I spent today just wandering about Chengdu. My first stop was People’s park, a beautiful chill park in the heart of the city. They have a very popular teahouse in the park. Tea is a social experience here, and people come to the teahouse, order a big pot of tea, and just spend the day hanging out, slowly drinking their tea, and chatting. It was a great atmosphere, and i just sat back and people watched for hours while enjoying my tea. Lots of people here were playing various card games, Mahjong, etc. One of the really bizarre things here is that there are people who walk around cleaning people’s ears. They have these long metal rods that they dig around in someone’s ears with, and then rub the rods making this weird chiming sound. Not sure if they are trying to vibrate the gunk out of people’s ears or what… yuck.
Walking around the park afterwards, i stumbled upon this area with all these old people dancing. It was fascinating watching all these people, everyone probably 60+ years old, all slowly dancing in the park. There was one couple, both of whom looked 85+, where the wife clearly looked partially paralyzed, yet the husband was still slowly hobbling around with her, including her in the dancing. It was so sweet, and sad, and uplifting, and depressing, and heartwarming all at the same time.
After, i went to go see the Wengshu temple. This is a beautiful series of temples that are still in use, so you see monks in yellow robes walking about. The whole area is in a very scenic beautiful park inside the city. I have always really loved the juxtaposition of old and new… it’s really cool to see these quiet, peaceful, tranquil settings inside a modern high tech bustling city… or seeing 1,000 year old temples with gleaming skyscrapers in the background. As i wandered around this beautiful area, i passed this old man who was shuffling along. He had some kind of speaker with him that was playing music. Normally, i would prefer silence, but somehow this mellow music fit the scene just right. It was a beautiful moment there with the soothing music playing, the tranquil scenery of lush gardens and beautiful temples all around me, and the sun slowly setting in the background. Just then, the old man rips this insanely massively loud fart. Um. Well, it *was* a nice moment until then.
