We flew to Chengdu on the 20th with Air China and survived our (statistically) most dangerous journey yet!

We discovered that other than panda's and A LOT of banks (!) Chengdu doesn't have a great deal to offer the sightseeing tourist! (We went to a couple of temples too!). We were lucky that we had a brilliant hostel with couches, good food and cheap beer and that kept us more than entertained for a few days and meant we still had a pleasant time!

Graham has developed a rather severe aversion to backpackers (the scuzzy dreadlocked type!) and is rather proud of the fact that he doesn't yet look like one (though the stubble is starting to develop into a rather unkempt look!).

The panda's were cool! We liked them! Particularly the rather cute little baby ones (which Gemma has added to the list of thing's she wants to bring home to keep in the backgarden!). The massive, flag-waving, whistle-blowing tour groups, that arrived after we had been there a couple of hours were not cool though! We were glad that we'd got up at the crack of dawn!

The next coolest thing in Chengdu (after the panda's) was the People's Park. It was bizarre! Full of people lazing in teahouses (we joined them), dancing - in lines, groups and together (we did not join them), and a rather large crowd of people, who, on closer inspection, appeared to be parents arranging dates for their (grownup) children! One woman had a 6 foot banner with photo's and credentials of her daughter! Quite civilized really!

Another thing that a city such as Chengdu has to offer is fast food! We're rather ashamed to admit that we gave in to a KFC! But then 6 weeks of curry and rice will do that to a person and it was scrummy! Mmmm mm! We've also been sampling the rather chilli-friendly Sichuan cuisine . . . all very tasty and Graham loved it, though Gemma feels she has had enough chilli now - at one point she did actually ask Graham if her lips were bleeding!

All in all, Chengdu was nice, but we're looking forward to moving onto Xi'an on the overnight train . . .