Chengdu Day 1

Chengdu day 1 was a quiet affair - a quick walk along the river and past a rather unimpressive rocket illustrated on my map and on to Watson's - the only shop chain in China which sells deoderant - smelly buggers! The garish purple and pink gynaecology hospital amused our simple minds and then we dipped into an exhibition centre, seemingly all about Chinese money and buildings, though we couldn't read a thing. Well, apart from the fact that inversting Y100 at 100% interested nets you Y200 - show me to this bank!

On walking by the Science and Technology Museum we found it to be totally vacant - we couldn't decide whether this was trying to accurately portray Chinese acheivements to date in this area or what goes on inside the mind of your average gormlessly-starin-at-westerners Chinaman.

The final highlight of the afternoon's trip was what at first glance appeared to be the McDonald's Hotel - a free BigMac on your pillow every night anyone?

The night was rounded-off with 1-1/2 films from IMDB's Top 250 - Hotel Rwanda - a film which really makes you wonder, and part of Twelve Angry Men.