Chengdu, day two.

It's mid-afternoon in Chengdu and it's warm. It was quite colder at 8
am this morning when I went to visit the Wenshu Monastery. I had
trouble finding my way around the different small temples. I have no
idea where the relics were. I was hoping to have breakfast there but
the restaurant was still closed. So after the short visit, I walked
back (5 minutes) to the hotel to have a banana pancake. It's a change
from Tsampa or Chinese rice soup. I left again around 9 am for
shopping. I was hoping to change money but it's sunday and banks are
open but don't change money. If necessary I'll use my bank card and
get money from the ATM nearby.
I took the bus to the Tibetan market. More than 60 small shops
located in the same area. I got some malas and king size katags in
prevision of HHDL's visit in Belgium in ten days. I then took a taxi
to the extreme southern part of Chengdu hoping to be able to find
some DVD for my daughters. Nothing much to report there. It's cheap
but the quality is very low. Unable to find a bus, a taxi took me
back to the center. I walked a few minutes in this huge building
where they have thousands of small clothing shops and "billions" of
noisy people walking in the small alley between them. After the calm
of Kham, that was too much for me and I left without buying anything.
I then walked for about an hour in the direction of the hotel. So
many shops, so many new buildings, so many people. I stopped at the
Wenshu Monastery for lunch. They claim the their restaurant is one of
the most famous vegetarian restaurants in China. Their speciality is
"meat-like looking" dishes. They even gave them meat name. I ordered
"Beef with tofu". It really looked like meat. I had to chew and look
at it to see that was not meat (well, I hope so!). It was supposed to
be moderately spicy. I can't imagine what very spicy taste like... I
then walked to the monastery shop where I bought some very nice and
quite cheap malas. My idea is to have these malas blessed by HHDL and
HH Karmapa (if I go to Bodhgaya next winter) and bring them back here
for gift to my friends in Rigul and Yachen.
After posting this, I'll rest for a bit in my air-conditionned room
and then go for another walk (I may go to the monastery for extra
malas....). Tonight it will be packing time, I ordered a taxi for 5
am next morning. My plane for Beijing it at 7.10 am.