Matt and Kylie

Signing autographs at the world’s largest Budda!

We caught a fancy public bus from Chengdu to LeShan, to see the world’s largest Budda (91m high).  When we arrived at the base of the park, we immediately found ourselves surrounded by very excited teenage girls dressed like Virgin Air air hostesses (little red blazers and skirts with heels), they were pointing, whispering and giggling… eventually, one was pushed forward brandishing a notebook to bravely ask if she could have us ‘write our names.’  Once we agreed for one, the rest of them mobbed us with their notebooks – we even ended up signing people’s arms…very, very weird!  And of course, more photos…

We climbed up the 333 (Chinese lucky number) steps to the Budda, and went straight down to the ground through a narrow wee path.. The Budda itself was impressively big – we didn’t even come up to his big toes when we were standing!

Our BBQ lunch (that included whole roast rabbit!) was at an infamous restaurant in LeShan.  Then we hopped in a private van to drive an hour to the bottom of Mt Emei, then a further hour to our guest house.  We stayed in a guest house at about 3000m above sea level – it was so cold there that the waitresses in the guesthouse restaurant were wearing knee length ski jackets!

Still Alive!!

Just quickly, we are still alive – we haven’t been around internet for a while!  We should have some at the next hotel   Here are some photos of Matt’s famous snake juice!

P.S that is Charlie our guide.

Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors

Yesterday our tour group drove about an hour out of Xi’an to the famous Terracotta Warriors. Unearthed in 1974 by farmers digging a well, these life-sized soldiers, horses and chariots were all individually hand carved and are each unique.  There are 6000 statues in battle formation facing East in order to protect the tomb of China’s first Emperor, Qin Shihuang.  The crowds at the statues were intense, but I guess to be expected at what the Chinese call ‘The eighth wonder of the world.’

We had a local guide through the complex, Benney, and stopped on the way to see the factory where they make replica Terracotta Warrior statues.  Once we got to the actual Terracotta Warrior complex, there were people everywhere selling fake copies of the Terracotta warrior statues (you can pick fake ones by dunking them in water – the real ones dry within 5 seconds, the fake melt).

Sitting in one of the halls was the 84 year old farmer who discovered the warriors – it was quite sad, he was shielding his face from cameras looking miserable, surrounded by his family who were milking him for what they could, selling signed copies of books and souvenirs.  No such thing as retirement then…

On the way back to Xi’an, we stopped at a silk factory where we were shown the process of making silk from the cocoons.  We had an attempt at helping to make a silk quilt, but were told by the factory staff that we were terrible and wouldn’t be getting a job anytime soon!

Later on, we went out for dinner to a local restaurant that specializes in Sichuan food (spicy food from the next province).  While we were there, we noticed a large jar of liquid filled with herbs, poisonous snakes, scorpions and poisonous spiders… Charlie (our guide) got very excited, telling us that this ‘juice’ was better than the ‘fire water’ (kind of like a local version of vodka) we had had in Beijing.  Guess who was first in line…?

We are glad to have a guide for these things though, Charlie tells us what is safe and what isn’t;  he told us about his friends of his who drank fake fire water (which was in the actual bottle) – it was a Kerosene/Meths combo and almost killed them.  He also told us about a story that made national news 5 years ago, where a farmer who drank the ‘snake juice’ every day went to stir the jar and woke up the drunk (not dead) snake.  The snake bit the farmer and he died.  We heard this story AFTER the snake juice  had been drunk…

Later on we went and played pool at the YMCA where they sell really cheap beer (go figure) and to some local nightclubs….  The bouncers at all the nightclubs were fully dressed in riot gear, with helmets, batons and bullet-proof vests – not that we saw any trouble.  The first club we tried to get into we couldn’t stay at, as in China you must have a table to be allowed in and they were full.  There were no dance floors, just people kind of dancing around their tables.  The interior of the place itself was pretty amazing – lights, mirrors and bridges everywhere – nothing like at home, way more advanced. 

So we left and went to the MGM club, where Charlie managed to get us in (initially in the dodgey rap section, surrounded by posters of Eminem and Lil Wayne etc), then to a more general duf duf section, where he got them to break out a couple of tables for us.  A full size bottle of Vodka, 6 bottles of flavour syrup, a fruit platter, popcorn and chips cost about $NZD 40, (about $8 each) and the staff wait on you – there is no mad crush to get to the bar.  It was a good night though, with flare bar tendering and a bit of a maze to get out!  Needless to say this morning (Sunday), as I type this, Matt is feeling a little ‘fragile’…

We leave Xi’an today on the 1pm train, arriving in Chengdu (home of the Panda’s) tomorrow at 5.40am… Yipee!

Pingyao to Xi’an, China

We had Thursday (October 09), in Pingyao, which we spent exploring the ancient city.  Pingyao is famous for its paper cutting craft, and we ended up buying one from a famous local master whose work was featured in the ‘Taste of China’ exhibition held in Beijing during the Olympics.  We left Thursday night on the overnight train (8pm-7.45am – we even survived the 8 foot high top bunk!) to Xi’an, a decent sized city of about 13 million people.  Our first impressions of Xi’an are good ones – let’s be honest, anything and everything beats Datong!  We have been told by our fantastic guide Charlie that this is one of the most dangerous cities in China, this is allegedly where your bags get slashed and things get stolen etc, so we are being a little more careful.

Xi’an seems similar to Beijing in feel, but with less ‘sprucing,’ (i.e., the way Beijing was spruced up for the Olympics with new planting, cleaner streets, no beggars etc).   We spent this morning at the Buddhist Temple the Big goose Pagoda, named this because as legend has it, a Monk was once craving some meat, and requested some from the gods.   His request was granted by the lead flying-formation goose falling out of the sky at his feet.  From then on, the Monks realised that all lives are equal; human and animal, and decided to name the temple after the story.  We each bought an original freehand painting by a local master, and headed to a well known Chinese-type food court for lunch.

We spent this afternoon wondering around the Muslim Quarter (fake Terracotta Warrior, anyone?  Fake painting?  Fake silk?) and visiting the Drum and Bell Tower.  We went to the South Gate of the city wall to hire bikes to cycle around the top of it, but the weather was pretty iffy and you couldn’t see much, so we thought we might try it tomorrow afternoon instead.

Tonight we went to a dinner and show in a 5 star hotel ballroom, which was fantastic!  (although Matt struggled to ahem… ‘appreciate’ (stay awake) the entirety of the show)  The whole evening was based around what the Emperor would have had 1200 years ago.  So the banquet dumpling dinner – complete with appetizers followed by 17 kinds of dumpling and a fruit platter – was made from 1200 year old recipes that were once used to feed the Emperor.  The show was also designed around what they have discovered in the history books.   The costumes were pretty amazing!

Tomorrow we are off to the Terracotta Warriors (2 hours out of Xian).