Chengdu trip report

Went Chengdu end Dec for 5 days. Thot I would share some of my experiences in return for all the great advice from forum

Day 1 - took taxi from airport to Sofitel Hotel which is located at Binjiang Zhong Lu. Cost 50RMB and takes abt 30mins in offpeak hours. From hotel, it is abt 20mins to walk to Chunxi Rd and 5-10mins to Xinnanmen Bus Station which has many buses to Leshan,Emeishan, and other surrounding attractions.

Day 2 - Went Wuhou temple. For outdoor enthusiasts looking to buy gear - there are many shops selling hiking gear etc around here. There is also a small street beside Wuhou temple that is quite interesting and has small stalls selling local titbits and souvenirs. Went Chunxi Rd to shop in evening - this is the place where all the big shopping malls are located. Traffic is very heavy in evenings and for those staying in hotels around the area, it is a problem to get taxis

Day 3 - Went to Leshan. Took bus from Xinnanmen Bus Station. Abt 2 hours and bus is quite comfortable. Aft arriving at Leshan bus station, can take taxi or minibus to Leshan. It is a great place for daytrip to see the Giant Buddha. Highly recommend walking around the Leshan park rather than taking boat to see the Giant Buddha. Spent abt 3-4 hours at park. The Buddha is huge and you can walk all the way down from the top to its bottom via these narrow steps abt 70ft down then walk along the river line to get backup to the park. As it was offseason and weekday, this was relatively quick - otherwise there can be long queue

Day 4- Took tourist bus from near Xinnanmen Bus Stn to Panda Breeding Center at 0830hrs,tedious journey of abt 1-2hours. Would have been much faster by taxi. This was one of the highlights of trip - the baby pandas and big pandas are really cute esp when you see the adult pandas in the open airenclosure eating away and ambling around.

In evening went to Qintai Rd which has some restored buildings and lots of restaurants. There is a theatre in Wenhua Park in the middle of Qintai Rd which has shows nightly at 8pm. It costs abt 150-200RMB and is great experience as there are many short performances of different types eg opera,erhu, acrobatics and Sichuan changing faces/Bianlian. Highly recommended

Day 5 Went Wenshu temple - this is more interesting and colorful compared with Wuhou. There are lots of souvenir shops along the street and inside there is a teahouse with lots of locals relaxing inside playing cards etc when weather is fine. Vegetarian restaurant inside but i found the food a bit too oily and spicy.

Day 6 returned home.

One major problem oft encountered in Chengdu is getting cabs, esp during peak hours or in certain places like ChunxiRd. I learnt not to wait for the passengers to alight bef getting into the taxi - quickly jump into the front seat once the taxi stops - or someone else will cut in. If you are going somewhere dur rush hour best to ask your hotel to help you book a taxi in advance. Or if you encounter a cab driver that you like, you could check with him to pick you up at fixed time and place. Unfortunately there is no metro at the moment and the public buses can be very crowded tho it is cheap - 2RMB or so

Chengdu trip report

GHELLC, that was en excellent trip report. Thanks so much for posting as it%26#39;s very helpful.

Chengdu trip report

thanks for the trip report. Very informative.

Did you fly to Chengdu from Beijing?

thanks.

Just wondering if you know mandarin or if you have a local to travel with you? Is it easy travel there if someone does not know any mandarin?

GHELLC does know Chinese. You don%26#39;t necessarily need to know, nor do you necessarily need a travel companion who does.