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Published: August 27th 2009
tour bus
modern tour busThey say that golf is a good walk spoiled. This was a killer walk that I still do not have a clue what I saw.
We are off and running very early because we must get to the center of Chengdu to catch a tour bus for Leshan. We only have a small backpack so I have the short sleeve shirt I am wearing and the long sleeve, warm winter shirt for the following day at Mount Emai. This proved to be a very bad choice.
After a long bus ride to Leshan which included a very mediocre lunch, we arrive at Leshan and the sun it out, the air dripping with humidity and I can tell I am in for a long day. We start the climb up the mountain at Leshan. It is fully paved and the steps are good but the heat, humidity and steps take their toll. I am proceeding at a slower pace than every one else but I am getting there all the same. I think they had to wait for 15 minutes for me at the top and the group embarrassed me by clapping when I arrived. I think they believed that
signage
at the entrance I would not make it to the top. By this time however, I was completely soaked with sweat and I am talking about my socks and shorts and underpants as well as my shirt. But everyone is sweating because of the heat and humidity...they are just getting up the stairs faster.
The tour operator talked almost half of the bus ride to Leshan in Chinese and Lisa translated nothing but it seemed that there was little point for me to know what he was talking about. On the mountain however, it was a bit disconcerting to not understand what the tour guide was saying in Chinese and I could sense that Lisa didn't feel that her translation was fast enough so she stopped trying to translate so I was able to see everything but understand absolutely nothing about what I was looking at. It was sad that about all I came away with from the experience was that this was a very old Buddhist monastery. Basically this becomes an extremely exhausting hike up a mountain on a very hot and humid day because I could not tell you a thing about what I saw.
So we begin the
process of leaving and it appears that we must go up to go down and my knee is starting to hurt and I don't want to go up any more, only down because going down the stairs does not hurt. There is little choice in the matter. We finally arrived at the bus and I couldn't believe how hot, tired and exhausted I was feeling. I wanted to shower and go to sleep. I didn't care about eating or anything else.
A short drive to our hotel in Emaishan and we were told we had 5 minutes before dinner. Incredible. I am soaking wet and still cannot shower. Even worse, I only have warm winter clothes for Emai mountain and when I shower, that is all I can put on. You can imagine my desire to put on warm winter clothes in 85 degree heat with 80% humidity. But Lisa is hungry and she decides that the tour group lunch was not good and she wants to find a better restaurant so here I am, still dripping with sweat, walking in search of a good restaurant. We walk another half mile before we discover that the restaurant we were
told to eat at was closed and the other restaurant 'did not have good smell' according to Lisa. We walked past a small market area where vendors were selling cooked pork, duck, chicken and vegetables and it occurs to me that the best idea for dinner would be to pick up some of these prepared foods and go back to the hotel but she is on the telephone. So we continue walking and finally we find a restaurant that she thinks is suitable.
So we ordered dinner and a couple of beers and I struggle to eat. The beer is cold and the food is good so my exhaustion is put to rest for a while. While we are in the restaurant, the most darling Chinese boy gets up from table with his mother and comes up to Lisa and asks her why does she speak 2 languages. She replies that I am American and he then begins talking to me in English. 6 years old and he says his name and his age in perfect English. He has been taught many phrases like 'nice to meet you' and we are both overwhelmed with this boy and tell him
shopping
Buddhism...like any other religion I think worships money...they just don't make it a secret to sit with us and talk to us.
We finally walk back to the hotel and I get my long needed shower and with the air conditioning in the hotel room, I can put on the only clothes I can wear, my winter clothes and after a bit of relaxing, I crawled into bed. I am confronted with the problem that sleeping in Chinese beds is difficult because they are similar to concrete but this one has wires that I can feel and this bed hurts but I am tired and fall right to sleep. About 3 hours later, I am woken by thunder which is so close, the windows are rattling and I cannot fall back to sleep. All of a sudden, the power goes out which occurs with another lightning strike and I hear the explosion of what I guess to be a vacuum switch on a nearby transformer. I cannot fall back to sleep and the bed is so uncomfortable, I have no choice but to get dressed and sit in a chair in the pitch dark. I cannot believe that Lisa is sleeping through this storm. I also cannot leave the hotel room because the
entrance
In front of the entrance at Leshan way this hotel operates, and maybe this is typical of all Chinese hotels, you don't really get a key for the room. There is an attendant somewhere on the property who has the keys and opens the door for you each time you want to enter. So I am pretty much stuck in a chair for the duration of the evening. I am not happy.
