Leshan (4-7)

Thursday to Saturday was my first holiday Chinese style. Thursday was Tomb Sweeping Day, a national holiday. It is traditionally a day to honor one’s ancestors by visiting the graveyard and cleaning their tombs. However, as often seems to happen with such holidays, it is now pretty much just a day off. When I asked students if they cleaned the tombs, they said the old people do that. Everyone I know had a holiday, some with their families and some with friends.

The Chinese-style aspect of the holiday is that there were three days off—the holiday on Thursday and then Friday and Saturday. Since Friday was an extra day off, not an official holiday, we had to make up Friday classes on Sunday. Work places did that, too. No long weekends here.

I went to Leshan for the holiday, since it’s not far. When I got to the bus station in Chengdu, the room was packed with people wanting to purchase tickets. There were lines in the ticket office, but the room outside had a mass of people waiting to get into the room to get in line. I managed to get into a line fairly quickly. I asked a couple in front of me if that was an OK line for going to Leshan. The young man said all lines were the same. After a short time, they left because it had been announced that no more tickets were being sold to their destination. After half an hour, I reached the ticket office and purchased my ticket. However, the time on the ticket was 6:00, and it was only 11:00. So a seven hour wait was in store. I showed the ticket to the young woman at the information desk and pointed to the time, and she said I could get on the bus five minutes before the time on the ticket.

First I called the agency I used to book a hotel online because I was to call if I couldn’t arrive before 4:00. The woman said that the hotel would only hold the room after 6:00 with a credit card number. Of course I didn’t have my credit card with me. Eventually, I said I’d call the hotel and ended that conversation. When I called, the woman said she speaks English, but, if she was any of the women I met there, she didn’t speak English. After I explained my situation, she hung up, having exceeded her English. I was at a loss as to what to do when I remembered that I could text. That way she could read the message. Two minutes later I had a phone call from a man who spoke English well. He told me not to worry; they would keep the room for me. Several minutes later the woman from the agency called and said she had called the hotel and they would hold the room until 9:00. I was relieved. It would not have been good to arrive in a strange city with no room, especially during a holiday when many Chinese travel.

Fortunately, the bus station is near a river that has a green belt along it. I headed there to pass the time. I walked down to a Chinese-style bridge across the river. It was the “restaurant of bridges.” Along the way there is a pavilion with sculptures of women playing musical instruments around it. On the way back, a man was standing in the pavilion playing a stringed instrument; so I sat and listened until he stopped. Then I sat on a bench and read for a couple hours. It was a pleasant way to pass the time. I enjoy hanging out in the parks and watching the people there.

At 5:00 I returned to the bus station. When the sign with bus destinations didn’t have Leshan, I went to the information desk to have the woman—a different one than in the morning—read the destination on my ticket, as I was a little concerned. She confirmed that it was for Leshan and said I could get on the bus. So I did. I thought it was very early to be doing that, but half of the seats were already taken. After several minutes the bus left, and I realized that it was a 5:00 bus, but the attendant who took the tickets didn’t seem to care. When I talked to Diao Min about that, she said that the time on the ticket doesn’t matter but that if I’d tried a bus too early it probably would not have worked. Anyway, I was happy be on my way.

We arrived in Leshan at 8:00, and it took about twenty minutes for an available taxi to come. A man who spoke to me said he would take me to the hotel for 50 yuan, which I knew would be too much, but I didn’t have any idea what would be appropriate. Actual cost: 18 yuan. When the taxi stopped, he picked up the man a few feet away from me. Then he stopped to see where I was going and indicated that I could get in, too. After a couple minutes, two young women also joined us. One spoke English with me and made sure that the driver knew where he was taking me and that he should write the price for me. But it was on the meter; so I was OK.

At the hotel, the receptionist took my passport to register me. Another young woman standing there held up her phone so I could see “Wait a moment.” Soon a woman who speaks English very well arrived. She said the woman at the desk couldn’t understand what I said. But I hadn’t said anything. She had called her friend to assist when we did need to communicate with words. The woman is an English teacher and is a friend of the receptionist. After my day of waiting and traveling, I was ready for my room.

Friday morning it was raining. When I indicated that I wanted to eat, the receptionist pointed to turn right and then turn right again. On that street there were many cafes. After living in Thailand where everything opens very early, I was a little surprised when only a few places were open at 8:30. I found a man eating noodles and asked—mostly pointing—where he got them. He understood and pointed down the street around the corner. 

After eating, since it was still raining, I walked down the street lined with people selling fruit and vegetables 

and a surprisingly large amount of meat. I looked in a few shops and found a few items of clothes that I liked and tried on, but I wasn’t ready to buy them. By that time, the rain has lessened and I decided to take the boat that goes past the giant Buddha, which is what I was in Leshan to see. I looked it up on the Internet and tried to ask the receptionist to write the Chinese on my paper for a taxi driver. She made a phone call, and the manager came down to help. He was the man who had called me about keeping the room. His English is OK, and he was able to help. I had him write where to go to purchase a bus ticket back to Chengdu and to the boat and walking places to see the Buddha. That worked well.

