Today was mostly a travel day to get settled in a new city.

Apparently, Chengdu is very similar to Seattle. It is almost always overcast, lots of light drizzle and it almost never freezes. Notice the similar space needle?

The St. Regis Chengdu hotel is a fantastic choice in the middle of the city near shopping and many attractions within walking distance. See – – it is just like Seattle. There is a Starbucks on every corner!

and every night they take a samurai sword and cut open a bottle of great French champagne to kick off happy hour!

Of I had to sneak in a run. It was a little challenging with all the downtown traffic, crowds, bikes and cars that ignore all traffic lights…

Oh yes, the traffic is bad. Not sure who is going to succeed getting this one remaining parking spot…16 million people and 6 million card!

But the trick for overseas runners is to find a river or water as there is likely to be a biking or running trail. Bingo!

After checking into the hotel, we got a chance to go visit and pray at the WenShu Temple and Monastery which is quite famous in the Sichuan province.

Out of respect, we do not take any pictures of Buddha or the individual prayer halls. I did capture a shot of the famous wooden fish though…

At the end of the day, we got to spend a little time walking down Jinlixi street, explore the older style area and then go visit the The Sichuan Opera scene.

We went into the Shu Feng Ya Yun teahouse.  It was was quite fun and entertaining.  A great mix of dancing, opera, and the famous mask changing characters.  One of the unusual side benefits of this tea house is you can either have your ears cleaned or get a chair massage on the sides.  I passed on this one, but many people do not!