Zigong, August 1-2

"Zigong is a pleasant surprise" - for once we agree with the Lonely Planet. There's really nothing much to say about the town, it's mostly "harmless" but certainly not touristy. It deserves the title "least gentrified city China's". It seems not to have arrived in the 21st century yet. Not that it's traditional in any way, it just looks like 1990s a lot.

Zigong

Just strolling around through the hilly lanes is quite pleasant, there's street food everywhere (tasty crispy pancake), people catch fish in the muddy river or play Mahjong in the tea houses (one in an old temple is quite cozy, another in a former guild house quite impressive). The city rose to fame because of its salt, there's a museum in a former guild house that exhibits methods of drilling and such fascinating things... the complex is beautiful, the old building has not been over-restored, so there's still original paint on the walls here and there and a layer of green moss on the stone courtyard.

And I think that's all I have to say about it.