Sichuan | Taste of China

I, along with three other Los Angeles-based photographers, was invited by the Chinese Cultural Development Center to participate in a project called - 2024 “Taste China” World-Class Photographers’ Journey Through Sichuan.

(for more information on the project see the CCDC website https://ccdcusa.com/2024-taste-china-world-class-photographers-journey-through-sichuan/)

The objective of the one-week trip to Sichuan province - located in the middle of China - was to experience and document its food and lifestyle culture.  

I had gone on a similar trip with Nick and Ringo eight years ago to Shanghai and was looking forward to discovering and photographing another part of China.  (see http://138.68.248.231/shanghai-city-of-the-future/ for the blog on Shanghai: City of the Future)

So I think I'll go day-by-day with some commentaries |

Day One | Excursion to Sanxingdui and Guanghan

We left Los Angeles on a China Eastern Airlines noon flight on 17 June and eventually arrived in Chengdu after more than 24 hours on the road early morning 19 June.  Got a few hours of sleep and then headed out of the city to the Sanxingdui Museum where artifacts from the somewhat mysterious Shu Dynasty are displayed in a modern museum recently dedicated by Chinese President Xi Jinping.  There were beautiful bronze and gold masks, strange sculptures of creatures - some twenty feet high - as well as jade artifacts.

and some panoramas |

Fantastic lunch - the first of many - at an empty restaurant where a mask changing dancer gave us a private show.  

On our way back we stopped at the Fanghu Park in Guanghan.  There we met a young photographer, Yuja, who has been documenting the Sanxingdui excavations.  He accompanied us on a visit to the temple as well as the beautiful, old wall enclosed gardens.  As with most of the parks we visited there was plenty of activities going on with men playing board games, women dancing and young ladies posing for photo shoots and just people enjoying the greenery, ponds, waterways and walkways.

We returned to Chengdu and rushed to the Sichuan Opera where great performances featuring comedy sketches, magic acts, acrobats, hand shadow shows, a fashion display, culminated with a captivating performance of mask changers where even a dummy changed masks!

And finally a delicious late night dinner in downtown Chengdu |

Day Two | on the road to Pandas |

We headed out of Chengdu for a three day excursion visiting sites along the mountain range that defines the western border of Sichuan.  First stop was the former residence of famous Chinese poet Su Xun and his two sons Su Shi and Su Zhe in Meishan.

A stop for a fish stew lunch where we picked out our fresh water fish |

And finally the pandas.  We arrived late so only had a short time for the visit, but the pandas were great.  And our first view of one was the best.  A Giant Panda munching on a huge bamboo stalk |

We overnighted in Ya'an and enjoyed a barbecue dinner where an entertainer sang Bob Denver's "A Country Road" |

After dinner we took a stroll along the riverfront and were caught in a little downpour.

Day Three | Giant Buddha and ancient village |

It was raining as we made our way to the Ya'an Tibetan Tea Village.  We were the only visitors and we sampled some tea and I bought some Tibetan Black Tea for my wife, Mona |

Next stop was the Suji Ancient Village along the Emei River | know for its beef production

Our final stop -  the Giant Buddha of Leshan | It is the largest and tallest stone Buddha statue in the world and is 233 feet tall and was built between 713 and 803 AD.  It is located at the confluence of the Min and Dadu Rivers and is believed to be at the location where Buddhism first took hold in China | It reminded me of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II Temple of Abu Simbel which was carved out of a mountain on the banks of the Nile River | Very impressive and what a location over looking the rivers and in the distance the Emei Mountain

After checking into the hotel and a brief rest, we headed out to a popular dining quarter near the river.  As my colleagues wondered around the festive street environment, I decided to take a sunset stroll along the river walk.  I have an affinity for water and river cities have always captivated me.  The confluence of the two rivers with their different colors reminded me of the meetings of the Blue and White Niles in Khartoum, Sudan.  However, the setting could not be more different.

and another great dining experience |

Day Four | Dinosaurs | Salt | and high speed train |

The day started with a beautiful, relaxing drive through the rolling countryside of southern Sichuan province to Zigong where we first visited the Zigong Dinosaur Museum, one of the best in the world.  It's been awhile since I visited a dinosaur site and it still amazes me that such incredible creatures once inhabited the earth.

Next up | the Zigong Salt Making Industry History Museum.  Since Sichuan is so far from any ocean or sea, they had to find salt another way.   250 million years ago during the Triassic period - the period of time that dinosaurs evolved - the Sichuan basin was surrounded by open ocean.  So very deep down there was salt.  Salt making wells were sunk as early as 220 BC and continued until the 19th century with some wells reaching down over a thousand meters.  The salt water from the brine aquifers was sucked up into huge vats where natural gas (also from the wells) was used to boil the water allowing salt to be skimmed off.  The museum was pretty empty with historic displays and salt wells from the period.  And then we came across two shirtless guy who were actually working active salt wells in the old way.  It was sweltering hot in boiling salt water vat room where salt was being produced.

Donghai, our leader and friend, from the Los Angeles office of the Chinese Cultural Development Center, did a fantastic job of finding awesome restaurants.  Zigong is known for its rabbits and we had a great meal featuring rabbit in a popular downtown restaurant.

