Tag Archives: ChengDu

Asia, China

ChengDu (I) Get me out of here

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ChengDu (成都)

This city sucks…I am glad that I could make CITS give me a flight to Macau for tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon already. I knew I dislike this city as soon as I was walking back towards my hotel after the bus dropped me off some 100km after my street. Construction works…grrr….looks like they get a subway. Good. But why do they move the bus stops several streets away? The air unbreathably hot and thick, typical Chinese industrial continental climate. No big sights anyway, that I knew upfront from Lonely Planet, which mentions two or three times places where it is OK hanging out entire afternoons (foremost the tea houses in People’s Park). For tourists and backpackers ChengDu seems to be mostly a transportation hub only. I originally planned to come here with the thought in mind to carry further on to China’s south. Now with the changed plan of squeezing Taiwan in I only want to get outta it. And CITS made it after some back and forth (didn’t accept my credit card, but luckily Bank of China’s ATM did). The only good thing about ChengDu: They have some Starbucks. Continue reading ChengDu (I) Get me out of here →

Asia, China

Tibet-QingHai Railway

A train you don’t take to get from A to B…there are a lot faster ways to get out of Lhasa. The term “scenic train” probably fits it best. And contrary to my believe it is also quite full on the way back from Lhasa. But certainly full of tourists. And so it happened that our compartment of 4 soft sleepers was shared by an Austrian lady, a Malaysian couple, and me, which made communication in English perfect. All Malaysians I ever met have perfect, nearly native English knowledge. If of Chinese origin, like this couple, then also native Chinese knowledge, which certainly comes in handy when trying to understand train announcements or talking to the train officials. Continue reading Tibet-QingHai Railway →