We arrived in Chengdu late at night, and got to our hotel a little after 1am. The next day was more eventful however, since we went hiking. Whilst the city itself offers many places to walk to and explore, we went to QingChengShan, about an hour outside of the city.

This 36 peak mountain range was one of the most important centers of Taoism back in the day, and now hosts many temples and pagoda’s spread out through this mountain range. The temples were all beautiful and well maintained, and it wasn’t really crowded. There was the option to take a cable car up to one of the highest peaks, from which one could hike up to other peaks, or we could just hike all the way up the mountain. We decided to hoof it. The hike was beautiful and the temperature was perfect, the only issue was the pollution. Chengdu is one of the fastest growing cities in China, and receives one of the highest amounts of foreign direct investment in all of China. Some people in Chengdu joke that there are more buildings being built than buildings that are already completed. This caused some serious pollution, which hampered our view on top of the mountain. Chengdu’s geographical location didn’t help either since it is located in between mountains, this means the pollution lingers. But despite the pollution, it was still a great view. We could only imagine what it would be like on a clear sunny day.

Apart from the nearby mountains, Chengdu is famous for its Pandas. There is a Panda reserve about 30 minutes outside of the city where one can see Panda’s, and pay to take care of the animals for a day, or take pictures with them. We did not visit. To hold a young Panda for 1 minute and take a picture with it is roughly the equivalent of $320 USD, which on a student budget is a stretch. But there were plenty of other things to see.

At night we had amazing Sichuan food, which Chengdu, and the surrounding province is famous for. We had ‘huoguo’ or hot pot, which is a large basin of boiling broth with many spices in it, and you can order many things to put in it. This was by far the best hot pot I’ve ever had. The food was extremely fresh and of really high quality. The fish were so fresh that after they were gutted, their tails still flapped at random intervals before we added them to the broth.

Amongst other things we saw was a ‘Tibetan street’ with many Tibetan restaurants and shops, and even more impressive, was Jinli Street. This street had much of the old architecture, and had many small restaurants and cafes. Thus overall, Chengdu was definitely worth the visit. Next stop is Xi’an this weekend!

Location: Beijing, China