It all began on 5 November 2025 (Wed) when I touched down on Chengdu Tianfu International Airport at around 9.15am. This was what greeted me as I exited the immigration:

It feels a bit surreal to know that I was touching the ground of the country where my ancestors hailed from. The last time I set foot on China, it was in 1995 in . That was exactly 3 decades ago, and it was only a half-day tour from for a couple of hours. So this trip is more legitimately my first venture into China -- or what is called 中国(the Middle Kingdom).

THE FOOD...

One thing about China is that the food can be very affordable compared to Singapore. Of course, I suppose there is high-end stuff too, but I'm not really into those. Suffice to say that u can have an ample meal for just SGD 3-5! That's even cheaper than what we're paying here in Singapore.

Not really a foodie here when travelling, so food is mostly just for refuelling so that I can 走更长远的路.

If truth be told, doesn't really go down well with me. Virtually everything appears to be drenched in shiny oil and chilly -- with a generous dose of pepper corn that gives you that quintessential mala flavour. There were quite a few occasions where I 踩雷 (stepped on 'mines') and ended up with what could only be labelled a culinary catastrophe. In short, Sichuan food -- not exactly a fan! (Disclaimer: I could be eating all the wrong food and missing out on the real deal! but anything mala is a no no for me)

The first 'food' I bought and savoured in Chengdu -- lozenges. I used it as an experiment to test whether my was working, and thank god, the transaction went out smoothly! China is mostly about cashless transactions using the Alipay or app. I brought along 1600 yuan as a backup but barely got to use it.

When using the payment apps, I'm often confused as to whether I should scan their or they scan mine. So I ended up following what I had learnt from my research from Youtube clips: 你扫我还是我扫你 (literally: you scan me or I scan you). But this sounds bit hilarious to me coz '扫' can also mean sweep. So you sweep me or I sweep you? Can't help but think of a broom! :-) And it's quite a change from what we're more commonly used to here; i.e. swipe cards (刷卡), as opposed to scan QR code (扫描二维码). Incidentally, swipe(刷) in Chinese brings to mind a brush, which is not that different from the image of a broom that the word scan(扫) invokes in Chinese. Since when is monetary transactions now associated with the lingo used for the tools of hygiene and cleaning?! Is the new mantra now To spend is to clean?

Can't believe this bubble tea from the Chinese chain "" is only about SGD1.30! -- what a steal!

And this is only SGD2.94!

Looks cute...but taste meh....Find it hard to forgive this coz I paid SGD6.05 for this.... Lesson learnt: do not be duped by cute appearance. Yah, back to the old adage: looks can be deceiving......

Had one of my better meals here....

the outdoor seating of the above eatery -- the tentage resembles those featured in

the meat skewers I had.....

the place where I had my last meal in Chengdu...didnt notice the one-dollar meat skewers sign until after I've had my dinner.

Had this for my last meal -- Grilled fish. Decided to splurge. It came up to just about SGD18.40. The portion was quite generous, easily for 2-3 persons. But the taste is just so so....not really fantastic, and there were many fine bones embedded in the fish. I spent half the time picking out the bones instead of truly enjoying its taste.

Meals where I 'stepped on mines" (踩雷):

They have the audacity to call this 小笼包! No juice squirted out when I sank my teeth into the bun! But I forgive them since the whole basket was less than SGD2!

This place requires special mention -- not in a good way, though. Was drawn by the '老妈' (Old Aunty) sign which has a homely feel to it. There was also this old aunty trying to convince me that I'm at the right spot for dinner. Little did I know I had stepped into a trap. Continue below....

this is supposed to be their signature dish (招牌菜), which that ahjumma actively recommended to me. She was saying something like come to Chengdu die die must try this dish. I didn't even really know what it was as I was tired after a long day's walk, and just took her word for it. When it arrived - lo and behold -- it was pig trotter's soup. Not exactly what I'd have liked, but I was still ok with it -- that is, until I realised that it's all just layers of fat with only teeny-weeny morsels of meat that were 'accidentally' there! There were frankly, more bones than fat, and more fat than meat! And soup? bland and dilute! While the damage to my pocket was a mere SGD2.20, I found it hard to forgive them coz it was supposed to be my last meal in Chengdu city before I moved on to another hotel nearer the airport the next day. So yeah, no forgiveness here-- and no forgetting either!

the ahjumma (old aunty) behind the signboard -- guilty as charged!

the words plastered on the wall have the audacity to say: Chengdu landmark signature delicacy; even locals love it! (Scam Alert!!!)

And then there are these which are not for the faint-hearted:

grilled durian....but it looks burnt and charred that one word rang out to me -- carcinogenic!

fried hairy bean curd --- made my hair stand when I saw this....

This is how the hairy bean curd looks like before they fry it....you can see the fibrous hair poking out from them! Gosh! The full name on the sign says: Fragrant Fried Hairy Bean Curd. (italics mine) Fragrant? No thanks! I don't want it tickling down my throat when I swallow it.

