Honestly, I don't like Hotpot at all though I'm a local and brought up in Chengdu for more than 30 years. Usually apart from "HOT", there is nothing left in terms of the taste, no matter what kind of food you dropped into the wot. Also, it's hardly to find a Hotpot restaurant (Not Chuan Chuan Xiang which can be widely found at streetside across the town) that is not closed inside a room, the smell of the Hotpot will be on your cloths for weeks, and only can be removed by washing, which is not that pleasant thing. Chengdu people, however, mostly, put it in their favorite food list, specially the girls from Chengdu whom love the spicy things most.

But, yesterday I found a FISH HOTPOT restaurant not far from the "Carrefour Supermarket"  near hostel, I have to say, this time, this HOTPOT thing finally differs from others.

The spicy soup in wot is quite mild in terms of the spicy standard, and for Chengdu locals, that is not spicy at all. The great part of this restaurant is that they have seats no only inside the building, but also have it in the garden outside which makes it a perfect place to have a Hotpot (Open air, quite chilling, and atmospheric).

The main course is fish, so you need to order fish first, it's based on catty (equals to 500 grams). You will be asked to the fish-vat to choose one, then they will weight it before start the process of brewing a fish. ( will the spices, brewed beans and something that i cannot tell)

We had a 3 catties fish which is quite big, with some snacks this dinner made us very full, they offer fresh orange juice as well, it's fresh, but a little bit watering. Fish meat was so tender, you even don't need to carefully chew it before swallowing. The sauce dish is the highlight of Fish Hotpot, with the red chilly pepper, salty kohlrabi, dry soybean, parsley and other stuffs as well as the soup from the Hotpot, It's very delicious (Pretty rich flavor left on your tongue).

This hotpot is located in "GOLDEN HAWAII 金色夏威夷" commercial block at the end tip of the first floor, the restaurant name is " Tuo Jiang Yu Fu 沱江鱼府".

Tip:
1. There are different kinds of fish ready in the vat for eaters to choose, I recommend the “Qian Yu 黔鱼”which comes with less fish bones inside, easier for those who see eating fish a challenge.
2. Usually the fish will be done in Hotpot in 10 minutes, but some might require longer time, ask waitress for details.

t's gonna be another peak time for buying  a train ticket again as it's time for those who came back for festival to go back to work. So, the long queue can be seen again, waiting in train station for a ticket for many hours is not extraordinary. And moreover, if you want to buy the train ticket to Beijing and Shanghai, you have to jump on a bus to "International Exhibition Hall" in "Shawan" and buy ticket there. It makes things more complicated! What a mess-up thanks to the large number of population in China...

My suggestion is, to fly. Or leave after Spring Festival, i mean not exact the day of the end of spring festival as it would impact for couple of weeks...

How many Spring Festival Events are carried on in Chengdu in Spring Festival?
1. Fire Dragon Dance in Huang Long Xi.
2. Temple Fairs in Wenshu Monastery's neighborhood near hostel and in Wuhou Temple in southwest of downtown.
3. Flowers exhibition in People's park near Mao Statue.
4. Lantern Fair in "Ta Zi Shan Park" in east of Chengdu.
5. Hakka Culture Festival in "Luo Dai"- Take bus 33 near hostel to "Wu Gui Qiao Bus Station", change a bus to "Luodai" which takes less than 1 hour and you can come back in same day.

For detailed schedule, find it from hostel's NOTICE BOARD.

Enjoy your stay during the Spring Festival!
Happy New Year!

I went to Huang Long Xi last year just for "Fire Dragon Dance".

Actually I knew this dance long time ago, but i never saw it in real until last year. It usually starts at 20:00 in the evening, begins with lion dance, Sichuan opera, a bit acrobatic shows, they keep "Fire Dragon Dance" in the end as a highlight on this show.

It was impressive dance, dragon dancers held the sticks which supports the long dragon, and they waved the dragon up and down in crowds of people. And the audiences all bought the fireworks and all of them just fired to dragon dancers, and dragon dances shuttled back and forth in crowds, and seems they didn't care about the burning on their skin at all! The dance lasted for about half hour, finally they used a special way to end up the show.

How to get here:
The best way is to hire a small van to taxi if you want to come back in same day as there is no public transport available for tourists after dark. But, there are many hotels in Huang Long Xi old town, for a standard room the usual cost is about 120 RMB.

The budget way:
Take bus from "Xin Nan Men Bus Station", buy ticket to "Huang Long Xi". It's only about roughly 30 Km south of Chengdu. Then come back to Chengdu the next day.

For this year, the show starts from 7th of Feb to11th of Feb, every evening.

P.S: If you can rent a bike in Huang Long Xi, it's quite enjoyable to cycle in countryside.

This is already the third year that we celebrate the spring festival in hostel with guests from all over the world. It's always fun to have dumpling party in hostel as all the travelers really enjoy it. But in Spring Festival, we have a little bit more has to offer-FIREWORKS!

Spring Festival Dumpling Party started at 18:30, they all came down, and hostel staff moved the table and put them together a big table for making dumpling, while others came back from town for dumpling party.

As always, mix's residents used many wired ways to show their dumpling making skill, though not every dumpling looks like a typical dumpling, but in general, this time, they did great job, no dumpling like "Pyrimid", "Tofu cube" or "smiling face".

We bought some duck and chicken dishes with Chinese traditional "Baijiu", after "Dumpling Ceremony", we all handed up the cups filled in with "Baijiu" and bottom it up to cheer the "Chinese Spring Festival Eve".

Since to set fireworks within 2-ring road became forbidden, i had to drive out of 2-ring road to look for fireworks. We bought many near the "Sichuan Normal University" and after having dumpling, we all went to riverside to set fireworks while Chinese backpacker girls were watching Spring Festival Show in hostel and definitely they quite enjoyed it.

It's kind of dangerous to set firework in improper way but British guys seemed not scared at all, they set the crackers by holding in hand, and when it was exploded on their hand they were just excited, I said to myself fortunately the fireworks i bought were not those powerful kinds, otherwise... Anyway, we enjoyed a night of dumpling and fireworks together in this traditional festival.

They are: USA, GERMANY, SINGAPORE, THAILAND, KOREA, PAKISTAN and FRANCE. And Philippine, Spain and South Africa is likely to set up their consulate in Chengdu soon...