Adventures in Sichuan

Jan 8th, Sunday

Exhausted from 18 hours (1 hour delay) in the train we arrive at Chengdu at lunch time. Lihui had kindly asked her Chengdu friend Anlei, who owns a chain of sweet shops (see later) that import sweets from Europe (we got our fix of Cadbury's and Toffifee!), to look after us a bit during our time there. Little did we know that this would mean being picked up straight at the station and being driven to a wonderful hotel (where we have an appartment not a room!) next to one of the shops in a brand new BMW! Another example of the amazing Chinese hospitality and kindness we have experienced! We relax in the afternoon and then just explore one of the public parks of Chengdu, sipping tea in a lovely (but freezing) tea pavillion. We arrange to go for an organised tour to the 1000-year old Dujiangyan irrigation system and Quingchengshan mountain, one of the Daoist sacred mountains in China.

Jan 9th, Monday

The bus with guide pics us up early at the hotel and our first stop is after 1 hour drive from Chengdu. Speaking no Chinese, we fail to understand the purpose of the stop but it looks a bit like a zoo: There are lots of reindeer in enclosures, and brown bears in a concrete 'play area'!? A local guide woman in a lab coat seems to give a short talk about the whole thing before we are taken to a restaurant-like place. We were thinking maybe these were local rare animals and we were now having breakfast included in the trip. But when we saw stands at the back of the room selling every (every!) part of a reindeer or brown bear you could imagine it dawned on us that the whole place was a centre for Chinese natural medicines!  Even the Chinese tourists on the group seemed to be amused! :-)

The next stop really was the irrigation system and it was fabulous, and is a World Heritage site. We learnt a lot about the ancient Chinese tamed the local rivers and used them to make Sichuan the granary of China. Additionally, the scenery was stunning with lots of temples and pagodas dotted around the sides of the mountians, and a rickety bridge spanning the river.

After lunch we went to see the Daoist mountain which was all misty and covered with beautiful forest. Throughout the forest, speakers were installed, airing soothing Chinese lute music, which made it quite an interesting experience. We couldn't quite get our head round the various Daoist idols that most of the Chinese tourists (despite the official atheist state of China) worshipped. We  praised God for the wonderful scenery and it was a very enjoyable day.

In the evening, we had tickets to see the Sichuan Opera in Chengdu, which was very interesting. The actors performed some classical dances in traditional costumes and masks (see pics), but also some amazing pupettry and shadow-acting, all to typical Chinese music and being fed peanuts and sipping green tea.

Jan 10&11th, Tuesday/Wednesday

To get a bit more out of Chengdu we then did a two day trip to another famous mountain in China, Mt. Emei, apparently 'the most beautiful mountain' in China. By God incidence we met a young Chinese couple, Calvin and Vivienne, who we'd met on the train to Chengdu, again at the bus station, heading for the same destination. So they took us under their wing and we had a great time travelling there and chatting whilst taking buses and a cable car all the way up the 3000m mountain. Thankfully, we just about made the last cable car using crampons on the icy steps leading up the mountain. Although it was really freezing, the views from the top were stunning: a violet sea of cloud and other high mountains lurking in the distance. Quite tired from all the travelling, we went to bed early. Facilities were quite basic and we had a room for a fiver, no heating but thankfully several two electric blankets.

Wearing all our clothes as well, we managed to catch some sleep and got up at early to see the sunrise with Calvin and Vivienne, who are actually studying in New Zealand and were only back in China for Chinese New Year. The guidebook suggested 6am, but as it was winter we had to wait until 8am for the sun to finally rise above the sea of clouds - 2 freezing hours but amazing stars. When it finally came the top (which is called the Golden Summit; see pictures) with its golden temples and huge golden Buddha were all bathed in golden sunlight, which looked amazing. We spent quite some time taking it in before having breakfast and heading back down the mountain, spotting wild-living monkeys along the way (see picture). Back down we had lunch with Calvin and Vivienne, who we had a fantastic time with! We headed back to Chengdu (3 hours in heavy traffic) and finally met Lihui's lovely friend Anlei at her shop (see pic).

Jan 12th, Thursday

As our last adventure in Chengdu we went to see the local Giant Panda Research and Breeding Station. Interestingly, we met 2 American couples in their Fifties who had both sold up their house and everything else to teach English in China and tell people about Jesus. The Panda centre was great fun and we got very close to lots and lots of Pandas (they have 75 in total). They seemed to spend most of their time munching away on bamboo leaves and playing with each other. We learnt everything about Panda breading, life cycle etc and they were totally amazing to watch. We also saw some of the much smaller Red Panda, and were able to cuddle one for a donation (see the picture). Louise was over the moon! :-)

In the afternoon we then flew to Xi'an (flight was even cheaper than train this time) to meet our friend J from Cambridge, see the next entry!