Wangjiang Bamboo Park

Amanda and Ally with bamboo.

We had another late morning today, which was nice following a travel day. We met our guide, Kevin, and another family travelling to China for a heritage tour, Judy (mom) and Jenna (daughter). They are from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jenna is fifteen and was born in Fuzhou, Jiangxi, just like Ally.

Our first stop of the day was at Wangjiang Bamboo Park. Chengdu is a very large metropolitan area, much like New York City or Atlanta. Nestled in the middle of all of that is a beautiful 177 acre park along the Jiangjiang River. The park has almost 150 varieties of bamboo. Who knew there were so many? Some are very small and delicate. Others are enormous…dozens of feet tall and 6-8 inches in diameter.

Kung Fu lesson.

There was a small vendor’s cart where a girl was creating delicate candies and putting them on a stick. Children get to spin a spinner to see what animal she will create for them. Amanda and Ally shared a rooster. The candy tasted like it had honey in it, and was very good.

Jerri and medium-size bamboo.

As in other public parks we’ve visited in China, there were many people enjoying group dancing, tai chi, kung fu, mahjongg, and in the case of this particular park, tea. One of the unique offerings in the outdoor tea house was a 20-minute neck, shoulder, and arm massage for 80 yuan (about $12). I had a massage and it was great, as good as any professional massage I’ve received in the U.S. 

During the walk through the park Amanda and Allyson got to know Jenna a little better. By the time we left they were having a great time with each other. On the way to lunch it was clear they were going to bond well.

We had lunch at a very fancy Sichuan restaurant in downtown Chengdu. Kevin ordered lunch for us and everything was brought to the table and placed on a lazy Susan like the family-style meals we had gotten used to on previous trips to China. Kevin told us he’d ordered the food “not too hot,” which was probably a good thing, because the Kung Pao chicken was plenty hot…much spicier than what you’d get in the U.S. He warned us not to eat the “numb peppers” that might leave our entire mouth feeling numb, which explains why my mouth felt so funny when I ordered Kung Pao chicken in Beijing and ate everything…including the peppers. D’oh! Other dishes included eggplant, crispy rice with pork, and small soft rolls that looked like shells that you split open and put pork, cucumber, and onion in. Everything was incredibly delicious.

More pictures from Wangjiang Bamboo Park:

Making delicate stick candy dragonfly.

Pathway in Wangjiang Bamboo Park.

Tai chi in Wangjiang Bamboo Park.

Mahjongg at the Wanjiang Bamboo Park tea house.

Graffiti on bamboo. It amused me.