Day 15 A Drive in the Country Sunshine

Our last full day in China, we set off a little later today, 9am….it is Saturday today so the traffic was a bit better. We left Chengdu and headed south on our way to the Buddha at Leshan, which is a little more mountainous. Pam was excited as there was an earth cache there….a bonus.

It is about 110 kms from Chengdu and took about 2 hours. The weather was beautiful today, we had sunshine and warm weather. We stopped at a little rest stop so the driver and Jason could have a smoke break and we could stretch our legs. It turned out to be a delightful little place with clean bathrooms and a little park with tea bushes on the hill. As we were wandering down a group of parents and kids were heading up with baskets to pick their own tea….a Saturday family field trip!

Tea Garden

We arrived at Leshan, a small town of only 3 million people, compared with Chengdu’s 13 million!!! It was a mixture of old stores and homes and large modern highrises …..many being built. We had lunch in a small restaurant owned by a friend of our driver, one of the best lunches yet.

Then off to see the Buddha….it is a World Heritage site, the Buddha is carved into a cliffside of sandstone and is 72 meters tall…the largest Buddha in China. First we visited a temple on the top of the hill (lots of steps) similar to the Lama Temple in Beijing but this had more of a Tibetan flair. The we joined the line up to head down the cliff to the foot of the Buddha (many stairs again)….it only took 1 1/12 hours to get down (Pam figured it would take 4 hours!). Our presence was the entertainment for the local people, there was only one other Caucasian in line and he was from Seattle. The people (especially the children) love to say hello, practising the few English words they know and marvel at Barb’s white hair and Carol’s red hair. After getting down 214 steps (Jason’s count) we took pictures and got the information for the earthcache and then headed back up the cliffs…..slowly.

The Buddah

We arrived back in Chengdu about 6pm and guess what….it was dinner time! After another good dinner we got back to the hotel about 7 to repack and take turns sitting on the suitcases to get them closed again!

We are blogging in Carol and Barb’s room before we go down to have a last glass of wine….we are listening to the weather and have heard that Beijing has been hit by a big storm closing some airports and trains…..we are leaving here tomorrow for Beijing at 9:00am, and leave Beijing for home about 4pm….we hope!