Our Final Days in China

We are back in Nashville after a wonderful visit with Chris and Sarah. Above, we are sitting in a traditional tea house in Chengdu inside the a famous garden area. After spending a few days where few Westerners were seen, Chengdu seemed very Western. We did stay in a truly Chinese hotel, although a very nice one. Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province and has a much more relaxed feel than the other cities we visited. We took the train to Chengdu through beautiful countryside filled with farms. After checking into our hotel, we went to Zoe's for lunch, one of Sarah and Chris' favorites in Chengdu. Western food, including Dr. Pepper which is not available very many places. After lunch we visited Du Fu's Thatched Cottage. Du Fu is a very famous Chinese poet and the gardens surrounding the buildings were very beautiful. After a brief rest, we had dinner at a Peking Duck restaurant in the walking street area of Chengdu. Our final day we went to the Panda Research Station to see the giant pandas and the red pandas, which are a cross between a raccoon, a panda and a fox. We arrived early enough that we were able to see the pandas playing outside--they go inside during the heat of the day to eat and rest. We next visited a famous Buddhist monastery which also had beautiful gardens. We were weary from the heat and spent a few hours relaxing in a bookstore/coffee house called the Bookworm--wine, beer, coffee, books and music! For our final dinner, we went to Peter's Tex-Mex--Peter is Chinese but the Tex-Mex is pretty good. On Friday, we were up very early and after about 24 hours of travel, Marti and I were reunited with David who had flown home from Shanghai on a different flight. Of course, our luggage went on to LA without us after we cleared customs in Atlanta but it arrived by noon the next day. Next stop: David off to South Africa and Marti off to Ukraine.