Chengdu

Trip Start Nov 28, 2011
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27
28
Trip End Jan 31, 2013


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Flag of China  , Sichuan,
Sunday, February 26, 2012

I got to Chengdu and was supposed to get picked up by the hostel but my train was about 1.5 hours late so they had been and gone. I got a taxi to the hostel with the help of a Chinese guy writing it down in Chinese for me in the queue. So I got to near the hostel and had to walk to the other side of the road and then walked up and down a bit til I found the hostel. It looked really cool though set in this courtyard type thing and had various outside and inside areas. I basically sat in the common room drinking (very cheap!) beer until my friend Denise came who I met in Hong Kong. She came around 7pm or something and we had a few drinks and a catch up and chilled there for a bit. I met some of the crew, Nana who I became good friends with, Leo and Season and others. We went out on the town to Tamsin Square for some drinks and went to an Irish bar called Shamrock where we proceeded to get quite drunk and talk a lot of crap which is always a good night out for me! We got the tube back and carried on drinking at the hostel for a bit. I stayed up with Nana
Chengdu
Chengdu
. I don't remember getting to bed put it that was which Nana played tricks on me for suggesting something had happened while I was drunk. Bugger. Although I do remember walking the corridors trying to find my phone which ended up being in my bed all along!

Anyway next day I had every intention of going to see the big budha but woke up at 1pm so was too late. I went for a walk down towards Tamsin square. Went to a monastary which is on the way then got to the square and pretty much had a McFlurry in McDonalds then walked back. I went back to the hostel and sat and drank beer all day with Nana in the hostel. We ended up staying up til about 6am with a French guy who was staying there as everyone else had gone to bed and Nana was plying me with this Chinese whisky she had on the side of the bar.

Next day me and Nana went to Leshan Big Buddha. We got a taxi to the bus station then bus to Leshan. Pretty much slept the whole way. I think it's about 2 hours or so. We got a taxi from there to the buddha with a couple we had seen at the hostel I think the day before. We walked around the buddha which is carved into the side of a cliff alongside the river. I think it's the biggest in the world. We had a really great time walking around, chatting and larking around
Chengdu
Chengdu
. Took quite a few photos so check them out. We went back and just chilled at the hostel for the rest of the day/night having food, beer and watched a couple of films on Nana's laptop.

Next day I went to see the pandas at Chengdu sanctuary. They were pretty cool although they don't really do much apart from sit on their arses and eat bamboo which they need to do for about 16 hours a day to get enough nutrition to survive. You can't help thinking, as lovely as they are, that natural selection has selected them to...well....become extinct. And with good reason what with the lack of fornication etc. But it's good you can still see them and the baby pandas were a lot more fun than the adult ones. They were playing around, falling off stuff etc. We sat and watched them for a while. Then I got back and had a chill with Nana and waited for Denise to come for a few drinks etc. Then eventually I went with Nana to the train station to get my train to Chengdu.

All in all I had a really cool few days in Chengdu and wished I could have stayed longer. The hostel was ace and the people too so I'm going back next time for a month I think.

Anyway next stop Beijing........
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