5:00 finally comes and we need to get dressed to eat breakfast so we can go up on Emai mountain but dressed in hot clothes, a huge blister on my foot, little sleep, little understanding of what I am looking at and the prospect of a much longer hike leaves me with absolutely no enthusiasm for Emai. So we tell the tour leader that we are going to skip the trip up Emai and just take a bus back to Chengdu.
Chengdu has apparently had the same rain storm and thankfully, even though it is dripping wet, it is maybe only 65 or 70 degrees so walking in Chengdu in my winter shirt is only slightly ridiculous. I think everyone is wondering why the American is so stupid to be wearing a heavy
long sleeved winter shirt in the middle of summer. Walking was very painful and we got a cyclo (bicycle) ride to meet Wang Jian for lunch. This was an adventure in and of itself because a man on a scooter turned in front of us and the bicycle fell sideways and we were both thrown to the ground. We were bruised but mostly ok but I landed on the same knee that was hurting the day before. Finally at 3:00, I am allowed to return home. Going up the stairs was painful. I was glad to shower and put on summer clothes, treat the blisters on my feet and relax a bit.
We needed to go out and pick up the Tang shirt that we purchased for the engagement ceremony and got a tax to downtown Shaungliu. I think the tailor did a very nice job on the shirt. I told Lisa that I wasn't really hungry for dinner at the moment and she agreed with me. But we wanted to pick up some food for breakfast the next morning and were told where we could get some baozi. That was several blocks away but I told her that
UNESCO
protected site I could walk because my blisters were fixed and we were laughing that my walking had gotten much better now than it was a few days earlier. We stumbled upon a very nice shop that sold cooked duck and chicken and I told her about my idea the night before about picking up some food and bringing it back and she liked that idea very much because she worries that the restaurants in Shaungliu are dirty. Of course our first night hot pot was right there and the fish lunch the next day was also in Shaungliu and both were very good and I didn't think of the dirt at all. We got a whole chicken which they chop into small pieces and mix in some red and green peppers and some vegetables and set off to find baozi once again. I think this is downtown Shaungliu and the stores and restaurants are nice but probably not as nice as Chengdu. We stop at a cake store and get some cake for our breakfast and continue on. The first couple of baozi places do not interest her as she thinks they are too dirty and we are directed into what
tour bus
modern tour bus is clearly the prime food market for Shaungliu. I was stupid not to take out my camera. The market was bewildering to say the least. On the perimeter were many clothing stores but I gathered from my conversation with Lisa that these were cheap shoes and clothes. Inside, you had segregated meat, fruit, vegetable, noodle, etc. People are riding their bicycles and motorbikes inside and the walkways were narrow so there wasn't much opportunity to dawdle. If you wanted to stop, you had to stop inside a persons shop area. We bought a few more things to eat and left the market.
We stopped at a shop before we got a taxi back home and they were very curious about me. I think it is not uncommon to see foreigners in Chengdu but in Shaungliu, it is very uncommon. I don't think there is many tourists walking around in Shaungliu. While the Chengdu airport is in Shuangliu, I think most people just get a bus or taxi into Chengdu and never stop in the town itself. I can sort of tell that I am an oddity in Shaungliu because everyone (men and women) is looking at me trying to
shopping
Buddhism...like any other religion I think worships money...they just don't make it a secret figure me out. This is different than Chengdu because only a few in Chengdu see me as an oddity...I can tell.
Just a few observations about the general area in Sichuan I have been the last week. It rains a lot...everything is extremely lush and green. Everywhere you look, it is green. The flowers alongside the highways in the towns are beautiful. Dogs roam freely everywhere. I am told that Sichuan dogs have no problem with the spicy foods humans eat. Mostly I see smaller breeds of dogs like pekingese and chows and they are very cute. Middle class Chinese people do not litter. The lower class of Chinese will toss litter into the streets. I gather that women in Chengdu are unusually slim. There are many beautiful women here, that is for sure. There is a small town friendliness here.
