a trip to the tibetan quarter

yesterday, i took a bus and walked down to the tibetan quarter in chengdu--i wrote this in xizang fengqing wu, a tibetan restaurant.

knock on wood--everything is going to plan. i took the 54 into the city, changing to the 48 after auchan [another french supermarket]. the bus was packed when i got on, but practically empty after chungxi lu (a lot of shoppers, apparently). i got off at xin nan men bus station, and began to look for the traffic hotel, where the bus to the tibetan quarter was supposed to stop. i followed the crowd--but there was no sign of it. then i noticed a few people going down a small alley in the direction of the hotel.

instead, after a few twists and turns I found myself outside a large indoor food market. it smelled delicious. there were meat, veggies, and various noodle stands. i think it was the noodle stands, where they would pull the dough, that smelled so good. i eventually made it back to the street, decided to give up on the traffic hotel, and struck out on my own.

i kept contemplating a taxi that would take me directly where i wanted to go, but i would put off until the next intersection everytime, and i eventually found myself on wuhou ci da jie, off of which the tibetan neighborhood began. i walked around looking for a tibetan restaurant i had read about, as well as a shop to purchase a meditation bell.

i saw more monks than i have ever seen in one place. they were everywhere. it was wicked cool.

i kept walking until the street i was on ended at one of chengdu's main drags. i turned around and within 30 seconds ran into a student of mine. i didn't say anything at first, because i am very wary that there are 10.2 million people in the city, and one student might look alike. but after we passed each other, he shouted mr mac. he was coming back from lunch with his father. small city.

after walking a bit farther, i found the sign for the street the restaurant was on. across from the sign was a shop with a beautiful bell staring me in the face. i bought it and an incense burner. i then walked about 500 ft down the street, and lo and behold, there was the restaurant, like magic!

at this point i'm going to rest and take a breather...more tomorrow...and pictures.