It felt like we walked our feet off

We took our time leaving the hotel Wednesday morning. Had a relaxing breakfast, then got some laundry done. It seems many hotels here in China include laundry services in the price of your room. 

This particular hotel in Chengdu was self serve, but here at our new hotel in Xi'an (we took the high speed train here Thursday morning), they do it for you.

And when we finally left the hotel to get out to do some exploring, it was almost noon! We first decided to walk to Tianfu Square,

Scenery in Chengdu, China.

Huh? What's that??

Of course it looks like a ship of some kind, but it's just built to look like a ship.

Anybody want to buy some plums?

The sign says "These plums are ripe. They are the sweetest, freshest, and most delicious. Freshly picked, they taste even better after two days".

If we hadn't been just heading out, we probably would have bought some!

Free public toilet module.

As a pedestrian, you have to be really careful.

So I've mentioned that we like a lot of things about China so far. But one thing that you have to be careful with, is that as a pedestrian, you have no rights! The very first day, I almost got hit by a car. Obviously they have rules, but it's also obvious that most rules aren't followed. So you have to be extra careful. Scooters especially don't follow any rules. We're used to that from Cambodia and Vietnam, but it's different here. They simply don't seem to care. Can't believe that we haven't seen any accidents yet, but it's probably because everybody knows that's the way it is and somehow they deal with it.

We've seen a few of these plants where the branches are woven into a vase.

We were heading for the square, but we were also looking for a view of the city. We've learned over the years that many tall hotels often have a viewpoint or restaurant or bar at or near the top floors that you can access for free.

We tried one, and actually made it to the 30th floor, but the windows were so dirty it wasn't worth taking a photo!

So then we tried the Chengdu Tonino Lamborghini Hotel. Sounds fancy, right? Well it is. We asked at the concierge desk if they have any views available on the upper floors, and we think they misunderstood that we wanted to see a room that has a view. So they assigned a nice young woman (I was going to say a "girl") to show us a room on the higher floors.

She spoke English really well, (probably the best of anybody we have met so far) and it turns out she went to Nottingham, England for a year to study.

We didn't make it to the top floors, but she did show us a couple of very swanky full service apartment suites that would have been far above our budget!

And, we managed to take some photos of the view.

Unfortunately the tower you see in the distance is currently closed to visitors.

Back at ground level.

Tianfu Square.

Ruth had seen an "archeological site" mentioned on the map, so we did a little detour to see what that was about. It turned out to be the site of a man made lake and garden that had been built in the 6th century. It was free to enter and wander around.

It's in the center of the beginning of the city. People have lived here for 2,300 years.

A mosaic pebble road from the Song Dynasty (9th-12th century).

They had a lot of information boards in both Chinese and English.

From there, we hopped on the subway/metro about eight stops south. Our intention was to go to a huge park and wander around, but the metro stop was actually at a big shopping mall. We were ready for some lunch, and of course a shopping mall has to have a food court, right?

Well it did... and the food court was huge as well.

Hmm, what should we have for lunch?

We found a stand where we google translated a selection that kind of came out to "beef with rice". And it was fine... sorry, forgot to get a photo.

Wandering around the mall after lunch, we found out that we were actually in the New Century Global Center... the 3rd largest building in the world (based on available floor space). Absolutely huge, and of course there is the requisite skating rink and water park inside the building as well. 

In plain English, this building is 3.5 times larger than the West Edmonton Mall or the Mall of America in Minneapolis. You could fit three West Edmonton Malls inside of it and still have room left over!

Skating lessons.

Photos can't convey how huge it is.

Entrance to the water park.

4k Laser Movie Theater.

There is an 1,100 room Intercontinental Hotel inside.

The roof of the pool area is over 20 stories high.

There is a stage on the right that slides out over the pool for concerts. You can see the seating on the left.

Of course it's not that busy on a Wednesday afternoon when school is still in session.

Next week, it will be packed!

Huge waterslides with hotel rooms in behind.

Massive TV screen. Can you see where the two performers are really standing?

Click to make the photo full screen, and click again to zoom in.

Mind boggling.

We finally made it outside and walked over to the park that was the purpose of our visit in the first place. But I have to say, we were in awe of that building. Pretty much a mini city under one roof!

The building exterior.

We finally made it over to the park.

Scenery in the park.

Looking back at the massive building.

There are some good views of the city. Looking north.

And looking south.

In the park is some kind of place where they issue marriage licenses!

Several couples were having their photo taken.

Modern apartment complexes.

We walked beside this river for a while.

This is a very cool pedestrian and bicycle bridge!

You can't get away from the pandas in Chengdu.

Cycling and running tracks beside the river.

Lots of greenery and modern architecture.

The building on the left is the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. 

The others in the complex are Waldorf Astoria residences.

Scooter and bicycle mayhem!

We were getting on the metro to head back home and I was checking the instructions on my phone when a young man about 20 came up to us and asked in English if we needed help. We got into a conversation that continued once inside the metro. Could have talked to him for hours I think. Full of information, and not shy to talk about life in China. I'm telling you, the western world does not have an accurate view of China. I hope we're giving you a more realistic representation of the country, but it's so difficult, and of course we're only in day 4. This guy says we could have spent a full month just in Chengdu and surrounding area, and we believe it.

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