Mar 29, Sunday, Luocheng and Bamboo Forest

We spent the previous two days on top of Mt. Emei, primarily for the views and the potential for great sunrise/sunset potentials.  For the entire two days the views were either obscured by clouds or the entire mountaintop itself was shrouded in clouds.  We basically saw nothing that wasn’t within a couple of hundred feet of our noses. 

Today the Travel Weather Gods laughed at us.  As we were leaving Emeishan town (at the base of Mt. Emei) for our next day of sightseeing we could see Mt. Emei in its full glory, hardly a cloud touching it.  In fact, we could see some of the buildings we had visited the days before. Oh well.

Mt. Emei with no clouds at the top (see the tiny bit of bold at the top...that was where we were at).

Our first stop on today’s drive was Luocheng and a walk down the “boat shaped street”.  We couldn’t really tell the shape of the street from the walk (maybe you have to look at it from overhead).  However, it was a lovely walk through an old section of town with much of the walk partially covered by a large wooden structure.  The street was lined with small shops...

...eateries, and Tea Houses.  Most of the Tea Houses had many patrons playing Mahjong and card games and generally having a great time on a lovely sunny day.

There were also individuals carrying produce and items (sometimes a lot of items) in baskets suspended on poles and balanced on their shoulders...just like you see them in the old National Geographic magazines.

Then it was a long drive to Yibin town and beyond...

House reflected in a flooded rice paddy.

Ducks

where we had lunch very late.  We aren’t sure if the guide had been there very often because they had a bit of a time finding or deciding on a place to eat.  We ended up in a very casual local “diner”.  The cook worked on a wok set up in the front of the building, basically on the sidewalk. in the open air. 

Cooking practically on the sidewalk.

His spices and condiments

Sanitation and food storage looked a bit iffy so we both immediately took a couple of Pepto‑Bismol tablets as a preventative (they either weren’t needed or were effective).  One of the dishes was bamboo shoots, a specialty of the area as we are headed to the Bamboo Forest.  They were actually very tender, unlike many we have had before. 

All along the street there were shops selling anything and everything made of bamboo.  So, we did a bit of bamboo shopping.

All Things Bamboo

Then it was on to the Bamboo Forest.  The area is approximately 40 square kilometers (approximately 15 square miles).  The area was pretty mountainous.  The main attraction was a rather long cable car ride up the mountain...

Bamboo Forest as seen from the cable car.

Waterfall in the Bamboo Forest

Bamboo...sort of close up.

Deciduous trees peaking up through the Bamboo Forest.

 to a tower overlooking the area...

Observation Tower

Stairs in the tower

View of the Bamboo Forest from the tower.

and then a walk through the “Bamboo Gallery”, a long walk lined with towering giant bamboo on each side. 

Makeshift "kitchen" as seen during the walk through the forest.

Once down the mountain they took us to another area overlooking a valley filled with large hills, a meandering set of water filled rice terraces and farm homes.  It was a delightful scene.  A photo of the area covered with low lying fog with the hills peaking through was one that was displayed during the Beijing Olympics.  However, there were no clouds while were there so it wasn't quite the same.

We ended up at our hotel for the night, the Eden Resort Hotel.  It had a spectacular towering atrium lobby...

and our room was outfitted with a balcony complete with soaking tub overlooking the river.  Too bad we are only here for one night.  We ate at the western style restaurant at the hotel and had sandwiches and French fries, a nice change after a week of Chinese.  The bed was approximately 10 feet wide…could have slept a family in it.

We had a lovely sunset tonight...photo taken from our balcony.

NOTE:  It appears to now be official…all public restrooms in China come with toilet paper dispensers that never have any actual toilet paper.

RELATED NOTE:  Western style toilets (if they can be found) are generally labeled as for the disabled or for “Old People”.