By the time the boat left, the rain had stopped. So we were able to stand outside to take photos. The boats go up the river for about ten minutes, then stop for photos for about ten minutes, and then return. Our boat was the third one back from the shore. 

From the boat, you get a perspective of the whole figure, which is carved out of a cliff and is between two remaining cliffs. The statue is 71 meters tall and is the world’s largest Buddha.

After disembarking, I looked for a taxi to take me to the site where you can walk to see the Buddha. The first driver said it would be 40 yuan; the second said 50. Neither would used a meter. After walking along the river and enjoying the wall and a few sculptures, I found a taxi. Actual cost: 11 yuan.

The site has an old temple as well as the giant Buddha. 

After visiting the temple, I got in line to view the statue. I was prepared and had my book on the phone, as I had read that lines could be as long as two hours. 

It took two hours to reach the cliff road, the path down the cliff from which you can see the statue as you descend. It started to rain lightly during the two hours, but, fortunately, it stopped just before I got to the path down, as it would have been difficult to walk down, hold the umbrella, and take photos.

On the cliff walls there are several small Buddhas and other images carved in niches. 

The highlight, of course is the giant statue. It is truly awesome to see such a large statue close up. Seeing it from the boat was also awesome, but being right there was amazing.

Yang remembers that when she was a child, you could stand on the platform in front of the toes. I think the sign says that is not allowed, as no one was standing there and, if it were allowed, the platform would have been full of people having photos taken there.

I had purchased a ticket that included the monks’ tombs and a temple, but they were closed by the time I got there—about 6:30. There was one tomb outside the complex that could be seen. The tombs are in caves in the cliffs. 

The trail also goes through a former fishing village. When I exited the site, there was a big, empty parking lot, as this was the back entrance/exit. Tuk-tuk drivers come in to transport people, and I was happy to pay for the ride. He didn’t take me where I thought we were going, but he took me to a bus stop and a bus arrived just after we did. I took the bus into the city and then got a taxi back to the hotel. It was a good day.

Saturday was sunny and pleasant. It would have been a great day to be out touring, but I had to return. I had purchased a ticket for 1:00 so I could have a leisurely morning. I returned to one of the shops I had visited on Friday and purchased a shirt and vest. Later I found some jeans on another street. They turned out to be way too large when I put them on at home, but I like them and will puts tucks in the waist band so they fit better.

I liked Leshan. It’s a small city and is fairly quiet. It’s manageable. The air isn’t polluted. People were friendly even if we didn’t have a common language. Eating was challenging since menus don’t have English translations. When someone was eating, I would point to their food and order it. Twice I saw people eating noodles and pointed to them and asked “where” in English. They pointed, and I walked that way and found noodles shops. A little more language will make me feel better about at least trying to ask.

The hotel manager told me which bus to take to central station where I’d get the bus to Chengdu. While I was fumbling for my change purse with small bills for buses, a young man held out 1 yuan to give me so I could pay. I was glad that just as he did that, I found my purse, but it was nice of him. Several people were selling noodles and potatoes, and I decided to have some noodles. A young woman offered to help me and ordered for me. She had seen me on Saturday in the long line. She and her friend didn’t have to return to their university for classes on Sunday.

The bus arrived in Chengdu and went to a bus station as soon as it got off the expressway. I knew this was not where I had started and had no idea how to get back there. No signs had English on them. I was deciding what to do when a young man asked if I needed help. He had noticed that I was walking up and down the row of buses. He found a bus that stopped at the bus station I started at and knew how to return from. University students have been very helpful. When I got off the bus, it wasn’t near the original bus stop and I couldn’t see the bus station; so I didn’t know where I was. I walked to a busy street to find a taxi to take me to the bus station from which I return to Wenjiang. The first driver didn’t understand what I was saying in Chinese. I wrote it in Pinyin (Western letters) to show the second driver, and he said “Chinese” in Chinese. At least I understood what he was saying. (Diao Min explained that not everyone can read Pinyin. This would probably apply to taxi drivers who are probably not as educated as some people.) So I went into a clinic behind me where two young women weren’t busy. I tried to indicate that I wanted them to write the word in Chinese. Then I called Yang to have her tell them what I wanted, but she didn’t answer. While I was deciding whom to call next, one of the women looked at my notebook and saw other Chinese words and figured out what I wanted. She then wrote the name of the bus station in Chinese. The next taxi driver agreed to take me.

The line to get on a bus was more than twice as long as it usually is, and it took 30 minutes to get on a bus. The advantage of getting on at the station is that I can get a seat, and I did.

This was my first Chinese adventure on my own. I got to Leshan and back with minimal difficulty. Traveling in China is not as easy as traveling in Thailand or some of the other countries I was in last year. Fewer people speak English—at least here, but students I encountered have been very helpful and nice. I know little of the language, which also makes a difference. When I started traveling in Thailand, I knew enough to communicate basics. Many menus in places where tourists go had English on them. Here they don’t, which makes ordering food challenging. But I managed, and, for that I’m satisfied.