From Bangkok to Chengdu
Now in Chengdu, cold here, numb fingers. I spent some time at Bangkok’s Don Muang on the way here. Flights heading out were all full, people were waiting with bandages and slings huddled around the TV screens. Here in China, it all seems far away. Though here too, the tsunami takes up a lead place in the TV news.
At Bangkok Airport, all flights out were full.
iPod ads outside the local computer superstore. iPod is perhaps is a far stronger brand than Apple here in China; it is hard to find Macs outside the larger cities.
Chengdu has these Natural Gas-powered buses. It’s funny; the buses are called “City Boat”.
This area is where a couple of flyovers intersect, the area under the flyover has an old mini Chengdu. There are some souvenir shops and a teahouse. Here a little kid plays an old game.
Another xiao-chi (snack) from Sichuan. Chicken feet in spicy sauce.
Chengdu is famous for teahouses. Here is one of my favourite teahouses just next to one of the best budget places to stay in the city — Sam’s guesthouse. The teahouse has wifi access provided by China Mobile. If you are a China Mobile subscriber, you send them an SMS, and they will SMS the password back to you. It costs 1 RMB (about 0.12 USD) for five minutes of access. You can even use it from a prepaid SIM. Blogger.com is still banned, but I can always read the blogs via Bloglines RSS reader. A friend has invited me next week to take a class for her middle school students. Should be fun.
Say cheers to Oyu.