Chengdu

Arrived last night Chengdu. City of 4 million, and the ride  courtesy of our guesthouse pickup service from the airport confirmed the largeness of the place. The larger metropolitan population is 12 million. 

We're staying in what could be the best backpacker guesthouse we've come across. Its v

ery big, in the centre they've constructed a faux tropical area with streams, waterfalls, deckchairs, thatch roofed bungalows. They have cats, kittens, a puppy, chickens, and 3 large pigs which wander around the place during the day and are pretty tame. The owner of the place is Singaporean and he said to us that there's another

 guesthouse always copying his initiatives - 1st he got a dog, and they got one, then he got cats, and they copied that too, so he got chickens, but they couldnt because they didnt have room so he won. Guess he hasn't stopped thou

gh because its pretty bizarre seeing big pigs trotting about the place. Other than the wildlife, its a pretty good place to stay too. 

Today we decided to check out the shops. There must have been 1 million people doing their shopping today, I dont recall the streets of Beijing or Shanghai being that busy. 

Just like in other cities we've been to in China, it is common to see disabled people begging for money on the sidewalk. It is quite hard to see, as these people obviously are incapable of supporting themselves. Sometimes its hard to tell what the problem is - we saw a teenage girl, crouched head in hands with a sign in front of her on the path. Many people were standing around reading the sign , and many giving her money. Perhaps she had lost her parents and was unable to support herself. So many things about this place are so different - but the sight of such things amoungst the backdrop of Western chain stores and outlets within massive glitzy malls is interesting. I guess it's similar in some developed countries anyway.

We're going to try and see a gig tonight - if we can find the place. Some skaters in a clothes store gave us directions. Will update about it tomorrow China time.