Crouching Carlo, Hidden Yvonne...and a Huge Buddha

After returning from Jiuzhaigou and Songpan, we spent a couple more days in Chengdu just doing some aimless exploring. On the last day there, we made a quick trip 45 kms south to a small, ancient town called Huanglongxi. Our Rough Guide listed it in their top-35 must-see list in China, but for some reason the Lonely Planet guide didn't even mention the place. Its claim to fame is that the town was the set for the martial-arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. While I couldn't recognize anything from the movie (then again, it has been a while since I've seen it), it was still a quaint and pretty village. It is obviously geared up for tourists as everything is a little too perfect, but it does still maintain some charm. We spent a couple of hours there, walking along the river and checking out a couple of temples, and eating a sub-par meal. We then hopped an old, slow and rickety bus back to Chengdu.

Approaching the ancient town

After killing our remaining hours in Chengdu we boarded our bus to Leshan (only 140 kms south), which arrived there at 20:30 and in the dark. We didn't know where we were and didn't have any accommodations booked. As soon as we disembarked from the bus a hotel tout was there to greet us using only the few English words he knew. "Hello", "OK", and "two" were repeated over and over again as he followed us around the parking lot. A taxi driver also got in on the act and was trying to coerce us into his waiting cab. We saw a bus stop across the street where several buses had just left. One lonely, dusty bus remained and that is where we made our way to. On board, we were lucky to find a couple of young Chinese women who spoke English. They said we were on the right bus and offered to help us find a good and, more importantly, inexpensive hotel. On the ride we learned that they were English teachers at an elementary school. We got off with them in town and they walked us to a nearby hotel where they told us to wait outside while they negotiated a good price for us (they ensured us that as foreigners they would rip us off). On the walk there, they insisted on carrying our hand luggage for us. We felt bad since they were heavy and tried to take them from them, but they wouldn't have any of it.

Bridge lanterns

The room they snared us was good and the price very reasonable. After they made sure that we checked in with no problem, they walked us up to the room and made sure we knew not to touch any of the things in the room like the snacks and some of the toiletries in the bathroom, since they all cost money. We thanked them again and said our goodbyes. It was our first real taste of Chinese hospitality.

We got up early the next morning and made our way to Leshan's main tourist draw: the Giant Buddha. It is the world's largest Buddha carving and is something ridiculous like 71 meters high (six people can stand on his big toenail alone - but no climbing allowed!). It was carved in the 8th and 9th centuries out of a cliff overlooking a river. But the massive Buddha is not the only sight in the area; they have built somewhat of a Buddha theme park around it. From the entrance, walkways take you along paths that bypass other Buddha and Bodhisattva carvings and statues, temples and caves. There are numerous steps up and down high hills and especially at the Giant Buddha itself. Making the rounds in the park is a tiring affair. Once we were buddha'd out, we hopped a bus back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and made our way to the bus station. Emei, which is only a thirty minute bus ride from Leshan, was our next stop. From there we would be taking an overnight train to Panzhihua to transfer to another bus for our final destination of Lijiang in the Yunnan province. En route we met a nice Israeli couple who stayed in the same train carriage as us. Their first act on the train once we settled in was to offer us cookies and some tea! What hospitality...

Deep fried shrimp

Dragon poles in temple

Ancient temple

Frame

River boats

Local busker

Yvonne with her flower head thingy

Canal crossing

Buddha carvings in Leshan

Statuary

Steps

Giant Buddha from the top

Giant Buddha toes

Giant Buddha

Bridge reflection

Temple roofs

Roof details

Hard work!

Sign in train