Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province, is a fairly decent sized city.  After pouring over our tourist map, I realized that all the destinations I wanted to visit were within walking distance of each other.  I’m not sure how this happened, but of the other 7 people in our group, I was the best at reading a map so I was elected to be the guide for the day.

At the center of the city stood the country’s largest statue of Mao Zedong!  He overlooked the city square which was filled with people and artistic structures.

I then lead the group to the People’s Park.  It was a beautiful garden filled with many people enjoying their Saturday afternoon.

After stumbling upon this tall monument, we found many people using massive paint brushes to write Chinese characters with water on the stone.  As soon as the water evaporated, the characters disappeared. There were old artists who seemed to be writing poetry and young artists just practicing!

We walked along many winding paths until we found this hidden entrance.

As we passed through, we came upon a tea house.  Chengdu, and most of China, has tea houses.  They are places for people to relax and catch up with friends.  I was adventurous and tried a tea that I have never heard of, Sumaofeng cha.  The waiter, 服务员, took our order then skillfully poured all of our teas.

They even had people offering to clean your ears for a small fee.  Although many Chinese people seemed to enjoy this form of relaxation, the 8 of us decided to pass on this experience!

After finishing our tea, we headed back into the city to walk along the river.  Many people were strolling along the side enjoying the beautiful view.  I thought it was interesting that the water looked not blue or brown, but green!

Chengdu is a wonderful city that is more developed and modern than I expected.  After 6 hours of walking, I feel as though I know Chengdu like the back of my hand! To end, I just wanted to share two of my favorite abstract pictures from the day!