Thursday was a “free day” in Chengdu. I slept in till 6:30 and took my time getting ready while watching BBC World News (the only channel I could understand.) Ate some great Chinese food on the breakfast buffet: a hot peanut/tofu dish, fried noodles, steamed dumplings, bread pudding, and the coffee was excellent. After catching up on email in my room, decided I wasn’t going to be a super-tourist; I’m not going 4 hrs away to see the panda research center (something most people would consider a “must do”). Instead I went to JinLi, one of the most ancient commercial streets in the history of the Sichuan province.

JinLi was crowded with Chinese tourists eating and shopping, snapping pictures. I felt it was analogous to Alexandria’s Old Town, except that JinLi is older by two millenniums. I think you can understand my thoughts: a historical place that has become a tourist trap.

Anyway, I only saw two Westerner’s briefly — everyone else Asian. I wasn’t surprised by the Starbucks [I don’t like going to Starbucks in China — it seems so expensive and unnecessary], TCBY, and Dairy Queen. There were several yummy-smelling Sichuan food stands, mainly noodles. I tried some kind of meat wrapped in a flat bread with fresh veggies (so good). And here I will admit that I did stop and get a DQ Blizzard. After watching people for a long time, I went to the city square with it’s huge statue of Chairman Mao Zedong.

After a day of being on my own, observing Chinese people and places… I’m thinking that the cultural differences are not as significant as I thought. The young people are joking/laughing, the children are curious about the fish in the pond, the old people are relaxed and observant, the buyers envy the same luxury brands, the couples are in love, the workers are busy… It is not hard for me to imagine that we have some relatives in common.