24 Hours and $11 in Sichuan's Spicy Capital

There is a saying that Chengdu is very near the sky (or near the clouds). This is why, so they claim, that the locals are so short of stature (even for China) and the weather is overcast. However, while the cloudy skies were a bit of a letdown after two weeks in sunny Dali, temperatures were mild and comfortable and the city's landscaping, remarkable for a Chinese city (you can find trees in the downtown area), make up for the dreary skies.

I had been looking forward to seeing Chengdu, capital of China's most populous province and believed by most to be the most modern and cosmopolitan city in western China. However, by the time I actually got here I had spent nearly all the money in my pocket and nearly all of my vacation time. I had wanted to see the panda reserves and the great Buddha in nearby Leshan but they will have to wait for another visit.

However, I was able to explore the two things Chengdu is probably best known for: It's spicy food and it's teahouse culture. (and I don't think I did half bad for less than )

Quick Tips:

I happened, by pure luck, to run into a man named Mr. Lee (lee_tray@hotmail.com), who was very helpful. He helped me find my way to the Traffic Hotel, offered dining recommendations and other sound advice (and he speaks excellent English). He works as an interpreter, ticket agent, and tour guide (he is apparently recommended by Rough Guides, Frommer's, and other reputable sources). I didn't utilize any of his services since I was on such an incredibly miniscule budget, but he was helpful none the less. I plan on taking some of the cultural tours he offers (at reasonable prices) such as Sichuan cooking and tasting classes and visits to the countryside, when I return to Chengdu (with money).

Best Way To Get Around:

On my budget, I used the city bus system twice and otherwise I burned a lot of shoe leather.

I was in search of the cheapest possible accomodation I could find, and the ever helpful Mr. Lee referred me to the Traffic Hotel which he claimed cost only 80 yuan.

"Eighty yuan for a dorm bed!" I gasped. (In my hour of desperation this was far more than I wanted to pay.)

"No, not for a dorm bed!" he replied, "Eighty Yuan is a room. A dorm bed costs only 25 Yuan."

"But there aren't any windows in the dorm rooms." Mr. Lee warned.

I assured Mr. Lee that I didn't care. All I cared about was that I find something CHEAP (that provided reasonable security and sanitation, of course).

Shortly afterward, I registered for a dorm bed at the Traffic Hotel reception, where I was informed that it would cost me 35 yuan.

I argued that Mr. Lee had told me they were 25 yuan.

"Twenty-five yuan is an economical bed. There is no TV." she protested.

"That sounds perfect." I replied.

"But it is very economical: No TV, no phone, no heat--just a bed."

I assured her this was exactly what I was looking for.

And economical is what I got. From there the hostess led me down the rather nice hallway of the main building and out the back door to a rather plain building in the back. The spartan room was just large enough to hold two small beds and a small table between them. There was also a nice little walk to the bathroom, which was all the way back in the main building (LP describes the community bathrooms as "immaculate". They are NOT. I think "adequately clean" is the best I can give them).

I'm not complaining though, because this is exactly what I was looking for: the cheapest bed I can find without any regard to additional luxuries. However, the Traffic Hotel is centrally located, offers very good communal ammenities (like English speaking consierge, baggage check, travel agency, barber shop, convenience store, etc.) and appears, for slightly more money than I spent, to offer some pretty nice accomodations at a very good value. I plan on staying here again when I return to Chengdu, but I intend on upgrading to a slightly nicer room.

To make my economical room even more economical, all accomodation at the Traffic Hotel includes breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. Breakfast is either a dinky looking western breakfast(an egg, a couple of slices of toast, and coffee) or an all-you-can-eat Chinese breakfast buffet. Since I was determined to stretch my 25 Yuan ($3 USD) as far as it would go, I elected the buffet option. It was hardly the best breakfast I ever had, but it wasn't bad. It included rice porridge, steamed buns, boiled eggs, various stewed vegetables, and a rather spicy tofu dish (even first thing in the morning, the Sichuan people must have their spicy food).

I asked Mr. Lee, the helpful friend I'd found, for a good dining recommendation. I told him that I was looking for some good local food that was inexpensive and near the traffic hotel. He told me to take a right out of the hotel, walk to the end of the block and turn left, cross the bridge, continue this way for about five minutes until Wei Zhi Yu restaurant appeared on my left. I followed his directions and found exactly what I was looking for.

