Traveling overland from Yunnan through Western Sichuan is a beautiful journey with so many amazing sights, places, and people. The end of the journey was a bit of a shock for me though, descending from the wide grasslands and one street towns into the bustle and neon lights of the city.
From Tagong, I headed to Kangding (an adventure in itself as it was snowing over the pass and I ended up having to help my driver put on chains). Sadly the snow obscured most of the view, which is supposed to be incredible at more than 5,000 meters elevation over the pass, but it was still a pretty drive.
Kangding itself was not overly impressive. There were a lot of shops, cars, and people – more than I’d seen in one place in the past two weeks!
There are a few sights to see in Kangding, mostly temples and a famous hill overlooking the city called Paomashan. I hiked 40 minutes up to the top of Paomashan only to find that the entrance to the park was a steep 50 yuan per person. I didn’t want to pay so I hiked back down, but at least I was rewarded with some pretty views of the city in the rain.
From Kangding it is an 8 hour bus ride to Chengdu, where I ended my journey. Chengdu is a huge city, overwhelming in the multitude of places and people. I spent one day exploring the city (the metro makes it convenient to transfer everywhere) and one day visiting pandas at the Giant Panda Research Base. It is a fun way to spend the day outside of the city, with plenty of cute and cuddly looking pandas to watch. They have done a nice job of creating a comfortable habitat for the pandas and making the park interesting and informative for visitors.
Cities don’t tend to impress me as much as remote areas, but if city life is your thing there is plenty to do in Chengdu with several temples, parks, and points of interest to visit. People’s Park in the center of the city is certainly worth a visit. You’ll see plenty of people playing cards, practicing tai chi, and just strolling the tree-lined walks.
I went to see the famous Sichuan opera, which was fun to see as there were several different acts. The best was the face-changing act (I still never figured out how they managed to swap masks without using their hands!). It is nearly impossible to understand though even if you speak Mandarin as it is all in Sichuanese, but it is still fun just to watch the performance.
I was sad to end by “Tibet” adventure, but saw so many amazing sights along the way. Read my post on my Tibetan experience here.
