Introduction

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More (category) Albums (More photos, not in the blog, that fit a certain category.):
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    Flowers
    Gardens
    Hotels
    Markets
    Monasteries and Temples
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    Out and About
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    Shows
    Signs and Translations

More (site/event) Albums (More photos, not in the blog, about a specific place.  Links are at the end of the appropriate section.)

Slide show of photos in this blog (10 - 20 minutes each): 
   Blog photos part 1
   Blog photos part 2
   Blog photos part 3
   Blog photos part 4
   Blog photos part 5
   Blog photos part 6
   Blog photos part 7

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     Our Photostream

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For those who aren’t interested in reading the entire blog covering six and a half weeks of extensive sightseeing, below is a list of key sights and highlights you might be interested in:

     Most hilarious fun we’ve had in years – Jinghong, Water Splashing Festival, April 15.

Best old town for walking around – Lijiang, April 20- 22.

Second best old town for walking around – Dali, April 18 – 19.

Best show (located in natural setting) – Impressions Sanjie Liu, Yangshuo, May 2.

 Second best show – Impression Lijiang, April 22.

Best natural scenery – Zhangjiajie National Park , April 1 (with gorgeous nearby areas on March 31 [Mt. Tianmen and Heaven’s Gate] and April 2 [Yellow Whip Stream]).

Equally best natural scenery – Li River Cruise, Guilin to Yangshuo, May 1.

Most surreal natural sights – Niagu, Major, and Minor Stone Forests, Kunming, April 9 and 10.

Best Rice Terraces – Longji Terraces, April 30.

Most colorful scenery – Red Lands, April 8.

Most beautiful mountain gorge – Tiger Leaping Gorge, Road to Shangri-La, April 23.

Most beautiful monastery  in a beautiful setting - Ganden Songzanglin Monastery, Shangri-La, April 24 - 25.

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Mar 23/24, Monday/Tuesday - In Transit

Our flight from San Francisco to Chengdu was relatively empty in Economy Plus so we split up to give us each an entire row to ourselves.  Mary is short enough that she could lay down across the three seats in her row and take a nap.  We arrived in Chengdu on time and were met by our guide Low (probably spelled incorrectly).

We are staying in the Dorsett Grand hotel, very nice.  No sightseeing today as we arrived in late afternoon, so after dinner we hit the beds as early as we were able.  China is 15 hours ahead of California time so our bio-clocks were really off.  One item of note is that the entire country has one official time zone (Beijing Standard Time) even though the country physically covers five time zones.  The beds were actually fairly comfortable; on our last trip to China we found that most beds are extremely hard. 

Overall, in most places we saw very few, if any, Caucasian tourists.  This was partly because we were visiting places not frequented by them, partly because we were off season for some areas.
 

Mar 25, Wednesday, Chengdu

This was a day on our own to do a bit of sightseeing and try to recover from jet lag.  In the morning we walked down to a central plaza not far from the hotel.  Along the way we say some beautiful statuary. 

and the usual mob of motor cycles.  

Waiting for the light to change.

The plaza had very large fountains but they were turned off while being cleaned out and perhaps maintained so they weren't that interesting. 

We then walked over to the Peoples Park.  It was quite a happening place.  We saw groups doing tai chi (very slow, Chinese Martial Arts)...

swing dancing...

and a group with a short paddle used to balance a ball while they swung the paddle around in time to music. 

Look closely and you can see the balls they have just tossed into the air.

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This gentleman was writing on the pavement with water.  Perhaps a temporary poem.

There was a gigantic flower display made of wisteria and tiny white roses.  The combination must have climbed 40 or more feet up of some type of structure that was totally obscured by the vines. 

It was at least as long, spreading across a building and an arbor, with a group singing enthusiastically under the arbor.

There was also an extensive bonsai garden...

 walking paths and colorful flowers...

 and a lake with picturesque bridges and many colorful boats for rent.

Mar 26, 2015, Thursday, Leshan and Mt. Emei (Emeishan)

Today was an early (8:00am) pick up by our guide and driver.  We took a 2+ hour drive to Leshan to see the giant Buddha. 

The Leshan Giant Buddha was carved out of the side of a red sandstone mountain and is the world’s largest carved stone Buddha at 71 meters (233 feet) high.  His shoulders are 28 meters (92 feet) wide, almost wide enough to set a basketball court on.  The Buddha is flanked by two guardian statues.  The Buddha was carved over a 90 year period beginning in 713 during the Tang Dynasty.  Pretty darn awesome.  The Chinese don’t do anything by halves.  The Buddha was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

We first took a boat ride on the Mingjiang River and sat in front of the statue for a while to take pictures.  

