Dinner on our first night in Chengdu was just opposite from our hotel in a resturant whose white linen tablecloths and refined gold decor couldn't have been more different to the night before (yet the food was still dirt cheap!) Us vegies seperated from the pack (shunned) and ordered a bunch of yummy dishes, which wer spun round and round on the circle plate in the center of the table (this is very normal in chinese resturants).

Chengdu is renowned for its food, expecially the SPICEY sichuan "hot pot", which we ate on our second night. The spice is so intense that the smell penetrates everything, so tyhey even have protective coverings for your clothes! "Hot Pot" , it turns out, is quite literaly a hot, pot! Kinda like a steamboat, there is a large bowl of spicy spicy spicy soup that looks red like blood and had chillis and peppercorns floating in it. In the middle of that is a smaller bowl of mild soup with a fish floating in it (leaving me with spicy soup lol). The basic "technique" seemed to be : here is some raw food (meat, veges, even some melon etc. ), chuck it in, then wait a bit and see what you can clumsily fish out with your chopsticks (probably splashing your neighbour with red soup as you do!). The hot pot bubbled and boiled when a waitress lit it from beneath, and pretty soon everyone was sporting red faces, watering eyes and running noses. Luckily the "dip", which we made up individually at the beginning of the meal, would tame the spice SLIGHTLY if you added vinegar (other ingrediants included stuff like oyster sauce, coriander, garlic etc. )

Out trip to the resturant was as much of an adventure as the meal itself! We eventually managed to haildown a cab (surprisingly difficult!) and Me, JOhn, Lucy and Debbie piled inside, but after about 15 minutes the car stalled - and wouln't start again! After several attempts to start it up, with a long line of cars honking the hell out of the horns, we left the cabbie behind (though he did insist we didnt pay which was quite nice). With no idea where we were, we hailed another taxi who gestured that out destination was just up the road. Well - it was not!!! We walkedfo ages, frequently inthe wrong direction until someone else would pooint us in the right way, until we finally found the restaurant!!!