The ubiquitous shop selling rabbit's head as delicacy....One thing I noticed about the shops there is that it's almost always about Old Aunty or Ahjummah (老妈)... Is it that the feminine (esp the older ones) are more associated with the kitchen and hence culinary delights? Why is it that over here we have Pappa Roti (the father of all buns) and Uncle Roger fried rice?

grilled rabbit! GASP! I think I'd be shedding tears whilst I eat it.....and be haunted by it for the next few days....It's strange why we don't feel such guilt when eating chicken or other meat.....It cannot be that chicken are not cute.

The redeeming ones:

This deserves special mention. It's actually just ordinary malt peanut nougat. But the way it's marketed is hilarious. It says on the signboard and on the bag itself : Eat dog shit candy and you'll have dog shit luck! Dog shit luck is supposed to mean good luck. Apparently, it's not easy to step on dog shit in the olden days coz the dog would usually defecate in the grass. So if u stepped on dog shit, you're lucky! I'm not sure if I buy the logic here. Another explanation is that the candy resembles dog shit. Well, I've not seen enough dog shit to have a judgement on that! There's another explanation I came across online, which says that in the olden days, some will go to the villages to exchange the candy for unwanted used items. But those from poor families were so poor that they did not have anything for exchange. To pacify their children who wanted to have the candy, they lied to them by saying that the candy is dog poop!

Cute Panda-themed ice-cream....too cute to eat. Come to think of it, the city appears to be trying their best to milk every penny they can using their national mascot, the panda. Whether it's merchandise, food, etc. the link to the panda is inescapable. But the one thing they don't offer is -- panda on a plate. You can find beef, chicken, mutton, rabbit, dog......but no panda meat.

It seems to be saying: Lick me!

Malt Candy --- they're like works of art...too pretty to eat!

Some local eats I purchased towards the end of my trip. They look so colourful that I couldnt care less how they tasted. There were originally three panda marshmallows but my niece and nephew went straight for them the moment I unveiled the contents of the tin box. Surprisingly, they tasted quite good -- with a chewy texture and a sweet flavour from the embedded dried fruits.

One of the ubiquitous panda-themed food products I bought.....The one above featured the most famous celebrity panda in China called 花花 (Hua Hua, which means something like Flower Flower). I thought it was a bit weird coz it brings to mind 花花公子, which means Casanova or Playboy! And I presume Hua Hua is a female......The name aside, the biscuits tasted delicious -- crispy and salty.

What a bold and brazen declaration....the words in white tiles below the signboard says: A taste that's different; if it's not tasty, you don't have to pay!!!

a hot pot shop named literally 'Ex-lover Hot Pot Shop" to commemorate the ex....

WHERE I STAYED:

The Hidden House

Room Tour.....

love the expansive bay windows overlooking the river....

the adjacent tatami section

window view....

Roof-top communal area

Roof-top (morning view)

View from window

Same window view (morning)

Rezen Retreat (at Jiuzhaigou)

nice cozy platform bed with heated floors -- a godsend during the freezing night... and this room is AI-enabled. The AI is called . You can ask it to draw the curtains, turn on/off the lights and TV, play music (even specify the song u want!) and give you a wake-up call or tell the time/weather....I tried but I couldn't get it to lift the toilet lid or flush the toilet bowl. Something for them to improve on.....

Japanese smart toilet...No, I dont like the blow dry sensation. Feels weird....like I'm farting the reverse way, if u know what I mean.....(hint: think the toilet bowl farting on you)

Mercure Chengdu Jiuyanqiao

View from window....it shows the same river and bridge as the ones from the first hotel I stayed at earlier.....

love this robot; it delivered stuff to my room! and it can take the elevator up by itself. Cool....

Ibis Chengdu Tianfu Airport Hotel

Guess what's this? Press the button - and voila! I'm impressed!

The Trains....

Surprisingly, the train tickets are not expensive, esp when compared to those in Taiwan, Japan and Europe. The most expensive I've paid was about SGD30 each way from Chengdu city to Jiuzhaigou. First class tickets are just double this.....which is still pretty affordable, in my opinion.

What a sleek name-- for a sleek train!

The train I boarded to leave Jiuzhaigou

Even the trains love to smooch...

GASP! breached 300km/hr!

Interestingly, the sign says that this train is heading for (巫山), which is a pun for having sex. Hmm....it's 'coming' real fast! lol

THE SIGHTS:

Chengdu:

The Twin Peaks

This was what first made me want to come to Chengdu....I was sold the moment I saw a clip of this building on Youtube....

Watch the clip....

watch the clip...

watch the clip....

Bamboo Fountain

Didn't really deliberately make my way here.....was trying to navigate my way to the but ended up here somehow. Quite a sight!

this one looks quite ghostly with the dark shades of black amidst the green...some may say they resemble sugar cane instead

Chengdu Damofang Shopping Mall (大魔方)

This became one of the items in my bucket list to Chengdu when I saw a similar clip online....it's mind-blowing! but sad to say, the same cannot be said of the mall itself, coz it's actually quite small, and devoid of people.......

view from outside the mall

watch and be enchanted....

