Spring Break in the Heart of China

Sichuan is one of the two most beautiful provinces in China along with Yunnan according to traveler’s books. Indeed it has an incredible natural diversity and magnificent thousand year old cities and relics. So Simon and I decided to pay the central province a little visit during the spring break.

We arrived in Chengdu, the capital, on the 13^th at noon. From there on we embarked into 80 hours of train and bus rides. We took a bus right away towards Leshan and Emeishan. In 1996, Mount Emeshan Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area in Leshan was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is the tallest stone Buddha Statue in the world with impressive 71 meters height finished in the end of the 8th century A.D.

On the next morning we went to Mount Emei which is one of the 4 sacred Buddhist mountains of China, shared between Taoism and Chinese Buddhism. The first Buddhist temple in China was built here in Sichuan Province in the 1st century A.D. The particularity of the site is the possibility to see Buddha in the clouds.

When you stand over the clouds on the highest peak a light effect that comes thought the clouds forms a Halo that has prompted many to jump of the cliff to join eternity. Luckily most stopped their pilgrimage a couple of centimeters before the fatal jump.

Some monks on the way to the monastery. I had fun playing badmington with the security guards inside but I have no picture of it.

Once this area was done, Simon had a great idea. At least it seamed great enough until I grasped the totality of it.

We jumped on a bus to get to Kanding, the first step to the Tibetan plateaus. In fact, Sichuan province was part of the Tibetan territories before the communist party decided otherwise while drawing the new boundaries in 1949. After 10 hours on the bus we stepped into the thick snow at 3000 meters altitude. The first thought was to figure out when the first bus back was. The city was nicely positioned at the base of a couple of very high mountains offering very pleasant views. The only attraction, which was a famous lake was too expensive for our shallow student pockets.

Back to Chengdu, we revised our plans. We were about to experience a train ride in China. After 17 hours and over a 1000km we got to Xian, the starting point of the famous Silk Road.

Meanwhile the chess score got to 12: 11 for Simon :-( I will nail him on the next one. The city was amazing to the point of saying that it is one of the few Chinese cities that actually has a charm and a pleasant character. The most beautiful part was the Muslim quarters of the city. They were the most picturesque and warm part of the city. Exactly like you would expect it in any place in the Maghreb, the streets were lively with lighted faces and good food. The nice smell in the air opened our appetites to what will prove to be the best food we will have enjoyed in the past 2 weeks.

This mosque was built in the hearth of china over 1250 years ago!!!! Not long after Mohamet made his journey in 622!

Our last stop was the city of Juzhaigou in the north of Sichuan inhabited only by Tibetans and Qiang people.

The region is known for its many multi-level waterfalls and colorful lakes , and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. We bought a 2 day entrance ticket and walked a total of over 40km in two days.

Since we weren’t planning to come down to the city overnight we found ourselves sleeping in the house of a very hospitable Tibetan couple. The house was full of rats running around but, in the end, the smile of our hosts to our weird ways and our good humor was worth all of it.

The pictures will tell you all the rest.

Everywhere the water was Blue, green, fuscia, violet and clearer than air

Five tips of the Beijing Star

Well after 7 months in China I finally got to the capital, the one and only 20 million large village on the planet. Here is the dream team:

Clock wise: Paulo (the Italian in red), Travis (Texas on the go), Simon (increasingly French), David (official photographer for the trip)...and Me

Beijing has seriously nothing particularly interesting, meaning that the spirit of the city is inexistant. I have a propensity to think that there was something more to this city, but decades of straight stalinist architechture and cultural wipe-outs have erased it. Nevertheless, the history and culture permeates in the faces of the people, even this kid next to the bike.

We went there with a guided tour unfortunately, it was only cantonese families and the whole tour was commented in...cantonese. Well, it might be considered a fun experience, just don't ask Simon about it.
















The land of what will be the world's longest standing communist state starts at the central point of the city. Mao dominates every citizen and tourist at the entrance of the forbidden city. His portrait looks straight to Tianamen square, where about 3 million people can gather up at once and 3000 can be killed in no time.

We stand with Simon in front of the statues symbolizing the people's revolution and their fight for freedom that led to the infamous founding of the Chinese communist state in 1949.




















We also visited the summer palace. It is a nice and serene place where people seem to take time to pleasure their sense. There are singers across the parks, the sound of various instruments crosses the air across the roads. I apologize, since the huge pagoda was under renovation , the picture is not really worth it.

The Great Wall of China

Yes, you do have to go. Yes it is the single most impressive human construction I have ever encoutered. It streches beautifully across chinese mountains, deserts and magnificence.

David: C'est bon laaa, les Bulgares vous voyez toujours trop grand vrai?
Boyan: Mais serieux David, je te jure que ce truc fait 6700 km!!!

At the most intensive point in the construction, the wall used to grow 6km a day with the help of 300 000 soldiers and 500 000 forced laborers. Those that died during it's construction are burried in its foundations and contribute to the collossal symbolism that this wall embodies.

Finally, we had great hotels all the way and our group was actually quite fun. The food though... was completely tasteless. If it did have a taste, you would have prefered it not to.
Amidst many other things, we discovered an underground city that can house ALL OF BEIJING'S RESIDENTS in case of a bomb attack. We went to a national, award winnig, tea house and tasted the most flavoured tea's on the planet.

Cheers, to nicotine clearing, alcohol removing, award winning, expensive chinese tea!