After a last breakfast in Chongqing, it was time to head to the train station for the last train ride of the trip.
Punctual as always, the train whisked me to Chengdu at a lovely 350 Kilometers per hour.
In Chengdu, I transferred to the metro and was able to check into my hotel early. Running low on clean clothes, I decided to do a laundry run first, and the staff told me that they'd keep an eye on it so I could explore the city instead of waiting for the cycle to complete.
Wenshu Yuan Monastery
A good way to explore any city is to pick a tourist attraction and walk there on foot, which is exactly what I did. I chose the Wenshu Yuan Monastery north of my hotel, and while walking there, I immediately noticed a difference between here and Chongqing.
There were people on bikes and scooters again! (Impossible in mountainous Chongqing). Traffic was much calmer, and the weather was a pleasant 20 degrees. It's a bit warmer than the past couple of days.
The Monastery was a popular attraction; it was crowded, and surprisingly, many people were there to take photos. My kind!
And no, I'm not sick of visiting temples and shrines and monasteries all the time; those are places where people gather, and when people gather, there's always something interesting to see.
People working on beautiful paintings, and people trying to take photos of that.
Or people paying respects by lighting candles (lots and lots of candles).
Or just chilling.
And, of course, praying.
After a slow lap around the grounds, I made my way outside for some food.
I looked up what food to get in Chengdu, and one of the items was Sweet Water Noodles, which I noticed on the menu at a nearby place.
The sauce was indeed sweet and not spicy; delicious! (It looked spicy, and everything in the past week was spicy, so this was a nice change!)
Anshun Bridge
Another attraction in Chengdu is the Anshun Bridge, which is supposed to look beautiful at night. It was about an hour's walk away, meaning it would be dark by the time I got there; perfect!
Over the past few weeks, I've come to appreciate the contrasts in Chinese cities.
For example, expensive fashion right next to a run-down bakery.
And their ability to sell anything at any place, such as fruit at a busy intersection.
Or they decorate places people often frequent, such as these lanterns beside the river.
The bridge was indeed lit up beautifully. It did not disappoint.
When I returned to my hotel, the clean and dry laundry awaited me in the room; amazing!
