Jackie Chan falls for New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Actor Jackie Chan may be better for New Mexico than the Chamber of Commerce.

The action hero just finished filming the movie called The Spy Next Door, and while he was in town at the end of last year he blogged about his experience and posted photos online.

"New Mexico is a very beautiful place," he wrote in his blog at JackieChan.com . "You can see how clean and clear the air is when you look into the distance and all the details on the faraway mountains are sharp.

"You feel like you could reach out and touch the mountains even though they are many miles away."

In early December it was the sky over Albuquerque that caught Chan's attention.

"Albuquerque is a beautiful place and one of the most amazing things about it is the sky," he wrote. "In the daytime it's deep blue and when the sun goes down the colors are really gorgeous."

Chan loved to shop. While he was in the Land of Enchantment he bought art in Santa Fe and said the town is charming.

But he loved Bed, Bath and Beyond, and he and his staff made a couple of trips to the Winrock location. Employee Shanna Cook quoted Chan's assistant as saying they were buying things made in China that they couldn't buy in China.

Chan loves to cook and loved that store.

He also made many trips to Lowe's Home Improvement Store and stocked on carts full of stuff.

"They have just about everything you can imagine," he blogged. "I go there and buy things and send them back to Hong Kong."

By far Chan's favorite place to eat was Chopstix Chinese Restaurant at San Pedro and Lomas NE in Albuquerque. He was there so much the owner let him in the kitchen to cook.

"We are so proud," employee Siriwan Pitayasak said. "We're just a small restaurant, and we have a big movie star come eat here, it's very good."