China's Cuddly Icons and One Big-Ass Buddha

Oct 29th-31st

The 7-hour bus ride from Songpan to Chengdu passed rather quickly and we checked back into Traffic Inn Hostel (www.trafficinnhostel.com).

Wasting little time, we walked to Tianfu square with the large statue of Mao Zedong waving at the crowds.

Just a short distance from there is People's Park, the tranquil heartbeat of Chengdu. Numerous people dance, practice tai chi or paddle-boat in the central pond.

Josh and I grabbed a tea while admiring the scenery around us, while continually refusing the many offers to have our ears cleaned (a bizarre service offered at most tea houses).

That evening we went to one of Sichuan's famous hot pot restaurants, where you choose all of your meat and vegetable skewers and then you cook them in a very spicy broth boiling in the center of the table. It was simply delicious but since it was self-serve, we grabbed way too much and I felt like I was going to explode.

The next day we made our way to Leshan, home of the world's largest Buddha.

We started our visit at the Oriental Buddhist Theme Park, which is essentially Chinese artists' copies of famous Buddhas from around Asia. Beautifully done I must say. From there, we followed the signs to the Grand Buddha.

Building started in 713 A.D. and was the idea of the Buddhist monk Haitong. It was built to calm the Dadu and Min rivers converging at his feet. His 90 year construction did calm the waters but most likely due to the amount of sandstone thrown into the rivers during the carving process.

The Grand Buddha of Leshan is a seated Buddha who measures 71m in height, 28m in shoulder width and whose ears are even 7m long!

When standing at the base of this immense statue, humans don't even go up to his toenails!

Leshan's Buddha hasn't had the title of world's largest for long, he only recently acquired it after Afghanistan's gigantic buddhas were blown up by assholes in the Taliban.

After waiting in theme park-like lines, visiting all aspects of this towering statue, and slapping an overly pushy Chinese man in the chest (he deserved it!), we caught a bus back to Chengdu.

That evening we visited Chengdu's Lan Kwai Fong, a bar and club district modeled after the LKF in Hong Kong but boasting an area 18 times bigger than the semi-autonomous region's. They had already started their Halloween festivities and there were sexy zombie-nurses, vampires on stilts, awkward looking werewolves and some other fun costumes.

Although Halloween is traditionally a western occasion, the Chinese seemed to have really embraced it and were having a blast.

Speaking of masked Asians, the next day we went to visit China's most famous creature. No, not Mao Zedong, but those lovable, cuddly pandas!

The Giant Panda Breeding Research Base is 18km north of Chengdu but worth the public transport routes needed to get there. The base is home to more than 50 giant and red pandas and has recreated ideal environments for these endangered animals.

We spent several hours visiting the various enclosures, watching the pandas be all cute and lazy: most of the time they don't even get up to eat!

We even saw one panda lying in a pile of bamboo so he or she wouldn't even have to move to get more. An animal after Josh's own heart!

It was fun watching these animals eating, sleeping in awkward positions and just goofing around.

The raccoon-like red pandas were far more energetic than their giant counterparts and seemed to play to the crowds that gathered to watch them.

There were even a few newborns who you could visit in the nursery but they were too young and weak to do much else other then sleep like cute little balls of fur.

I was really surprised to see how close we could get to the pandas and how active they were considering their lethargic reputation.

With less than 1000 left in the wild and only a handful in captivity, I hope I am not one of the last generations to see these beautiful animals.

After admiring Sichuan's most famous face, we headed back to our hostel and then out for our last fantastic Sichuan meal, before calling it a night.

After so much traveling around, our next destination seemed pretty sweet. Guangxi province is known for its beautiful karst mountain scenery, relaxing bike rides and scenic rice terraces dotted by tiny, quaint villages. Nothing like a little R&R in the south of China.

Pretty sweet indeed.

Wild Horses and My Little Pony

Oct 27th-28th

Having taken advantage of the beautiful weather and clear skies in Jiuzhaigou, and wanting to get as far away from that angry Chinese girl as I could, we left for the town of Songpan, 100km south of the national park.

The frigid temperatures, high elevation and unpredictable precipitation must have resulted in quite a bit of snow, because the scenery between Jiuzhaigou and Songpan was that of a Canadian winter: a delicate blanket of snow covering all the pine trees creating a picturesque Christmas card.

By the time we made it to Songpan, all the snow had melted except for that on top of the mountain peaks.

We got off the bus and went in search of a guesthouse. We managed to find one affiliated to the famous Emma's kitchen. We had also met two Quebecers on the bus, David and Camille, and would share a room with them.

We took a stroll down the old part of the city, admiring the Hui (Chinese Muslim) and Tibetan townspeople. The absence of tour groups and genuinely friendly people made this a really attractive place.

