It was another long shlep to Chengdu from Zhangjiajie, but we were now China train professionals and even factored in a midway train change with nay bother. Crushed it!
Arriving at our hostel, wayyyy past our bed time meant there was plenty of room for confusion. And by the shiny lengths of Merlins beard did we get our fair portion of chaos on arrival…
A few weeks before, I had booked a Sichuan cookery class and a day tour to the Chengdu Panda Research Base and Leshan Giant Buddha. Neither booking was found by the lady on reception and we were told the cookery class was fully booked.
The 1am sadness was real.
After 2 hours of back and fourth into the wee hours, we were finally told they’d managed to arrange us one – with a 7am wake up time the following morning. Imagine the grumbling!
Chuancais Museum
A bleary-eyed DiDi ride took us to the Chuancais (Sichuan Cooking) Museum where the cheeriest woman in all of China whisked us around for a whistle stop tour of Sichuan history. We were ferried between glass cabinets learning everything from chopstick materials indicating social status to the quality of the various wines produced in the region, the 23 kinds of single flavours used in cookery to the good fortunes painted on blue and white Ming Dynasty porcelain.
It was a lot to process, but fascinating nonetheless. Morning grumbles had started turning to those of the tum.
Next up was a sea of large terracotta pots containing chilli bean paste and soy sauce.
The paste is a combo of broad beans, chilli, flour and salt and goes through many processes from sunburning to dewing (allowing moisture from the mountain air to settle) and daily flipping to keep it well mixed. We had a go at flipping – and naturally I managed to flip some into my eye. I was now 200% awake.
We paste tasted 1, 2 & 3 year old chilli beans, which became richer and spicier in flavour. When ready, this paste is the base for hot pot and the famous Mapo Tofu. It was tres delish.
More giant jars followed, this time containing soy sauce and vinegar. The Chinese are serious about their soy game and it’s 300 year history is a testament to the tasty flavour (mushrooms are the secret ingredient). Meanwhile, the vinegar takes 18 years to perfect! Stored underground, you could raise a child to adulthood before giving them the perfect gift of a lifetimes supply of vinegar to enjoy in their culinary adventures. I hear that’s what kids want nowadays.
A final stop on the tour was a table in the middle of the garden where a woman I would almost certainly lose a fight to, was brandishing a heckin’ massive knife. She deftly displayed the cutting of super-fine silk noodles, made from egg yolk, flour and salt. This Masterchef (the only female Masterchef in the region), sliced us up noodles thin enough to thread through the eye of a needle. For some reason, still unknown to us both, she did this blind folded. Today is a fever dream.
Minds full of tasty knowledge and standard of cookery skills displayed, it was time for our guide, Melody, to turn chef and whisk us to the terrifyingly professional-looking kitchen. We were given full chef whites, hats and purple aprons – we felt like we were on the set of The Bear… if Disney+ had decided to cast the Chuckle Brothers in the leading roles.
When I say what came next was worth all the 3am confusion and very limited sleep, I very much mean it – we cooked a bloody banquet of absolute deliciousness!
First up, red bean paste baby bao buns – shaped like little panda heads!
Then we were onto the famous Mapo Tofu, with Chilli Bean paste making a spicy appearance and a fire-starting Gongbao dish – Chicken for Zach, veggies for me. The fact we were allowed to wield such flaming pans baffles me to this day, but we came away with our eyebrows still in tact, so I guess that makes us pro chefs now.
We BEAUTIFULLY (if we do say so ourselves) presented our dishes at the dining table where we were going to pounce upon our creations like a couple of hungry Victoria’s Secret models, but that was not the end my friends… the Head Chef appeared to taste our food and critique us on our efforts! I can’t tell you exactly what was said as it was delivered in Mandarin, but it must have been good as he whisked us away to a room full of chefs where we were presented with certificates and a handshake while a sound system busted out some regal-sounding trumpet tunes. It was Year 6 assembly all over again!
Feeling like we may have just been given our first Michelin star, we headed back to the table to eat – but what in the food mitosis was this? The food had tripled and our dishes were now accompanied by sides of rice, noodles, spring rolls, soup and all sorts of other delicious bits and bobs. A jar of medicine wine, beer and juice were all offered to wash the lot down with.
