Chengban Canting

Would you believe my legs were still sore from hiking up & down The Great Wall! I decided to take it easy today and just head over to the Silk Market. The Silk Market is the well-known shopping area for fake brands - from designer clothes to electronics and watches - but the government is trying to crack down on counterfeits and encouraging vendors to sell "legitimate" items. Given my bags were pushing the baggage limit (plus I had absolutely no room in the 'black hole'), I decided not to buy any trinkets. So where did I go immediately when I got to the market...the food court, of course! It was more like a cafeteria than a food court, but there were several different food options and everything looked cheap.

After consuming a heap of pork dumplings, it was time to check out all five floors of the market that ranged from clothing to jewelry to fabrics to electronics and watches. My plan was to go all the way to the top and work down...sounded like a great plan to explore and compare prices since everything had to be negotiated hard. Oh crap, the floors were organized by category...5th floor - jewelry; 4th floor - electronics, watches, more jewelry; 3rd floor - silk, suits; 2nd floor - sportswear, designer clothing; 1st floor - bags, shoes. Let's just say I spent the most time on the 4th floor...





Timeout Beijing featured 'Best Sichuan Restaurants' on their website and one of the restaurants (Chengban Canting) was not far from the hotel. The direction to the restaurant was - 'in the Chengdu Municipal Office in the back of the Shu Du Hotel' - huh?. This would be easy if buildings and restaurants had English translation of their names. I was able to find the street (that was easy), but I couldn't figure which restaurant was Chengben Canting. The first hotel I walked into wasn't it and the front desk clerk didn't know the restaurant but she was able to ask a co-worker who told me to go left and then left again. I walked left and noticed another hotel (looked exactly like the first hotel), so I walked into the hotel and then to the back as directed by Timeout Beijing (the restaurant's name was in Chinese)...I believe I ordered Kung Pao Chicken - actually, it was damn good. On my way out, I took a picture of the restaurant sign and showed it to my hotel's front desk clerk and he said - Chengben Canting. I guess it was the right place and Timeout Beijing was correct about being one of the best Sichuan restaurants (and the direction too).
Next stop...Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia.