Word: James Lo

Chengdu has long been famed as China’s most relaxed city, and the gay scene is no less laid-back. With its spicy food, perfect climate and friendly vibe, Chengdu’s bound to charm the pants off you…

GETTING THERE

A host of airlines fly there daily from Hong Kong, with both Air China and Dragonair at about HK$3000 return, although there are loads of deals available all year round.

SLEEP

There’s a huge range of affordable accommodation – from family-run guesthouses to huge international chains.

Shangri-La Hotel Chengdu
9 Binjiang Dong Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
www.shangri-la.com
Tel: 86 -28-8888 9999
Price: from CNY 750
Buzz: This is the daddy of all hotels in Chengdu – and it being China, it’s 5 star luxury at 1 star prices. Huge rooms, spa-style bathrooms, perfect for touching up before a night out on the town. You might want to avoid Mooney’s Irish Pub downstairs though, unless you’re in the mood for a burly Guinness-drinker.

BuddhaZen Hotel
B6-6 Wenshufang Street, Qingyang District, Chengdu 610017, China
www.buddhazenhotel.com
Tel: 86-28-86929898
Price: from CNY 350
Buzz: This little boutique hotel clustered around a Zen Buddhist garden is a welcome haven after a long day prowling the streets.

Love Chengdu Apartment Hotel
Room 1-1008 Fortune 10 Building, No. 2 Zitongqiao West St, Jinjiang District, Chengdu 610016, China
www.a3cd.com
Tel: 89-28-66781270
Price: from CNY 138
Buzz: There’s a bunch of family-run hotels (and a bunch of love hotels for the intrepid) clustered around the centre of town. This is one of the best, with friendly service and large, clean rooms.

EAT

Eating your way through Chengdu qualifies as one of its main draws. The food here is mouthwatering – it truly “break da mouth”, as they say in Hawaii.

Chen Mapo Doufu (陈麻婆豆腐)
197 Xie Yulong Jie
Tel: 86-28-8653 0162
Price: dishes from CNY8
The original and the best, selling sizzling hot mapo beancurd and other Sichuan specialities.

Qingshui Hehua (清水荷花)
Baiyunsi jie (inside Wenshu Temple)
Tel: 86-28-8692 1839
Price: dishes from CNY5
A bustling vegetarian restaurant set inside the remarkably tranquil grounds of Wenshu Temple, Chengdu’s oldest Buddhist temple. After lunch relax with a pot of locally grown green tea in the adjoining teahouses popular with Chengdu’s gracefully aging residents.

WenXiang (闻香)
Gaoyehou jie, 53 Huang wa xiang
Tel: 86-28-8669 9719
Price: dishes from CNY15
Specializing in classic Sichuanese home-style cuisine, such as hui guo rou (twice-cooked pork) and shui zhu yu (chilli fish stew), WenXiang is a romantic hideaway set in a traditional siheyuan or courtyard house off a quiet lane.

SEE

Jinsha Museum (金沙遗址博物馆) – 2, Jinsha Yizhi Lu 金沙遗址路, Tel 86-28-8730 3522 CNY 80 www.jinshasitemuseum.com – the Shu Kingdom reigned over Sichuan and much of Western China 3000 years ago. In 2001, construction workers for a real estate project accidentally discovered this 5km2 site which revealed a huge stash of stunning gold and jade artefacts.

Chengdu has a number of beautiful old temples, most important of which are the Wenshu Temple (文殊院街), the Wuhou Temple (武侯祠大街231号) and the Qingyang Temple (Yi Huan Lu Xi, 青羊区一环路西二段9). The Wenshu Temple dates back to the Tang Dynasty and is Chengdu’s oldest Zen Buddhist Temple. The Wuhou Temple dates back to the 6th century and contains relics from the Warring States Period (3rd century AD). The Qingyang Temple is Chengdu’s oldest Taoist temple, and it is still very much a working temple offering Tai Chi and meditation classes.

Sichuan Opera is a distinct art form, dating back at least 300 years. It’s got the colourful costumes and Crouching Tiger antics of other forms of Chinese opera, but the special trick is “face-changing” where actors do high-speed makeup changes – up to 10 different faces in 20 seconds. See for yourself at the Sichuan Opera Theater (人民南路一段126号).

Sichuan is one of the few provinces in China where pandas live in the wild. The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base – 26 Xiongmao Dadao (熊猫大道26号) www.panda.org.cn – to the north of the city has 39 pandas living in fairly open enclosures. If you’re lucky you might get to see one of the few baby pandas that are born here each year.

NIGHTLIFE

Dance off those hotpot calories at one of Chengdu’s hundreds of clubs:

MC Club – 1/F Haicheng Dasha, Tianxian Qiao Bei Lu (天仙桥北路6号，海成大厦1楼) – this is the biggest gay club in town and gets packed on weekends. There’s a free show and visitors report a very “interesting” experience, due in no small part presumably to the sauna conveniently located downstairs. CNY18 before 8pm, CNY28 after.

Mu Di Di – Green Planet Hotel, 63 Huaxingdong Street – gay bar and karaoke club

Greenwich Village Clubs – Jiuyanqiao, 6 Taiping Nan Xin Jie (九眼桥太平南新街6号) this stretch comprises 8 superclubs (Castle, MusicKep, 69, Repoco, Seven, Soho, Sucre & TA&TA)– perfect for club-hopping

MGM – Lihua Street, Yanshikou, Shangye Guangchang (梨花街盐市口广场) – three floors of throbbing techno, hugely popular with the local kids

Xiongmao (Panda Club) – 2/F Blue Caribbean Plaza, 143 Kehua Bei Lu (科华北路143号蓝色加勒比广场二楼) – Winner of the Best Club 2009 Readers’ Poll for Chengdoo Citylife Magazine, this two-storey loft-style bar will keep you dancing all weekend with its electro parties.

STEAM & CRUISE

Blue Rain and Cloud Bath – 15 Baijiatang St – clean but basic with mostly local guys – CNY28 after 9pm

MC Sauna – just underneath MC Club with massage rooms and steam baths as well as an internet bar, it bills itself as more of a social venue than a cruise sauna.

CONCLUSION

Unlike a lot of cities in China, Chengdu has managed to hold onto its distinctive character in the face of the massive development of the last 10 years. People still while away the day chatting in teahouses with almost a Mediterranean mañana attitude to life. If you want to visit China without having to deal with China, Chengdu might be the perfect place to start.