We found some delicious street food and then visited the meat market where we saw people engaging in bizarre activities like blowtorching cow heads and then made our way back to the hostel.

Songpan is known touristically for its horse treks varying from one day to two weeks. Josh and I opted for a single day trek to a nearby Tibetan monastery. We would be joined by two Israelis, Martin and Maya, because the Quebecers would be moving on to Chengdu.

After having arranged our equine adventure, I spent the rest of the day exploring Songpan's mountain-top temple, covered bridges, ancient gates and reconstructed walls.

That evening we found a terrific street vendor selling fried meat and vegetable skewers, which were then grilled and deliciously spiced right before our eyes. It was so good that Josh and I had already planned out our next meals before finishing our first.

The following morning we met the Israelis in front of Shunjiang Horse Treks, the company we used to book our excursion. Guides with horses started to arrive and we started to walk towards the starting point of our trek.

Except for one woman who had to ride a donkey, I got the smallest horse, a proud brown pony who should have been called Napoleon, clearly stemming from his Napoleon complex.

After we mounted our horses, ponies and a donkey, our slow ascent became an avenue for our animals to strut their stuff. At each available opportunity, someone's horse would gallop in front of the others, leading the pack while shoving its ass in everyone's face.

This competition eventually escalated to kicking other horses in the face, biting other horses and causing saddle-soreness in their riders' asses by spontaneously galloping at any given moment.

Although rather difficult to take pictures while riding a horse, the surrounding scenery was stunning. As a plus, after 1.5 hours of climbing, our horses seemed to have calmed down or were just too tired and fell into an orderly line, with Napoleon at the helm of course.

After around 2 hours. We arrived at the Tibetan monastery and the 4 of us explored its various temples and passageways. Although it wasn't ancient, it was currently in use and was being renovated by local Tibetans as we were visiting.

We rejoined our guided who had been making us lunch and then waited for them to finish their beers and cigarettes.

We returned the same way we had come and with the horses rested, they resumed their quest for dominance. Our descent culminated in a 3-way race between my horse, Martin and Maya's horse shortly after martin's bit Josh on the leg. Napoleon still kept in front but not without a fight.

Needless to say we were glad to get off our battle horses: our asses and knees uncomfortably sore.

That evening, Josh and I returned to that same street vendor whose greasy, spicy food kept us coming back for more. We retired early because first off, Songpan's nightlife didn't really exist save for line dancing in front of giant neon Chinese and Muslim characters; and because it was below zero Celsius and we only had jeans and hoodies.

Songpan is the type of city I had been searching for in China: quiet, no tour groups, natural beauty and some unique cultural elements. Who would have thought I would have found it there?

I certainly didn't, but I'm definitely glad I did.

How I Ruined a Girl's Day in Heaven on Earth

Oct 22nd-26th

Our initial plan was to do a Yangtze river cruise starting in Wuhan and terminating in Chongqing, taking at least 5 days and more money than we were willing to spend. When we had met up with Winnie, his review of the 3 gorges cruise was not as enthusiastic as we had hoped. For that reason we decided to forgo it although still looked into going overland to visit the lesser 3 gorges, but ultimately scraped that idea because it would require 6 days of travel and equal nights accommodation.

Instead, we got a bus back to Shanghai and that same night boarded a train to Chengdu, in Sichuan province, lasting a ridiculous 37 hours.

Despite the brakes failing on the first bus, we quickly got a replacement double-decker bus and watched Kung-Fu movies the rest of the way. We dropped off our bags at Blue Mountain on the Bund hostel where we had stayed before leaving for Huangshan.

Hilariously enough, Helinä was still there and was still in bed when we had arrived in the afternoon. We woke her up and proceeded to grab a bite at McDonald's and bought some supplies for our marathon train ride that evening.

Unfortunately, our train was delayed for 2 hours and I killed time by writing my blog while curious Chinese men would read (attempt to) over my shoulder while making disgusting noises and hocking up phlegm.

Even though the train ride was 37 hours, it still passed relatively quickly and provided me a chance to catch up on my blog and get some reading done.

We arrived in Chengdu in the afternoon and quickly booked a bus ticket to Jiuzhaigou National Park in northern Sichuan.

We only stayed one night at the comfortable Traffic Inn (redcliffinn.cn) before embarking on yet another extended journey.

The road from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou was absolutely stunning: numerous, towering snow-capped peaks; trees shimmering with golden leaves; sprawling autumn forests of red, orange, yellow and green.

We even saw some downed bridges and vacated houses from 2008's devastating earthquake, having claimed 88,000 lives and effecting 33 million people (almost the population of Canada!)

