Masks, mountains, and many many drinks later...

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The past few days have been fantastic in and around Chengdu, and tonight i leave for Zhengzhou in central China, sad to leave the wonderful hostel i have been staying in and the great people i have met. After my experience with the pandas on monday morning i went to the traditional Sichuan Opera in the evening, which was great fun. It involved a mixture of comedy sketches, hand-silhouettes, acrobatics and the famous fire-breathing a fast-paced unnoticable mask-changing that makes the opera so unique. The performers were excellent, and the evening was great. The mask-changing was unnoticable due to the manner in which it was done. The men who did it must have each had 10 or 12 very different cloth masks hidden around their faces, and changing the mask involved an incredibly quick flick of the head, sometimes changing appeareance 3 or 4 times in the space of a few seconds....i hope i have done them justice with my explanation!!
On tuesday i arose early and set off on the bumby and often perilous 2-hour bus-ride to Emei, near to which was Emei Shan, one of the 4 holiest mountains in Chinese Buddhism. I stayed overnight in a hostel, and on wednesday morning i set off at around 7am to start my hike up the mountain. Despite the going being tough, with few other people around, steep ridges and little water, the scenery was unbelievable, so hard to describe. Around me were just vast areas of lush woodland, dotted with the odd monastary, and above i could see the snowy peaks that i would reach later in the day. I stopped for a bite of noodle and meat at one of the rare cafe-shacks that were run by locals, and refreshed, i continued. The afternoon was much more enjoyable than the morning, with the sights just getting better and better, and soon i hit snow. It was gorgeous to be walking through, although i was wet due to the thawing snow falling from the trees above me. I later reached the cloud level, which again was awesome, and created an odd atmosphere. Once above this it got seriously cold, and donning my beanie and gloves, i continued in the hope of reaching the summit in time to turn back to warmth and the last-bus home.
Near the top is a monastary, which was beautiful, with lots of incense and buddhas, it was emphatically peaceful. I felt both alone and yet protected by this place, which exuded serenity. I was sad to leave, however was in need of getting the last bus home.

This, however i missed, and so had to get a taxi to the bus depot in hope of finding another way home. This was closed, the staff getting on a bus, and so i was told to head over to the town train station. I managed in my best broken-Chinese to get a ticket in cattle-class for a train later that evening, so i waited in the main square. A women came over next to my seat with 2 massive speakers, hooked them up to a cd player, and, not wanting my ears to be blown out, i moved away. What followed was both hilarious and interesting. In a line formation, approximately 30 middle-aged Chinese women began doin a form of aerobics, and this group, over the course of the next hour enlarged to appproximately 100.
Unfortunately i had to leave, but my train journey was equally interesting, with the crowded carriage full of traders and farmers, gypsies and soldiers. I was offered card games, cigarettes, peoples' seats and continually stared at. Oh, and i had no idea what stop i was due to get off at!!
I did make it home though, and yesterday celebrated with my new mate Nad one of the best birthdays ever. Nad is the 46-year old Sri Lankan i mentioned in my previous entry that used to live in Basingstoke, also a liverpool fan, and hopefully someone i will keep in contact with. He organised a dinner out, we went with 9 of the chinese girls that worked in the hostel who had the night off and 2 swedish guys named Randeep and Kris. The meal was at a traditional Sichuan hot-pot house, basically where you get a whole load of uncooked meats and fishes, and a large metal dish on a stove filled with water, oil, spices and chillis. You then chuck all the ingredients in a cook them...tasty as anything ive ever had, spicy, and a great dinner out. The hostel girls were incredible, as they had gone to the trouble of buying me a birthday cake, which we shared with relish. After we went to an irish pub and drank the night away, Nad arranging a delightful drink which involved a lot of fire on the bar, straws, and a lot of alcohol, which burnt thorouly well!!
As i said, this has been a great place, and last night rounded it off a treat. The Chinese are such a friendly people, and this is a country which i will return to as often as possible. Their delight and excitement at having the Olympic is great, and it saddens me how offended they are getting at the negative attention they are getting in regards to Tibet as teh Olympic flame makes its way around the world. Im off to Zhengzhou tonight to see the Longmen Caves and go to the Shaolin Temple (famous for its kung-fu), and then its back to Beijing.

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Comments

[Max]

Shaolin Kung Fu Temple
i dare you to start on one of the shaolin kids in the temple