Appreciating the Slanting Sun in Chengdu's Winter
Chengdu's cuisine is vast and profound.
To be honest, the main purpose of coming to Chengdu is to taste all kinds of its special delicacies. Even if I can't try every delicacy here, I still want to have a chance to visit the must-try spots in Chengdu. I was lucky to come here. Although I dare not say that I have fully accomplished my ambitious goal, I have indeed gained a lot.
Taiziling Ski Resort is an excellent place for winter skiing in Southwest China, offering many southerners a great opportunity to experience skiing. It is also the best choice to enjoy a wonderful holiday in a snowy world with family and friends. Take advantage of the good snow season and go experience it quickly!
"Many fairy mountains in Shu, Jiuding is unparalleled." Taiziling Ski Resort on Jiuding Mountain is located in Mao County, Sichuan. It only takes a 40-minute drive from the county town, and 180 kilometers from downtown Chengdu, about a three-and-a-half-hour drive.
The ski resort has a total of 9 beginner, intermediate, and advanced ski runs, capable of accommodating more than 5,000 skiers at the same time. Different ski runs can meet the needs of skiers of various levels.
If you want to come early, you can book accommodation in advance. There is a Hemingzhuang Holiday Hotel in the ski resort, which is said to be very good. Its floor-to-ceiling windows directly face the ski runs, offering a superb view. If you drive here, you can park your car directly at the hotel entrance. You can buy tickets and rent ski equipment at the front desk without queuing at the ski resort lobby. This is very convenient and thoughtful.
Moreover, you can enjoy the most beautiful time on the ski slopes in the morning. I recommend skiing enthusiasts to stay here. Alternatively, you can choose to stay in Mao County or at hotels halfway up the mountain. The room rates are cheaper and offer good value for money.
As for food, you can bring your own or eat at the hotel in the ski resort. The dishes are quite delicious, oily but not greasy, perfectly matching the white snow scenery. There are also chicken, yak meat, and soup pots with vegetables, each with its own characteristics, ensuring you eat enough and well.
The ski runs are divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced. The beginner and intermediate runs have more people. The advanced runs must be challenged by professionals or masters with excellent skills. Entering the advanced runs requires wearing a helmet and passing a technical inspection by the staff before taking the cable car to the top.
There are also activities suitable for children in the ski resort, such as snowball fights, building snowmen, and sledding. They are especially fun, with scenes full of childhood innocence and purity.
White snow, falling snowflakes. In the story of Frozen, full of childlike fun, it melts our hearts.
Here, you can escape the hustle and bustle of the city and feel the power of nature. Every in-depth journey is a beautiful connection. Ordinary companionship is the best gift for growth.
As a senior representative of Chengdu's cold pot skewers, this Chengdu Gua Chuan Chuan is quite popular.
Don't worry about how many minutes to boil the beef or how many seconds for tripe. Cold pot skewers are boiled by professional chefs in the kitchen before being served. The heat is much better controlled than when you cook them yourself!
Chengdu Gua Chuan Chuan is located at No. 29, Jinfangyuan East Road. Stepping into this shop, you will find that the decoration is antique but also fashionable. The interior is in the style of Chinese vintage red, quite distinctive.
The boss speaks Mandarin, which is quite nice. Their oil dip and dry dip both have their own characteristics. The peanuts in the dry dip are super fragrant. I love peanuts, so I am full of praise for their dry dip.
Let's talk about their signature skewers. The soup base of the skewers has a slight medicinal herb flavor. It doesn't taste bad; on the contrary, it feels very special. At least for me, I really like this taste.
All the dishes here are very fresh.
Single-bowl dishes like boiled beef are generous in portion and incredibly tasty. They are simply a delicacy on earth. Almost every table of diners orders this dish, which is quite impressive.
I especially like the boiled pig brain. The brain is very soft and delicate, with no fishy taste at all. The seasoning mixes well with the brain, making it very flavorful and super delicious. So far, the boiled pig brain here is the best I have ever had, somewhat reminiscent of the taste I had when I was a child! It instantly brings back nostalgic feelings.
The skewers here are incredibly delicious! You'll want to come back for more after just one taste.
Vegetables are also very good. Wood ear mushrooms and tofu skin are must-order items. Many times, it's not about coming to Chengdu to eat, but about coming to Chengdu for this food.
Chengdu Gua Chuan Chuan has achieved this!
There is an authentic Zigong cuisine restaurant, a model of home-style Sichuan cuisine, dedicated to making conscientious and delicious dishes for diners, allowing friends wandering outside to taste the flavor of home in a foreign land.
