Blogs from Chengdu, Sichuan, China, Asia - page 110

Way back in Etosha National Park in Namibia our rugged and brave tour leader promised us Pandas dancing on roller skates. Well in Chengdu we very nearly achieved that goal. This is just a short journal - we're holed up in Lijiang in Yunnan provence, Southwest China at the moment, in Chinese terms quite near Tibet and the border with Burma. Sadly we've been suffering with stomach problems since Chengdu so haven't been able to do much, so in boredom I thought I would upload some panda photos to keep me, and hopefully you, amused. Please regard it as an intermission. I think every backpacker who goes to Chengdu visits the Panda sanctuary, and probably most tourists of any kind. It's a great morning out but you have to get there early to make feeding time. ... read more

Sorry for the delay in correspondance, finding a place to get on the internet is becoming more and more difficult given that the summer is here and it appears that most of the labs go on vacation too. So anyways today I went to Leshan to see the largest Buddha statue in the world, measuring about 71 meters tall and carved into the side of the mountain overlooking the merging of 2 rivers. I have some freakin sweet pictures of that, but they'll have to wait until I can get someone Chinese to help figure out how to download them from my camera. Anyways, it was about 2 hours there and back on a bus and it was rainy as hell. They have this weird custom here where you give a courtesy honk of your car ... read more

Here are pictures with me actually in them, proof that I'm indeed in China and not off in Vegas... Again, click on the "Travel Journal" link. More pictures to come, cool ones of me and the panda cubs...but right now I desperately need to fill the tissue bin in my hotel room. much love, ak... read more

You know those travel books always have the first few chapters about "what you should know" about the country you are visiting. Yeah, I never read them either. So I finally decided to take a look at some of the chapters and made a marvelous discovery. In China, if there is a little waste basket next to the toilet, you aren't supposed to flush your toilet paper down the loo, you put it in the waste basket. The sewer system's are pretty primative here and apparently they will clog up with toilet paper. How toilet paper would clog it up and a huge biscuit loaf wouldn't...I don't get it. I only mention cause every day when my room is changed, they keep leaving me scant amounts of TP, and it's not your Charmin triple ply- we ... read more

So I thought that I knew spicy food. I had some pretty spicy foods which I mentioned in the last entry and who hasn't heard of the "atomic" type buffalo wings that every fat guy in new england prides himself on being able to tolerate. Dude, I knew nothing of spicy until last night.... I found some americans who were willing to go try some Sichuan "hot pot". Pretty much it's a big boiling kettle of chilli pepper marinade and assorted other spices that sits in the middle of your table and you throw in meat and veggies and let it cook before spooning it out to eat. Ummm, how can i put this...It was like having hell in my mouth. Everyone in the restaurant was sitting there watching to see if I was going to ... read more