Fran had been suffering from a cold and we were in 2 minds whether to have a day relaxing. We decided instead to go to Leshan - famed for having the world's largest Buddha (after the Taliban blew up the 2 in Afghanistan). The journey was by bus and took 2 hours (once we had found the bus station and bought tickets) and then it was a taxi ride where the driver dropped us at the Buddha park.. This is a large park on a side of a hill with various large Buddha statues - some taken from other places and some are copies. Even a cave complete with tiny Buddha's and souvenir shop. We walked through the park heading towards the Big Buddha - not realising that in fact it was on the other side of a great hill. We climbed up and up with Fran muttering about her cold and being stoic. After about 2 hours (including a few diversions) we ended up at the top of the Big Buddha. It was built in the 8th century into the side of a cliff overlooking the river. It was difficult to get a perspective on the Buddha as you were very close to it. We started to climb down hoping to get a ferry boat back to town. The steps were steep, narrow and full of Chinese jostling. We got down and looked up to the Buddha - looked enormous from the bottom. We then found that the ferry boats didn't stop there - the current was too swift (the reason the Buddha was built there was to placate the river) so we had another trek up several more sets of steps and over the cliff. Eventually (with the help of Chinese tour guide) found our way out and caught the right bus back to Chengdu. At this point Fran didn't know if she was dying from exhaustion or a cold.