the world through my eyes…

I have no clue how a hostel in the Tibetan Quarter of Chengdu can cook such fantastic western and chinese food, but they do! This woman is amazing. Her fries are to die for, not to mention the massive banana pancake (done in a french crepe style) with chocolate sauce that I had for breakfast this morning. I’ve eaten more in this hostel, then anywhere else! lol.

Holly’s Cafe is not only popular with guests of the hostel, but with guests from other hostels and hotels as well. In the warmer months I imagine this place is packed with people both inside and out on the roof terrace.

Although I’m the only non-Asian staying here, I feel right at home here. My room is clean (It should be, they wash all the linens by hand on the roof), has a spacious bathroom complete with Western style toilet, TV (doesn’t work though haha) and an air conditioner if I had asked for one. Holly’s also offers free internet to guests and a laundry service, to which my cloths have never looked so clean!

The staff are very friendly and the girls at the desk speak very good english. They’re able to book flights, tours etc, which is great!

Next time I come to Chengdu, I’ll be staying here at Holly’s!

Holly’s Hostel- No. 246 Wuhouci daJie Chengdu China. Tel 86-28-85548131  hollyhostelcn@yahoo.com

After wandering around the city I decided to go on an excursion to the Sichuan Opera last night. Climbing onto the mini bus, I was greeted by a GAP Adventures Tour group (that has been to the same places as I’ve been, and were even on the same flight to Chengdu as I was!) to which there were a few Canadians on board.

Driving through what looked like teahouse row, we arrived at our destination and made our way down the dark path to the entrance. The teahouse was beautiful, with of course, several shops located conveniently for the tourists to empty their pocketbooks! Sitting down in the middle section of the theatre, we sipped our complimentary jasmine tea (Which wasn’t as strong as the tea I had at the Mosque in Xi’an) and waited for the show to begin.

Sichuan Opera is fantastic! They have a variety of acts which include musical solos, operatic singing (kind of high pitched, not like the Opera I’ve been too), a comedic play, shadow puppets, puppets and changing faces.

The guy doing the shadow puppets was incredible. He did everything from doves, to rabbits, a cat, dog, a turtle and then a wolf eating the rabbit.. lol. He was so talented it was scary. Do you think he just woke up one day and said… “I know! I’ll make shadow puppets for a living!”? Other highlights were the comedic act, and of course the changing faces. I’m not 100% sure how its done, but it’s amazing, you don’t want to take your eyes off them.

Basically they’re standing in front of you and as the huge fan comes over their face, their mask changes to a completely different one in colour and expression. It’s fantastic to watch. One of the performers not only changed his face, but his robe as well, all with the wave of a fan. He went from blue to green, to gold, to red… truly fascinating.

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