In my spare time I like to...

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but a good friend of mine, Charlie Q (cba to type his last name) is living in Chengdu city whilst studying at Sichuan University. This gives me great and plentiful opportunities to go into town as often as possible...meaning when he doesn't have class and my teaching schedule allows. So weekends.

And go into town we did, last weekend to be precise. We stayed overnight at a great hostel called The Loft, which is super westernised and awesome and serves omelettes but more importantly also serves Long Island ice teas and is actually a little bit nicer than my actual accommodation in Xindu. 1-0 to Chengdu. We also went out clubbing. Aaah clubbing, I sometimes miss it, but on the whole, not really. Well, I miss the dancing, but not the staying up late. I'm too old for that ish and clubs tend to be full of youths. In China, they're also full of crazy, somewhat desperate, and very drunk Chinese girls, as well as some members of the Public Security Bureau. I assume it's easier to bribe intoxicated officials than sober ones.

Yeah... Luke got all the ladies

The 'entertainment' (I use that word very, very lightly) is also - rather unfortunately - provided for you, which means that at almost every hour, on the hour, the stage is cleared, raised, and taken over by the only-black-guy-in-town-and-therefore-honorary-T-pain singer and several rather scantily clad eastern European girls who are clearly here on some sort of 'cultural' exchange and were obviously lured into the disturbingly synchronized dance-world of Chengdu with the promise of horribly weak made-up cocktails. But it was still fun to watch.

Yes, that is a booty, in you face

Oh, and did I mention there were topless dancers?
There were topless dancers.

We also saw exactly 2 cultural monuments, Tianfu Square that houses the statue of Mao, and some guy called Wang's Memorial (3 if you include the outside of the city stadium). There are many things to see in Chengdu, so as my passport has been confiscated and will not be returned till after the upcoming holiday, I guess I'll be seeing them all....really soon.


But anyway, Xindu is way better than Chengdu. It's sort of the quiet, residential district on the outskirts of town, but it still has its features. Well, 3 main features, those being the Buddhist monastery, the park that you have to pay to get into aaaaaaand my apartment. 4 if you include the jiaozi restaurant. Anyway, all those things are super beautiful - including my apartment - and even Charlie and Martin who came to visit from the big city agreed. Here are some pictures as proof.

Outside Xindu's Baoguang Temple
No photography allowed inside

Photos from inside the park
This was taken just before the Lion King stampede moment

Although, at one point there was a weird Jurassic Park/Hunger Games moment when we were going into the park and a herd of old Chinese ladies broke down the barrier, knocked over the receptionists and almost stampeded us to death. We had to climb up some really steep side-stairs to escape. Charlie almost didn't make it. It was terrifying.

Chengdu 1 - Xindu 2