...down a touristy street in Chengdu. No, not all streets are like this one. In fact, very few of them are.
But this is a touristy part of town, and that's where Chengdu shines.
We're on Jinli (pronounced: gin-lee) Street. I mean, the place even has its own website.
It also has its own shopping bags. Available for purchase, of course.
A charming, clean, tidy, very stylish part of Chengdu.
A whole lotta ambiance. What's not to like? If you look closely, you'll even seen the Starbucks sign!
You can find stuff here that you can't find very many other places. Charming little things, such as:
Candy artists who can fashion candy almost like glassblowers can. Yes, these are CANDY. But they look like glass. And the candy artists can make any shape you like, as long as you know how to ask for it in Chinese.
You walk down the little shopping alleys and you feel like you're in a charming little pre-modern Chinese world.
Not a single bus. Or cab. Could this possibly be Chengdu? Why, yes. IT IS.
It's outings like this that can remind one of why one bid for China. Ahem.
Because I wanted to see a live Chinese statue in person. Normal concrete or whatever statues weren't good enough, I wanted the statues to be real live human beings paid to act like they're really statues. AND I GOT EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED.
I wanted to be able to buy AUTHENTIC CHINESE STUFF.
Holy cow, that's a lot of stuff.
I wanted to know what REAL Chinese people did.
They walk around Jinli Street together, arm in arm, wearing clothing perfectly suited to artistically contrast the picturesque surroundings so that white chicks with cameras can secretly take their pictures and put them on their blogs. Ahem.
I wanted to be able to capture the colorful beauty of China. The unexpected charm and whimsy.
Look, it's whimsy! I found the whimsy! Anyone wanna buy a pinwheel?
I wanted to see REAL China. Authentic China.
It don't get no more real than the unraveling of silkworm cocoons during the process of making silk. If that doesn't SCREAM "China," then maybe the fact that the silkworms, after emerging from their cocoons, are MADE INTO SOUP does. Silkworm soup. Yep, that sounds like China.
I was hoping to be able to come into contact with some of the many, many different ethnic groups that make up China.
Let us not be fooled - she is paid to dress this way in order to try to sell me jewelry. But I'll take it.
All in all, a very pleasant place to be, this part of Chengdu known as Jinli Street.
I mean, really - what's more peaceful and picturesque than a waterfall with a Chinese lantern hanging nearby? Charming.
~ ~ ~
And if you're wondering what's going on with James' bidding, well, that makes two of us. DS just paneled the third round of people from the summer bidding cycle, and James didn't get anything. So the waiting game continues for our family (and many others)...