It was a rainy morning so we stuck around the hotel. We read comics, had a big breakfast, and I played with Millie in the playroom. Usually she’s the only kid in these things but today it was busy. No English speakers, unfortunately.

Nick and Millie watched a movie (Ne Zha, very popular in China!) while I got the budget spreadsheet up to date. China is funny because with Alipay it’s just a series of a bunch of ~$3 dollar charges.

At about lunch time we headed out and walked to the people’s park, which is a large park in the center of the city. It was still drizzling but pleasant. Millie has been getting a daily yogurt from a street vendor, so we stopped for today’s.

In the center of the park is an ancient tea house. We sat at a table next to a pond and drank our tea. The service was quite over the top.

There were men walking around offering ear cleaning. Nothing goes with tea like watching everyone around you get wax pulled out of their ears. We declined.

We did get some cute little pastries and fruit though. They looked better than they tasted. All Chinese dessert seems to be bean-based. Even the one that looks like chocolate was just beans. It’s just not really our jam.

At the table next to us was an older American man flirting with / interviewing (?) 5 young Chinese girls. It was very gross. But at least his ear canals were clean?

After our tea house experience we walked through the park. We saw this area that had lots of laminated papers hung up. They are singles’ ads, often hung up by the unsuspecting bachelor’s parents. I had a good time translating them.

Everything in the park was very green and pretty. Chengdu feels tropical.

We walked through the bonsai area and played a while in the kids’ carnival area.

From the park we walked to Kuanzhai Alley, also known as “wide and narrow alley”. This was touristy but fun, with a mix of history and new restaurants and coffee shops and then some American chains. I was surprised to see a DQ (Dairy Queen) among the QD (Qin Dynasty) era buildings.

We walked past a cart advertising crazy looking cotton candy. In a moment of rare fun dad energy from Nick, he offered one to Millie. We looked on as the lady making it just made it bigger and bigger and bigger. Millie stood like this the whole time.

Millie couldn’t believe her luck. She shared well and we ripped off giant pieces as she ate it. Still, she finished it and then complained of a stomach ache.

We hopped in a taxi to head to meet our group for a food tour. We enjoyed the one in Beijing so much that we booked one with the same company here. We sat in some traffic and then arrived and met the group: 4 other Americans and 2 Israelis. The vibes were not as good as the previous group and the small talk was kind of awkward. But we loved our guide and enjoyed trying all the food.

First we had these little crepes. We had one packed with spicy meat and another with peanut butter, sugar, and sesame seeds. Both were great.

Then we went to a wonton / dumpling place. They served Millie some that were plain and not spicy and she chowed down on them. Nick and I got the spicy ones and loved them. I was concerned about what the spice level would be here in China but so far all the food has been really well balanced and not over-the-top spicy.

After this we had noodles – some the same style we had yesterday and some dan dan noodles.

Nick, being Nick, read about a popular dish here: stewed rabbit heads. He asked our guide about them and so the guide added an extra stop just for us.

I tasted a tiny piece and it was fine, but I couldn’t get over the form factor. Our guide said he doesn’t eat them because he was born the year of the rabbit so it feels wrong.

Then there was yet more food. We went to a traditional restaurant and had about 6 classic sichuan dishes: twice cooked pork, mapo tofu, toothpick beef, and a bunch of others I can’t remember.

We went from place to place in a tuk-tuk, which was fun.

By our last stop it was about 10PM. This was a 70s/80s themed bar with homemade plum wine. Millie got a coconut water in a big glass. She was having a great time and chatting with everyone. I felt so proud of how good she was being and of how much fun she was having.

When we told her it was time to go, she said “one second”, chugged her coconut water, slammed it on the table, and then said “ok let’s go”. Like father, like daughter.

We took a quick taxi back and skipped her bath. We have an early start in the morning which, after such a late night, will be interesting.