This morning we woke up at 4am because we slept so early yesterday. Had a very good rest to try to sleep our jet lag away. We woke up hungry, but had to wait till it gets bright at 8 or 9am, so we could walk outside to find food. We stay at an activity center, so it takes 10 mins to walk to the main road to go anywhere or find a cab.

So far, Chengdu seems to be a little different from the other cities we had been to. It's a little less crowded than Beijing. Maybe it leans a little more to the country-side life. We like what we saw and experienced so far. The people here are so friendly and have more open characters than some of the others that we had experienced in bigger cities like Beijing. We asked for directions a few times, and most people are always helpful. Grubby said that it's like those Chinese people that he saw in the movies - humble and sweet.

On our morning walk out to the main road, here's some of the things we saw:

Early in the morning, some of the more elderly Chinese men and women are doing their morning exercise, also known as "Taiji" I think.

Fresh vegetables for sale! These veggies are "Pak Choi".

Their spring onions seem to be slightly longer than those in Europe.

A police officer on a bicycle dropped by, and asked them to shift all the vegetables to the side walk instead.

The side walk is muddy and wasn't as convenient as the road.

Across that little river is where they grow the vegetables! How much more fresh can it get? :D

The vegetable garden across the little river or canal.

Lots of fat chickens behind a lorry. Probably on the way to get slaughtered.

Since Grubby didn't have the time to go for a haircut in Europe, his hair grew over his eyebrow already. We passed by a hair salon and decided to give it a try.

Result seems quite decent, it was neat.

Then finally we had our first meal in Chengdu. Fried bean curds, Kung bao chicken and four season beans.

Funny Story of the Day
After lunching we went about getting some supplies for the long haul; we're going to be here for a good three weeks. We better try to make it our home right away! After coming back with some food stuffs like bread, instant cup noodles and water, Basic necessities of any home (in this case: a pro-gamer couple's home) are: the free flow of water, internet and practice PC. Grubby wanted to do some surfing and also download replays, while I wanted to write a new blog for the day. The first blow was struck! Internet is not working! So after calling up the reception, we found that the internet is indeed down for the whole building and they said that there's this guy wearing spectacles (that must mean he's pretty smart, right?) who is messing with it or trying to fix it. (We ended up waiting till 1am at night and there was still no internet.) Since we have no idea when internet would be back, Grubby decided to take a shower: basic luxury number two. He went to the bathroom and was pleasantly surprised by a gurgling sound from the tap and shower! The sound itself was funny, but the problem was that there was no water! No water in the shower, nor at the sink. We called up the reception again, and the lady said she will get right on researching the problem and call back. She called back one minute later and apologized. She said the water had been cut off by the water company and they were not informed about it in advance. Water was going to be back in probably an hour. At this point with the internet down and the water cut off, we had nothing constructive to do. Then we remembered that PGL told us yesterday that the practise PC will be ready today. With renewed hope, Grubby called Afeng from PGL. Afeng said the practise PC is not yet ready (unfortunately it was out of PGL's control) and it would probably only be ready later tomorrow. When it rains, it pours. :)

Today is New Year's Eve! I heard HoT, MYM]Strelok and MYM]White-RA are going to a Karoke Bar to celebrate. Grubby, me and Happy are at an internet cafe. They are practising while I do my blog. Guess there wouldn't be any celebration or count-down for the three of us tonight. PGL starts tomorrow already! Check back on mymym.com for more PGL coverage!