Chengdu, Sichuan, China

For me, my time in Chengdu was for rest and planning. I didn’t do too much, but I did do a few things worth mentioning.

My number one thing I did was see the pandas just outside the city. I really dislike zoos and I don’t really consider myself an overt animal lover, but I absolutely fell in love with the pandas there. We had so much fun watching them eat their breakfast. The male cubs were so playful and funny. I also had a really good time trying to take pictures of them.

I also learned from one of my teachers this semester that they have a live video feed for all the panda enclosures and they have a YouTube channel with all the highlights. So if you can’t go to Chengdu, you can at least see all the panda cuteness you could ever want.

The other nice thing I did in Chengdu was go to Jinli. It is a temple and then right next door there is a cool shopping street with street food and souvenirs.

Also, we spent a significant portion of one day in this Tibetan-themed cafe, which was so, so nice. It was very relaxing and we had a nice chat. Plus, it’s one of the nicest cafes I’ve ever been in.

Another thing I should probably mention is the food. Sichuan (Szechuan) food is world-famous. I’m not really a fan. I just didn’t try anything that really stuck out to me. I tried Kung Pao Chicken, which is probably one of the more famous exports – I thought it was really average. I think the best thing I tried was the Chongqing noodles, because they were really spicy. The problem is I’m not a huge fan of noodles, so I didn’t like that aspect of the street food. Also, as students, we were too broke to go get hot pot, which probably would have been the best thing to try there.

Chongqing noodles

pumpkin rice porridge was one of my favorite breakfasts

Overall, I think Chengdu was pretty alright. One of my favorite provincial capitals, but I’m not really a city person. Also Chengdu is one of the least sunny places in China, which did not strike a chord with me, to be honest.

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