Leshan, China - September 24, 2002
The first thing I did in the morning was to go see the Panda and the Panda Breeding Center. They were pretty interesting. It was about as good as it could get for being in captivation I suppose. The panda keepers brought them all out to one photogenic spot on a branch that overlooked the tourists. They climbed it, and were quite interseting to watch. Later I saw postcards that had been made out of the exact thing we had seen that day. I realized that maybe this was extremely common and a very daily routine for them. At one point, while we were wandering around, (I met two Israelis), a panda keeper, offered to take us right next to a Panda and take pictures inside their cages for a $100 each.. we quickly declined. It was interesting though to see the corruption was at such a high level. I mean, if there was photographic evidence of yourself sitting/standing next to one of the Pandas.. you would think someone's job would seriously be jeopordized. Anyhow, we declined, but that was an interesting aspect of being at the Panda Breeding Center.
Afterwards, I went back to Traffic Hotel, packed my bags and jumped on the next bus to Leshan, about two hours south of Chengdu. I had hoped to arrive in Leshan, see the largest Buddha in the world, and then move on. But as I got there much later than I expected, I happened to get a somewhat expensive hotel room compared to what I had been previously paying throughout China and Vietnam, and stayed the night. Leshan turned out to be a very interesting town!
First off, there were very few tourists - I didn't see any other foreigners that night. I also had quite a few stares and looks, even though I was near what you would think would be a major tourist sight. I think part of the reason so few people went there was because the accomodation was so high.. so most people book tour package tickets from Chengdu and make a day trip out of it instead.
Anyhow, Leshan turned out to be quite interesting at night time. Across from the largest Buddha in the world, is where three rivers meet, and the town of Leshan, with a very long wide sidewalk with a fortress-like guard-rail or something like that.. hard to describe.. but it was very beautiful at night. All along this promenade or boardwalk lining the river, there were hundreds of people strolling and walking, and exercising. There was alot of music and people taking practice in Tai Chi and other Chinese exercise forms. It was quite interesting to stroll around and observe.
There wasn't much to do in what I would traditionally do. I mean, few things for a foreigner to do.. especially considering the enormous language barrier, and in China.. the language barrier is huge!! Almost no one speaks any English at all. Anyhow, I did stroll around alot in the evening, and found Leshan to be quite interesting.
First off, most locals did either one of two things, either played mahjong or they sang in karaoke bars. All along the river, on the other side of the promenade they had many karaoke bars, I strolled past around 20 of them, and kind of observed a very nightly ritual for many of them. I also went weaving in and out of many backstreets all along the river, and found countless amounts of mahjong parlors - maybe as many as 200 of them. All kinds of people, young and old, men and women, were joining up in the mahjong parlors and having fun. I really wished I could participate as well. If I had ever seen such a social phenomenem anywhere in the States, I would certainly brush up on my non-existant mahjong skills and join in on the fun!! But as a foreigner, I felt that even if I knew Chinese well and mahjong as well, I probably never could really participate in the same way as they could. I'd be too far outside the norm and the outcast. But it was fascinating to watch.
Leshan was a very intersting town, the next morning I would try to see the largest Buddha in the world up-close, and then hopefully try to catch a train back down to Kunming.. or end up back in Chengdu, whichever was easiest once I hit the train station the next day.
Continued journal entries in China:
September 25, 2001
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