Howard's Place

This is a 180 degree view with the same wall of the building on the left as the right.
That is Howard on the right. Click the picture to get a much larger image.

So tonight I was visiting my friend Howard. He lives 5 bus stops away in a very new building. He has a great three bedroom place. Some of our new teachers may be moving into the same building. It is very near the proposed new secondary school. I went out on one of the three balconies and set my camera on the railing to take multiple shots which became the panoramic you see here. This is looking toward the water. QSI is to the very far right side of the scene. It is too small to be seen.

Train from Chengdu to Chongqing

Leah and our friend Nick lead us into the huge train station.

Train station big shedule and platform board?
Thank goodness we had a guide.

Tim , Leah, and Bev at the train station
Nick and Suzane find a seat

As we slowly passed a station but did not stop

The Farmland was amazing, this is how it looked for miles

We stopped at this station and he flipped some flags and stood in his box.

Leaving the train station behind as we journey into Choingqing,
the largest and most like most polluted city in the world!

When we left Chengdu by train to travel to our departure point in Chongqing on the Yangtze River. Our guide took us to the train depot and got us to the right train and even helped us find our seats. This would have been a little difficult without a guide as there are literally thousands of people at the train station on just a normal travel day. It looked like one huge crowd with little organization. The train station itself has huge boards with gates, cities, departure times etc. of course nothing is in English. We finally left the VIP area and boarded the train. It was older and very dirty. Not the surface kind of dirt, but the ground in kind of dirt that comes with years of use and light daily cleaning. We thought we had little spit tunes under our little tables but they were containers for hot water that had been filled so that we could make our tea or cup of soup. We did not use them.

This was a 5 hour ride. We saw much of the countryside of the interior of China. This was amazing to see. My friend Nick figured out how we could crack open the top of the windows so that we could stick our lens out and snap some pictures as we zoomed, well sometimes zoomed, by. We were all glad we had the experience once.

Snack Street

Tim's Snack spot, we had something to drink and Tim had a hamburger.

Bev went here for a snack and a drink

We were in a touristy area of Chengdu where we found snack street. Although our travel companions all ate a variety of foods on snack street Bev and I did not. Many of them looked awesome. Most of them were very spicy. I ate at the bar had a hamburger, Bev ate something from the Starbucks.

Chengdu

Loose translation according to my Parapro is "Three countries good place"

Tianfu, Chengdu Hotel, we stayed here three nights.

Small part of a very big hotel lobby.

Our hotel Room was very nice.

Bev and the Doorman

Shoe/Bag repair, my friend had his camera bag fixed by this gentleman for less than a dollar.

Bev took this picture of Tim

Great variety show we attended

Leah our tour guide telling us about the Sichuan dishes we were eating. Hot Very Very Spicy!

Street Vendor

Tim rubs the Happiness symbol to get some.
He was not the first one as you can see by the bright polished brass.

Taking home some rice

Very busy Outpatient Clinic

Contemplating a needed repair

Happy Chinese Family

Negotiating the price of oranges

This was a art auction that we happen to come upon

Manhole Cover

Ear cleaning

Pretty model

Daily staples for sale in a typical store

This grandmother let me take her picture

These are some pictures from our recent trip to Chengdu. Along with the Pandas we were able to see a little of the town when we were not on tour with our tour guide.

There is also a picture of Leah here. The dinner we had prior to the variety show. We ended up with a total of 13 different bowls of food for each of the 6 of us. The picture above is when we were about half way through the meal. Tim tried everything but could only eat some of about half of the dishes.

I am still very amazed that we were so fortunate to be in Chengdu a week before the earthquake. Wow