YuanYuan

Chengdu trip Dec2009- 10/12/09(Thursday)

Today we tour ''kuanxiangzi), two alley namely narrow and broad.
It is one of the popular tourist area and even the locals love to come here for a stroll or simply play mahjong in the tea houses. There are quite a number of tea houses along the alley.The local folks can be found here, spending their time away playing mahjong and sipping tea. We are told to observe the historical building as well as the people there.

We are given abt 1.5 hrs for free and easy tour. First, i went to try out the '' dipping gold from the ears''. The locals set up a small little stall, put out two chairs and used some special instruments to ''dig gold'' from my ears. The pther tour members simply jus watch me as they do not have the courage to try it. Well, no harm trying it out. In fact, it was quite relaxing- siok! I also went to the ''Panda House''- a shop which specialised in panda assessories(branded). Of course, the quality is better than those u get from the streets. I bought a panda bag which cost ard $ 18.

At night, we stayed at Meishan hotel. The tour guide organised the 'Sichuan Opera' for us- we paid for it. It is one of the most popular cultural item which is a 'must watch' when u come to sichuan. Sichuan opera consists of dance, puppet show, ''bian lian'' and musical performance. The caucasians love to watch the opera. ''Bian lian'' is one of the most popular show and difficult to learn. Andy lau tried to learn from the master there but failed to learn it completely. Well, some of the performance is simply quite boring so i took a small nap. However, i felt that the ''Sichuan Opera'' is worth watching.