ad libitum: Xining & Chengdu

Xining and Chengdu

After 7 days in Tibet, I was ready to fly home.. however, we still had 1 night in Xining and 2 nights in Chengdu. There was really nothing exciting about these two cities. Even the shopping wasn't anything to rave about.

Xining train station. The station was filled with people and there were tons of people waiting outside the exit of the station! The tour agent had arranged for a couple of porters to help us with our luggages. Some of them carried two big luggages at a go! (usually we would wheel our luggages.. but some of the porters couldn't figure out how to do that.. so they just carried! Not an easy life.)
Xining - we didn't do much here... It's more like a stop-over for us on this trip. Usually, tour groups would come here to visit the Qinghai Lake. But we've had enough of lakes and mountains in Tibet. So we didn't make that trip.
Xining Square. Some event had just ended when we arrived.. thus the colorful deco.
Our only tourist item at Xining is a visit to a minority village. It was more of a residential compound converted into a visitor centre.
Hmmm not sure if it's well preserved or newly constructed... Everything looks really new here.
Traditional seating room. The seats, which line the walls, are just wooden planks with blankets on them.
The minorities in Xining are famous for their needlework.
We were treated to a "fashion-show" featuring their traditional costumes. Really must applaud their effort but it all seem so touristy. One of the guys was so serious about walking the "runway" that it reminded me of one of those model-wanna-be-s on "American Next Top Model".. so funny.
A traditional wedding costume. There was even a mock wedding involving three guys from the audience (two guys from our group, and one guy from a taiwanese group). Really funny to see the "grooms" stumble through the "procedure" and then looking awkward when they had to dance the wedding dance.. haha..

A Taiwanese film crew was filming for a travelogue-typed show.

We were treated to traditional songs during our lunch.

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Chengdu

I was told the smog-like air is not due to pollution. The misty air is formed due to the geographical location of the city. Well, the lack of sunlight really gives the city a subdued, depressed feeling.

Lots of bicycles parked at the side of the road.

This is supposed to be 望江楼公园. But I don't recall seeing the 楼. Cos majority of our tour members have seen it before. So, we ended up taking a stroll in the park. Waste of time.