(Tianfu Square, Chengdu)

We began our trip in Chengdu with a hotpot dinner, a speciality of the Sichuan province. This would prove to be almost a staple for the rest of the trip with many opportunities to try the different degree of spiciness of Sichuanese food! Alan very quickly learnt to pick out the fiery and tongue numbing hua jiao pepper, translated as a type of “Chinese prickly ash”, which is mixed into breakfast, lunch and dinner foods! In Chengdu, we had the opportunity to meet with various small and large businesses with varying demands, including a Chinese travel company who wanted to improve their Chinese website for the west in order to attract more enquiries and orders. There was also a meeting with a professional software company that could help us to outsource software and the development of complex technical websites. We also had the opportunity to visit the EU Project Incubation Centre at Chengdu’s new Hi-tech Business Centre, a sprawling and new technology park dedicated entirely to helping up and coming IT and software companies.

There was an immediate contrast to the laid-back atmosphere of Chengdu as we arrived to the spectacular neon light extravaganza that lit up the Chongqing nightline. We spent the weekend in Chongqing sightseeing, which brought us to the thousand-year-old rock carvings of Dazu county, 3 hours drive out of Chongqing city. Although the weather was permanently foggy upon our arrival, we also managed to enjoy the ancient town of Ciqikou and hot springs on the outskirts of Chongqing, which seemed a world away from the hectic and bustling city centre.