Leshan city

View from the river

One of the "Guardians" flanking the Buddha.

The suspended walkway leaving the Buddha.

The crowd snaking its way back up the cliff.

After returning we then drove to the statue and walked up to the top. 

Crowd at the Buddha and Leshan across the river.

After lunch we drove to another city and took a 2 hour bus ride up Emeishan (Mt. Emei).  Mt. Emei is one of the sacred mountains in China and in 1996 was listed by UNESCO as a World Natural and Cultural Heritage site.  From the bus stop, at around 8,200 feet, it was quite a walk up the mountain to a cable car that took us the rest of the way up to the Golden Summit (10,103 feet).  It was then a short walk to the hotel.

After a short rest we walked up to a view point for the sunset.  While waiting for the sunset we watched a group of women dancing in the square.  It looked easy enough and certainly interesting so Mary joined them for one dance.  It was a lot harder than it looked…although the 10,000 foot elevation probably contributed to the overall sense of exhaustion after the dance.

Mary dancing with the group.

Watch video in newlarge window.

If HD does not show at end of progress bar, click there for better quality.

Apparently the sunsets and sunrises on Mt. Emei are really beautiful if the clouds aren’t too many and too high.  They were too many and too high this evening.  No spectacular sunset but it was a bit pretty. 

However, the buildings and statuary at the top were very interesting and worth the look.

 

Mar 27, Friday, Emeishan

Today we were up at 5:00am to head up to the top of the mountain for the sunrise.  We both had several layers of sweaters and coats and still froze.  It was quite cold.  There is still a bit of snow on the ground.  We were also in the middle of a cloud so it was quite damp as well…pretty miserable conditions.  And of course being in the middle of a cloud, there was no sunrise at all.  It just got lighter out and the clouds got heavier.  But the clouds made for some interesting and moody pictures.

After breakfast and thawing we headed out to catch the cable car down the mountain and then hiked further down the mountain to catch a bus.  On the hike we stopped to photograph a large band of monkeys cavorting in the trees.  It was very misty and the monkeys were basically in silhouette.  But, again, some very interesting pictures. 

Then it was a two hour bus ride further down the mountain, followed by another cable car up another part of the mountain.  Once at the top it was a short stroll and a very long flight of stairs to the Long Life Monastery (or Wannian Si). 

Walk to the Monastery

As with many monasteries we visited there were people burning incense and candles. 



Prayer candles.

Incense

It was very much like many of the monasteries that we have seen in the past except that it had extensive and exceptional gardens. 

There were many pots of orchids and the magnolias were in full bloom. 

There were also a band of aggressive, pan-handling monkeys on the steps to the monastery.

Monkey pulling pants

More than one of them stole water bottles from the unsuspecting tourists and then proceeded to mangle them as they tried to get into the bottles.

Then it was a VERY long (unnamed) walk down a LOT of stairs (we forgot to count but it had to have been several hundred steps, if not a thousand or more).  The walk took well over an hour and it was mostly stairs. 

The walk went through a lovely forest. 

Periodically along the stairs there would be vendors selling souvenirs and food. 

The walk ended at the Pure Sound Pavilion (Qingyin Ge) that was situated between two lovely mountain streams.  A very picturesque and serene spot with quaint bridges and pagodas.

The walk led to a very calm lake that gave mirror like reflections of the bridges over it and the buildings around it. 

Along the way we saw artists trying to capture the beauty of the area.

And there were many quaint sights.

The waiting area for the bus had one of the largest set-ups for queuing that we have seen.  Today it was empty but it just shows how big the crowds can get in China.

We eventually got back to the bus station but our bus was 25 minutes late.  We were in danger of missing the last cable car to our hotel at the Golden Summit…so we took the lazy (but fastest) way and hired porters to carry us up in sedan chairs.  We were pretty worried as to how they could possibly manage the long hike up in the short time we had but they ended up working in three shifts…took them 15 minutes or so to takes us a distance  that we had needed 45 minutes to an hour to do the day before (but at 10,000 feet on our first day at altitude)  Sort of humiliating.  But we made the cable car.  Didn’t bother with trying to see the sunset tonight.  The entire top of the mountain was cloaked in a heavy cloud.