We got off our boat in Chongqing. The next morning, we rode a bus from Chongqing to Chengdu. We left early in the morning. Our local guide said that the trip would take five hours. She said it would only take three hours if the road had been put in properly. She said the road manager instructed his work crews to put the road around the mountains instead of putting in tunnels. She said he saved a lot of money that way on completing the project, which the manager pocketed for himself. She said the government officials found out about it and put him to death. After hearing this story, I immediately quit yelling out the window at lousy drivers.

I thought that Chengdu was the most beautiful city that we had seen so far. It was beautifully landscaped with many trees, shrubs, and flowers. That was true along all roads and also along the Brocade River. Chengdu was a bustling place and quite flat, so bicycles were everywhere in masses. The people seemed to smile and laugh a lot more than other cities. From all the surprised looks that I got, I presumed that they don’t see as many tourists here in Chengdu.

On a morning in Chengdu, we started off with a walking tour of a local shopping center near our hotel. The first major shopping block was pets. Shop after shop had huge quantities of pets. Fish were the most popular followed by birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, turtles, dogs, and cats. I asked our local guide why we see so many dogs in Chengdu, relative to Beijing. She said that Beijing discourages dog ownership for environmental reasons. She also said that licenses for dogs are expensive in Beijing. My guess was that the government didn’t want any of the Olympic committee members then scouting Beijing to step in any dog crap. I’ve included a couple of pet store photos.

Later in the morning, we visited the Shu brocade factory. Chengdu shop owners, like other Chinese shop owners, really know their customers. They had soft chairs, playing cards, and tea for the men to enjoy, while the women shopped. I played a half dozen games of solitaire, drank some tea, and Vicky purchased four tablecloths.

I suppose construction is the same in Chengdu as it is in the rest of China. I was continually amazed by the major construction projects using only manpower and very basic tools to accomplish really major jobs. I’ve included a couple construction project photos from Chengdu. I really admire the workers doing these jobs.

The first photo below shows a freeway overpass support post being constructed with bamboo ladders and hauling concrete up by rope and buckets. Amazing.

In the second photo below, this was a ‘destruction’ project. They were tearing down a large building, using nothing but sledge hammers and muscle power.