Best Wishes

Hang your heart's desire here.

Ooddles Of Noodles

This shop is famous for making bowls of goodness,

one loooong noodle at a time.

Tea For Two

At a traditional tea house along the river bank in Huanglongxi (黄龙溪镇), a historic town near Chengdu, dating back 1700 years to the Qing Dynasty.

Scorpions On A Stick

Appetizing as they looked, I didn't have the nerve to try these deep-fried 'delicacies'.

Layin' Pipe

Kwan Zhai Xiang Zi (宽窄巷子), meaning "wide and narrow alleys", is a restored pedestrian area in Chengdu, taking the traditional architecture of the neighbourhood and converting it into tea houses, restaurants, and shops selling curios such as these mega-long pipes. No idea of their actual purpose, except for possibly annoying people 2 tables over with the smoke from your stogie.

PANDAmonium

You can't visit Sichuan province and not go see the giant pandas. It's like going to San Diego and not visiting Sea World. Or Vegas without checking out the strip clubs. But I digress..

The Giant Panda Sanctuaries are designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and are home to more than 30% of the world population of this endangered species. Worth a visit if you like furry animals.

Pump Up The Jam

We were driving on our way to a city called Leshan ("Happy Mountain"), which is 120km south of Chengdu in Sichuan province (where that big earthquake was last year, and also where a lot of panda bears live), when we suddenly came to a dead stop on the highway.  After sitting there for a couple of minutes, it didn't seem like anyone was going to be moving anytime soon, so our driver got out to do some recon. Apparently, a truck had flipped over a few kilometers ahead and was blocking the entire road.  Great.  

All we could do was sit and wait for the accident to be cleared, so people got out of their vehicles and got comfy in the shade.

An hour later, we were finally on our way.  I can't imagine how long the back up of cars must have been.