我们已经有很早就和运行，因为我们一定要到成都中心赶上了乐山旅游巴士。我们只有一个小背包，所以我有一个短暂的短袖衬衫，我穿的长袖在成都市，次日的暖冬恤事实证明，这是一个非常糟糕的选择。
经过了漫长的车程，到乐山，其中包括一个非常平庸的午餐，我们到达乐山，太阳出来，空气，湿度滴，我可以告诉我很漫长的一天英寸我们开始了在乐山山的攀登。它完全铺设和步骤都很好，但是热，湿度和步骤，造成死亡。我进行以较慢的速度比其他人一样，但我到达那里都是一样的。我认为，他们不得不等待 15分钟，我在顶部和组尴尬的掌声，我当我到达。我认为，他们相信我不会让顶端。然而这时候，我完全浸透汗水，我说我的袜子，短裤，内裤，以及我的衬衫。但大家是因为高温和潮湿的汗...他们刚刚走上楼梯更快。
旅游经营者谈到的几乎一半的车程，到乐山中文，琳霏翻译什么，但似乎有什么意义我知道他在说什么。但在山上，它是有点不安地不明白导游是中国话，而我能感觉到琳霏不认为她的翻译是速度不够快，使她不再试图翻译，所以我能看见一切，但绝对了解什么我看什么。这是可悲的所有我从取消的经验是，这是一种非常古老的佛教寺院。基本上，这成为了一个非常炎热和潮湿天山区远足非常疲惫，因为我不能告诉你我所看到的事情。
因此，我们开始离开的过程，看来我们必须上升到下去，我的膝盖也开始疼，我不想再上升，只是下降，因为要下楼梯也没有坏处。目前在这个问题上别无选择。我们终于来到巴士，我都不敢相信有热，疲惫，我感觉。我想淋浴和睡觉。我不关心或其他任何东西吃。
阿短的车程我们在成都市酒店，我们被告知，我们收到了晚饭5分钟。难以置信。我浑身湿透，但还是无法淋浴。更糟的是，我手头上只有米成都市暖冬的衣服，当我淋浴，这是我可以穿上。你可以想象我的愿望，把85度的高温在温暖的冬季服装80％湿度。但是，琳霏是饿了，她决定该旅游团的午餐并不好，她希望找到一个更好的餐厅，使我在这里，仍然汗流浃背，在一家好餐馆搜索行走。我们走另一半英里，才发现，我们被告知餐厅吃饭被关闭，其他餐厅'并没有良好的嗅觉'根据琳霏。我们走过一个小市场领域的供应商在出售煮熟的猪肉，鸭肉，鸡肉和蔬菜，它发生在我的晚餐，最好的办法是将拿起其中一些食品准备返回酒店，但她在电话。因此，我们继续走，最后我们找到一家餐馆，她认为是合适的。
所以我们下令晚餐和一场啤酒夫妇，我吃的斗争。啤酒是寒冷的食物是好的所以我用尽平息了一段时间。虽然我们在餐厅，最亲爱的中国男孩从表起床与母亲和来达到琳霏，问她为什么，她说2种语言。她回答说，我是美国人，他便开始用英语交谈，我。 6岁，他说他的名字和他的年龄在完美的英语。他一直课程，比如许多短语很高兴见到你'，我们都是这个男孩不知所措，告诉他坐下来与我们和我们交谈。
我们终于走回酒店，我需要让我的长与淋浴间客房空调，我可以把唯一的衣服，我可以穿，我的冬衣和之后放宽一点，我在床上爬。我面临的问题，在中国床睡，是困难的，因为它们是类似的，但是这一个具体的电线，我能感觉到，这床伤害，但我累了，秋季的权利睡着了。约3小时后，我对雷如此接近唤醒，窗户剧烈震动，我不能回退到睡觉。突然，在停电的发生与另一雷击，我听到了我的猜测是附近一个变压器真空开关爆炸。我不能回退到睡觉的床是如此舒服，我不得不穿衣服，坐在在漆黑主持会议。我不相信琳霏通过这场风暴睡觉。我也不能离开酒店房间，因为这家酒店的方式经营，这或许是所有中国酒店典型，你真的不得到一个房间的钥匙。有一个地方对物业谁的钥匙，打开你每次要输入门服务员。因此，我几乎陷入了一个晚上的时间主持会议。我感到很不满意。
5:00终于降临时，我们需要穿衣服吃早餐，所以我们可以在成都市上升，但在炎热的衣服，我的脚穿着大水泡，睡眠不足，缺乏了解的东西，我在和前景看更长的加息完全没有留下对成都市的热情我。因此，我们的领队告诉我们要跳过了成都市访问，只是坐公共汽车回到成都。
