When we got off the train after our 27 hour hard seat experience, we went straight to Peter's Tex-Mex. Peter's is a wonderful place. We have this restaurant in Beijing as well but I haven't been there yet this year. Some of the food they have is seriously better than anything you could get in the States. And when you've just spent over a day on a train, Peter's is a wonderful place.



After sleep and showers, our fun in Chengdu began at JinLi street. This place was always packed with people but it was completely worth the visit. There was a starbucks (that I certainly took enjoyed more than once) but everything else was more chinese. Fun little shops and people doing really cool stuff on the street. There was this one guy who was making animal shapes with candy...(see below)


Our first night in Chengdu, we went to Sichuan Opera. This is very famous and I dont' think any of us knew what to expect. It was in this pavillon type place and they gave us tea and peanuts (two chinese staples). Part of the opera was traditional stuff and other parts were just funny. They do one special thing with masks...they dance around stage and throughout the thing their mask changes several times. Not really sure how they do it, but it was traditional and dramatic so it was fun to see...

And then there was the man with the fire and I'm pretty excited about the shot I caught...


On Wednesday, we went to the Panda Breeding and Research Center to see the pandas. This was so great. It was raining all morning, but the pandas just eat and sleep so they were still sitting around outside for us to watch.




I'm not sure how this guy managed to get himself up in that tree or how he was planning on getting down...but it sure didn't look comfortable the way he was wedged in between two skinny branches..


For a small donation, we were each able to hold this little red panda on our laps and get a picture. As long as pandas are eating, they don't mind be around people. So this little guy was eating apples as each of us were in and out of the room taking pictures with it. The red panda is much more friendly with people, but they like to fight with each other...so this little guy was apparently in a fight with another one and it had it's left ear bit off.


The first two days of our trip were so awesome...western food...sichuan opera...panda hugging... I put some more pictures in my photo album from both days so you can check that out too...