Chengdu

Foot and body Massage

Chengdu is famous for its relaxed and laid back lifestyle. Foot and body massage is very popular in Chengdu with a lot of varieties. Generally, these places cater to groups of people who come in together, relax in a private room, perhaps eating fruit, pig ear, or sipping tea, while receiving a fully-clothed massage or foot washing. Prices are very reasonable, often well under ¥80 per person. Some places offer ¥25 per hour for a very nice foot massage, including washing, soaking and massaging feet, free hot/cold drink tea, coke or juice, fresh fruit. A great way to relax with friends. Beware of erotic massage places that may be hard to tell from authentic ones. Watch out for establishments such as on Yuhe side street, next to the Sheraton that have two price boards, one in Chinese, and one in English with heavily inflated prices eg. foreigners - 80 yuan, Chinese - 40 yuan.

Drink tea

Teahouses are plentiful in Chengdu, and drinking tea and playing Mahjong is how many local people relax. On a sunny afternoon pick a table in the park with an out-door tea house and sip your tea while listening to the locals gossiping. Not for the faint hearted, take the opportunity to have your ears cleaned by local "experts" armed with a tuning fork and a myriad of "insertion tools". Weird but effective! There are thousands of teahouses in Chengdu so you'll find them from other places than Renmin Park as well.

Read a Book

The Chengdu Bookworm see listing in the Eat Section has a membership-based lending library of English language books, as well as travel guides for sale. Peter's Tex Mex, as well as some of the other restaurants that cater to foreigners, have book exchanges.

Cosmetics and Hair

Local woman love to get their nails and hair done at the mall. You can get your nails done beautifully filed, buffered, polished and hand painted with beautiful patent between ¥10-20 at most shopping centre. There are quite a few very popular ones located on the ground floor of Beijing Hualian (北京华联）in Yanshikou. You can also get your hair temporarily straightened or curled at ¥10-15. They do very nice style and it will last until you wash your hair.

As a symbol of Chinese culture, Weiqi is one of the world’s great strategy games where a few simple rules lead to limitless possibilities. Weiqi is hugely popular in Chengdu to the point where it has been nicknamed Weiqi City. Chengdu Weiqi Classroom is the only place where foreigners can study this game with English speaking assistance.

Job postings for English teaching are located in many guest houses, at Western bars and restaurants, anywhere foreigners congregate. Also worth to check are GoChengdoo (http://gochengdoo.com/en/) and their Chengdoo Magazine (http://chengdoo-magazine.com/) of which you can grab a copy from many places throughout the city.

The Peace Corps (http://www.peacecorps.gov) has its China headquarters in Chengdu, Sichuan University Campus, and places highly selected and qualified U.S. Citizen volunteers in 2 year assignments throughout provinces in West China teaching English.

For up-to-date information on activities, places and attractions you should check out the CHENGDOO citylife magazine's listings. You will find copies in most bars, restaurants, cafes, hostels and hotels.

Chunxi Road (春熙路)

Take an afternoon or evening to walk down this shopping street, located in the center of the city. Makes for a good change of pace. Various clothing stores, bookstores, restaurants, arcades, and cinemas. Good place to find something to eat; including a hotpot buffet, Japanese restaurants, Western food, and much more. However, the major disadvantage with this area is that each brand has many stores in this location similar to other parts of China. For instance, Nike, Adidas, and Li-Ning, each have about 4-5 stores in Chunxi Road alone which reduces the variety of things to buy. If you are looking for stores in the same vein as Louis Vuitton and Ermenegildo Zegna, these stores are located outside of the Chunxi Road area and near the Tianfu Square district.