Advertisement
Published: July 30th 2010
Having walked the length of Dan Ba town to get our bus to Kangding I was relieved to take my boots and sweaty socks off. Now I am blessed with some poignant feet but even I was surprised when the driver got on board and angrily gesticulated that I put my shoes back on. Unluckily I was sat at the front and the driver refused to move until the smell was relieved. Much to the relief of the other passengers I re-laced and order was restored. We arrived four smell-less hours later to Kangding.
The mountainous town of Kangding was bigger than we had imagined. It had high rise flats and big advertising screen televisions. However the whole town/city was nestled in a beautiful valley with looming mountains behind it, tempting for any willing trekkers. Our fellow traveller from Dan Ba had accompanied us to Kangding and recommended a G.H that she had stayed in. Unfortunately it was the start of a four day national holiday and the G.H was full with vacationing Chinese students. So we found the alternative, more expensive, option of Zhilam G.H run by two American owners. They only had dorm beds which we gratefully received
as the sun was setting. The only problem with it was we were a steep walk up from the town and so had to don our hats and scarves to go out to eat.
The World Cup was now in full swing and so we watched the end of Holland's match at our comfy G.H before we bunked in our dorm beds. It was nice to see Chinese people young and old enjoying the World Cup and that China have such an interest in it. Maybe in the future they too will be in the World Cup like their Korean neighbours.
Kangding is famous for trekking and hot springs. As we had done a fair bit of trekking in the last few weeks we opted for the latter. A short taxi journey took us to the hot spring complex where we booked a private bath for 20 Yuen (£2). We had to wait for our slot and so sat in the pretty Teahouse next door and enjoyed some flower tea with a game of chess. Neither the flower tea, nor the chess, was finished by the time we were summoned to our bath. Although not fancy in anyway
the hot spring bath was very pleasent despite the sulphuric eggy smell. The bubbles and heat did wonders for our aching legs and we enjoyed the full thirty minutes whilst sipping our topped up tea.
That evening we went back to our Tibetan noodle spot and watched as the monks in the temple opposite worked to improve their place of worship. Although a rather grey town/city, Kangding had character and beauty around it. We retired to our hostel to chill in the cool environment where we watched movies and more World Cup footie whilst deciding on our next destination.
We left a cold Kangding at 6am the next morning for the eight hour bus ride to Leshan, the home of the 71 metre tall Buddha. With help from Lonely Planet we managed to take the bus to the area of Leshan we hoped to stay. Having been followed by eager hoteliers we finally gave up as we had no idea where any hotels were. We were shown to an expensive business hotel but were able to barter down from 320 Yuen to 80 Yuen (£8) for a superb room, complete with flat-screen t.v, air-con and a view of
the river.
Leshan was bigger than we had expected. Like most Chinese towns the rate of development is phenomenal and the domestic tourist infastructure well in place. It felt like a big city in the middle of nowhere but we were here for the Buddha.
The Grand Buddha of Leshan, carved into the cliff over a thousand years ago, is breathtakingly huge. His ears stretch for 7m, his shoulders span 28m and each of his big toes is 8.5m long. From every angle the Buddha looms large and it is possible to view him from head to toe.
We started at the top and worked our way down the cliff, along with the hordes of Chinese tourists, until we reached the river and could look up at him in awe. It truely was an impressive sight, despite the tourist crowds and money grabbing gimmicks. The only shame is that the monk who conceived the idea, in AD 713, died 90 years before it was completed. A huge feat of human ingenuity and even though the Grand Buddha is over a thousand years old he still is in good condition thanks to an inbuilt drainage system that is
hidden behind his large frame.
The entrance fee to the Buddha also included some beautiful temples and the opportunity to wander around some beautiful grounds. It was hot work though and without an umbrella for shade (like the chinese use) we had soon had enough walking and left the area for a cool beer.
That evening we lounged in our cool hotel pad where we watched some World Cup footie with beers and some excellent dumplings we bought to take away. The only problem with beer in this part of China is that most shops don't have any refrigerated. I then have to put some beers into the fridge and explain that I'll be back in an hour. By which time the beers have gone...typical!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.348s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 39; qc: 127; dbt: 0.2459s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
annielei
non-member comment
you trip is fantastic
Hopign have a unforgetable experience like yours