Everything was a 10/10 – I’d go as far as saying the best meal of my life. Zach is a 9.5 apparently – ‘not being a vegetarian gives me more options’. Fair point.
As a parting gift we got given the recipe cards and our own apron to keep. What a wonderful, tasty day!
Chengdu Panda Research Base & Leshan Giant Buddha
The next day had a much smoother start as our guide picked us up for our half day panda/half day Buddha excursion.
A bus full of friendly faces was a lovely sight – it had really just been the 2 of us up til now and we were desperate for conversation with anyone that wasn’t each other. Jokes! We are horribly codependent and find each other both charming and hilarious. But it was nice to meet some new peeps!
Anyhoo, as a certified animal nut I was off my tits with excitement at the prospect of seeing over 200 adorable Giant Pandas at the research base, which has been going great guns bringing the panda population back up to a healthy number.
There are now about 2000 in the wild, separated into 4 main groups and the Chinese government are planning to build Panda corridors to unite the them for continued and varied breeding. Even in panda society, banging your cousin is a no no.
On arrival at the base we were greeted by shop after shop hawking panda paraphernalia, which our guide quickly whisked us past – we had places to be and chubby old bears to see!
Red pandas were our entry level panda. Anyone who has ever seen one of these auburn-haired racoon-like creatures will tell you they are super cute and I wanted to squidge all their faces (Zach calls me ‘Lenny’ when I get like this).
Then – the main panda event. Enclosure after enclosure of big boy, black and white Giant Pandas absolutely STUFFING their faces. 99% of a pandas diet is bamboo and they eat about 20kg of leafage per day. They reminded me of Brits abroad at the all inclusive resort buffet.
It was actually incredibly strange to watch them for reals. I have previously claimed that a panda is a fake creature and is actually just a witness protection programme where people dress up in bear suits and frolic about all day. But turns out these goofy floofs are real and do actually fart about as much as TikTok videos would suggest. It was comedy gold!
After what felt like zero time at all, our guide shepherded us back to the bus where we were to make a 2 hour bus journey to Leshan for some big Buddha energy.
A lunch pitstop was made where we shared a family-style chomp with our fellow tour-takers – a group of lads from the Basque country and a lovely woman from NYC. I think I managed to impress the men with my knowledge of Basque TV formats – it’s a weird Mastermind specialist subject to have admittedly…
Bellies full, it was time to come face to face with the Leshan giant Buddha – something that required more stair climbing. If I don’t have the thighs of Lance Armstrong by the end of this I shall be fuming.
The Chinese have accurately named this particular Buddha – standing at a whopping 71 metres/233ft tall, this lad is a giant. Built during the Tang Dynasty, the Goliath was carved out of the red sandstone cliffs at the meeting of 2 rivers, the Dadu and the Min. You can view it by boat, or as we did, by stairs which allow you look up at it from it’s feet or go for some good old fashioned eye contact at it’s head.
As the largest and tallest stone Buddha in the world, it was quite the spectacle to wrap up our tour and our stay in Chengdu.
H&Z x
Watchouts:
- The cookery class at the museum was amazing and we would highly recommend it, but to avoid the chaos we faced I would book with the museum rather than rely on a 3rd party. It’s also about 45 mins away so factor that in – the DiDi taxi cost us about £10.
- If we were to go again we wouldn’t do the Pandas and Buddha in one day. It was far too rushed and we spent half the day on the bus. Enjoy a slow, whole day with the Pandas and leave when you are ready (it’s a huge site and there are eateries to keep your energy topped up).
Links:
Costs: 3 nights cost us £51.80 and it was absolutely fine for this cost. I would say if you are looking for a comfortable stay without the risk of excursion booking chaos this might not be for you. Also some of the staff were lovely and helpful and some were just plain rude (bar staff), and we were later asked to leave a 10/10 review which I didn’t feel comfortable doing as it wasn’t a 10/10 experience. As I say, fine if you are penny pinching as we were by this point.
Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base
The Awkward Travellers 
Leave a comment