Sword Dancer, Chengdu

This morning it was time to leave Xi'an and take a 4-hour Bullet Train ride to Chengdu (in Sichuan Province) - another massive city with at least twice the population of London.

In the afternoon we had a walking tour round the points of interest in the city centre. The first extra shows an enormous statue of Chairman Mao looking over Tianfu Square.

After that we spent time in the lovely Peoples' Park, where locals go to relax and, often, to dance. We watched a couple of dance groups but my favourite was this solo sword dancer in the main blip - I only wish blipfoto could lost videos as he was amazing to watch. Our guide chatted to him and apparently he is self-taught!

We refreshed ourselves mid-afternoon with a formal tea tasting at a traditional tea house in the park.

Our evening meal was at a Hotpot restaurant of which there are a great many in Chengdu as Hotpot is a traditional dish of Sichuan Province (2nd extra). It's nothing like a hotpot which we cook in the UK. You sit round a table with a hole in the centre in which there's a gas burner: a large wok is placed on it with differently spiced sauces bubbling in separate sections. (Needless to say most of us chose the mildly spiced ones: three of the group tried the hotly spiced one - the furthest one from the camera in the photo - but soon "retreated" to the gentler ones with their tonsils on fire!). Thin slices of meat and vegetables are placed in the sauces to cook for about 5 minutes, then fished out with chopsticks (or spoons for foreigners who can't cope with chopsticks - happily that doesn't include me), dunked in a bowl of oil, garlic and herbs, and enjoyed. It was great fun and very tasty, washed down with a little Chinese beer.

Altogether another full, interesting and enjoyable day.