Happy Holiday and New Years. I just got back from Chengdu, China which is why I have been out of contact with most people. Chengdu is in central China and is the last city before Tibet, often times people stop off in Chengdu before they enter Tibet. Because the city is in such close proximity to Tibet and Xinjiang (a Muslim state controlled by China) Chengdu's make-up and vibe is much different from the Coast. Chengdu itself is a very cool town. The people are relaxed and laid-back, the weather is mild (no snow), but most importantly the food is wicked-awesome. Smack dab in the middle of Sichuan province (Szechuan) most of the food was mind-numbingly hot, but extremely good. Sichuanese food is know for hotpot and barbecue, both are both to eat in a group. In both cases you order a whole bunch of different meats and veggies on a stick, you cook the food yourself, and once the food is done you go to town. Hot pot houses and barbecues vendor, or as I like to call them 'street meat', can be found everywhere. I was walk back to my hotel on night and found an ally of just 'street meat'. I end up spending only $1 US for a tray full of grilled meats and veggies.
Hotpot of Death
Lamb 'street meat'
Tibetan food
Beyond the food Chengdu is know for its temples and pandas. There are a few temples in town that have been converted to national sites and the surrounding streets have been made to look they way they would have had hundreds of years ago. A few milds up north is the Panda research facilities. There the Chinese are working hard to keep alive one of their national treasures. On the outside it looks like nothing more than a glorified zoo for pandas but the Chinese Government has successfully been able to breed captured pandas. If you go south there is a small town call Leshan which houses the largest statue of Buddha. There you can scale the cliffs and take pictures next to a giant Buddha.
Overall Chengdu has been one of the best cities I've visited in China. I can't over state how nice the people are and how awesome the food was. When I was there it seemed like there was a lot of fog but most of the Chinese say its fog from the mountains. I dont know its hard to really tell the difference in China.
Here are some more
http://picasaweb.google.com/dankhuon/Chengdu