Since, as is common in Chinese restaurants, meals are served family style, eating alone is both less convenient and economical than with a large group, but I was able to do okay with an order of sweet and sour pork with chili peppers, Yangzhou fried rice, and dumplings with spicy dipping sauce.

I ordered the sweet, sour, and spicy pork largely because it was inexpensive, but it was a pleasant surprise. First of all this is not the greasy, deep-fried pork balls in goopy sweet and sour sauce that you find in American "Chinese" food restaurants, but rather shredded pork and vegetables stirfried in a sauce which complements it's flavor. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that my first taste of genuine Sichuan food was less spicy than I had anticipated. The chili peppers really added something--without overpowering the sauce's sweetness or sourness or the natural flavor of the meat or even the vegetables. It was a surpisingly impressive dish.

One more thing. This place is very crowded (which is almost always a good sign even if you find the crowds bothersome). The acoustics aren't very good, and the restaurant has a bit of a utilitarian character to it. (In other words, you are here for the food, not the relaxing atmosphere). I was here alone, but I figure, if I were with friends, the noise may have proved an obstacle to conversation. However, if you are looking for good, cheap, Sichuan food, this is the place to be. The pork dish with fried rice, dumplings and tea cost me a total of 12Y ($1.50 US).

You absolutely have to have huoguo (hotpot) at least once while in China. It's one of those great interactive dining experiences that I'm surprised isn't more popular in the States. It not only tastes good--It's a lot of fun.

The hotpot is large pot of a soup-like substance which sits in the middle of the table where it boils over a flame. You order whatever raw food items you want (There is a huge selection available: meats, veggies, mushrooms, eggs, tofu, whatever) and upon their delivery you throw your food into the boiling pot to cook it. After your food cooks you fish it out of the pot and eat it.

Sichuan hotpot is a little different (spicier) than the mild Mongolian variety more westerners are familiar with. It's definitely worth a try (unless you are entirely uninterested in foods that are spicy) but I recommend that, at least the first time, you elect the "half and half" option where the pot is divided, in Yin-Yang fashion, and contains both the mild and spicy forms of the boiling soup. It's initially not as terribly spicy as I had been anticipating, but it grows on you over the course of your meal, so I have found that alternating between the spicy and mild pots is the best option for me. Also, if you discover early on that you don't like the spicy pot (or the mild one for that matter), it's no big loss since you can just cook the rest of your food in the one you do like.

I chose this particular restaurant due to its proximity to the Traffic Hotel (It's practically next door.) I am under the impression, however, that it is a pretty typical Chengdu huoguo establishment. I didn't get the impression that this was a tourist trap, being that all of the other guests I saw there were Chinese (and I believe, most-likely Chengduites). However, they had an English menu nonetheless so that was nice.

If you are really trying to be economical with your hotpot then it probably isn't a good idea to go alone (as I did). The main reason for this is that you are charged 10-15 Yuan for the pot of boiling soup even before you order your food. Therefore, if you have six or eight people at your table and you divide this expense, it becomes pretty insignificant.

Because I was alone and on a budget, I chose to curtail the costs by ordering vegetarian options like eggs, parsley, mushrooms, cabbage, and tofu. This was significantly less expensive than ordering meats. (There were actually a few cheap meat selections but they looked pretty weird: pig brains, goose intestine, etc.) Typically I like to have beef in my huoguo but this place only served first quality sliced American steaks and charged appropriately for it.

Chengdu's Renmen Park really is the nicest of the Chinese city parks I've seen thus far:beautiful, lush, green, and well maintained--enough to make you overlook the dreary, overcast weather. There is nothing stark or Maoist about it, and nothing cheesy about it either--no silly characters like bug-eyed dinosaurs destroying the otherwise charming landscape.

By and large, there are two different kinds of parks in China. The first are functional parks which are great places to go and fly a kite or otherwise enjoy several hours of "outdoor time". These are fun enough but usually, while not the ugliest places on earth, are not incredibly beautifully landscaped either. Then there are the parks which exist entirely to be aesthetically pleasing, such as Suzhou's famed gardens, artfully landscaped, but exist mostly to be looked at. They aren't the kind of places to take a picnic, throw a ball, walk your dog, take a paddle boat around the lake, or otherwise while away a lazy afternoon with family and friends.

