- This topic has 19 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 11 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Me and my girlfriend have finally arrived in Chengdu, we have been here a week and we really like the city so far. Only problem, we still don’t have a clue.
The three most difficult things to sort out are food, transport and entertainment.
As far as transport is concerned, we don’t have a clue how to get anywhere. We live in the Chenghua district on Fuqing Road just south of the second ring road and we know the 49 bus takes us in the direction of the city centre but it’s still a good walk to Tianfu and a trek towards Wohou and the University and Gymnasium.
As far as food, everywhere we have gone that served Chinese food was poor and western food is too expensive. What is our best bet for hotpots and noodles?
Last but not least? What are good bars/places to chill and get to know people? We’d like to get to know people and not just sit at home most nights. Help a brother (and sister) out please?
We are still very bemused newbies and are lost in the big city.
This site is great for bus routes. bus map Just click on the bus stop near your house and it will show you the route.
As for bars, Lantown, Machu Picchu, The Leg, and Underground Bar
I find that for getting my bus routes I use google maps.
if you can access the site through the american or canadian version (as google geolocates you normally)about half of everything is in english. just set the city to chengdu and choose your start and end points. the bus route thing even tells you the number of stops so you don’t have to listen for stop names you don’t understand.
small thing I have noticed is that the site is not updated for line two of the metro for some reason.
RE: Food, in my opinion the quality of food, while touted, is not as good as some other cities in China in general for the price. There are definitely exceptions, you’ll be able to find some good little gem noodle/rice/etc shops around most any area – but as far as proper restaurants the prices here are generally higher than you’d expect to pay considering the often poor quality (this goes for Chinese/western food both). Suggest hitting supermarkets and cooking what you like, at least you know the quality of ingredients and that you’re not ingesting ‘garbage oil’ 😀
Macchu Picchu i think is best for meeting new friends. very chilled crowd, good tunes, cheap prices…
I lived up in that area for a couple years and while a bit out of the way from a lot of what is going on I really liked it. Are you doing something with UESTC?
For transport it kind of sucks, 49 and I think 7 that go from over by Carrefour can get you places but a bike or e-bike was how I did it most of the time.
Foreign entertainment is kind of limited in the area but there are nice tea shops along the river, a couple malls on Second Ring Road with movie theaters, Starbucks, and JianSheLu 建设路 isn’t bad to wander around on and find snacks etc.
Food, over by JianSheLu and on JianSheXiang 建设巷 there are quite a few Chinese options. Also on a little road by the river called TaShuiQiao BeiJie 跳水桥北街 there is a row of restaurants and I think each of them are good. There is a noodle shop there that I still think is the best noodles in Chengdu.
I head up that way sometimes to see friends, I’ll shoot you a PM next time and maybe we can meet up and I show you a couple spots. Don’t worry I knew no one when I first moved to Chengdu and felt really isolated up there at first but now that I have moved down to “fashionable” Yulin I kind of miss it up there.
You might also take a look at baidu maps.
if you are ok with maps, or can copy paste the Chinese you need, it should be fine. I think the routes are a little more updated than Google, eg diversions for construction
Both have smartphone apps that if paired with a bus card can get you anywhere easily – and for 1 kuai
You might try 三友路 Sanyou road http://goo.gl/maps/vHnrE it’s nice to walk on with plenty of restaurants, though I haven’t been enough to notice a stand out one.
Dave’s Oasis is also near some of the other bars, there’s often someone interesting in there. For most places if you go in early and chat to the landlord…there’s a good chance they’ll put you in touch with people that share similar interests
or you can just taxi everywhere. it’s relatively more expensive than public transportation, but if you change it back into the currency from where you’re from, it shouldnt be too bad.
Thanks everyone for the help!
Quote:I lived up in that area for a couple years and while a bit out of the way from a lot of what is going on I really liked it. Are you doing something with UESTC?For transport it kind of sucks, 49 and I think 7 that go from over by Carrefour can get you places but a bike or e-bike was how I did it most of the time.
Yeah, we are English teachers and teach at two of the schools attached to the UESTC. I teach at the middle school on Shuangjian and my girlfriend teaches at the primary schools around Fuqing.
Will definitely check out the 49 + 7 combo to get to town until I manage to find a way to fix the shitty bike my school has given me.
Quote:I head up that way sometimes to see friends, I’ll shoot you a PM next time and maybe we can meet up and I show you a couple spots. Don’t worry I knew no one when I first moved to Chengdu and felt really isolated up there at first but now that I have moved down to “fashionable” Yulin I kind of miss it up there.That would be amazing! Me and my girlfriend don’t really know anyone in Chengdu and are finding it a bit difficult to find our way. So to actually meet someone that we can speak to without trouble and to get to see what is there around the area would be absolutely fantastic!
Think we may try to hit some bars the coming week-end so if you see two English-speaking foreigners that look lost/bemused/a combination of the two, then good chances are it’s me and my girlfriend. So far cooking our own food and a noodle place near my school have proven the only two safe bet food-wise but we are definitely open to try different places, so thank you very much for the help!
For transportation I suggest looking into a bicycle if you think that’s something you’d enjoy. Natooke in Chengdu makes custom bikes of outstanding quality.
As far as bars, I’d check out this list. All of them are good places worth checking out. In the summertime I particularly like Jah Bar since it has a lot of outdoor seating.
