Chengdu

The last week of my trip to this fascinating country was to Sichuan Province, landing in Chengdu. This city used to be the gateway to Nepal, and many Nepalese and Tibetans live here still. Landing here, I was greeted by Zach. We would become friends and Zach did more to reveal what China is like than anyone else.
We wasted little time that day; he gave me half an hour before whisking me away from the airport to see the Stone Garden.









The beginning of my short jaunt
off the decaf wagon with green tea
Now, unfortunately, Zach is not a professional tour guide, so I never learned the background of anywhere we went...sort of typical for anyone, Chinese or American, of his generation. Hey, if I had computers in the 70's, I'd be the same.
Downtown Chengdu is a busy place, the entire city is 8-10 million people, somewhat larger than Shanghai (15 million) and significantly more than Changchun (4 million people).






The air is horrible, sort of beige, sort of white, but pasty. Yuk. Zach told me it's because the city is in a large basin, trapping the bad air.








At the time we were there, it was rice harvest season. Everywhere we went, people dried rice. On the highway, in driveways, on the little road next to the plant, everywhere!