Chengdu Travel Forum

I'll be arriving on the 10th of July in the evening and leaving on the 14th in th afternoon. That basically gives me 3,5 days to explore Chengdu. I was thinking about doing the following:
- 11th: visit panda reserve early in the morning + some more sights in the afternoon
- 14th: some more sights in the morning
--> which sights (temples, parcs, tea houses, ...) would you recommend to fill up the afternoon on the 11th and the morning on the 14th?

- 12th: Mt. Emei. I love hiking and would like to go there really early. How can I get there and how can I get back. Is this feasable for a 1 day trip? If not, is there an alternative? (besides the scenery, I would love to see the monkies as well).
- 13th: great Buddha. Same question here. How can I get there early in the morning and how can I get back? Is there something else close to the great buddha worth visiting or can I fill a whole day with this trip?

And finally, I would love to taste the Chendu food (I heard soo much about it). Where would be a good place for me to go in the evening for dinner. I'm a female travelling on my own, so safety is definately a concern.

Thanks a lot!!

I would highly recommend Sanxingdui museum (http://www.sxd.cn) on the afternoon of the 11th.
Try Jinli Old Street for Chengdu food.

Regarding Mt Emei, there are numerous way to hike up (or down) the mountain. We took the bus and stayed at a small hotel near the top, and then we walked down the mountain. It was quite serious walking as it was up and down hundreds of stairs. I've never taken a hiking trip in China and this is quite different from what I used to in North America. The stairs really worn me out as you had to constantly lift your leg up for each step. Very tiring. We stayed at a temple at night, and finally reached the bottom in early morning on the next day.

Anyway, just wanted to give you an idea what it was like walking down the mountain. You could walk part of the trail if you only have one day, as there are buses and cable cars that you can take up/down the mountain. Also beware of the monkeys, they are aggressive and they robbed my food! Carry a stick can help a lot.

You can actually head to the Buddha early in the morning by bus from Chengdu, then continue your journey to Mt Emei, since the Buddha is half way Mt Emei and Chengdu. This way you can have more time to enjoy Mt Emei and you can spend a night there.

I would recommend half a day to check out the Green Ram monastery and Du Fu's thatched cottage. They are no more than half an hour apart if you were to walk. Du Fu won't mean much to most westerners but the park is very pleasant.

Re: Emeishan, you can spend one day there, but it's kind of rush.my friend and i spent 2 days one night there. we arrived at emeishan itself around 2pm, i think. we wasted a lot of time looking for a place to stay. we rode the cable car going up the mountain. the next day, we climbed down for almost 6 hours! actually, it's harder to climb down than up, but it's more tiring to climb up. when climbing down, my advice is to take it easy. don't rush. that was my mistake. i thought it was easy since it's just climbing down. but after 2 hours or more, i feel my kneecaps aching. around the 4th hour, i felt like my left kneecap had a knife stuck in it. for my part, it was hard to enjoy emeishan because firstly, we woke up really early to see the sunrise which didn't happend, and secondly, i see the old people fixing the stairs so tourists can climb easier. i pity those old people

I agree with you regarding climbing down Emeishan!! My friend and I took the minibus about half way down. And then we decided to walk the rest of the way down, thinking it would be easier. But in reality, it was up and down and up and down many times! We spent a night at a small temple. I guess that was the highlight of our trip, as we've never stayed in a temple before.