National Day Holiday Trip

I've been back from my week long trip for a few days now and haven't really been motivated to write down my feelings about it. I had a great time on the trip and it was everything I expected, its just that I've actually been busy around the house and in Beijing the last few days and haven't had time to write about my trip.

First I was off to Chongqing. I had heard about Chongqing from two friends from Miami that have been there for a few months and are studying there for the next year, but never really knew what all the hype was about. Now I do. Chongqing maybe the fastest growing city in China right now and after seeing the hundreds and hundreds of cranes, I believe it. As my friend Andrew put it, China's new national bird is now the crane.

After a few days in Chongqing, I headed to Chengdu. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the earthquake damage sites but in a way I'm glad I didn't. Chengdu was filled with culture streets and pandas. The pandas were cute, but not all that exciting. Just sat around and ate, or just sat.

Next was Leshan. This is where it starts to get interesting. At this point I've left my friends from Miami behind in Chengdu and it's just me and my roommates. I like to think that I planned this part of the trip because I figured out all the logistics for the rest of the trip, and to my surprise there was not one glitch.

Leshan was a smaller city, parts of which reminded me of Udupi. It had that small town feel, but actually had a few tall buildings. The main attraction in Leshan was Dafo, or Giant Buddha. It was something that I really wanted to see while in China as I've seen it on TV multiple times (thanks Zimmerman --- not). It was a breathtaking sight to see how big the Buddha actually was in person.

After only a few hours in Leshan we hopped on another bus to Emeishan. Emeishan or in English, Mt. Emei, is one of four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. We we're checked into our hotel in Emeishan when we decided to go check out a local monastery called Baoguo Si. Walking around Baoguo Si I was really amazed at the planning put into this specific monastery.

While in awe I was approached by a Chinese man named Patrick. Patrick told us that he was a tour guide in the Sichuan region and was basically a VIP at the monastery. He told us that we could stay at the monastery if we wanted that in one of the guest rooms for only 30 RMB ($4.40). We had already paid our hotel for the night, but called them up and told them that we were going back to Chengdu that night and got out of the hotel. We ran back to the hotel, picked up our stuff and stayed at the monastery that night.

Staying at the monastery wasn't life changing or anything, but it was definitely a cool experience. We got to eat dinner that night and breakfast at 6:30 in the morning with the monks. It was really peaceful in the morning, feeling like it was just us and the monks.

So we had a full day of climbing, around 9 miles total. In fact, we only had time to climb up half way because to climb to the top you need a full 12 hours. We had to catch a bus back to Chengdu that evening, so could only do half. Nevertheless it was a fun hike. Went to monkey mountain (check out the video of that monkey intimidating me!) which was a lot of fun, at some a great lunch on the side of the mountain, and just had a good time hiking the mountain and breathing the fresh air that seems to be in short supply in the bigger cities.

I went back to Chengdu that night and back to Beijing the following morning. All-in-all a great trip to Sichuan province. Oh, and forgot to give you the scoop on the food. Excellent! The hot pot was particularly good (boiling meats and vegetables in a vat of oil, water, and spices). We got the lowest amount of spice in our vat that night and it was still hotter than anything I've had. I can't even imagine the spicy stuff!

Back to Beijing, back to school. The schoolwork is starting to pick up although I really don't see it getting overwhelming anytime this semester. This school may have a great reputation as the best school in China, but there are many things that make it seem like it's not. More about this during a later post though.

Now that I've made it to Sichuan, just have to go to a few other cities before I go home. Speaking of home, I'm coming home early, although the exact date is TBD. I've found out that my exams will end by Christmas, so maybe come home then, maybe go to Hong Kong, maybe go to India? Not quite sure yet, but I will be home for New Years.

Gan Bei.