The next adventure...

Blog entries could be few and far between whilst we're in China, as apparently the government don't want me to keep/read a blog so the site has been blocked. Hopefully there will continue to be ways around this. For now, I'm already way behind as we've not only arrived in China, but travelled to (and nearly left again) Tibet. So, I guess I'd better start at the beginning..

We arrived in Cheng Du after a sleepless night involving 2 flights and a stop inbetween. My first impression was one of complete culture shock - coming from the dirt, heat and humidity of Kolkata to a clean, modern city where I could happily wear a jumper. Not to mention the comparative luxury of the hostel we had chosen to stay at which had everything a backpacker could need and more (DVD players in reooms and free DVD rental?!) I loved India, but was definitely ready for this change! Even better, by the end of our first day we had not taken a walk around the city, we had sorted out and booked our trip to Tibet, found 3 travelling companions and were settled in the hostel bar relaxing. We were left with 3 full days to see the area in and around Cheng Du, most of which we spent with another couple we met in the hostel. First stop - Pandas. We spent a morning at the nearby panda base, where the conversation mostly revolved around how lazy the pandas were (eat, sleep, and that's about it) and how much they looked like cuddly toys. We then spent the afternoon on a bus, trying to find the people's park and missing our stop in both directions (if only we could read Mandarin) before ending up at a sport's university instead. Ooops. We decided to give up and try again another day.

The next day we visited Leshan and the world's biggest Buddha.It was big. As was the queue to see it, which took a good hour and half and involved going down lots of steps and marvelling at how bad the chinese seem to be at a queueing system. We really wanted to point out that pushing wasn't going to get anyone to the bottom any faster. Unless it was maybe a direct route down. He was. though, very impressive and well worth a visit. That evening we went for a Sichuan hotpot, a sort of Chinese version of a fondue which turned out to be a completely baffling but entertaining experience.

We had then reached our final day in Cheng Du. We finally located the poeple's park and spent a pleasant day there watching dance classe and karaoke, drinking tea in the lovely tea house whilst Kev had his ears cleaned. The man doing it appeared never to have encountered such excitingly wax filled ears before. That evening we began our epic 44 hour train ride to Lhasa.

And so to Tibet... but that will have to wait for another day! It's time for Yak steak.