We have another early morning as we leave Jiuzhaigou to go back to Chengdu. We leave the hotel at 7am. but are delayed again by icy roads. We're stuck for an hour as a bus ahead has slid perpendicular to the road, blocking traffic in both directions. We maliciously watch other tourists slip and slide on the icy roads from our bus. We are delayed again when we get to the airport and our flight doesn't take off till 1:15pm. We don't arrive in Chengdu till 2:30pm. Once again our guides assure us this is normal and we're actually lucky in terms of time. Our Chengdu local guide says she's been on a flight that's returned to Chengdu 3 times before it was able to land in Jiuzhaigou.
We're safely back at the Chengdu airport with it's rotating Panda.
We're taken to the main shopping district of Chengdu to have a walk around before dinner.
For dinner we have hot pot with various bits of tripe, dumplings, pork skewers and other things I can't name.
After dinner, a few of us go to a Sichuan theatre show which features music, dancing, acrobatics and the Sichuan secret of "face change" (變臉). Performers in elaborate theatrical costumes come out and with a wave of the flag, their masks and details of the costume changes colours.
We finally meet back up with Mom and Dad at the hotel and Mom's feeling better.
