We then drove the 20kms or so back to Chengdu to visit the Wide and Narrow Alley, one of China's historical and cultural reserves dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD). The area was renovated in early 2000s and is now a popular entertainment and tourist site with lots of restaurants, teahouses and shops.
Lots of people were having their photos taken with this stunning bougainvillea.
More teahouses with smoke breathing dragons etc to attract customers.
We'd been told we might see people having their ears cleaned out in the street and sure enough we did - yuk!
This young lady was offering samples of different teas.
And this just reminded me of Thing from the 1960s Adams Family TV programme.
This guy is making something called dragon beard candy, a well known and popular treat.
And these are deep fried sweet rice balls.
Whilst the area has clearly been renovated there are lots of original features to see, like these doors.
There were some lovely old bits around.
The whole area was far more touristy and not nearly as interesting as Xi'an's Muslim Quarter. One thing it did introduce us to was the strange habit of middle aged mean bearing their stomachs.
From here we hopped back on the coach for a short drive and then walked the last 100 meters to People's Park, so a couple of street scenes on the way.
I don't know if this is worse than the street ear cleaning?
The Chinese are well known for their love of gambling and I assume this is a version of roulette.
These sweets are just made of sugar which must be so brittle when cooled I'm amazed they don't all break.
There's an area in People's Park called Matchmakers' Corner where parents post adverts searching for suitable partners for their children. Although the 1 child per household policy was abolished in 2015 it will take 20 years or so for it to take effect and, meantime, suitable suitors are few and far between and so the parents "help". The advert includes all the basic particulars; name, age, height, marital status and then there is room for personal information and also a selection criteria where their requirements are detailed. From what Raymond said these mostly include "posh car and well paid job". There are rows and rows of posters, blue paper for boys.
And pink for girls.
And plenty of interest.
This is the Monument to the Martyrs of the Railway Protection Movement, a protest group which emerged in 1911 against the government's plan to nationalise the railways and probably contributed to the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution which saw the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.
Another chap writing with water.
There was also some extremely bad karaoke.
Tony is into calligraphy so was very interested in the brushes and pen nibs on sale.
Panda marshmallow and ice cream
Ah, the ear thing isn't new
This was the Park's tea house where we should have had the opportunity to try traditional Chinese tea but we were rather rushed past without realising.
Another couple of stomach shots. The second chap looked so smart with his posh watch and blue shirt.
This really was shot from the hip so I'm surprised she's (almost) in focus
Heading back to the hotel and through the dirty coach windows this is one of the few statues we've seen of Mao Zedong which stands outside the Sichuan Science and Technology Museum.
And this is next door to him - I think it's a giant peony.
The entrance to our hotel isn't off the street, but at the back of the building and there is a tunnel or sorts where the coach drops us off. The walls are decorated with a frieze.
In the car park I noticed this car - just look at the size of the grill. Apparently it is a Roewe iMax 8 which retails from $38,000 so not that expensive really.
