A Tourist In My Own City

Last weekend was spent in Chengdu to see more of my summer home holds. Unfortunately we're slammed with work during the week which makes it pretty difficult to actually get out and do things throughout the city, so that means the weekends we have to make the most of. After a Friday consisting of class and a five hour language tutoring session, I was more than ready for a few days off. Waking up at the crack of noon on Saturday, we hurried off to Wuhou Temple - a glorified museum with the usual things found in such places. Maybe I'm just getting used to visiting temples, but the standout here for me was the gift shop. It's really cheap and has tons of fun little souvenirs (including a cartoon painting of a cow if you want it).

Afterward, we walked down the road for my second trip to Jinli St. Already a veteran of the experience, I wasn't phased this time by the Starbucks and TCBY right once you walk in (although I still hate it). Here we found out that Chengdu is currently running the 2nd Annual International Cultural Heritage Festival - Chengdu, China (I know, the Chinese have a way with words). But the benefit to all that is this - in Jinli's performance center (an open air area with a stage) they were holding traditional operas all week long. We decided to peek our heads in and stand in the back to watch a few minutes of the show. Immediately when we walked in the hostess asked us if we'd like to take a seat. We said yes, so we quickly were escorted to the front row in typical/ridiculous fashion. The seats we were just put in for free cost a cool 180RMB, and that's only the beginning. About 15 minutes later the show came to an end and we were asked to go up on stage and present the main actresses with their ceremonial gigantic bouquet of flowers. We got to shake hands and exchange the usual "nihao" with the whole cast. This is when the swarm of Chinese paparazzi runs up for the photo-op of the opera actors and whitie. I'm still waiting on pictures from this mess from a random Chinese guy who was obsessed with us.

Sunday was another early morning (woke up at noon). This day we took our second stab at going to Wenshou Monastery (it closed 10 minutes before we got there the day before; note - closes at 5pm). Good thing this place was well worth the extra effort. It was a beautiful getaway right in the heart of the city. There's something to be said about any place in this city that can take you away from the typical sounds and smells that linger around at all times. On top of that, it's just a great place to go see. While we were at the monastery there was an afternoon worship going on. It consisted of about 200 people (from young monks to old citizens) performing rituals inside the massive library they have. Also included is a peaceful park, multiple temples (of course), statues of everything holy, and a school for music and calligraphy. The place is absolutely worth any time you spend there.

Sunday night I finally went to the famed (by tourists) Sichuan Opera on Qintai Lu, right down the road from me. Samantha Brown (the 2nd love of my life) first introduced me to this show about a year ago and I've wanted to go ever since. I had heard mixed reviews from some of the other students around SWUFE but decided it's a must-do in Chengdu. The show absolutely didn't let me down. It was way better than I ever expected. It had it all - music (sounded more like a group of 3rd graders given crazy instruments, but still great), comedy (couldn't understand more than 10 words of it all), hand puppets (both one on a stick in the air and the shadow puppet variety), and what makes the show famous, the "face changers".

At the end of the weekend, I'm very happy that I have decided to stay in Chengdu and truly enjoy everything that this city has. Living in a city, it's easy to pass over all the great things that it has to offer. Going back and enjoying all those things makes me really happy about my decision to spend my summer in this great city.