成都显然有同样的暴雨值得欣慰的，即使它是湿淋淋地，也许是只有65或70度，所以在成都走在我的冬天衬衫只是稍微可笑的。我认为每个人都感到奇怪，为何美国是如此愚蠢的是身穿沉重长期在盛夏的冬季长袖衬衫。散步是非常痛苦的，我们得到了环（自行车）乘坐王健共进午餐。这是在冒险本身，因为摩托车上的男子出现在我们面前的自行车横下跌我们都扔在地上。我们被撞伤，但主要是确定，但我在同一个膝盖的伤害是前一天降落。最后，在3:00，我可以回家。走出楼梯很痛苦。我很高兴淋浴，穿上夏装，对待我的脚水泡和放松一下。
我们需要走出去，拿起汤衬衫，我们购买了订婚仪式，并得到了税市中心Shaungliu。我认为裁缝做的衬衫很漂亮的工作。我告诉琳霏，我是不是真的肚子饿了吃饭的时候，她同意我的意见。但是，我们要拿起一些食物吃早餐第二天早上被告知，我们可以得到一些包子。这是几个街区远，但我告诉她，我可以走，因为我的水泡是固定的，我们在笑，我走了好多现在变得比是几天前。我们偶然发现了一个很不错的店，出售的熟食鸭和鸡，我告诉他我的想法，她才有些升温，粮食和带回来，她喜欢这个想法，因为她非常担心，在Shaungliu食肆是肮脏的夜晚。当然，我们的第一夜火锅就在那儿，而鱼第二天午餐是在 Shaungliu也都非常好，我没有想的污垢的。我们得到了一整只鸡，他们剁成小块，在一些红色和绿色蔬菜，辣椒和一些组合和出发寻找包子一次。我认为这是市中心Shaungliu的商店和餐厅很不错，但可能不会像成都不错。我们停在蛋糕商店，并获得一些我们的早餐蛋糕和继续。地方的包子第一夫妇不感兴趣她，因为她认为他们太肮脏，我们到什么显然是首要的Shaungliu食品市场导向。我愚蠢不取出相机。市场很困惑，至少可以说。在周边许多服装店，但我从我的，这些都是廉价的鞋子和衣服琳霏交谈聚集。在内部，你有隔离肉类，水果，蔬菜，面条等，人们骑自行车和摩托车内的人行道被收窄，没有太多的机会偷懒。如果你想停止，你必须停止在一个人的商铺面积。我们买了几个吃的东西，离开了市场。
我们停在一家商店前，我们叫了一部计程车回家，他们对我非常好奇。我认为并不少见，但在成都的外国人在Shaungliu，这是非常罕见。我不认为这是走在Shaungliu周围不少游客。虽然在成都双流机场，我想大多数人只得到一巴士或出租车到成都，不停止在城市本身。那种我可以告诉大家，我是在Shaungliu古怪，因为每个人（男性和女性）是我想我出去看数字。这不仅是成都不同的，因为只有在成都几乎没有人的怪胎...我可以告诉。
只是对在四川一般地区我一直在上周几点意见。下雨了很多...一切都非常一片郁郁葱葱。随处可见，它是绿色的。一起在城镇的公路，花朵美丽。狗到处自由漫游。据我所知，四川狗不与人类吃辛辣食物的问题。主要是我看到喜欢狮子狗和大吃小品种的狗，它们非常可爱。中产阶层人民不乱抛垃圾。在中低下层将扔到垃圾随处可见。据我了解，在成都妇女非常渺茫。有很多美丽的女性在这里，这是肯定的。有一个友好的小城镇在这里。
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Holly
non-member comment
Oi!
That was exhausting to read! Humidity?! Grooossssss! :) I hope that you get to start takin it a little more easy daddy-o! And I definitely hope that the bed back at the apartment is waaaayyyy more comfy than the hotel