By ANGELA JONES

Tea for two: Enjoy an ear clean while your sip on your drink


This was the strangest cup of tea I had ever had. We were in a Chinese teahouse when a woman approached our table carrying a tiny spoon, a slim wire brush and what appeared to be a piano tuning fork.

Our guide explained she was an ear-cleaner and for £2 she would give ours a good scouring - standard practise in the dozens of teahouses in Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province.

We chose Shuxin Ancient Teahouse, a place that perfectly captures the juxtaposition of the old and new. Walking through the doors was like visiting another era, as beautifully dressed waitresses floated serenely across a darkened, wood-clad room.

Chengdu provides the perfect hub from which to explore southern China. Viewed from the 18th floor of our luxurious hotel, it appeared like any modern Western city, with expensive cars thronging its broad thoroughfares. At night, when the skyscrapers were bathed in a spectacular neon light, we might have been in New York.

But at street level, the differences between West and East came sharply into focus.
For all the wealth of its entrepreneurs, most people still ride to work on bicycles, and it is not unusual to see an old rickshaw - though these days they are not pulled by hand, but tugged by a moped.

Behind the busy new shopping streets and office blocks, there are trinkets, too. Try places such as Jinli street (reminiscent of Convent Garden in London, but more authentic), with arts and crafts shops where you can buy beautiful brocade and embroidery, lacquerware, bamboo handiwork, herbs, medicines and, of course, teas.

Forget everything you've learned about Sichuan cuisine from Chinese takeaways - the real thing, performed at the food stalls on Jinli street, is entirely different. it's much spicier and almost always contains very hot chillies.

From spring rolls to squid kebabs and huge, tasty ribs to fat, slithery noodles, it's all delicious, and just £1 a carton. Quite often, dishes are sold for their purported health benefits. Chicken feet and snake wine are supposedly good for arthritis, for example.


Rice view: Terraced rice paddies in Sichuan province


Nowhere in Chengdu are the ancient and modern more beautifully paired than in the Jinsha Site Museum. In 2001, construction workers were digging a ditch for a sewage system when they unearthed figures made from old stone, bronze, ivory and jade - and realised they had stumbled upon an incredible lost kingdom, 3,000 years old.

Archaeologists have since uncovered the foundations to entire buildings and thousands of once-common artefacts and items used in ritual burials. Now a superbly designed museum has been built to display them and English- speaking guides are available.

A couple of hours drive out of the city, we visited Qingcheng Mountain, one of the birthplaces of Taoism. it's well worth a visit - but wear comfortable shoes, and only attempt it if your lungs are in good working order.

To reach the pinnacle, some 4,000ft up in the clouds, you must climb thousands of steps in stifling humidity.

But the trek takes you through magical temples, and the vista from the mountain is everything you imagine the real China to be.

The curling pagodas, the tinkling of the monks' bells calling their guests to dinner, the lushness of the greenery of the gnarled ancient trees - one an incredible 18,000 years old and carefully protected - provide such tranquillity that you soon forget your exhaustion.


Tea time: A panda breeding and research base is located in Sichuan


Chengdu's greatest tourist attraction is its giant panda breeding and research base. We were there in prime breeding season and were lucky enough to see a one-week-old panda in the nursery.

For an evening's entertainment, nothing beats the visual delights of the Sichuan Opera. This isn't opera in the classical sense, but more of a variety show, with fleet-footed dancers, daring swordfighters, comic fire-eaters and a virtuoso who played the erhu, a kind of Chinese violin.

The best part was the 'changing faces' performance where a story was played out by masked mime players who switched the colour and pattern of their disguise to suit each scene. Their masks changed in the flick of an eye - we are still trying to fathom how they did it.

These were extraordinary, and perhaps some of the friendliest and most courteous, people we have encountered on our travels.

China is one of the few countries where tipping is not part of the culture, which made the smiles and handshakes all the more genuine.

For an introduction to the mysteries, ancient and modern, of this fascinating country, we couldn't have chosen a better spot than Chengdu. We left with opened minds and relaxed bodies - and, in my husband's case, a far keener sense of hearing.


Travel Facts
Air China from £817 return (www.airchina.com). Stay at the Crowne Plaza in Chengdu's city centre from £466 for five nights including breakfast (0871 423 4876, www.crowneplaza.com).


source: dailymail