Death of a computer, birth of a panda

My computer got damaged when I plugged it into some questionable electricity in Chengdu, so I'm writing from an Internet Cafe (or wang ba) here in Chongqing.

I arrived in Chengdu on Thursday morning, where I tasted the notoriously spicy local food (it wasn't TOO bad), and relaxed in my hostel. The next day I headed off to the Buddhist monastery, where crowds of Chinese people flocked to buy incense and pray by the statues of dieties. Despite the crowds, the peaceful atmosphere of the monastery remained intact, especially in the tea garden, where I sipped a cup of flower-laden green tea. The Buddhism practiced to the visitors of the monastery was more superstition-based than what I'm used to; the visitors moved between statues and character inscriptions, rubbing first the relics and then themselves, presumably so that the good luck (or whatever it was) would stay with them. I didn't see too much meditating...

In the afternoon, I met up with Fei Fei, a friend of one of my friends from the hostel in Beiijing. She took me to another temple, where she explained to me some of the stories and legends that were depicted in the temple. The temple was very crowded, and served more as a tourist attraction than a holy place, as far as I could tell.

I also made it to the Chengdu Panda Base, home of 40 or so giant pandas. The brochure provided at the entrance said, "Understand panda, understand life." Seeing the pandas lounge around eating bamboo and falling asleep, I decided I was approaching life all wrong. How such a creature managed to evolve and stay extant for millions of years is beyond me. Maybe there's something in natural selection that favors cuteness. There was a hilarious video about panda breeding, the most striking part of which was seeing a panda give birth and then swat at its squealing pink baby lying helpless and tiny on the concrete floor. I have a bunch of cute pictures which I can't upload now. I'll try to get them in a few days.

After spending three days in Chengdu, I took the train to Chongqing yesterday. Chongqing was the nationalist capital of China during World War II, and I've heard rumors that it's the largest metropolitan area in China, with over 30 million people. It reminds me of San Francisco: hilly, with the main part crammed onto a little peninsula between two rivers. The two cities have similar weather, too: warm and rainy, with a heavy blanket of fog. I was planning to spend two days here and have some time for sightseeing, but complications with the river boat schedules mean that I'm leaving in a few short hours.

I'll be spending the next three days cruising down the Yangtze river, so there probably won't be any updates for at least that long. Be patient, photos of pandas await.