Pandas and Buddhas!! - Chengdu - July 23-25, 2012

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Monday, July 23^rd, we left Xi’an and flew to Chengdu, in Sichuan province. We arrived in the morning since we had a very early flight and checked into our quaint, hippy-ish hostel which is awesome. We then decided to take a long lunch to discuss our travel plans for our time in Sichuan – so we had some Sichuan hot pot. Now I knew coming in that Sichuan was known for its spicy food. But this hot pot actually killed me. I bought 2 iced teas in preparation, plus I had some leftover tea from the morning, plus they served hot tea. Not enough. Not enough. My mouth was on fire. I was dying. DYING!! I bought a yogurt after to calm the pain. All I can say about my future from that point is: it was spicy going in and coming out. Very painful. An experience not to be repeated!!!



We decided to walk down to see CHINA’S LARGEST MAO STATUE which was really fun. We then checked out the People’s Park which is an amazing public space being very much used by pretty much anyone and everyone. There was karaoke, dancing, speeches, jazzercise, music performances…the Chinese do use public space well!! From there we decided to check out a Tibetan street listed on our tourist map. It was full of monks who apparently all drive very expensive cars. A little confusing. But fun to see! We then hit up a shopping area and I finally bought not only a Chinglish shirt but a “Chench” shirt – Chinese French! I wore it the next day so you can have a look. Though it makes a fair bit of sense – “LE VENT DE LA MER” – the wind of the sea. It has a maple leaf! So I had to buy it. Plus it’s long enough to be a dress which means one day I’m gonna wear it as a dress.



For dinner we went to a place near our hostel which was also REALLY FREAKING SPICY so I ate mostly rice. After day 1, I was DONE with Sichuan food. DONE!



Tuesday morning we woke up very early to head to the Chendgu Panda Research Centre. We had to get up early because morning is when the pandas are active. I’d been given directions to the place on public transit but they were incomplete directions and we got on the bus going the wrong way. So in the end we rode bus #1 all the way to one end of the line and then back to the other!! We got to the research centre early enough that the pandas were up and about and it was AWESOME!! OMG!!! BEST PLACE EVER!!! Pictures tell the story. We saw little kid pandas eating!! A highlight was walking through the red panda exhibit when a panda escaped and was on the trail. Chinese people of course don’t follow rules (if I had 1 Chinese yuan for every Chinese person I saw blatantly breaking a rule in the last 2 months I would actually be writing this to you from the Hilton while sipping champagne cause I’d have that much freaking money) so they all tried to touch it despite the fact that signs EVERYWHERE say that they’re aggressive and you should keep your distance. A little boy was screaming and reaching for it and I pulled him back and told him ‘shh’. He then asked (in Chinese) if I was American and I responded (also in Chinese) that I was Canadian. Very cute. Too bad his parents aren’t teaching him properly…



Anyways we spent the whole morning walking around, seeing pandas and enjoying the peace of the place (it was really, really nice there). We then headed out right when the sun was getting hottest (and the pandas less active) to catch our bus back. Now you’d think that you could just catch the same bus on the opposite side of the street. You’d think. But you’d think wrong!! We waited for half an hour, seeing several buses going the other way. Finally we called our hostel for help and handed the phone to a nearby Chinese lady. We’d watched countless people give up on waiting for the bus and hop in cabs so we were getting concerned. The lady at the bus stop eventually ran across the street to catch the bus going in the opposite direction – so away from where we needed to go. Well it turns out that bus doesn’t go back the road it came along so we had to ride it to the end of the line then go back. So absurd! Oh but the ridiculousness doesn’t end there. When we got to the end of the line the driver made us all get out. We then had to run across 8 lanes of traffic, almost getting hit, to get to the bus stop on the other side. The bus driver then did a u-turn and we all got back on. WTF?! WHY DID WE HAVE TO GET OFF?!?!?! THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!! And why aren’t buses to a popular tourist destination more clear?! So ridiculous.



Fortunately we had lots of time so that wasn’t a concern – we were just tired and super hungry! When we got back to the hostel we immediately plonked down and ordered food from the hostel restaurant. I had a burger and fries cause that’s just what I needed. Fernanda got some cheap spicy tofu. We watched Modern Family. It was a great break. We then both showered and took a nap. We woke up at 5pm to head to the monestary which is very close to our hostel. We walked around a bit then listened to the monks chanting at 6pm. Very interesting though not as melodic as the Catholic monks.



We then bought some snacks and had those for dinner cause we weren’t too hungry. We spent the evening on our computers.



Wednesday was another early morning as we headed to catch the bus to Leshan, a city about 2 hours from Chengdu. We were going to see the WORLD’S TALLEST BUDDHA!!! We first took an inter-city bus then a city bus to take us to the East Gate of the Buddha Theme Park (actual name lol). We saw soo many buddhas. So many. Obviously we had to see the main event but when we got to the tall Buddha there was a MASSIVE line. We waited for about an hour just to take the stairs down beside the big Buddha. And this was not a pleasant hour wait. We had Chinese people pushing and shoving their way in front of us. I threw many elbows. We also had people smoking and hawking and spitting. And we were the subject of many photos. When we first got in line the one lady in front of us came next to us and the other started to take a picture. We moved, thinking she wanted a picture of just herself. Then she gestured for us to be in the picture. They were actually planning on taking a picture of us without asking first!! WTF? Then we caught a guy blatantly photographing us from the next line over. We both noticed and turned away from him and he kept taking pictures!! JUST ASK US FOR A PICTURE!! OMG!!! SO F@(*ING RUDE!!! I jokingly put my scarf on my head to hide from the paparazzi which are apparently everywhere!!



Anyways we finally made it to Buddha which was awesome, we walked down beside him and took pictures at his feet. He’s massive. Totally massive. Very fun. We then hiked all the way back up and decided we were hot and sweaty and needed to get back to Chengdu. So we went back the way we came. On the way we discovered that we’d completely missed Sleeping Buddha, another highlight of the Buddha Theme Park, the first time around. He’s MASSIVE too. Very cool.



We were able to easily get back on the city bus and the inter-city bus back to Chengdu and we had another great nap on the bus (we’d napped on the way to Leshan as well). Back in Chengdu I needed to do some emergency cell phone shopping because mine literally broke in half (I’m a klutz). In the end I decided phones were massively over-priced in the backwoods of China so I bought a cheap one to use for the next few weeks. I’m gonna need to do some serious phone (and camera) shopping back in the US!



For dinner we just went to a random Chinese fast food place. It was decent and pretty cheap. That was about all for our final night in Sichuan. Next stop: Yunnan province!

-Dafne

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Photos

Children's amusement park area
yes this park had it all!!

Comments

[deleted_49612]

Nice blog! :)
Speaking of people touching and getting too close to the pandas: There was a major news story here in Germany a few years ago, about a women who climbed the barricade, and crossed the section of water to hug a polar bear, in a zoo. She was almost killed before, the others spectators managed to drag her out, witout getting themselves mauled too by the bear, in the process. What is it with bears, that so many won't believe that you can only cuddle the teddy bears, but not the real bears. ;)

[Maggie]

dancing
haha all that dancing tired them out :D

[Maggie]

This photo is amazing! it really shows how big the Buddha is