Chengdu, China, Asia

I got up this morning and could hear the rain outside. Not exactly what I was hoping for considering I was going to go out and see the city today. I’ve talked to a few people who have been here for a few days and have seen the city, and they said there’s really nothing to see anyway. I went down for breakfast in the restaurant and it was very good again. This place really does have good food. I’ve decided to stay here for tonight as well, because I figured I should see some of the city before I go somewhere else.

Unfortunately the weather never helped me out all day, and it just continued to rain. The internet is still down today too, so that’s really annoying. I can’t book any hostels in Chongqing, my next destination without the internet. It makes it very apparent how dependant I am on having the internet available all the time. I don’t like not having it. Not one bit. I just chilled at the hostel and talked to a few of the other travellers who were around trying to fill a rainy day with something. No one had a better idea of what to do, so I did nothing at all.

Greg (the travelling Aussie guy) took the train last night from Guilin and arrived in Chengdu this afternoon. He is staying at Sim’s Garden Hostel as well, and I met up with him after he got settled in to his room. He wasn’t able to get a sleeper, so he did the 24 hour journey in a hard seat. He said that it was the definition of hell, so I’m glad I’ve not had to do that yet.

We went for a walk around the city for a couple of hours, and finally saw that there really is nothing to see here. I think people only come to Chengdu to see the pandas and then to go up north to a nature park. The city doesn’t appear to have much to offer. We had a quick walk around near the hostel and then made our way back for a bite to eat. Greg was pretty exhausted from his toturous journey, so he called it a night pretty early. I wasn’t far behind him, with a couple of DVD’s I am in for another movie night in Chengdu. This time it’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes. We’ll see what that’s all about.