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Some of the hostels and hotels in town organize trips. The Flipflop is one. They have Chinese staff who also speak English. http://www.mixhostel.com/flipflop/en/index.htm The staff was helpful to us doing some other things, but we haven’t traveled to Tibet. We did check into another guided group, though. Way expensive. Apparently now, when you apply for a permit to go to Tibet, you and the members of your group are supposed to be from the same country, or at least that’s what we were told. I think you get assigned a minder while you’re in Tibet, and you have to stick exactly to the itinerary that you indicated when you applied for the entry permit. The minder makes sure you only see and do pre-approved things. I would at least check with Flipflop to see what they can tell you. I’m sure there’s a way to do it. Good luck!
So much for air quality today…AQI 170 at the moment. But on a more positive note, with some of the road construction some very cool sculpture has also arrived. Under the new Second Ring Rd & South Renmin instead of a gaping gnarly pit, there’s an awesome sculpture park. Several bronze sculptures depicting traditional Chinese life, a couple of inscribed granite walls, and landscaping now decorate the newly refurbished entrances of the Shu and framing shops that were there before. It’s incredible what has been completed in the last two months. This spot is a bit on the Jinli side, but the artwork is still impressive, AND it’s impressive that a government would be clever enough to realize public art also can attract business.
Sorry about the double post, Ben. My computer kept making me log into to CL and kicking me off. I couldn’t see the post, and it didn’t look like it was successful the first time.
Graham, thanks for the suggestions.
Also…I wanted to try one class first before I committed to anything, but I suspect the class fee could be negotiated for more sessions and paid in advance.
I think the Mandarin Club is still in the same location, but I know it as Orchard Villa. The entrace to OV is marked by two white decorative posts, and is across the street from the Master Bldg. I think the time for the lesson can be arranged, like with most stuff there. But Saturday seems to be the preferred day at the moment. Next one I’m going to is at noon. Also, I think anyone can begin at any point since the instruction is pretty much individual. There’s also a great website that gives a ton of information, but would never be as good as a good in-person instructor. http://www.art-virtue.com The combo is excellent.
Federico, DUH! I’m just looking back at these posts and I see that you responded here instead of as a PM. I would like to arrange for you to take a look at my computer to see if you can resolve some issues. I’ll try PMing you with my phone number. Thanks, J
I should also add that it’s very helpful to have some kind of translaton device/dictionary (eg tablet or iphone) that contains some medical terms, so you can at least indicate what and/or where your basic problem is. Sometimes the translators are not that familiar with specific medically related words.
I visited a TCM doctor about a month ago, and arranged to go with my tutor from the Mandarin Club. If you contacted the manager at MC, Tina Xu 15008270478, I think she could arrange something, if you needed a translator. I think the cost was about 16rmb/hr. You can probably find someone cheaper, but that’s one option. Also, the International Women’s Club of Chengdu might know of a practioner who speaks English. Check their website.http://www.chengduiwc.org/
These photos were supposedly taken in Qingdao. This last weekend, I asked (or tried to explain without a photo) if a shop that sells swimsuits had these here. Hasn’t seemed to have hit Chengdu yet. Ah, the things we do in the name of beauty. YOWZA!
Tried meeting up with you guys, but was surprised with hundreds of police at Tianfu Square. That delayed my arrival at the designated spot and then, like has been said here, that wasn’t a place to hang around. I had a good time wandering around anyway and taking some shots, but would have been interested to see where you were going and meeting people. I don’t have anything fancy for a camera, but it’s given me some good results. Are you posting your next outing here? Schedule permitting, I’d like to join.
While I was at Tianfu Square area, I asked a shop owner there about all the police. He said there was rumored to be a labor protest and the police were there to well, supervise it or whatever you call that.
I have a friend who stayed at the Flip Flop Hostel in Chengdu. It was really reasonable, seemed clean and safe, and unexpectedly nice. They also have a restaurant and help organize trips, like most hostels do. http://www.chengduhostel.com/flipflop/roomrate_eng.htm I’m not sure if they have their own website or not, but you can get an idea of the place here. Good luck!
Should have added that immigration procedures were well-organized and went quickly in Bangkok. One small inconvenience was that when we checked in at Chengdu Airport, the ticket agent didn’t give us boarding passes for both flights, so we had to get them for the Chiang Mai leg in Bangkok. On the way back, the agent gave us the ones for both flights. He said in the future, be sure to ask for that when you check in at Chengdu. We only had carry-on, although we were prepared to purchase one of those zipper bags and tape it shut for the classy version of checked luggage.
We just flew from Chengdu to Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Thai Air. Had to connect in Bangkok, but it was an easy trip. First flight 2 1/2 hrs, second flight 55min with an hour transfer time in Bangkok. We’ve always had good experiences with Thai Air.
I’m currently working with Echo at the Mandarin Club, and she’s been great for me. She also teaches English to foreigners at one of the local unversities. She’s very personable and seems to quicklly adapt to what the student’s needs are. The Mandarin Club is just about a 5min walk from the Tongzilin metro stop B, inside the white gates of Orchard Villa (I think that’s the name of the housing area). Tina is the manager of the Mandarin Club, though, and she schedules available teachers with students. http://www.mandarinclub.net/ Lots of options out there, but this one has worked out well for me.
Last Sunday I saw part of a discussio, the hour devoted to issues in Ais, on CNN (yeah I know, GROAN) with Krisie Lou Stout, a woman from Hong Kong, a guy from an environmental group in China and an American woman from an environmental group. The topic was air pollution. During the part of the show I saw, they focused on Beijing as the city (as if it was mainly Beijing) with the problem, and seemed to dance around what exactly to do about the problem other than ‘study’ it. The Hong Kong person said that they had made big strides there by actually linking the pollution data with the health effects data. Hm. I know they have to be careful what they say publicly in order to continue to be able to do anything, but this seemed pretty much like the tobacco industry doing longterm studies on the potentially negative effects of cigarette smoke. I think they’re still ongoing… And I still have a Life Magazine rescued from an attic that features cigarette ads with quotes from doctors saying that they’re good for your throat. Having said all this, though, one thing that these two Chinese people did say was that they thought media exposure and public education would eventually pressure the government to create and actually enforce air pollution regulations. That seems to be the way it works in the US, too.
