Chengdu the first day

First Impressions
Chinese are nolsy - have loud conversations on mobiles and yell at each.
We arrived in Chengdu on a packed flight full of excited Chinese - we being the only long noses.

Our pick-up was waiting and whisked us through the masses to a mini van with no shock absorbers. He then proceeded at a cracking pace over ring roads, tunnels and toll roads to our hostel-an old factory converted by artists - great beds hot shower and quiet.

Had no idea Chengdu was such a big city -12million +. We had never even heard of it until Air Asia advertised its cheap flights and I saw how close it was to Dali (found out later not so close but close to Tibet)

Chengdu has wide tree lined streets - really low traffic noise as all motor bikes/scooters are electric - and not much horning....can't help comparing it with Bangkok which is I think a similar size - much less chaotic - cleaner and pavements are less hazardous - really clean - no litter and constantly swept by an army of street cleaners - lots of expensive european cars - but wonder how it will be in a few years when there are double the number of cars.
Taxis are cheap and electric busses are frequent