Other than the wonderful day with the pandas, I had a few more things to keep me busy while in Chengdu, getting ready for my upcoming trip to Tibet. I visited the local temple where I again ran into the two Aussies from my panda trip. They claim I was following them, but I think we all know the truth here. Afterwards, I saw them again in a city park where the three of us were quite amused by the mass calisthenics in the form of huge group of synchronized dancing and aerobics. We even joined in for just a bit of the fun, though I mostly stood on the side and laughed. In the evening, we, along with some others from the hostel, went to a traditional Sichuan Opera performance. The show featured tea pourers with super long handles on their tea pots (not part of the show, but still impressive), some singing, traditional costumes, an opera (in Chinese), fire breathing, an amazing hand puppeteer, and a skill called face changing where the performer has five or six masks of different colors, and they are able to change the masks in a split second, hidden for the moment the fan passes over their face, revealing a new color or type of mask every time. It was quite an interesting night, and that turned out to be just the beginning. Knowing that I had to leave at 6 the next morning, I was looking for a quiet night, so the Aussies and I went down the street looking for a little snack and then to head back to the hostel. We eventually found a vendor on the street corner selling all types of meat and vegetables on skewers, so we ordered a few each, grabbed a beer down the road and sat down. Soon, we were invited to join a table of about 8 locals, most in their 20s or 30s. We also found out the local etiquette of offering up way too much food and beer for anyone to finish. So, we had tables full of drinks and food, being encouraged to keep going every time we tried to stop. There was no escape, and before we knew it, the street was lined with beer bottles and wooden skewers. It really was a great time hanging out with the locals, though the language barrier again made it tough to have any sort of real conversation. Unfortunately, my quiet night didn't end until after midnight, meaning that I got very little sleep, but I did make it to the flight to Lhasa, so it all worked out in the end.
(One of the temples on the North end of town. Not bad, but I've definitely seen enough temples for a while.)
(The woman in the white polo shirt leads the charge as hundreds follow along in the park. It was actually quite impressive to see so many people participating.)
(The entrance to the tea house and our Sichuan Opera performance.)
(Traditional costumes. I'd tell you what they mean, but I don't speak Chinese. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing something here...)
(The fire breather. No cheesy joke about the Sichuan food being really spicy, which is actually true and known throughout China.)
(He just changed his mask, I promise. It used to be blue. Or maybe green. I don't know, he kept changing. Either way, it was good.)
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