New Century Global Center (新世纪环球中心)

supposedly the world's largest mall by floor area, with a water theme park within....but found it to be quite empty and dull within. Incidentally, a lot of the shopping malls I popped into felt deserted. The throngs of people were out there in the streets, but not in the malls......

Jinli Ancient Street (锦里老街)

too crowded and too commercialised, but I supposed inevitable. One of my regrets during this trip was not seeing enough of such traditional architecture

funny how there are directions given specifically for handsome guys and pretty girls. The extreme left sign says 'Handsome guys walk this way', whereas the second from the left says "Pretty girls please make a left turn"

People's Park (人民公园)

there's apparently some flower show going on, but the petals have started dropping and some flowers crumpling....I'm sure it'd have been a visual feast if I had been there one or two weeks earlier.

this one's like a painting, with the cute little pandas and the bamboo shoots being a nice touch

one of the adverts put up by women sourcing for potential husbands

the blue one here is the male equivalent

Quite an interesting sight to see these ads sourcing for marriage partners, all hanging out there for people to see and pick. Would've thought in today's world all these would've gone online, esp in this part of China where everything is so high-tech.

Dufu's Cottage (杜甫草堂)

One of the literary giants in Chinese literature, the famous poet Dufu 杜甫. I felt like I was visiting . The only thing I know about 杜甫 is these two lines I learnt from secondary school: 飘飘何所似, 天地一沙鸥

this is apparently a bedroom, as denoted by the signboard, but I wonder where's the bed

study room

bedroom

kitchen

so poetic...overhanging signboard says "The door/house of hearing autumn"

one of the exhibits there....it features a few lines of poetry (not by 杜甫) that I like: 山穷水尽疑无路，柳暗花明又一村. loosely translated as just when you thought all hope was lost, turn one corner and suddenly you see hope. It's the way it's written so poetically to convey the simple idea of there being a silver lining in the dark clouds

Chunxi Road (春熙路)

The equivalent of , a major shopping belt.

a famous landmark of Chengdu: a panda showing its ass, dangling from a building

side view

to see the face of the dangling panda, u have to get to the 7th level of the mall, where's there's a queue to take pictures with its face. To be honest, its expression looks kind of sad, like a sign of resignation at its fate...

quite incongruous -- a modern western brand housed in a traditional eastern architecture

carving on top of a temple roof in the shopping district

cute sculpture on the grounds of the temple

if I recall correctly, this place sells jewellery, as befitting of the building

face-changing performance from the balcony of the golden building above; it's quite astounding! the face mask just transformed faster than you can blink

a 3D screen...click and watch

same as above...click and watch

Chengdu Science Fiction Museum (成都科幻馆)

Another reason that drew me to Chengdu....Saw a clip of this building on Youtube and it instantly blew my mind away. Some have described it as an alien spaceship landing on a lake. From the clips online, the aerial view is equally mind-blowing. The flowy, fluid curves remind me of 's works, lending the building a sense of dynamism as though it is alive and moving.....Every angle lends a different perspective, just like a sculpture, as u can see from the pics below:

the cavernous entrance; it's like entering the mouth of a behemoth

the sleek sexy curves....now even buildings can be sexualized

students on excursion streaming out of the escalator like some kind of 'red' discharge being purged from the bowels of the organism

chanced upon this postcard-pretty place outside the museum. It's apparently called 蜀賢园 (Shu Xian Yuan) but don't know why it's not opened to the public.

what a picturesque little bridge nestled amongst the autumn foliage

took a coffee break here with these cute pandas

Dujiangyan (都江堰)

Giant sculpture of a panda taking a selfie in the town square...see, even pandas are narcissistic!

Panda Base

this is so adorable, yet I was thinking it was on the chopping board, resigned to its fate of being decapacitated

red pandas

that bushy tail is probably one third of its body weight

This is the Singapore-born Le Le (meaning happiness). It was born to a pair of pandas loaned to Singapore, and was shipped back to China

Le Le -- Made in Singapore

Shy? or is the sun too glaring?

couldn't made up my mind whether that's the anus or some other orifice....What a vulgar pose! Or is it assuming the 'tang ping' (lying flat) pose?

again the chopping board comes to mind...like a lamb to slaughter...

in pooping position

in silent contemplation...

Whatchya looking at?

gazing ahead

Zhong Shu Ge (aka The Hogwartz Library) 钟书阁

Saw this one on Youtube too, and immediately made this my die-die-must-go place! The use of a mirrored ceiling to create an optical illusion is -- GASP! And this is a real bookshop, ok, but it looks more like a museum. Just like the Sci-Fi Museum earlier, the real attraction here is not the books, but the design of the shop interior....the jaw-dropping, labyrinthine layout has to be seen to be believed!