Giant Panda's and Buddha's

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We arrived back in to Chengdu after our 10 hour bus ride from Jiuzhaigou glad not to have anymore long bus rides! Yeah right - this is China after all, everywhere you want to go takes forever as it's just so big.

We got the bus to Leshan from the main bus station in Chengdu which we needed to take to the end of the line and then change to a number 13 to get to the Buddha. We sat next to a Chinese girl who spoke very good English so we had a little chat with her on the way. After about 2 hours the bus conductor was shouting out something in Chinese which the girl next to us confirmed we were at our stop for the Buddha. We jumped off the bus quickly with a couple of other people.

As soon as we were off the bus we realised that it wasn't where we needed to be and actually an area where hawkers try and get you to take their mini vans to the Buddha for more money than a normal bus. Luckily a young Chinese boy had also got off at same time as us and wanted to go to the Buddha. He spoke to a bus driver who told us to get on the bus to the bus station and then change to a number 13. We followed him and eventually after another 30 minutes arrived at the big Buddha site.

We walked up some gradual steps, eventually finding ourselves level with the giant Buddhas head. It was absolutely huge and the ears alone measure 7m in length. We looked over the edge but could only see as far as his arms due to its size. Although we were aware it was big, you can't quite imagine how big until your up close.

We walked down the cliff steps to get to the bottom, having to stop every so often for people to take photos. one good thing about visiting China in the winter is that the sites are far less crowded as I've heard that the steps can take hours to get down due to masses of people in the summer.

Once at the bottom we could see the Buddha in full. I wanted a picture of me with his big toe next to my head (to show just how small my head really is) but its that big we couldn't even reach his big toe. after spending a while taking some photos and looking out across the river (which was really nice) we made the exhausting walk back up the steps on the other side of the cliff. We decided not to take a boat ride to get a look at the Buddha from the river (this gives people a better look at the Buddha and shows the angels on each side which you can't see from land) as we didn't think the additional price was worth it.

The Buddha was a good site and worth the 5 hour round trip on several buses, although in my opinion was in need of a little renovation.

After returning to Chengdu we spent the evening at our hostel - Sims Cozy Garden. The hostel is very big and caters for everyone, although a little quiet at his time of year, there's still a nice bar and cafe area and also a DVD room where you borrow any of the DVD's from the list. We went out for a bit in search for the night market that was recommended but unfortunately I think the hostel staff misunderstood what we wanted to see and gave us directions to the local supermarket (Carfour)

We actually quite enjoyed walking round the supermarket, we saw all the different meats they eat as well as live crabs and fish in tanks for you to pick out - talk about fresh. We went for dinner at a little Japanese restaurant opposite and had some ramen noodles with duck and some fried squid (best fried squid I've ever had). The food was really good and very reasonably priced. We took the short walk back to the hostel and by now all the lights were on and the area looked really pretty. There were ladies dancing in the street, something we have seen a few times in China. Basically it's like an exercise class but they do it outside rather than in a gym. We stood and watched, fascinated, for a while before heading back to the hostel, never finding the night market.

Our second day in Chengdu is what I've been looking forward to mostly - The Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. We got up really early to catch the 8am bus in order to get there for 9am for feeding time. After a few hiccups (as usual) we got there for ten past 9 and took a little buggy to the Sunshine Nursery where the baby Pandas are. Unfortunately the curtains we all closed despite it saying the showing time was between 9-10am so we waited a few minutes before making our way to the cub enclosure.

Here we saw 3 young Pandas and their mother. Two of the Pandas were play fighting so we stood and watched for quite some time before heading inthe another nursery where there were 2. tiny baby pandas a couple of months old asleep in their pen. One woke up and rolled over while we were watching which was really cute. I could have watched them for hours but we were only allowed a few minutes.

We spent about 3 hours at the park watching all the Pandas who were quite alert luckily, although some were sleeping which is no surprise considering they sleep and eat most of the time.

We really enjoyed our stay in Chengdu as a base for getting to other areas. Chengdu itself was enormous and mainly under construction. The were tower blocks going up everywhere, which is quite normal for most of China but we didn't really explore the area that much. We did find a great little street restaurant near the main bus station selling cooked whole ducks for really cheap. The head is still attached and you pick the one you want and they chop it up for you, but still give you the head and feet to eat (we didn't eat the head).

Travellers Tips:

When getting the bus to Leshan from Chengdu bus station you need to stay on the bus until you reach the bus station (do not get off beforehand as its where there is a deal between the hawkers and bus driver!!).

Once you get off at the bus station you need to get bus number 13 to the Giant Buddha. It's quite a lot further than we thought (prob 20-30 mins) but you'll know when your there.

There is apparently no longer a tourist bus (902) that goes direct to the panda base from outside traffic inn or sims cozy garden as stated in the lonely planet. Well that's what our hostel told us anyway!! We had to get bus number 1 from round the corner of sims and then change to bus number 87.

If getting bus number 1 to the bus station, when you get off you need to cross the road (opposite the bus car park) where the little tourist buses stop. This is where you get bus to panda base. Keep an eye out for the base (its on the left hand side) as the driver doesn't tell you when your there and no one else on the bus seemed to be going there, they were all locals.

When getting the bus back, you get the bus from the same side of the road as when you got off (opposite side of road to panda base). It's the same bus which basically does a loop.

Get to the panda base early as that's when the Pandas are most active and playing.

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