Chengdu -- pandas, Sichuan opera, fiery cuisine

Flight attendants at Beijing Airport. Chengdu is about a 3-hour flight southwest from Beijing. It's the capital of Sichuan Province, famous for its fiery cuisine, and home to about 100 of China's pandas.

Our first evening in Chengdu we headed straight for the teahouse at Culture Park. Every night there's a performance that includes Sichuan opera, acrobatics, comedy routines, puppets, and face changing ("bian Lian" a much loved part of Sichuan opera). Jasmine tea and snacks are included in the ticket price, ear cleaning costs extra.

Above 2 photos: getting ready for the night's performance.

Morning Rush hour, downtown Chengdu.

Morning dancers at Chengdu's People's Park.

Ear cleaning at the park.

Lining up before work.

Taiyuan

 Not long before leaving for Taiyuan, I stopped at Green Option, a favorite Beijing restaurant. Interesting they choose insects as wall decor.

 Early morning at Beijing West Railway Station. Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, is about a 3-hour train ride from Beijing.

 I love these huge old Chinese hotels. Wasn't too happy though about the construction starting out front at 2 am one morning, including a backhoe repeatedly slamming the sidewalk to bust it up.

 Shanxi is famous for noodles and vinegar, and are often served together. These little bottles of vinegar were for sale in my hotel room for about 50 cents each. Supposedly good for "fatty blood" (cholesterol).

Possibly the smallest fruit platter I've ever gotten in a hotel room.

Great view of Wuyi Square from my room.

I like this restaurant. Instead of ordering off a menu you take cards from in front of the dishes you want.

I went with the home style tofu and steamed veggies.

Spotted these strange juices at Spar, the local grocery store.

Taiyuan taxis have these panels in the back for customers to rate the service. None of them seemed to work though.

Not a whole lot to do in Taiyuan, though the Twin Pagodas are definitely worth a visit. I tagged along with a Chinese tour group for a while, then climbed the narrow interior stairway to the top of one of the pagodas.