Laying low in Chengdu

I know I told you last time that I was going to write a post after getting to Kangding, but energized by how nice Ganzi was, I decided to take a detour to Danba. The road from Ganzi to Danba was the worst of the whole trip, with a ride that took about 14 hours, including one hour caused by a breakdown on the suspension system. I'll put a more detailed post on the road later when I can put up pictures, In any case, by the time I got to Danba I needed a break from buses, so stayed there two nights, then on to Kangding, which was a pretty ok place after I took a soak in the local hot springs. Otherwise it is a quickly modernizing small Chinese city, and cold. There I did get to meet more friendly Israelis who taught me another great card game to add to my repertoire.

So now I'm in Chengdu, and I've decided to pack it in for the October holiday, which starts on Friday. Essentially I have two choices: go back and hide out in Beijing or find some small place far away from any population center to lay low for a week (Sershu would fit the bill, but that's not somewhere I exactly want to spend a lot of time). I chose to go back to Beijing, especially considering I was going to head back after the holiday anyway to get a jump on grad school apps. Also, multiple plans to meet up with people fell through.

But what really pushed me was that upon arriving in Chengdu I found that every single hostel is fully booked for the whole holiday.  This is actually part of a big change I've noticed travelling this time around compared to our previous adventures across the country: many hostels now have majority locals for guests. Before, these types of backpacker places were entirely foreigners. That being said, few locals do the kind of hardcore travelling that I come across many foreigners, particularly Israelis, doing. Thy seem to be mostly students looking for cheap accommodation before they start tours or young yuppie couples doing a week-long trip. In any case, it's a big change.

So I have a couple days to hang out in and around Chengdu before hopping a train back to Beijing before the holiday starts. The city honestly hasn't changed all that much since I was last here (tonight I'm staying in the same hostel as five years ago; it's getting a bit long in the tooth). Of course there are new buildings and cleaner, wider streets, but otherwise it still has the same super-relaxed feel that I enjoyed so much last time. Oh, and the food is still awesome.

Unless special circumstances require, I probably won't post again until I get back to Beijing and throw up some pictures from this first stretch. Until then...