It is amazing that after only 4 years, it is quite difficult to see its lasting effects. Someone should hire the Chinese relief effort and construction crews in Haiti. Just saying...

The surrounding jagged mountains were dotted with many minority villages such as Tibetan, Naxi and Hui; each wearing their brightly-colored traditional costumes.

On the roads, we passed horses, mountain goats and a few fluffy yaks: a staple of Tibetan culture.

After passing the idyllic village of Songpan and its mountain-top temple, it was only 2 hours until we arrived in Jiuzhaigou.

The tranquil, picturesque country-side leading up to the national park was quickly forgotten as we passed scores of tour buses and thousands of tour groups. The Sichuan capital city of Chengdu looked calm compared to this supposed natural wonder.

A man from our hostel, the damp and over-priced Hostel C met us at the bus and escorted us to the hostel.

Despite the teeming rain greeting our arrival to the park, we were still confident in the forecast we had been following.

The next morning, we went for breakfast at 6am and were joined by Etienne and Carla from South Africa and Jonas from Denmark. The five of us crammed into one car and were brought to Jiuzhaigou's front entrance.

We managed to get tickets quite quickly utilizing Chinese-learned pushing techniques and we used our Quebec Driver's licenses as student IDs because the Chinese cannot read French, and made our way into the park at a discounted price.

Jiuzhaigou means nine villages valley, for the nine Tibetan villages in the region. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and World Biosphere Reserve and home to some of the most stunning natural scenery in China. Because of this, it attracts 1.5 million visitors per year, sometimes getting as many as 50,000 per day! Ah yes, the tranquility of Chinese Nature.

We took the shuttle bus to the Primeval Forest but realized if we started there we wouldn't be able to explore the rest of the park by foot. We hopped on another bus and got off at Panda Lake.

Even though the sun had not yet reached the valley from behind the towering, snowy peaks, it was still easy to see the water and its surreal turquoise colour. We continued past the Panda falls until we reached another lake for the sunrise.

The calm, still water perfectly reflecting the picturesque mountains; the autumn colours in graceful transition and the relative silence made this a special moment in the park.

Surprisingly enough, because most Chinese tourists only use the shuttle buses to get from one scenic spot to another, we were able to walk pretty much alone for most of the day along the wooden paths in the forest, making the experience rather unique in touristic China.

We continued until we reached the Pearl Beach Shoal (a very wide river running down the side of a mountain) and Pearl Beach waterfall.

As we descended, we passed more phenomenal scenic spots like Mirror Lake, Nuorilong Falls, Rhinoceros Lake and Tiger Lake.

After walking along the western route for most of the day, we took a shuttle bus to the eastern side terminating at Long Lake.

Long Lake is the largest lake in Jiuzhaigou and also the most isolated. Despite its isolation, it is one of the highlights of any visit to the park and consequently inundated with thousands of tourists.

We still managed to get some unreal pictures before joining the queue towards Five Coloured Pool.

Thinking that the Five Coloured Pool was an amusement park ride based on the amount of people waiting in line to see it, we quickly realized that it was worth the wait.

The Five Coloured Pool is a crystal-clear lake, shimmering in various shades of blue, green and turquoise; with vibrant green trees surrounding it. You would think it was a movie star by the sheer amount of people taking pictures of it (Jiuzhaigou is actually featured several times in the Jet Li film Hero).

While I was snapping some of my own pictures, a girl crams in beside me with her iPhone and holds the phone as far over the water as she can. As I'm about to leave, I lower my right elbow, hitting her outstretched arm, making her lose her grip of her phone and she drops it into the crystal-clear water below us. The clarity of the water allowed us to see the phone sink to the bottom and mock us from its watery grave.

I say sorry in English and Chinese and that it was an accident and there's nothing I can do. She is noticeably and understandably upset but we can't properly communicate to each other. She finds someone who speaks some English and demands I give her 2000¥ (360$), saying that the phone cost 5000¥. I said once again that I'm sorry, it was an accident but I'm not giving her any money. With the thousands of people pushing their way through to take pictures (herself included), accidents are likely to happen.

She whimpered behind me and followed us until she realized I wasn't budging on my resolve.

Obviously feeling guilty, I wasn't as enthusiastic for the remaining sights in the park, but we spent our last few hours admiring the lakes, shoals and waterfalls back towards the entrance gate.

Jiuzhaigou truly is like heaven on earth, with its stunning landscapes and otherworldly colours. But like the biblical version of heaven, with good and beauty, there also exists evil and ugliness, and that Chinese girl is probably always going to remember that bearded, white devil who dropped her expensive phone into the crystal lake at the nicest place that she or that white devil has ever seen.

Amen.