After our overnight sleeper train in 'smoking class' we arrived relaxed and smelling like a local boozer. The hostel hadnt booked the right room for us so an outdoor shower and bathroom was our only option in the freezing cold. Thus began our time in chilly Chengdu. Undeterred, we set off to the People's park. The Chinese like to keep things outdoors and that goes for their lunchtime karaoke sessions. Three neighbouring competitions kept us on our toes. If that wasn't enough, the worst ever violinist accompanied the worst ever singer in another part of the park and were duly rewarded with an orange given by one of the locals?!

The following day we headed into the hills to another holy mountain going by the name of Qingcheng Shan. A bloke from Hong Kong who spoke perfect English asked us to join him for the walk to the top. Little did we know, that he was taking the 'unofficial' route into the park which meant following some local (in silence, so as not to draw attention) through the undergrowth and giving him a sum roughly half the price of the entrance fee. After this little jaunt we decided it was better to go it alone (the plonker bloke from Hong Kong wasn't even walking all the way: he was catching the chair lift). A brisk 2 hour walk up the beautiful, luscious mountain tracks led us to the impressive, if somewhat misty view over the surrounding 'subtropics'. A quick chair lift ride back down and we made our way across the lake and got a car up to the gate of the back of the mountain where the bloke who was gate keeper, hotel owner and chef led us to his hotel for a cheap night in the freezer. Electric blankets saved us in our second room after we insisted on moving citing that not having glass in the window was perhaps a fair reason to change.

The following morning, after thawing out of our beds, we made the climb up Qingcheng HuShan. Out of this world scenery and more waterfalls than anywhere we'd ever seen before made this place very special. Deserted mountain tracks were all we had before us, apart from roughly 50 Chinese students studying Engrish from the local university. More stardom and photos with every single one of them was a nice touch. As the rain loomed we made our checkpoint at the top and started on a rapid descent. With the silent hills at our feet (apart from the monastry blaring out monk pop songs all day on their loadspeakers) we flew down, slightly concerned about getting back to Chengdu as Qingcheng is a pretty remote place. Luckily, our new found friends met us at the bottom, negotiated a bargain taxi ride and then waved us off at the bus station after sorting us out with the best route back. This has not been the only time where we have experienced the warm and helpful Chinese hospitality and we would still be there now if it wasn't for their help!

Back in our Hostel we warmed up in the outdoor shower (whilst it worked following a huge water leak that spouted water 20 feet into the air and was fixed by some man chucking a lump of stone on it!?) and spent a relatively warm night before the main goal of Chengdu in the morning, the Pandas.

The pandas were very well versed in 'coming out for pictures' and duly obliged for a couple of hours whilst we snapped away. We moved off after we had our fill of watching them stuff themselves for 2 hours. We were treated to a glimpse of the baby pandas although photos were not allowed. A few hours was enough here as they didn't do an awful lot but it was a treat to see one of the world's most endangered species.

On return to the hostel, it was just a matter of time (a long time as it turned out) until our flight to our next stop...Guilin.