Located in the beautiful land of abundance, Chengdu, hidden near the city center's Chunxi Road, this unique Sichuan restaurant is at No. 87 XueDao Street, Annex 1.
Upon entering this restaurant, you find the environment is very distinctive. The shop is decorated strikingly. The main hall combines traditional Chinese carved beams and pillars with industrial steampunk style, complementing each other perfectly.
The service is warm and attentive. The staff responds promptly and helps solve problems as soon as diners need them. Very good!
The restaurant serves Zigong cuisine, specializing in Zigong characteristic dishes. It can be described in seven words: spicy, numbing, fresh, and very authentic.
I have to mention the Yuan Gong Local Chicken Slices. This is a delicious red oil chicken slice. The local chicken is truly fresh and flavorful, with very chewy meat. The chicken skin is not greasy. The taste is quite spicy. Friends who like spicy food must not miss it! It is definitely a classic dish of theirs.
The Black Bean Sauce Whole Fish, I don't know what kind of fish it is, but it tastes really good. The fish meat is super tender with no fishy smell. Even the seasoning uses stir-fried pork belly. The restaurant is really generous with ingredients.
The Dragon Gate Hanging Meat, this dish left the deepest impression on me. This meat is not simple crispy pork; it is crispy pork with added ingredients, including meat and vegetables. The waiter will cut it into pieces in front of you, saying some auspicious words while cutting. It feels very ceremonial! The texture is like a large crispy pork piece, crispy on the outside. It feels a bit like fried dough sticks with meat. This dish is quite interesting!
The Wanghua Old Duck Soup is incredibly delicious. After eating so many dishes, a bowl of old duck soup is light and not greasy. The duck meat is tender. The soup is really fresh. After drinking a bowl, I feel so happy!
The food is served very quickly, the service is truly good, the taste is nice, and the value for money is high. This is Yuan Gong.
339 has long been a gathering place for Chengdu's nightlife and has become a new business card of Chengdu's nightlife! Many bars and entertainment venues here are very attractive, but one place stood out and attracted us to walk in—Bie Yuan Li, a small literary bar!
It is located near the 339 TV Tower, at No. 96 Mengzhuiwan. The environment is quite nice. The bar space is quite large, with two floors. The ventilation is good, and you won't feel stuffy inside.
The interior design of the courtyard-style lobby combines living atmosphere with fashionable charm. The wooden tables and leather chairs are comfortable, and the two floors are spacious.
Recommended by the male waiter, we chose a kind of wine. This hot pot wine is especially fragrant. It tastes like a blend of various fruit aromas, sweet and smooth. This wine has a low alcohol content and won't make you drunk. It is very suitable for women.
The snack lemongrass grilled fish is also very delicious. The fish is grilled until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, incredibly tasty. It looks covered with chili, but actually it's not very spicy. The fragrant fish pairs well with the wine.
Unexpectedly, there are also famous Chengdu snacks here, like San Da Pao (three cannon rice balls), and glutinous fried small tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) that are really chewy and irresistible.
The freshly fried French fries are crispy and delicious. I have to say the merchant is very thoughtful, providing two dips: salad dressing and ketchup. Personally, I like the tomato flavor, because the classic can never be surpassed in my heart!
The fruit platter has super fresh fruits with a sweet taste that is intoxicating. Not only does it taste good, but it also looks nice, inadvertently revealing a hidden girly heart.
The barbecue platter, Dai-style skewers, has a generous portion, with both meat and vegetables. It tastes good. The meat and offal are grilled very tender, coming off the skewer with a light bite.
I like this small bar. Although it's called a small bar, it's more like a typical quiet bar. It's not too noisy, nor too quiet. The decoration is nice, with lights shining in the hall, creating a great atmosphere. Plus, there are live singers, which adds to the vibe.
Perhaps in life, we need such a trip where we can go wherever we want. So I came to a must-visit place in Chengdu—Wenshu Monastery.
Wenshu Monastery is located in Qingyang District, Chengdu, with a very long history. It is one of the key Buddhist temples in China designated by the State Council. It is also a place you must visit when coming to Chengdu.
As soon as I turned the street corner, the red brick wall with green tiles came into view. Looking over the antique wall, I could see tall trees inside. I silently praised: what a peaceful place amid the hustle and bustle.
Stepping into the courtyard, I was greeted by a tea house and a vegetarian restaurant. I could see many people leisurely drinking tea and chatting happily. The tea drinkers and tourists seemed frozen at that moment, creating a beautiful scene that made me sigh at the joyful atmosphere.
Since we arrived in the afternoon and it wasn't time for tea yet, we passed through. To avoid the crowds, we headed to less crowded areas. Walking along, we came to a small courtyard. Inside, there were many tourists, lively and bustling, but to me, it presented a warm and peaceful scene, like a flowing freehand painting, with movement in stillness and stillness in movement.
