Tai Ko Li

Spent the whole day here. Amazing how they have designed an entire complex of low rise buildings with many different shops centered around a temple.

They have high end designer brands, high street brands and many restaurants and cafes.

I started the day with a 2013 lincang raw puer at Wang De Chuan Fine Chinese Tea. Lovely sit down place serving only tea. It’s from Taiwan and the place was well patronized. I sat down for a while sipping tea and reading the Economist.

After walking around the shops there I discovered a wonderful Chinese dessert place called Very Chinese Pastry. They had such wonderful Chinese desserts. All freshly made. The sesame pastry was wonderful! Must try this place again.

Then I had red bean soup at RuXu. Lovely pastries and Chinese desserts. I only managed to try the red bean soup and am hoping to try some of the other desserts before I leave.

Came across Zara. This was one of the few selected Zara stores in China that carries special collections. I picked up so many items but in the end I narrowed it to only 4. The new collection was a collaboration with Anderson Bell. The shop assistants were very helpful in showing me the new things and patiently waiting for me to try.

An entire section of the complex was decorated with LV Murakami items. So beautiful!

I also came across Abercrombie and Hollister, both of which were mega crowd pullers about 15 years back but both these brands have since disappeared in most places. Chengdu had both of them and it was good to see them well patronized here.

Finally rounded of the day with an early dinner at a Michelin starred Fujian restaurant YanYu Fujian. I was really impressed with the high quality of the food and service and the items were all so reasonably priced.

This is a must visit place in Chengdu.