Jiuzhaigou national park

10 hours from Chengdu by bus is Jiuzhaigou Natural Park, supposed to be the most beautiful one in Sichuan. After a long bus ride we arrive at the bus station. That’s where I meet Ofir, from Israel. I’m looking for a hostel, so is she, let’s go together, and by foot! We are bound to get along. She is the most talented Chinese-speaking bargaining person I have ever met and manages to get us a room at half the price announced. The hostel is full of people from Israel. It is their national holidays and apparently they like China. Noa, Avichai, Ofir and me will wake up at 6 to go to the parc when it opens, or at least not too long after... The parc stretches over tens of kilometers, and has the most amazing nature: waterfalls, lakes, rivers … The colour of the water is so blue it looks almost fake. The lakes have names like long lake, five coloured pool, panda lake, tiger lake, rhinoceros lake after the animals that used to come here. Now there are almost no animals, only birds and a squirrel, some insects. Where did they go? Did the tourists scare them away? Even with the rain it’s enjoyable and we walk a lot. 

 We stop in a Tibetan village to say goodbye to Noa and Avihai, they only stay here one day. Ofir and I want to stay a little longer. We need to find a place to stay for the night. In a village there are rooms but too expensive for us. Again Ofir impresses me with her negotiating skills: we have a decent room at a decent price! In Tibetan culture it is custom to invite the guests that stay in you house for meals, so we eat some rice and vegetables with the family at night and even get breakfast in the morning before setting out on another day of amazing nature and hiking experience. We take the bus to the right, where it leads us to a forest, primeval forest. From there we can walk down to other lakes and waterfalls.  Should we try that boat? We would probably be arrested… The most beautiful lake is at the end, even when the guards start yelling at us we cannot take our eyes off the clear blue water… 

Chengdu: Pandas and Buddhas

The reason why I wanted to come to Chengdu was to see the giant Pandas, but there seems to be more to Chengdu than this… For one there is Norah, my host in Chengdu. She is amazing, and very organized. We make plans for the next day, we are going to Wenshu temple and then there are some spots she wants to show me. I love Buddhist temples, the peace and quiet, the decorations, but most of all the smell… The smell of incense is enchanting as it fills my nose, my head and also the rest of my body with something quiet and a little mysterious too. The ticket office is a little bit hard to find though as you can see from the photo…

Have you ever had Chinese lunch? Norah brings me to this amazing restaurant and orders a whole bunch of little dishes, it is so delicate. Some of it is pretty spicy, one dish is even called something with dragon as it really burns your mouth and throat.

 Then we go to narrow and wide alley. The wide alley was originally for carts and other transportation means, the narrow one was for people (and even pandas it seems). Nowadays both are pedestrian areas with nice shops and small restaurants. Norah has to go to guitar class and I somehow manage to go to Jin ling, another very nice pedestrian area lit with lots of lanterns at night.

 Another thing I discover thanks to Norah is hotpot, a specialty from Chengdu. The principle is simple; a recipient with hot oil is placed in the middle of the table, this oil is either spicy or not so spicy. We choose a mix of both. Then you pick your food from a wide range of ingredients ranging from fresh vegetables, eggs, mushrooms, tofu (and meat of course), on sticks. These are then plunged into the hot oil, fried for a while, then dipped into some other spicy oil to cool it down a little and then you eat it. It is delicious!

Bifenxia panda base

There are several places to see pandas in and around Chengdu but to me Bifenxia panda base seems to be a place where pandas are the closest to their ntodayatural environment. Although they have cages, the areas outside are quite spacious and the surroundings are green and with a lot of bamboos, the panda’s favourite food. There are approximately 80 pandas here, some were even moved from Wolong panda reserve after the earthquake in 2008. There is also a Panda Kindergarten with very small panda puppies between 3 and 6 weeks. Being a panda doesn’t seem to be a very tiring existence, they sleep and eat a lot and sometimes climb into trees. It is sad to think that these beautiful animals are an endangered specie.

Leshan

In Leshan is the world’s largest sitting Buddha. It is said that it has always been in the mountain, only waiting for sculptors to reveal it to us humans. The Buddha is enourmous, more than 70 meters overlooking the river. His toes are bigger than me. I meet Aaron, from Canada on the bus, and we spend the whole day together in Leshan. Next to the Giant Buddha is a Buddha park, with statues from all over Asia which we also decide to visit. There are many different Buddha’s, each one has a different function. Aaron’s favourite Buddha is the happy Buddha, enjoying life, and I must admit that it is also one of my favourites. There even are sexy Buddha’s, as you can see from the pictures.