and managed to catch the pandas enjoying breakfast of bamboo. The well fed chubby pandas looked happy and unfazed by all the attention from excited tourists.
Read more about the Must Visit Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding 👈 click
Lunch at 农家小院 Nong Jia Xiao Yuan for authentic homestyle Sichuan food. Typical of Chinese hosted meals, there were
After lunch we went to 三星堆博物馆 San Xing Dui's ancient bronze museum (70 km from Chengdu). The advanced ancient civilisation bronzes were a truly jaw dropping, amazing and mystical sight in Sichuan. It's a huge collection of intricate Bronze Age artifacts dating back 3000 years excavated at San Xing Dui. The ancient 蜀 Shu Kingdom is one of the cradles of world and Chinese civilisation. (Not to be confused with the much more recent Shu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period 220–280 AD.) There are still many riddles and unanswered questions about the ancient Shu Kingdom and their bronze artifacts, hence the air of mystery surrounds San Xing Dui.
Read more about the amazing Sanxingdui Museum 👈 click
Dinner at 都江堰 Du Jiang Yan City was another round of homestyle Sichuan dishes.
After dinner, we walked the old Du Jiang Yan town by the river where foamy rapid water churned and rushed by. Du Jiang Yan is a county within Chengdu City.
After the walk, our guide Marco offered to take us to try Sichuan's most famous mala rabbit head shop at 老号尤兔头. Rabbits are eaten in many parts of China but only around Chengdu is the head considered a delicacy. It's like eating a spicy boiled duck head - not much meat in the bony head, not much flavour in the meat except for the hot mala spices. The choicest parts are the brain and eyes 😱
Read more about rabbit head in Chengdu 👈 click
We stayed the night at Holiday Inn Express in Du Jiang Yan. This was the view from my hotel room - the city looked grey in the winter cold.
Our first stop on day 3 was Du Jiang Wier National Park. It was this ancient irrigation works dating back to 300 B.C. that led Chengdu to flourish by diverting water to control flooding of the fertile plains. It's amazing how ancient civilisation using only bamboo, wooden logs and stones was able to tame the 都江 Du Jiang River. The irrigation system built by Li Bing is still in use to this day.
We had our lunch at the 川菜博物馆 Chuan Cai Museum but we had to cook it ourselves - truly tasting the fruits of our own labour 😄 My 麻婆豆腐 ma po tofu, 香辣鸡丁 spicy diced chicken, and red bean bun turned out rather decent. We learnt a bit about Sichuan food by cooking it ourselves.
Our next stop was the 71 metre tall 乐山大佛 Le Shan Giant Buddha built between 713 to 803 during the Tang Dynasty. The giant Buddha statue was set on a red limestone cliff on Min Jiang River. The Le Shan Giant Buddha was built to bless travellers using the treacherous river - it turned out that the stones chiselled off the cliff to make the huge statue fell into the water, flattening the uneven river bed, hence calming the waters. The Buddha statue was undergoing restoration when we were there but we can still appreciate the grandeur and aura of the UNESCO Heritage site.
Dinner was a sumptuous mala hotpot in 乐山 Leshan City. They have many items for the hotpot including rabbit stomach which we tried. It has texture and chew like pig intestine but more springy with a more delicate sweet taste. We also had goose intestine which was very smooth with delicate tender crunch and subtle sweet taste.
We stayed the night at 乐山 LeShan.
We went to ride 犍为小火车, the oldest operating steam train in the world at 嘉阳 Jiayang. We took the train which trudges through idyllic fields with vegetables and beautiful 油菜花 bright golden yellow rapeseed blooms. The sound of the steam whistle was like throaty hoarse pipe music. The white plumes of steam comes back down like light rain shower.
Lunch was food which miners ate during Soviet era Bajiaogou Coal Mine's heydays in the 1960s. Meaty hearty dishes and greens with rice which fuelled the miners turned out very delicious and memorable for me.
We stopped briefly at Luo Cheng Ancient Town 罗成古镇. It's an ancient Ming Dynasty era city dating back to the 1600s. Today, the town centre is a hub where the city's seniors gather to enjoy card games and mahjong as well as the company of friends just like time immemorial.
Read more about Luocheng Ancient City 👈 click
Dinner at 峨眉山 Emei City. More spicy Sichuan dishes. My favourite dish here was their signature savoury sweet millet with chicken cooked in a pressure cooker. There was rabbit again, this time stewed with tomatoes till soft.
After dinner, we watched spell binding traditional performances at 峨眉山演艺中心 Emei Performing Arts Centre.
We spent the night in 峨眉山 Emei City.
Set off before day break at 7am to visit the Golden Buddha at 峨眉山 Emei Mountain. Getting to the summit at 3079 metres above sea level required a combination of bus, transfer to mini coach, cable car and 1.8 km uphill trek on foot on icy sleet and sludge. The mountain top was snow covered and there were flurries.
But, the snow scene was amazing. It was like those dreamy white grey watercolour paintings on Chinese scrolls with calligraphy at the side. I thought those scenes were fictional but here it is at Emei Mountain in real life.
The 48 metre high Golden Buddha set on six tusks elephants at the summit was majestic. Together with the beautiful snow scene, the trip to Emei Mount was well worth the effort to reach the summit and putting up with the freezing cold (mean daytime temperature in Feb is -5℃). This UNESCO Heritage Site was one of the key highlights of the trip.
Lunch at Emei Mountain was another scrumptious Sichuan treat. In the cold up in the mountain, body warming mala tasted extra good and one of the most welcome smells after nearly two hours trudging in the sludge and snow with snow flakes on our head and clothes.
The afternoon was travelling by bus from Emei back to Chengdu (about 180 km distance).
Details of my wonderful day on Mount Emeishan 👈 click
Dinner at Qin Shan Zhai in Chengdu. This restaurant is famous for blending Chinese medicinal herbs and tonics into traditional Sichuan dishes to promote better health.
We walked off some calories and soaked in the atmosphere at Chengdu's 锦里古街 Jinli Ancient Street pedestrian mall. The old town was chock a block with tea houses, trinket stalls, snacks and food stalls. Yes, you can get mala rabbit head here.
We had a good rest at Chengdu's Shimao Yuluxe Hotel (again - we were here on the first night).
We returned to Singapore via Air China CA403 which departed Chengdu at 9:55am and were back in Singapore at 2:30pm.
This was my first trip to Sichuan - it was eye opening for me. Sichuan offers history, natural wonders, and great food (which is recognised by UNESCO as one of the great cuisines of the world).
I will be posting detailed blogs with more information, pictures and personal reflections on the individual destinations. I hope to be back at beautiful Sichuan again as there are so many places I have not seen, things I have not tried.
👌 Travel tips
Weather was cold during our trip. Skies were grey with slight drizzles and daytime temperatures was around 6℃ and -5℃ up in Emei Mountain. The payback was destinations were less crowded. Just be sure to bring enough and the right clothes.
Readers who have been to Sichuan, please share your travel tips in the comments. Thank you 😄
Date of visit: 22 - 27 Feb 2019
I follow Travellution Singapore for travel tips to China and beyond.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments submitted with genuine identities are published