Giant Buddha

Trip Start May 29, 2008

102

Trip End Dec 19, 2008

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Flag of China Leshan, Sichuan, China
Sunday, October 5, 2008

We arrived in Chengdu to meet our guide. We were to go to Leshan to experience the city and its culture and then come drive to Emeishan for the night. One the way up it was a fantastic drive through the countryside where we got to see all of the agriculture and beautiful, rolling tea hills. We decided to make a pit stop to try what the area's most popular commodity had to offer in enjoying the various teas of the region. The shop we stopped at was a tea extravaganza which we were so excited to experience. They had multiple varieties of fresh tea at really, really cheap prices. It was real good stuff. They also had tea cookies, tea cake, tea taffy, tea jelly candies, tea ice cream, and a full bar of cold and hot teas with milk or boba balls. We relished in it all taking as many samples as we could. We ended up getting some tea ice cream and a bag of jasmine tea which we had read was one of the more healthy teas you could drink and, luckily, one of our favorite tasting types of teas.

We finally arrived in Leshan in time for a late lunch. The food was fantastic. Our guide was on a mission to have us experience the authentic Chinese food and we were glad to take him up on that offer. The highlight of that meal was the Kung Pao Chicken. Now I have had Kung Pao many times back in the states but nothing was had as much Pow as this Kung Pao. It had a special herb that created a flavor explosion in your mouth that was spectacular. It lingered and tingled your tongue for minutes after you would eat it. Not only was it really tasty it was a party in your mouth. It felt like our tongue was on drugs or something - our tongue really has never been on drugs but we're sure that if it was it would feel like this Kung Pao Chicken aftereffects. Rachel surmised that our tongues were on LCD. I had to remind her that it's LSD which is the normal acronym for the drug, but if she felt our tongues were on LCD or some other type of Liquid Crystal Display screen then she probably was on drugs. After lunch, we took a boat trip to see the Giant Buddha, which was carved into the mountain stone. Interestingly, we had seen sculptures made out of mountains in Egypt, Jordan, and now got China's version. It was interesting how they made it. What was even more interesting is that they chose this mountain because back on land when you look at the mountain from a distance and horizontally it is shaped like a laying Buddha. Naturally formed through the rock formations and treelines. I thought that was more of a trip then the fact that they carved this gargantuan Buddha into a mountain.
We then drove up to Emeishan to stay the night.