Day Twenty-One Leshan - The Giant Buddha Extremely early start, up at 5.30am & out by 6am. There was 6 of us in total (us 2 & 4 Dutch people) all squashed on to this little minibus. As there were a few of us that wanted to go to Leshan but because of the distance (about 2.5 hours away) & getting there (many different buses) it was cheaper & less hassle to all throw in & hire a private driver & bus instead of trying to get there ourselves...

Day Twenty Crazy Chengdu Lotus Market Not such an early start, I lied in bed for ages & refused to get up because I hadn't slept well at all. The hostel is a fabulous place but you can hear a pin drop 3 rooms ways, the noise of people shifting around is awful. Finally out of bed! Time to try to figure out how the washing machine works. We desperately needed to wash some clothes as it's doing our heads in wearing the same things day in & day out. Washin...

Day Nineteen The Real Panda Sanctuary Up & at it & waiting in reception from 7.40 waiting to be picked up so we can be taken to the Panda Sanctuary just outside Chengdu. We had to be at the sanctuary early in order to see the pandas active because early morning is feeding time. In the afternoon the pandas tend to sleep. On the bus with 4 other people some are who we met at the dumpling party last night which was cool as they felt less like real strange...

Day Eighteen 5.20 & we had arrived in Chengdu train station. We got off the train & followed the sea of people towards the exit. Outside was even worse, there where people all over the place. It didn't feel like it was very early morning. Now 5.50am & after struggling to get a cab from the train station we arrived at our next hostel. This place looked authentic & it seemed to have some traditional features. We checked in & headed straight to...

Day Seventeen Leaving Xi'an for Chengdu Up late again but who cares were on holidays so to speak! Bags packed ready to go we checked out & left our bags in reception as a little trip to the supermarket was in order before we got on our 16 hour train journey which will take us to Chengdu. In the supermarket & with time pressing on we couldn't have picked a slower queue. With supplies bought the rush was on to get back to the hostel, grab our bags & ...