We needed to return to Chengdu and instead of going by bus, Donghai wanted us to experience China's famous bullet trains.  We boarded the train at the massive train terminal and sped our way, silently and rapidly through the Sichuan countryside.  Though we only reached speeds of 200 kms per hour - it is a relatively short ride and there was one stop on the way, so the 400 km plus maximum speed was not reachable.  Nonetheless, it was a thrill zipping along and looking out at farmers in traditional conical bamboo hats tending the fields.  I wanted to take it all in but the ride was so smooth and quiet that I, unfortunately, dosed off within 15 minutes of boarding the train - hence no photos :(

We arrived at the Chengdu train station and transferred to an underground subway line that took us downtown where we met up with our sponsors for an incredible hot pot dinner.

Once we checked back into our hotel, we discovered a rooftop bar that became our chill out go-top place after long days exploring Chengdu |

Day Five | Exploring Chengdu

This day was jam packed with so much sightseeing.  We started the day meeting up with colleagues from the China News Service at People's Park.  We were welcomed with a tea ceremony and then we all headed out to explore the park.  I'm particularly interested in history and had seen there were some monuments commemorating the Japanese Aggression in World War II - Imperial Japan never reached Chengdu, but the city was bombed from 1938 to 1944 - so I headed over to see them.

Both Irfan and I had expressed interest in visiting the Chengdu Huangcheng Mosque, so we walked over there.  Around the mosque were halal restaurants and we enjoyed kebabs and other halal-oriented dishes for lunch.

After lunch we visited Tianfu Square where there is a huge statue of Mao Zedong - apparently one of only three in all of China |

The rest of the afternoon we visited different tourist oriented old walled neighborhoods and the Tibetan quarter |

First up | Kuan Alley | old cobblestone streets and lots and lots of shops | it - like Jinli Old Street - was chaotic and a visually odyssey |

A quick 45 minute visit to the Tibetan neighborhood.  It was weird seeing Tibetan monks wondering around | I befriended one Tibetan gentleman, Justin, who gifted me a copy of "What Makes You Not a Buddhist" by Khyentse Norbu |

By this time we were pretty exhausted but there was still the Jinli Old Street to visit | as usual we were given an hour to check it out | like Kuan Alley, it was chaotic with lots of people doing selfies and recording their visits |

and lastly we ate seafood at a street restaurant and it was by far the best seafood meal I have ever had | I was so busy enjoying the meal and atmosphere that I neglected to take any photos | among the dishes were conch, abalone, oysters, clams, octopus, mussels and a fish called Pomfret | absolutely fantastic | also Nick is a big fan of dorian fruit and there was a stall next to the restaurant so I bought one | I've heard numerous stories about how smelly the fruit is and how delicious it is | well it was creamy and sweet and not smelly at all | definitely another culinary experience

another great day in Sichuan |

Day Six | Shopping and fine dining

We started the day visiting a local market.  I had already shot a number of market photos and was hopeful to find a bookstore as I wanted to see if there were any old books or books in English on Sichuan.  A colleague of our guide, David, met us and offered to take me to a bookstore.  Unfortunately, it was closed and when the owner showed up, he said he was moving inventory and would be open later in the day.  There was another possible store and we hopped into a tuk-tuk and made our way there.  It was closed and our time in the neighborhood was almost up.

With only one full day remaining, it was decided to go downtown to the commercial area for some shopping. I had already bought a number of items during our visit - Tibetan black tea, incense sticks, prayer beads and some panda souvenirs and other gifts - so I decided to give the bookstore hunt another chance. Though I did find one bookstore, there were no books in English and so came up empty handed |

We had lunch at a place where a recent high ranking American official had dined - unfortunately cannot remember who it was.  It was while having lunch that Ringo received a call from colleague and friend, Damian Dorvorganes, informing him he had won Photojournalism of the Year from the Los Angeles Press Club |

For our last dinner, we drove out to an exclusive restaurant called You Yun Sichuan where we were greeted by our sponsors and given a tour of the restaurant by Master Chef Zhang Yuanfu.  We toured displays of the origins of Sichuan cuisine and visited the gardens where chefs were stirring pastes in large containers as well as vats containing pickled items. Lastly before sitting down to an extravagant dining experience, we doned white chef outfits and visited the kitchen.  It was an incredible evening of wonderful food and drink.  Each one of us had  personal servers and we had something like 25 dishes.

The presentation of the dishes was amazing.  Each serving was a work of art.  Here are a few pictures of some of the dishes |

At the end of the meal our sponsors presented us with a gift and stamped menus in both Chinese and English.  It was one of the most incredible dining experiences in my life |

Day Seven | Last Day

Our flight back to the US was late afternoon, and some of us wanted to do some more shopping so we went back downtown | Our guide, John, mentioned there was a temple complex nearby so I went to check it out.  Amazing complex with multiple temples and courtyards right among skyscrapers |

and a few more from downtown |

All things Panda |

The Giant Panda, a Chinese national symbol, is from Sichuan province and their images can be found everywhere.  I have to admit that pandas are super cool and one of the highlights of my trip to China was seeing the pandas in their natural habitat.

also everywhere we went there were lots of people -mostly adults - wearing these panda head decorations |

and a few quirky photos |

and people |

and these photos are primarily for me to remember the great Sichuan adventure | with the traveling companions and others

selfies and others |

parting shot |