Day 110 Chengdu to Guilin

Another exciting day as we pay a visit to Chengdu's most familiar residents - the pandas. It is after wll why we came to Chengdu and was definitely on the initial "must see" list before we left England. Again, as time is relatively short, we opt for an escorted tour and are collected from the hotel at 7.15am in a tiny van - duly nicknamed the "pandamobile". The driver who doubles as our guide smiles a lot (a novelty in China!) but this we decide is probably to cover the fact that she cant speak any English at all! We have to get to the "Panda Park" early so we are there for feeding time - otherwise the pandas are asleep and hidden from view. The guide makes up for her lack of language though as she walks us (at super speed) between the best enclosures and we see not only black and white pandas but also the more racoon like red pandas. 

 The Giant Panda Breeding Research base is home to nearly 50 giant and red pandas and we start with a visit to some adult pandas - who are just waking up! The female on her platform was hilarious to watch as she yawned, stretched and scratched herself awake. It was really quite emotional to actually be here, a privellege to be close to such an endangered animal and just to have the space (the base was almost empty) to stand and watch as they began their early morning feast on piles and piles of bamboo. Bamboo comprises 99% of the giant panda's diet and it spends up to 16 hours a day feeding, during which time it may eat up to 20kg of bamboo - shoots, stems and leaves. 

 

Next stop - the nursery! A real "awwwwwww" moment - as we stand on the other side of a glass partition and see four of the cutest babies we have ever seen. Born in August 2011, they were just sleeping and fidgeting balls of black and white fluff laying in a slightly twee (actually predictable) cot with a pink baby blanket. Obviously very closely and carefully monitored by gowned and masked keepers, we watch as temperatures are taken, injections are given and top up liquid food supplements are given. Noone wants to move on from here!

 

The next pandas were mid meal as we arrive and we watch as they give us a lesson in how to eat bamboo. None of us had known that pandas do not have a thumb, but this does not interfere with the careful selection of bamboo stalks, which they lift mouthwards as if wearing mittens. The bamboo is then stripped of its' outer brown casing in two or three practised teeth movements and then - we notice - the tip which is obviously the best part is  munched on first, followed rapidly by the rest - almost like a child and a breadstick! The whole process begins again (equally rapidly) almost before the last mouthful is taken and continues endlessly leaving a pile of discarded outer leaves!

 

We see another clutch of panda babies, but dont get a chance to hang around too long as the park is filling up now and there is a strict queuing system and time allowed to file past the viewing window.
We decline a cuddle and a photo opportunity with a yearling panda at a cost of 1000rmb (about £100!) though.

Tiegan says that this has been a 10 out of 10 visit - an honour to get up close and personal with such rare animals and to see the oh so cute babies.

 

Next stop Guilin - this evening we take our first (and indeed only) internal flight as there are no train tickets for a week. The hotel was fabulous in helping us organise this and bent over backwards to get the best deal. They even organise another trip in the pandamobile to transport us to Chengdu airport where we end up making camp in a tiny corner having declined to buy a £7 coffee in the only available seating area pre boarding which one had to pay to sit in. The Southeast China Airways flight passes smoothly and we arrive at Guilin just after 10pm and then collected by the driver from the Outside Inn at Yangshuo where we will spend our last few days before returning to Hong Kong. It is almost midnight when we arrive and are shown to our traditional adobe cottage.

day 109 Leshan

There are two big tourist draws near Chengdu and today we head out across town to catch the public bus for the 2 hour trip to Leshan and the Giant Buddha. At the bus station we then take a taxi, (after much negotiation on rates and the use of the meter) to the Buddha complex. The Leshan Giant Buddha  was built during the Tang Dynasty (618–907AD). It is carved out of a cliff face that lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers in the southern part of Sichuan province in China, near the city of Leshan. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below his feet. It is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world and it is by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world.

 

 We are discovering that no Handley day trip is complete without atleast a steep hill, long set of stairs or slope climb and today is no exception!  The level of humidity on the way up in comparison to the city is a bit of a shock as we thought it would be cooler the higher we climbed. Along the way there are several small shrines carved into the rock face, complete with candles, incense, statues and offerings of flowers left by worshippers on their way up to the main attraction. According to legend Lingyan Hill with its dense forest and cave offered good shelter for a white tiger, while at the foot of the hill, the three rivers provided a black dragon with waves to play in. The dragon and tiger after hearing the Buddhist sutras decided to dedicate themselves to Buddhism and became guardians to protects Buddhists. Cen Shen a Tang Dynasty poet wrote while visiting Lingyan Hill "Wind blows over the tiger's lair and rain drops to fill the dragon's pool". This site later named Dragon Pool and Tiger Lair has been a popular destination in Lingyun Hill since the Tang Dynasty. 

 

At the top there is another beautiful Wuyou Buddhist temple, complete with the most beautiful and ornate images, carved and decorated in the most sumptuous style.

The Big Buddha is...  well... BIG! Sitting, literally on the river bank and carved into the rock face. We start at the head and get our first glimpse of the statue in it's enterity. It is HUGE!

Construction was started in 713, led by a Chinese monk named Haithong. He hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels traveling down the river. When funding for the project was threatened, he is said to have gouged out his own eyes to show his piety and sincerity. After his death, however, the construction was stuck due to insufficient funding. About 70 years later, a jiedushi decided to sponsor the project and the construction was completed by Haitong's disciples in 803.
Apparently the massive construction resulted in so much stone being removed from the cliff face and deposited into the river below that the currents were indeed altered by the statue, making the waters safe for passing ships.