With restaurants, I think it’s just a matter of finding the places that suit your taste. For me, I have a Sichuan and Cantonese restaurant near my house that I visit a lot. I order pizza from Mike’s Pizza Kitchen about once a week, and recently I’ve been going to Myeondong Korean Restaurant once a week as well. I’ve been to dozens of restaurants in the city but there are a handful that I return to on a regular basis, and I check out maybe 3-4 new restaurants a month.
In general, the price of everything has gone up in Chengdu in recent years, including and especially food.
Quote:This site is great for bus routes. bus map Just click on the bus stop near your house and it will show you the route.For anyone who hasn’t checked this out, it’s a 3-d map of all of the large buildings in Chengdu, great for anyone who is new to Chengdu whether or not you speak Chinese. Still haven’t quite figured out how to use the bus route feature, my Chinese still kind of sucks…
I just thought. you might get good local restaurant suggestions from the staff in Sim’s Hostel. it’s also near you.
Quote:This site is great for bus routes. bus map Just click on the bus stop near your house and it will show you the route.For anyone who hasn’t checked this out, it’s a 3-d map of all of the large buildings in Chengdu, great for anyone who is new to Chengdu whether or not you speak Chinese. Still haven’t quite figured out how to use the bus route feature, my Chinese still kind of sucks…
. Just zoom in on your area and click on the bus icon
If you want to know people,some bars in 九眼桥 are crowded with people coming from all over the world at nights.
Quote:For transportation I suggest looking into a bicycle if you think that’s something you’d enjoy. Natooke in Chengdu makes custom bikes of outstanding quality.Blam! Or if you’re in a pinch and need to save some coin, there are a number of shops around town that offer different styles of bikes for around 3000元 of a reasonable quality. Decathlon in fact offers some ok bikes for the money. Just be sure to have a co-worker or friend who can help translate.
Just don’t be a dick and buy a stolen bike. Any number of people will point you towards an area of town that is known to sell cheap used bikes and the reality is that the vast majority of these second-hands are stolen. Why support that?
Biking around is definitely a good way to get a feel for the city and is the most convenient mode of transportation (and it’s free!). It’s also one of the better ways to get outside the city (quickly) and get away from the hustle and bustle.
Quote:Just don’t be a dick and buy a stolen bike. Any number of people will point you towards an area of town that is known to sell cheap used bikes and the reality is that the vast majority of these second-hands are stolen. Why support that?The economy of the stolen bike trade in China is fascinating to me, it’s like everyone is renting bikes which are inevitably returned to their point of origin. The stolen bicycle market is one of those bizarre, illegal systems unique to China like buying DVDs at Computer City. Even if you don’t buy a bicycle there – they’re all in various states of disrepair, anyway – it’s an interesting social phenomenon to witness. I’ll stop talking now… I don’t want to romanticize it because it is a symptom of poverty and petty crime.
Oh man Jake calling me out! Took someone over to JiuYanQiao to look for a bike but the whole thing is shut down. We walked all the way down the alley and all the little shops that used to have bikes were empty. There were also police out on the street and a big sign on the wall that said bikes/e-bikes cant be sold there. No one there would talk to me, just shook their heads and pointed out at the road where the police van was.
Quote:Oh man Jake calling me out! Took someone over to JiuYanQiao to look for a bike but the whole thing is shut down. We walked all the way down the alley and all the little shops that used to have bikes were empty. There were also police out on the street and a big sign on the wall that said bikes/e-bikes cant be sold there. No one there would talk to me, just shook their heads and pointed out at the road where the police van was.Wow, end of an era. I wonder to what extent Chengdu’s main stolen bike market getting shut down will impact bicycle theft.
Quote:Oh man Jake calling me out! Took someone over to JiuYanQiao to look for a bike but the whole thing is shut down.Not trying to call anyone out in specific. Beyond that street market there’s another one that sells stolen bikes.
Bike theft sucks. Stealing someone’s shit is just low grade. Buying stolen shit is in its own off way giving your approval of the activity.
And speaking as a business owner that deals in this particular trade I’d like to think I’ve got some sort of credibility in dishing out advice as to ways you can get yourself on two wheels excluding such illegal means.
I know not everyone wants to buy a super cool custom fixie, so if you want my advice as to where you can find another machine that better suits your budget/style/needs than I’ll gladly offer my input. I know for a fact Stephen’s got a nice city cruiser bike that didn’t break the 2000元 mark. We ourselves picked up second-hand (legitimately through a friend) a similar bike for just 400元.
Additionally, for the “savings” you’re getting on such a bike, the reality is its not such. Take for instance our friend Dan. He bent his first 60元 bike frame. Traded up for an extra 40元. That bike continuously has an issue with the crank requiring he spend the value of the bike as a whole on parts to repair it. Still is broken and required the purchase of yet another bike at 250元 to serve his needs. Waste of time and money and got his ass banned from ever using our hammer again.
So. If another person trots through our doors or calls us asking where the stolen bike market is, we’ve got two words for you: look yourself.
Support businesses, not crooks. (Although sometimes this is a thin gray line in China.)
Alright: done ranting.
Natooke is definitely on my list of places to check out ASAP. Too skint to afford buying a proper good bike so intrigued to find out renting prices. Or if anyone knows where to get a cheap second hand bike I’d appreciate that. Would definitely never buy a stolen bike, I’d go absolutely insane if someone stole my bike back in the UK and I would want to find the lowlife scum that did it so not about to be one of those people.
As for eating suggestions, will definitely check them out! Especially the streets along the river Stephen suggests. Pretty close so it’s a shame not to go for it, especially if there is the best noodle place in the city!
- The forum ‘General Discussion’ is closed to new topics and replies.