Hi again Emilie,
I get back to you to give you my impressions about this trip to Sichuan.
I really liked the old-fashioned charm of Sichuan. Although there are much less sites to visit than in Yunnan, and despite Chengdu’s gigantism, I like the fact that the province stayed away from an excessive kind of modernity. It was a new discovery for me.
The Buddha Zen hotel is perfect, the food tour very amusing (with a very good guide) as it takes us to some inconceivable places. The museum (the one that wasn’t included in the tour, but that was adapted to our needs after canceling a second trip to the mountains that we forgot about) is great. The pandas, so cute, of course. We also had a guide who was absolutely adorable, full of humor, attentive and kind. Congratulations for this. It was a change from Karkit guide, but Turfan guide was great.
The negative point for me (but this is a very personal point of view) was the mount Emei ascension. Firstly, the weather was bad, secondly, the climb up is really difficult especially in the second part, when a steep 1000 meters elevation gain still in front of us. For people over 75 years old like us, I suggest you to let them know about the walk’s level of difficulty. In the end I managed to take a sedan chair, because I really wanted to reach the top. Completely in the fog!!
Overall, everything went very well and I go home happy.
What is the next trip to China? I’ll wait for your suggestions!
Kindly,
Michèle