Chengdu

---

Chengdu
September 6 - 10, 2006

We arrived in Chengdu very early in the morning after a fitful night’s sleep on the train. After clearing the train station we began searching for a taxi cab to take us to our guest house, Holly’s Hostel (www.hollyhostel.com). Despite the dozens of cabs and few potential passengers we struggled to find someone to take us to Holly’s. Apparently no work is better than a short trip. Our frustration grew as the cab drivers, before turning us down, would take a few minutes to discuss the possible fare with each other. Thanks largely to the assistance of a young man who spoke a little English we secured a cab and arrived at Holly’s while it was still dark out.

Holly’s Hostel is situated outside of Chengdu’s city center in the Tibetan Quarter. While the variety of Tibetan restaurants, shops, and vendors added a very exotic feel to our stay we were not ideally situated for access to the city’s attractions or a large variety of restaurants. The relatively removed location of our hostel and the fact that we were feeling a little under the weather meant we did not do much exploring initially, instead spending the day relaxing and watching some of the hostel library’s fine pirated DVDs.

When we did finally venture out into the city center it appeared to be filled with shopping streets, large malls and restaurants. The large city square discussed in our guidebook was also completely boarded up and under construction. We had a lot of difficulty finding restaurants recommended by our guidebook and so most of our meals in Chengdu were less than impressive. We did have one fantastic meal (once our stomachs were up to it) at one of the many Tibetan restaurants in the neighborhood on Wuhouci Street between Holly Hostel and the Wuhou Temple. There were many little sketchy looking restaurants around our hostel advertising Tibetan food but we splurged on one that had a rooftop terrace and looked pretty nice from the outside. It didn’t hurt that the table closest to us appeared to be occupied by two Tibetan monks and a Tibetan cowboy, all of whom were friendly and very interested in what we were ordering. There was some crazy stuff on the menu but we kept it pretty simple, ordering stir-fried yak meat, pasta in yak butter (which ended up being sweet), and Tibetan barley wine, all of which was delicious. The specialty that most tables ate (and which we would have come back for if we had been in Chengdu longer) was a dish with bread on the top and yak meat underneath.

The two interesting attractions we took in while in Chengdu were the Giant Buddha at Leshan and the giant pandas at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. Because of time and general laziness we did both of these as part of a tour from the hostel. In this regard we were particularly pleased with the offerings of Holly’s Hostel.

To see the Giant Buddha, the hostel provided a van and a driver to take six of us the 180 kilometers to Leshan. Our group included a couple from Japan and a couple from Switzerland. The drive took us out of Chendgu through expansive green rural areas and into the rambling riverside town of Leshan. Just outside of Leshan, on a junction where the Min, Dadu and Qingyi rivers converge, sits Dafo, the Giant Buddha.

Giant is not quite an adequate term to describe the massive Dafo. At 71 meters high he is the largest sculpture of Buddha in the world. His eyes are ten meters wide, his ears seven meters long, and his large toe nails the size of a picnic table. Construction of the Buddha began in around 713AD, oddly as a part of the solution to make the rough waters of the river more navigable (rock removed from the cliffs was to be used to fill in the shoals and even out the water flow), and concluded in 803. The project inspired a variety of worshippers to construct temples in the area and the hills remain alive with temples, halls, gardens and pathways carved among the jungle. We had a good time exploring the grounds and enjoyed a nice meal overlooking the river at a cliff side restaurant, but nothing compared to seeing the Giant Buddha.

We approached from the north entrance of the park and our first glimpse of Dafo was from the observation railing level with the crown of his head. We were fortunate to arrive before the masses of people and we were free to view the top of the Buddha from all angles before zig-zagging down the stairway cut into the cliff where we would see Dafo from his feet, just a couple meters above the river. He sits casually with his hands on his knees, staring out into the river valley with serene half-open eyes. There is some paint highlighting his features, but for the most part Dafo remains the color of the cliff wall from which he was carved. When we returned to the lookout later in the day the mass of visitors was so thick that traffic on the stairs was at a standstill and there was no way to view the Buddha from above.

After our time in the park we took a river cruise to get another perspective of the Buddha. The cruise, a simple in and out trip up to the feet of the gargantuan, is worth the expense. There is also something enjoyable in seeing one raggedy boat after another line up and fight the currents to take a position for ideal photo snap shots.

For those considering a visit to the Giant Buddha we would offer the following words of advice: it is well worth the trip, get to the Buddha as early as possible to beat the crowds (take the cruise to view Dafo from the river later), and do not go with Swiss people. We enjoyed talking with the Japanese couple on the trip and we had a lot of time to do it as the Swiss couple took full advantage of the three opportunities they had to keep us all waiting. We have met some wonderful people on trips and excursions with small groups but as of this writing none of them call Switzerland home (in all fairness these are the only Swiss people we have met, but we really disliked them).

Our excursion to see the giant pandas, only eight kilometers from downtown Chengdu, was with about ten other people from Holly’s and another hostel. It is important to see the pandas early before they take their day-long naps after stuffing themselves full of bamboo .

The facility feels a lot like any zoo, though the residents consist almost solely of giant and red pandas. The enclosures are generally very large and well maintained, though a lot of the peripheral buildings look a little rundown. The building that houses a museum, educational center and gift shop has certainly seen better days, though we loved some of the photos, exhibits and poorly translated explanations that make for great comedy. Like everything we saw in Beijing the center is under massive reconstruction and improvement efforts as the Olympics near.

We walked from enclosure to enclosure somehow managing to stay ahead of the crowds. Several times we were able to stop and enjoy the adorable, chubby pandas from very good vantage points. The nursery offered a particularly spectacular view of some very young pandas at a proximity we would not have expected considering the insensitivity of flash-popping tourists and the fragility of these highly endangered animals.

The Chinese have very aggressively embraced the image of the giant pandas both as a national icon and as a symbol of the 2008 Olympics. Throughout the park there were stylized signs featuring a cuddly cartoonish panda detailing both the research at the center and the importance of the panda as a symbol. If there are cuter animals, and we know we said this about the koalas in Brisbane, we don’t know what they are.

One thing that really surprised us was the availability of the research staff. The center posts schedules for the keepers, researchers and administrators and what languages they speak. Certain administrators would only be available by appointment, but for a small fee just about anyone could arrange to meet an expert in the area of panda research and care.

Leaving Chendu we decided to fly to Hong Kong because the train ride was ridiculously long and there was no where that we wanted to stop along the way. Flights to Hong Kong from mainland China are very expensive but we were able to secure a flight to Shenzen on the mainland for a very reasonable price. Not only did we want to see Hong Kong but it is much more reasonable to fly internationally from Hong Kong than from mainland China. Our flight to Shenzen was early in the morning and so maybe that accounts for our stupid purchase of coffee and toast at the airport. We had some time to kill and we were hungry so we sat down at a café without looking at the menu. Our tea, coffee and toast cost us the insane sum of 133 Y ($17) - to put it in context, we paid 140 Y for our room and 140 Y for both of us to do the panda tour.

---

Photos

The Grand Buddha at Leshan
As seen from the river

A Red Panda
Wondering why no one cares for him

Buddhas Love Donuts!
So we were not too surprised to see one with a Krispy Kreme hat exactly like Roger's.

The Beautiful Central Square of Chengdu
The white sliver in the background is a statue of Mao.

Comments

[Mandi]

First, I am considering Buddism now that I know that Buddhas love Krispy Kremes... Second, I have no idea how y'all resisted grabbing a baby panda and smuggling it out of there...