This park serves both purposes better than any park I have yet seen on this trip with the notable exception of the Summer Palace in Beijing. There is a large open central area which acts as a coridor connecting the smaller areas of the park, which are separated from the whole by some great old walls, buildings, and covered walkways. These smaller areas consist of everything from rock and water gardens to bonsai gardens and a kiddie play area. Many areas of the park are decorated with brightly colored flowers, a feature absent in most east coast gardens.

At the back of the lake is a large lake with willows hanging all around it, paddle boats, and a great teahouse.

There is also greater attention to functional convenience at Chengdu Renmen Park than elsewhere in China. The most notable examples of this are the perfectly maintained concrete pathways which connect virtually all areas of the park (and even provide decent stairs in steep areas) and the huge plethora of picnic tables.

However, it must be said that the bathrooms are up to the usual Chinese standard (nasty). I recommend emptying your bladder at the KFC across the street before entering the park.

A teahouse in China, and in Sichuan in particular, is much more than just a place to drink tea. It is a place to socialize, do business, engage in political debate, and otherwise do whatever one does in a pub in the west. The primary difference between a pub and a teahouse is that a teahouse caters to a wider variety of people, including families with children and the elderly as well as the regular pub crowd.

Chengdu in particular was known for its dominant teahouse scene before the cultural revolution closed all of the teahouses in China (as they were seen as assembly grounds for counterrevolutionaries) but with the teahouses legalized once again, Chengdu's teahouse culture is reemerging.

Therefore, I felt my stay in Chengdu, brief as it was, would be incomplete without a visit to one of the city's teahouses. The Renmen Park teahouse was the perfect choice for my visit since it is locally famous, visually spectacular, conveniently located, and brimming with activity.

At first, I was disappointed that my teahouse visit would have to be limited to what I was certain would be non-peak hours. I had to go at ten o'clock in the morning, because my train for Shanghai was leaving at three-thirty, and I was convinced that I would be all alone at the teahouse.

Not so. There was already a fair crowd when I arrived at the teahouse)which is not a "house" per se since it is almost completely outdoors). It is built around a patio of this dramatic older building overlooking the lake--it's really quite spectacular. Because I was here so early there were still some great lakeside tables available, so I found one and sat down in one of the chairs fashioned from bamboo--the chairs are apparently very important to Chengdu's teahouse culture (and they're more comfortable than they look). I was charged 5 yuan for the bottomless cup of stone flower tea. It was worth it for the experience, but I have a feeling this is a bit more than what they charge their Chinese patrons.

The bottomless cup of tea in Chengdu consists of a cup with dried tea leaves along the bottom. From there you are provided with an endless supply of hot water. The "first tea" is a bit bitter, but is quickly drunken off and the water replaced so superior subsequent teas can be enjoyed.

Shortly after my arrival, the place really started to fill up. I'm glad I wasn't there during "peak hours" (reputedly in the late afternoon) because it must be madness. An hour after my arrival, there were no empty tables.

Still, despite the crowds, the open-air setup allowed for a rather relaxing atmosphere. It was a good place to sit for hours sipping my tea, reading my book and writing in my journal as well as people watching. It's just a good place.

After arriving in Chengdu and purchasing my train ticket to Shanghai, I had only a little more than 200 yuan ($25 USD) to get me through 24 hours in Chengdu, buy my train fare from Shanghai to Changzhou, hire a cab from the Changzhou train station to my apartment on the outskirts of that city, feed myself on the 48 hour journey from Chengdu to Changzhou, and be able to handle any unexpected expenses that came my way. I managed to spend my day in Chengdu with the following expenditures (and I still felt like I got to do quite a bit):

Bus fare from train station to Traffic Hotel.....1Y

Bed at Traffic Hotel (including breakfast).....25Y

Supper at Wei Zhi Yu Restaurant ...................12Y

Internet access...............................................5Y

Baggage check...............................................2Y

Admission to Renmen Park.............................5Y

Bottomless cup at Renmen Park Teahouse....5Y

Lunch at Xian e Chang Huoguo....................33Y

Bus fare from Traffic Hotel to train station.....1Y

Total: 89Y ($10.75 USD)

By far the most superfluous expense listed has to be the Huoguo (hotpot) lunch. I don't regret splurging on it, because I wanted to have Sichuan hotpot while I was in Sichuan. However, had I substituted the hotpot for snacks from street vendors, I could have easily made this "24 hours and $8 in Sichuan's Spicy Capital", which would have been more impressive.