An experience like never before. Travelling to Chengdu, I truly never knew what it would be like. On arrival, I had organised transfers before hand, and if you don't have this, and don't know the langue you may struggle. A man with a sign stating my name, and then not another word was communicated due to the language barrier until the hotel was reached. The only English speaking was from the hotel reception, and this was very limited. Communication if essential was done through the locals translators on their phones, and this translated very badly, for example trying to buy shoes instead of them asking what size, it would come out as "how old are you".
China is unlike countries such as Thailand, and Vietnam where there is many people who speak English, In Chengdu you will have to do all navigations to your own knowledge. Where wanting a Taxi, the only way we were able to do this was from the hotel, and there was no information on how to get a taxi when out and about. This meant having to walk up to 5km finding a local underground.
Underground were extremely clean, and I felt very safe as its airport security just to get down onto the train. It was a clear system as when buying tickets the machines translate into English. A ticket will cost around £2 wherever you go.
The best way to navigate through this place is through the app Map.Me. This was a life saver as you can download the map in wifi as the hotel, and then its an offline mapping system. This meant we were able to find out way back to the hotel, and pre plan routes.
You will need to be prepared to try traditional food as there is very limited western food places. You will find chicken feet on every street corner, and see a variety of different extravagant animals to eat.
There were many areas of beauty and culture here, with a highlight being Peoples Park which you need to visit if you go. There is so much to do here such as traditional travel drinking, ear cleaning, crafts, and you can take a boat trip and drive yourself for around £5.
If you do not speak the language the most essential thing to have when travelling to China is a book of all your booking details and travel arrangements. When leaving China, we went through two security checks before even getting to check in, there was no WIFI to contact family and when putting the passport in the machine to retrieve our boarding passes and luggage tags it said we were not on the flight. We went back and forth not knowing what to do, with assistants sending us to different places, and then not being able to communicate the issue with each other. The only thing that saved us was having a print out of our boarding numbers and booking numbers.
As for Hotels, it was amazing. I aimed to spend around £50 a nigh per hotel, as when travelling with someone you're only spending £25 each for a 5/4* hotel. I stayed in the Sofitel, and on arrival asked for a high room. When entering, this room turned out to be an executive suite with no extra cost, so always try this at reception.
