Advertisement
Published: October 27th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Chengdu
The train journey from Lijiang was our longest yet and the first time we had been on a 'sleeper'. I wasn't relishing the prospect of 22 hours on a train, but it turned out much better than expected...
At first it was a little daunting... As usual we arrived late and the train was already quickly filling up with busy Chinese people hunting down every last remaining inch of luggage space. When they saw us they all stopped what they were doing to stare, mainly at me with my ridiculous 100 liter bag. With the watching audience we manged to carefully re-arrange people's luggage so we could fit ours on.
The 'hard sleeper' tickets were rows of beds three high, surprisingly comfortable although the
bottom bunk(mine!) if unoccupied does become the sitting area for any other passengers! Being the only non-Chinese on the train, we continued to attract attention. Alan wasn't feeling to good so he was soon asleep on the top bunk.
A few weeks prior in Vietnam we had picked up a Chinese card game which translated to '13'. Sat bored on my own I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to play.
I fetched a pack of cards from my bag and offered the cards to the guys around me. Nobody in our cabin spoke English, but we all knew the game and with in a few minutes a small curious crowd began to develop and watch as the silly English man gets thrashed.... There was only one loser for the first 6 games or so - me, much to the amusement of the crowd.
It was getting late and one of the guys pulled out his phone which has some kind of Chinese-English text converter and showed me the words 'Hello Vintage Grape' Not really sure what he meant by this I just nodded... In response, from what seemed like no where he produced a big bottle of what i think was sherry. After some discussion between them the three other guys playing cards all nodded in agreement and smiled. I was given the translating phone again which now said 'begin drank finish drank'. At the beginning and end of the next game everybody in the game drank a cup of Sherry. We had already witnessed first hand in Lijiang just how quickly and easily the Chinese get drunk!
This continued and it was not long before the eyes of the Chinese began to blur, if I could understand Chinese I'm sure I would have heard them slurring their words!! I thought this might be my opportunity to finally win a game. Much to the surprise of the crowd who gave a sarcastic cheer, I finally won a game, then another and another!! I would like to think the winning streak was down my fantastic hustling ability (My Granddad would be pround!) but everyone there knew it was down to the inability of the Chinese to handle their alcohol!
Maybe the sherry helped me sleep that night on the train, as I slept very well and woke to find myself at Chengdu train Station. Chengdu is big - people everywhere filling the pavements and the roads jam packed with silent but deadly electric mopeds. We arranged to meet Delarmi at MIX Hostel, a pain in the ass to find but a great place to stay.
Giant Panda's
We arranged a day trip to Chengdu Panda Research center, the worlds most successful panda breeding center. This celebrated though rare creature is one of nature's gentle creatures,
yet man is the only predator this harmless, huggable giant has to fear. In the wild, less than 1,400 Pandas are estimated to exist. Their natural habitat is only in China, and serious efforts like the research and breeding center have been made to improve their chances for survival.
We arrived bright and early at the breeding reserve which was surprisingly abundant in playful, posing pandas. Just as well as these fellows eat around 50 pounds of bamboo for breakfast each day then sleep for about 22 hours! Nice life if you can get it! The panda's are cool... entertaining each other in solo-tumbles and acrobatics, looking clumsy, as if to fall any moment, and then, to the applause and delight of adults and children alike, find one more
successful hold!
We were very lucky to witness two baby-pandas, only four weeks old, each weighing maybe 10 ounces, the size of a little hamster, clawing and squirming on a soft blanket, looking nothing like their 400 pound Mom!
Ironic - The Panda LAZY, BIG & CUTE really is the overriding symbol of China, the only real notable difference being that while the panda struggles to reproduce once
in it's lifetime, the Chinese manage to reproduce by the billion and while one is on the brink of extinction, the other is on the brink of global domination!
Leshan Grand Buddha
Not particularly looking forward to seeing yet another big Buddha even if it did have the common "Biggest Buddha in the World' claim I arrived here with little expectation. To my surprise this is actually the first time I could believe the claim, the seated Buddha is huge 71 meters high an imposing figure which took 90 hard working years to be carved out of the side of a mountain. Thousands of Chinese tourist flock here everyday, eben if your 'Buddha'd Out' it's well worth a visit.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.125s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 18; qc: 101; dbt: 0.0886s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
carla
non-member comment
aw
aw how cute are they did i mention i am extremely jealous u jammy dodger post me a panda over to korea