Chengdu for the holidays

Ben and I spent some time this past week in Chengdu, a place he spent two years living in and learning Chinese. Some of the people he shared this experience with, 7 years ago, are still living in Chengdu and we decided to pay them a visit for the holidays. We boarded our OK Air flight (not so sure the name reassures me in any way) last Wednesday and from there on it was a wonderful whirlwind of fun meeting and enjoying the company of many people. We traveled to quite a few places that our fair Tianjin is lacking in. Places that carry the stereotypical Chinese vibe. Lanterns, narrow roadways, small shops within old Chinese style city walls. Pointed rooftops and lots of old brick. It was quite nice to finally see the China I have looked for and unsuccessfully found in TEDA. There were other strange happenings we discovered in Chengdu as well. People don't seem quite as accustomed to seeing foreigners than they to in Tianjin. Lots more staring, picture taking and open curiosity was evident around us in every outing. For the most part though, we ate great food, chatted with great people and had a good amount of fun and relax time away from school and work. Below are a couple pictures of the kids, they were too amusing and cute to not become one of the many onlookers and picture takers wherever we went, and a few pictures of some other sights and people that we passed by as well.