Following a small path, we reached the rear hall and encountered some men and women from the monastery's life experience camp. Dressed in loose white casual clothes, they sat together in a circle, discussing their feelings and experiences of meditation.
Going further, we arrived at Wenshu Pavilion, where the sutra repository is located. The door was not open, but we saw several monks sweeping fallen leaves in the courtyard. Later I learned that the sutra repository is usually not open to the public, only on specific days. It is said to house tens of thousands of Buddhist scriptures, including works bestowed by Emperor Kangxi, such as the Medicine Buddha Sutra and the Diamond Sutra, as well as calligraphy and paintings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The most famous is the calligraphy "Empty Forest" bestowed by Emperor Kangxi to Wenshu Monastery. Since we couldn't enter, we had to leave with regret. Perhaps a little regret makes life more interesting.
Following a small path, we arrived at the central area of Wenshu Monastery. Seeing the majestic and magnificent halls, thick and ancient, I couldn't help but feel reverence. The pavilions and towers with upturned eaves and carved window lattices were exquisitely patterned, full of classical beauty.
Wenshu Monastery is a typical traditional Chinese building. There are many antique buildings for you to admire. Due to time constraints, we couldn't explore the entire monastery. But in life, it's okay to have some regrets; it makes things more interesting.
As the saying goes, "Young people should not enter Sichuan, and old people should not leave Shu." Chengdu is known as a city you don't want to leave once you arrive. The rich Sichuan culture is displayed in every street and alley. Whether it's food, scenery, or Sichuan girls, everything is dazzling and overwhelming.
When in Chengdu, eating, drinking, and having fun are essential. With all that, accommodation is naturally needed. When it comes to accommodation, you must check in at this homestay hotel—Jiaoliao Boutique Hotel. The moment you step in, you'll be amazed by this Chengdu homestay.
Location: The hotel is located in Kuanzhai Alley, known as the "Living Room of Chengdu."
Metro: The entrance of Kuanzhai Alley is Metro Line 4.
Geographical location: The location is fantastic! It's right inside the Kuanzhai Alley scenic area. You can go out and shop and eat conveniently. It's not far from Chunxi Road, Taikoo Li, Tianfu Square, etc. You can take the metro or a taxi. If you take a taxi, it's about 10 yuan.
Hotel style: The overall style of this homestay is my favorite. The guest rooms are designed in a Japanese style, made of pure wood. The room has a unique fragrance that is very soothing. There are handmade Shu embroidery and a painting of a wren specifically painted by a master artist.
The hotel has many calligraphy, paintings, and antiques, which the owner worked hard to collect. Every detail is carefully crafted and impeccable.
Room: The door uses an electronic lock for safety. The entire room, including decorations and bed, is made of phoenix tree wood, giving a light woody fragrance that is very relaxing.
There is a dedicated dining area in the room. Lunch and dinner are delicious.
Bathroom: When I go out, whether staying in a hotel or a homestay, my biggest concern is always the bathroom. Its cleanliness can absolutely affect my mood. I give full marks to Jiaoliao's bathroom! The details show understated luxury. It has five-star luxury configuration: Carnation linens, King Koil mattresses, Kohler bathroom fixtures, TOTO smart toilets. Even turning on the faucet shows the owner's thoughtfulness.
Washing area: It's worth mentioning that the washing area is separated into dry and wet zones. You can take a shower or lie in the bathtub. The hotel also provides bath salts.
The toiletries are from June Jacobs (a high-end spa skincare brand from New York, USA). I used this brand at a Sheraton in Guangdong before and loved it. I didn't expect to use it again in Chengdu. According to the butler, June Jacobs customized a set of techniques for the hotel, combined with local culture, environment, climate, and some traditional Chinese medicine therapies, to create the hotel's unique "Jiaoliao's Nest in the Forest."
Bedding: Lying down is extremely comfortable; I fell asleep in minutes. The quilt and mattress are very soft and gentle on the skin. I like to sleep on buckwheat pillows, and the hotel thoughtfully provided me with one.
The biggest highlight is the hotel butler, a group of very enthusiastic people. When I was about to arrive at Kuanzhai Alley, the butler contacted me in advance and came to the alley entrance to pick me up. Along the way, they introduced the culture of Kuanzhai Alley. This alone made me feel very good about the hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, the butler found out that I can't eat spicy food, so they specially prepared non-spicy wontons for breakfast.
Life is not only accompanied by delicious food and beautiful scenery, but also needs the imprint of struggle. On the long journey of life, we need to work a little harder.
