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Hello all, sorry for the delay in updating have been very busy!
After our somewhat nightmarish train ride we finally made it to our hostel in Chengu and it was lovely, apart from our room wasn't ready and with the lack of sleep and me not feeling too well we were shattered but we had a mooch around to see what was going on in the area. The hostel was very good had a nice seating area,delicious food and a bar as well as some animals - 2 pigs and a puppy (much to my delight!) So the first day was spent being very boring and sleeping and relaxing, which was nice however didnt last long the next day it was back to our relentless pace.
On our first full day we got up at about 6am, however we had been awake most of the night as there was a huge building site right next to our window which did a marvelous job of keeping us awake all night (when accompanied with the really hard bed...again!)Â the Chinese builders seem to work all night ling hammering and banging. But we were in a good mood anyway as we were off to see the pandas. We were told it would be 1 bus ride away but soon disocovered they lied to us and caught one bus to a bus station then found that we not only had to change buses but had to change bus stations too, very confusing when the signs are all in Chinese and they dont match up with the maps. However we were saved by a nice Chinese man who couldn't speak a word of English but knew the internaional sig for panda (see our photo's of Si's panda pose!-when we finally uplaod some more) and we were soon on our way.
When we got to the Santuary in Wolong it was AMAZING! No other word for it, the pandas were so close you could almost touch them, they and they weer lovely. People had told us they were really lazy but if you go early enough in the morning at feeding time they are really active fighting and playing and eating bamboo at a fantastic rate. Then there were the babies and i defy anyone to find anything cuter than a tiny little panda bear trying to climb on a climbing frame or playing. It was for me at least the best thing we have done so far!
The following day we went on an adventure to Leshan to see the Giant sitting Buddha carved into the cliff. After navigating the local transportaion we made the 2 hour journey. There is no other way to describe this park apart from beautiful. Like a big forested park with different caves and carvings, and you find your way through the maze of pathways and suddenley there he is! Incredible, about 70 odd metres tall (as you can see from the pic of me by his big toe).
After travelling home we followed all the advertisement to the only Irish bar in Chengdu where all the ex-pats met. After a bus ride and treking for what felt years we had earnt ourselves a drink. So Si had guinness (of course) and I had malibu (yum!) and it was the most expensive round of drinks ever! A buig bottle of beer for 2 people to share is normally around the 5 yuan mark...this was 90 yuan for 2 drinks! needless to say it was bottoms up and off we went as quickly as we could before we had opportunity to spend more!
Our final day before checking out we spent at the local temple (you didnt think they'd let us get away with at least seeing 1 temple here!) We saw monks chanting and more nice buildings etc etc etc I'll let you look at the photo's for yourselves.
Then came our first seating train, which was ok. the man who was origionally sat next to me had a bag of dried fish heads, and theres the usual Chinese wierdness... spitting etc before we arrived in our destination of Chongqing and we were met by our guide Jessie who was very patriotic about "our city" more about that in the next blog though!
hope all is well at home
Hopefully we will do the Yangtse river cruise tomorrow so keep 'em peeled!
Goodnight from Guilin
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