At 71 metres (233 feet) tall, the statue depicts a seated Buddha with his hands resting on his knees. His ears are 7m, the shoulders are 28 metres wide, his big toes are 8.5m long  and his smallest toenail is large enough to easily accommodate a seated person. There is a local saying: "The mountain is a Buddha and the Buddha is a mountain". This is partially because the mountain range in which the Leshan Giant Buddha is located is thought to be shaped like a slumbering Buddha when seen from the river, with the Leshan Giant Buddha as its heart. To fully appreciate the Buddha's magnitude we descend the steep, winding staircase carved in the cliff face and thank our lucky stars that we are here when it is relatively peaceful and not in the Golden Week throngs. It was tricky enough in the quiet!  We also get a good view of the tour and speed boats fighting against the current as their passengers (complete with waterproof ponchos to protect from the spray) view the Buddha from a different angle.

 Once we reach the bottom of the statue we then have to make the punishing and hot and sticky climb back up the other side through a series of steep staircases and tunnels, gradually working our way past groups of wheezing, puffing and panting Chinese as we "mountain goat" upwards to find the exit.

The exit proves difficult to find, we take several wrong turns as the signboards don't seem indicate the way out. We do stumble upon the riverfront and this beautiful bridge a little way upstream, but patience, energy and sense of humour are beginning to run out as we have walked up and down more than our fair share of stairs by this point. 

 

We see a sign "South Gate" and decide this must be one of the exit points - it was a cruel trick! It was merely a gate into the Buddha site from another scenic area - but the unusual typo, breaks the tension!

 Eventually we do escape and head back to the bus station to make our way home. Amazingly - even on the motorway back to Chengdu with no apparant reason, the bus driver honks his horn regularly at approximately 30 second intervals. He also talks as loudly as his hooter on his mobile phone for the duration of the journey mostly saying "Waaaiiiih", which we now understand to be hello, ok, yes or all of the above!

 

The taxi from the bus depot drops us at the end of our street and we walk past the teahouses which double as venues for Chinese Opera performances in the evenings - These costumes are on display as advertisements for the shows and were beautifully embroidered.

Day 108 Chengdu

After an eventful start to our journey, the night progresses without a hitch, apart from the ridiculous 4.30am arrival time in Chengdu! We have arranged for the hostel to collect us from the station so as to avoid trying to negotiate our way across a new city when we are bleary eyed and half asleep given our experiences at previous Chinese railway stations. There is man waiting with our name on a board and we are whisked into a minivan and arrive through some large doors into a covered courtyard at just after 5am. On first impressions this was going to be a good stay, however, we rapidly change our minds! Our family room has 1 double for all of us, is filthy and is trading on it's previous excellent owners and their reputation. After some fruitless negotiations we settle the girls into bed and David and I take advantage of the free wifi and electricity and rapidly find alternative accommodation. Just to be on the safe side David takes a taxi (easily this time) across town to check before returning to collect us. We leave quietly and no one bats an eyelid! 

The Wenjun Mansion is beautiful and the staff are super, super helpful. Breakfast is included, there is a bed for everyone and it is better placed. Phew! We spend the rest of the day recovering after the early morning excitement and planning our next few days!

day 107 Xian to Chengdu 9 October Sun

Leaving Xian behind we make our way to the station to travel to Chengdu - again by overnight sleeper. We bought these tickets as soon as we arrived in Xian and again had trouble buying 4 soft sleepers together. Atleast we had tickets and we have always been able to exchange them before so we are hopeful that we can change again. We have a short wait in the "soft sleeper waiting room" and the girls are fascinated by an older Chinese chap and his snacks and flash him a smile or two! Amused by the attention he shares his little sachets of assorted pickles with us and produces tissues and wet wipes at just the tight moment! He is also travelling to Chengdu and co incidentally and, as it turns out, rather fortuitously is also in carriage 9 with us. It is only when we are on the train that we suddenly realise that we have tickets for all top bunks, 2 in one compartment and then singles in 2 others... hmm, not sure that is going to work! Clutching our trusty piece of paper with "Please will you swap tickets so that we can be together with our children?" writtten in Chinese script, David approaches the "gentlemen" in the compartment where we have 2 beds and begins the negotiations. It is clear from their response that they will not be moving and one chap, obviously not getting his point across verbally while speaking very LOUDLY and S L OOOO W L Y... starts to write it down in Chinese script just to make it extra clear! At this point we are wondering how this journey will play out, one single bed is in a compartment already home to  a sleeping family with a baby, toddler and paying child, the other another group of single men. At this point the lovely man from the waiting room approaches, he cannot speak much English. He ushers the children, Nicole and all our bags into the sanctity of his empty carriage and he telephones his daughter who speaks to David in broken English to say that her father will sort things out for us if he can. David remains in the corridor and we sit and wait and wonder how the night will progress as the train pulls out of the station.  The man shows David his Press card which in our predicament is sufficient to convince David that he can hand over our tickets to help him sort this out and then begins a dialogue with the train guards. After much negotiation it appears that this man has kindly given up his cabin and persuaded the guards that the owners of the other three beds which will be accupied later on the journey will be persuaded to fill our other beds in the other various cabins. The guard then gives us our cards (which are always exchanged for tickets when you get on a train in China) which clearly confirm we have this four bed compartment to ourselves. David thanks the man (& the guards) profusely for his help and retires to the cabin with the good news, locking the door behind him. Everyone heaves a big sigh of relief! Once we have left the 'good samaritan' knocks on the door and shows David a text (in English) that his daughter has sent us on his phone confirming what has happened. What amazing people there are in the world! To say thankyou the girls draw him pictures and write "Thank you" in chinese script copied from the guidebook to give to the man. He is overjoyed and a bit overwhelmed and shows their pictures to everyone, taking photos of us all to show his family! Our only sadness is that he wont be able to access our blog or emails from China.