the train from Chengdu to Lhasa

the train station was very busy

the queue is growing

WOW! from G as I wake up after our first night on the train hurtling towards the spiritual capital of Tibetan Buddhism- Lhasa -  steep green gorges with tiny houses and cultivated fields - blue sky for the first time in China.

passing through beautiful scenery, serene hills and lakes

neat small towns

After steep green gorges came hillsides terraced into fields and then steep bleached ocher barren hills.  The floor of the valley has every inch cultivated.

Feels very ancient as this must have been the old silk route. 

Chengdu the big Buddha of Le Shan

We had heard that the Lieshan Buddha was the largest buddha in the world but nothing prepared us for the beauty of the temple complex dating from the 3rd century - after a 2 hour trip along a freeway we came to another large city shrouded in mist/pollution

The temple complex was overlooking the meeting of two fast flowing rivers - we got our age discount and entered a magical place of temples, caves, tea houses, bamboo groves and ancient sculptures weathered by time.

2 dwarfs

the Buddha is 71 meters tall

feet: 8meters

each ear droops 7meters

his shoulders 28 meters

and his nose is 2.6 meters

many caves dot the cliffs

there are many beautiful places to sit and enjoy

abridge to a temple on a cliff

Chengdu day 2

Opera was spectacular - had front row seats and couldn't see how they did the mask and costume changes in nano seconds - WOW

How fast, impossible to see

 The dancing was very beautiful and elegant

the girls on the front desk of the hotel were fabulous, spoke good English
 and were helping where ever they could.
Trying to arrange a bus trip to the big Leshan Buddha with some other
people to share. They came into our room at 10 pm beaming,
 good news, they found 3 more people to share.
So tomorrow off to the buddha of Le Shan

Chengdu the first day

First Impressions
Chinese are nolsy - have loud conversations on mobiles and yell at each.
We arrived in Chengdu on a packed flight full of excited Chinese - we being the only long noses.

Our pick-up was waiting and whisked us through the masses to a mini van with no shock absorbers. He then proceeded at a cracking pace over ring roads, tunnels and toll roads to our hostel-an old factory converted by artists - great beds hot shower and quiet.

Had no idea Chengdu was such a big city -12million +. We had never even heard of it until Air Asia advertised its cheap flights and I saw how close it was to Dali (found out later not so close but close to Tibet)

Chengdu has wide tree lined streets - really low traffic noise as all motor bikes/scooters are electric - and not much horning....can't help comparing it with Bangkok which is I think a similar size - much less chaotic - cleaner and pavements are less hazardous - really clean - no litter and constantly swept by an army of street cleaners - lots of expensive european cars - but wonder how it will be in a few years when there are double the number of cars.
Taxis are cheap and electric busses are frequent