Chengdu in Sichuan province which is in the central part of the country is not always included in many group tours. I like to send people there on private custom tours as Chengdu has so much to offer in the surrounding areas. Home of the Panda, you can visit the Experiment Station which has only Pandas including new born ones in the nursery. Chengdu has many relaxing parks and tea houses where the local people gather to play Mahjong and other games during the warm afternoons. Dufu's Cottage park is one of my favorites. You can often see an orchestra practicing, choir groups and children playing games. They have a fantastic Bonsai collection also. The Wen Shu Temple park is another with vegetarian lunches and tea with snacks in the park. There are also several areas of the city that have preserved the old buildings and left as they were 100 years ago. Here you see Jinlin Street as one example. Another is the beautiful Kuan Xhai Xiang Zi Alley with its beautiful courtyard restaurants and tea houses. I often stay at the Buddha Zen Hotel which is a traditional hotel built around a courtyard and the area around the hotel has been preserved in the old style. There are many small towns and villages surrounding Chengdu like Huanglongxi town which is very scenic as one example. If you want to visit remote mountain areas with small villages and Tibetan people you may want to visit my web site at www.interlakechinatours.com Look under packaged tours: 10 Day Mountain Tour.
