Pingyao to Chengdu

We woke up at 5 this morning, well before dawn in sub-freezing temperature and rode an electric golf cart through the dark, deserted streets of Pingyao. If you've never been in an ancient city at night let me tell you: it's unbelievably dark and mysterious. The dusting of snow only contributed to the sense of being somewhere strange and magical.

We boarded the bus outside the walls of Pingyao, headed for the Tai Yuan airport. The airport, as were all those we used on the trip, was nearly brand new, spacious, clean and well organized. It was also full of shops selling purses and luggage (the Shanghai airport had even more of these shops), including a branch of a chain called Powerland. It sells truly impressive handbags for, I assume, Powerful Women.

There was also the usual store selling Chinese souvenirs.

And I finally figured out what they meant by "whittled noodles", a local specialty in this area.

This guy is shaving noodle dough into a vat of boiling water. Whittling noodles.

We flew to Chengdu, the capital city of Szechuan province. I have to say I like Chengdu better than any other city we've visited yet. Maybe it's all the greenery (it's significantly farther south than Beijing or Tai Yuan), or the public art that has nothing to do with emperors or Mao, or maybe just the fact that people hang out in tea houses and parks all day. (The guide told us that when you fly over Chengdu you can hear the click of Majong tiles...) Here are some views from the bus:

We visited Du Fu's residence, the restored estate of one of China's greatest poets. It is essentially a botanical garden with multiple pavillions containing statues and paintings of Du Fu. Very lovely and serene.

They had the most beautiful restroom building we encountered on the trip.

These door signs were not from there, but illustrated the types of toilets we could choose between at most public restrooms:

Often, it was only the first type.

Here's a picture of Wendy Greenfield (who we called American Wendy, to distinguish her from our guide, Chinese Wendy), the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Association Executive Director who joined our trip, and was always carrying this adorable owl bag, I assume to honor Bryn Mawr (though she may just have liked the bag. She also bought panda earmuffs at the Panda Breeding Center.)

Then we went to a Taoist temple, where I took a lot of photos I wasn't technically allowed to take. The ornate mythology, and plethora of holy animals and divinities themselves, was hallucinatory, almost.

Tonight at dinner I hit the wall with Chinese food. Which of course here they just call food. Too many continuous days of bits of meat and veg in a variety of strongly flavored sauces, served onto enormous lazy susans on round tables in restaurants all over the country. We never really know what anything is, or how many dishes will be served, so it's hard to pace ourselves. Everything is eaten off the same saucer-sized plate, piled on top of each other. Though I love Chinese food, and actually told lots of people I was coming here or the food, I find myself longing for a roast chicken and mashed potatoes with a salad. Something without sauce for once. Or maybe a taco. Or some pizza. Sigh. 10 days of Chinese food to go. 

Tonight we went to the Szechuan Opera, which was essentially a variety show of singing, dancing, musical instrument solos, a puppeteer with a marionette,  and one amazing finger-shadow performer. He turned the shadows of his hands into  convincing rabbits, dogs, and even an owl, much the the delight of the Bryn Mawr alumnae (the owl is the symbol of the college). His final number was making the shadows of a wolf pursuing and eating a bunny. Sad, but kind of funny, actually. 

Tomorrow we see the Pandas!