Picture: Moon gates at the Wuhou Ci Shrine in Chengdu, Sichuan.
Chengdu in Western China is a big tourist destination for Chinese tourists and we only saw few Western tourists. The upside of this is that one does not get pestered by hawkers and taxis tend not to take the poor hapless tourists on a wild goose chase. Chengdu is also laid-back and its many parks and teahouses invites one to embark on a stroll and round it off with a cup of tea in the end. Chengdu has also preserved a lot of ancient culture from the Quinyang Gong Daoist temples to Tai-chi and from fiery Sichuan cuisines to kite-flying in parks. One can also find restaurants with English menus and the Wen Jun Mansion Hotel offers affordable accomodation with a friendly staff. Day-trips from Sichuan include a visit to the Panda bear research centre, fantastic Emei-Mountain, the giant Dafu-Buddha and a mystical valley. If you want to experience China in a more laid-back style and meet warm and friendly people, try Chengu. At the same time Chengdu is a booming and modern city with Louis Vuitton and Prada stores and also has its own oversized shopping malls.
PS: We were surprised to see the cleanliness of Chengdu. It was almost as clean as Switzerland despite having more inhabitants.
For more pictures of Chengdu and Sichuan, click here: http://easteatswest.typepad.com/photos/sichuan_china/index.html
Picture: Elderly Chinese playing Mahjong and drinking bitter Chinese green tea
in the park.
Picture: Flying kites in the park. 
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