Chengdu was the third city we visited on this trip. It is the 5th largest city in China with population in excess of 10 million. It's one of the gateway cities in and out of Lhasa. Our stay here was short with a singular purpose - to see some PANDA!
After some more shopping at Barkhor Street in Lhasa in the morning, we flied into Chengdu in the late afternoon. The flight was delayed for a couple of hours which happened to almost all the flight for that day going out of Lhasa. We waited at the small cafe by the gate in Lhasa airport. The cafe only served instant noodle and bottled drinks, as no knife was allowed inside beyond the security.
Sitting next to us was a young man who served in Chinese Army stationed in Tibet. He offered me an interesting view of the Tibet and suggested to visit Shigatse(日喀則) and Lingzhi(灵芝) which are at lower altitude. The scenery is of forests whereas the area around Lhasa was all meadow.
As a local of Chengdu, he suggested to have the famous Sichuan spicy hot pot at ShiZiLo(狮子楼) on Chin-Tai Road (秦台). We took his advise and it did not disappoint! The spicy soup base (I think you could tell which side is the spicy one) was flavorful and S-P-I-C-Y, much better than the spicy hot pot restaurants here in San Francisco. The other soup base was mushroom, which was upgrade over the standard broth. We ordered fish, ham, and vegetable. Fish was quite pricy at 100RMB+ per order, ham was about 30RMB, and vegetable was about 10-15RMB. The total bill came out to be about 500RMB for the four of us. This place has several branches, but appears to be quite famous. Our taxi driver had no problem finding this one.
We stayed in Chengdu for a night only at Sichuan Hotel(四川宾馆). The hotel was located at city center next to many big department stores. I could see a Louis Vuitton store across the hotel. The taxi ride was about 45 minutes from the airport to the hotel, costing about 60RMB. The taxi drivers here drives like the popular video game Crazy Taxi a few years back - no rule on the road, and signals were for reference only.
We booked the hotel from elong.com at the rate of 400RMB per room, breakfast included. The breakfast was alright, saved us trouble from looking for one. The interior of the room was slightly dated and we were assigned a smoking room. But overall it was a decent deal consider the location.
Chengdu is a lot more modern than I thought it would be. It is a metropolitan with all the buildings and stores one would expect to find in other major Asian cities like Shanghai. There were branded stores and international department stores where we stayed. Yes, there was a Starbucks in Seibu Department store next to our hotel, and the barista spoke English.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Day 10 - Flying to Chengdu
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tibet - After Thought
Tibet provides combination of unique culture and nature unlike any other place. The experience is worth all the suffering from altitude sickness for me.
Our trip covered Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Street, Norbulingka, Drak Yerpa, Sera Monastery, and Namtso Lake over 3 days, with one day to acclimatize. Overall, I think the pace was just right, other then the short stay at Potala.
Potala, Johkang, and Barkhor are in short distance within each other in Lhasa city, and therefore are must visit for first time visitors. The scenery along the route to Namtso Lake and the lake itself was well worth the travel time. But there's not much activity at the lake other than enjoying the view, picture taking, and yak riding - no water activity.
Norbulingka and Sera Monastery are also within the city. I enjoyed visiting Norbulingka in a sunny afternoon. Although I did not get to see the inside of Sera Monastery, I think I probably would rank it below the aforementioned spots as we saw so many religious treasures already prior to visiting the monastery.
Drak Yerpa would be interesting for visitors who are well versed with Tibetan Buddhism as many important figures mediated there.
Document
For all non PRC citizens, Tibet entry permit is required, including residents of HK, Macao, and Taiwan. The agency of my guide obtained the permits for all of us prior to our arrival to Lhasa. The permit for Levi and her parents, who had PRC visa was straightforward and were taken care of well advance of us arriving in Beijing. As I hold a PRC travel document, my permit was not ironed out until we arrived in Beijing.
The permit was required not at airport, but when we registered at the hotel. I don't know how that applies to visitors who camps - or maybe even the camp sites require registration.
Hotel
We stayed at House of Shambala. At about USD$70 a night, it was above average cost wise. There was no additional tax or service charge, so what you see is what you pay.
The rooms were adequate, though like most hotels in China, the bed was on the hard side. Our room was by the street and was noisy during the day. The inside room not facing the street are likely quieter.
The staffs were friendly and helpful. There was no elevator, so ask the staff to help carrying the luggage, especially if you just arrived at Lhasa. Take advise from me who had hard time with altitude sickness. The staffs were more than happy to help with the luggages.
There was a computer with internet connection free for guests at the hotel counter. There was a restaurant on the 3rd floor. The food was decent, though on the expensive side relatively as one would expect. Hot water helped in combating altitude sickness, we were provided hot water in thermo everyday.
There was electrical problem in our loom on the last night of our stay. We got candle from the hotel, although I did not feel safe lighting candle with a lot of wood furnitures around.Shambala Hotel is near by, but related to House of Shambala. Shambala hotel has more rooms and appear to be more well known. We also saw Yak Hotel which is around the corner from our hotel on the west side of the town.
Food
The Tibetan food we tried was influenced by Indian food. We did not try the barley/diary food as it was a little bit out of our comfort zone. There were also plenty of Chinese (Han) food in Lhasa. Sichuan cuisines were all over the place, although most of them did not seem to have English speaking capability.
A few blocks west of Potala Palace, YuBaoZi on Beijing road serves small Chinese dishes and bun, and is open 24 hours. The cost was about 8-15RMB per person. The bao-zi (bun) is cheap and decent.
Lhasa Kitchen by Jokhang Temple is English friendly though we did not like the food too much. It serves Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian, and Chinese food. The cost was about 20RMB per person.
Like Lhasa Kitchen, the restaurant in House of Shambala serves Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian, and Chinese food. We liked it but it was on the expensive side, averaging about 40RMB per person. We liked the vegetable tika with rice and samosa.
We did not see western fast food in Lhasa. There was a Chinese fried chicken franchise next to Jokhang temple, we did not try that.
Thoughts
There was feeling of subtle tension. There is a saying "If one is in trouble for murder, money would take care of it. If one is in trouble for politics, nothing would save him." So for the sake of everyone, especially the locals in contact with visitors, avoid stirring the political tension.
The scenery is unparalleled and the religious treasures are invaluable. Lhasa was definitely the highlight of our China trip.
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