Chengdu... and we met the dragon!!!

At Jinli street we also had the experience of enjoying one of the most famous traditional performances associated with China: The Dragon dance (simplified Chinese: 舞龙; traditional Chinese: 舞龍; pinyin: wǔ lóng) 

 The dance is  performed by a team of dancers who manipulate a long flexible figure of a dragon using poles positioned at regular intervals along the length of the dragon. The dance team mimics the supposed movements of this river spirit in a sinuous, undulating manner while it chases a sphere that symbolizes power..

In China, dragons  are believed to bring good luck to people, therefore the longer the dragon in the dance, the more luck it will bring to the community.  They are also  believed to possess qualities that include great power, dignity, fertility, wisdom and auspiciousness and they  eventually became an emblem to represent imperial authority. The movements in a performance traditionally symbolize historical roles of dragons demonstrating power and dignity.

This dance we saw was impressive! the music sounded all over the narrow streets of Jinlin area and there you had Joselyn and I chasing the dragon to take pictures and enjoy the powerful fight lead by men attired in yellow customs...

CHENGDU: The famous JInli Street

One of the places that David suggested us to visit was Jinli Street,  and since it was a special day (Day of the hair cut) there was going to be something special there. 
Jinli Ancient Street (锦里古街)  is part of the old city of Chengdu this  Street was the most famous place for baldachin - a rich, ornate cloth. And it was one of the busiest commercial areas during the Shu Kingdom (221-263). that is why this street is known as 'First Street of the Shu Kingdom"  its hotels and small stores are  old-fashioned in style. There is a variety of different stores where we could see antiques, beautiful Shu embroidery ( no pictures were allowed), lacquer products, folk handicrafts, curios, or calligraphies and paintings of celebrities. Besides that, there is a street were you can try   famous local snack food !.
  
The Wuhouci Temple (the entrance fee was 60 yuan,) is also there but we did not have time to visit it  that time ...because we spend the time walking along the place and looking at the different stores...
to read more you can check this link

Uno de los lugares que David nos sugirió que visitáramos fue Jinli Street,  y ya que era un día especial and since it was a special day (el día del Corte de cabello)habría algo especial ahí.  
Jinli Ancient Street (锦里古街) es parte de la antigua ciudad de Chengdu esta calle fué el famoso lugar de  baldachin - una tela rica en ornato  y fue una de las áreas comerciales de más movimiento durante el reinado  Shu  (221-263);  por esta razón, esta calle es conocida como  "la primera calle del reinado Shu" . Sus hotels y pequeñas tiendas son al estilo antiguo. Hay una gran variedad de tiendas donde pudimos apreciar  antiguedades, hermosos bordados Shu en seda  ( no se permitían las fotos), productos laqueados, artesanías, curiosidades, o calligrafias  y pinturas de celebridades. además de so, existe una calle donde puedes probar las famosas botanas locales! 

El templo Wuhouci  (la entrada era de  60 yuanes,) también está ahí, pero no tuvimos tiempo de visitarlo en esa ocasión, porque pasamos el tiempo recorriendo el lugar y viendo las diferentes tiendas. 

para mas información LINK

CHENGDU: the surroundings of our hostel

Since we still have a few days without classes, Joselyn and I decided to ask David for help to be able to visit Chengdu (his hometown): our plan? go to the panda reserve and visit the giant Budah ...
 Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province, which is known as the "Heavenly State" (Tian Fu Zhi Guo). The moment we arried there, just by looking at the city and people, gave me the impression of being a very cultural city... and I WAS RIGHT! ... Now I understand why David, misses it so much and why he knows so much about chinese culture!
We arrived at the city in the afternoon (2 hours from Chongqing by train) then took the subway and look for our hostel DRAGON TOWN INTERNATIONAL HOSTEL . WOW !! the area where it is located, couldn´t be better!!!
here are some shoots of it....

beautiful entrances in various buildings

 Ya que todavía tenemos unos pocos días sin clases,  Joselyn y yo decidimos pedirle a David que nos ayudara para poder visitar  Chengdu (su ciudad natal): ¿nuestro plan? ir a la reserva de los pandas y visitar el Buda gigante ...
 Chengdu es la capital de la provincia de  Sichuan , la cual es conocida como  "El Estado del Cielo" (Tian Fu Zhi Guo). Al momento de llegar, tan solo al mirar la ciudad y su gente ,  me dió la impresion de ser una ciudad muy cultural ... y ESTABA EN LO CORRECTO! ...  ahora entiendo porqué David la extraña tanto y porqué sabe tanto sobre cultura china! 
Llegamos a la ciudad en la tarde ( a 2 horas de Chongqing en el tren rápido) despues tomamos el metro y buscamos nuestro hostal...el  DRAGON TOWN INtERNATIONAL HOSTEL . WOW !! el area donde está localizado no podía ser mejor!!! he aquí algunas fotos!!!

When the sunlight went down... lights went up!!!

The entance of the restaurant that would become our favorite
because of its noodels and dumplings mmm...

We also saw very artistic sugar candies...

Añadir leyenda

The lights gave a very special touch to this place.  

A TEA CLASS WITH MISS LEE

David took me to Ciqikou  to meet Mrs Lee , whom I had previosly met at a tea class in school , this time, we visited her tea house and she told us about tea and showed us how to make it... the afternoon was very interesting although I don´t speak Chinese and she doesn´t speak English... David did an excellent Job as my interpreter!!!
and I learnt about types of tea, adecuate  temperature, tools,  smell, color, and taste of 3 different types of tea!

 

David me llevó a  Ciqikou para encontrarnos con  Mrs Lee , a quien había previamente conocido en una clase de te en la escuela , esta vez, visitamos su casa de té, nos habló sobre éste y nos mostró cómo  hacero.. la tarde fue muy interesante aunque yo no hablo chino y ella no habla Inglés . David realizó un excelente trabajo como intérprete y yo aprendí sobre tipos de té. temperatura adecuada, herramientas, olor, color, y sabor de 3 diferentes tipos de té (de la misma clase)