Magical Chengdu

We took a weekend off from our “Chinese Home Town” to go to a city that none of us have heard the name before: Chengdu.
An unknown city, more peaceful and relaxed than Shanghai, was what they said. I thought it was a small place – but I don’t think you can say this about town with a million inhabitants. I really didn’t know what to expect. And, luckily, we didn’t have to bother doing any research getting there. It was all set up for us, the Smirnoff Ten. If I had a super-star moment on this trip, this was it. We stepped in to our hotel lobby and there was already a local TV waiting to interview us. Later, we met 10 Chengdu locals (volunteers!) to spend the evening with us. Each one had a partner, and mine was Cici, this smiling girl that helped me with the Chinese manners and language, and spent all the time hanging on my arm. They took us to Ninji Street - a really pleasant place to have dinner and do some souvenir shopping. But that was not the only reason why we were taken there. We really had a mission. Some competitions, in fact: who could eat the spiciest Chinese food in the shortest time, who knows how to recognize the different types of Chinese wine (which are made from rice, flowers or this other ingredient that I can’t remember the name of) and to learn and teach something about their and our cultures. I taught the girls how to dance the “samba”, and they did really well. At the second day, we had this big Smirnoff event - that was the main reason that we went to this town. I didn’t see all the Chinese dancing - although I saw Cici dancing samba - at the Smirnoff party that we went, though. The Smirnoff Experience Chengdu was amazing, with lots of attractions and different drinks. But the Smirnoff Ten and the Chengdu Ten were 90% of the dancing part there; I can’t understand how lots of the guests preferred just to enjoy looking at the DJ but not moving! Maybe they were too shocked with our crazy dancing style…!
Fun like we had in Chengdu is rare. To start loving a city like we did, in just two days, is more than that: it is magical!