Mountains? So they tell me...

Chengdu is surrounded by mountains.

Supposedly.

I have yet to see any.

There is so much smog and bad weather that I can never see farther than 500 feet in any direction.

I have only experienced one day where I could see blue sky. 

And even then, it was only for a few short hours.

They say that Chengdu experiences fewer sunny days than London.

I definitely believe it.

There is a saying here that we so rarely see the sun that when it does show up, 

dogs bark because they don’t recognize it.

A famous local poet who died in the 1980s wrote about how he could see the tall white-capped mountain peaks from his home in the city. I guess this is proof of how much can change in a few short decades.

So, you say the sky is blue.

But I don’t think I can believe it any more. 

I am located right at the base of the Tibetan Plateau in the "Red Basin." 

As you can see, I should be able to see mountains of some sort, but I can't.