Flight to Chengdu easier than finding a stairway to heaven

Before accompanying her son 980 kilometers to check out a bar in Chengdu made famous by a hit pop song, Mei Chun thought traveling to the Sichuan capital was like going to another realm.

The middle-aged woman had only three days to enjoy Chengdu after the pair flew from Wuhan, Hubei province. But Mei and her son - a 20-something studying in Canada - managed to see more than just the bar.

They visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where they took photos of the cuddly bears, and later went to the Jinsha Site Museum and viewed the gold foil sunbird, believed to be 3,000 years old, and other ancient artifacts. The pair also had time to visit Mount Qingcheng, the birthplace of Chinese Taoism.