Hello, everybody! It's been a couple of days since an update again, so it's about time we get caught up to date. The last two days, we have all been in the city of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province, home of the panda, and some very spicy food.
After some very good (if quite spicy) noodles on our first night in Chengdu, we took our first morning to make a trip to one of the most famous sites in Sichuan: The Giant Buddha. Carved into the mountain at the side of the river, the Leshan Giant Buddha is the world's largest Buddha statue. In order to get a good look at it, we took a ride on a boat tour to get up to the coast on which it sits. Many people, however, take the time to climb up the stairs to the side of the statue. We chose not to do this, because it is harder to get a good look at something so massive from such a close-up perspective (and because I doubt most of the group would have been excited about the two hours it is estimated it takes to climb the stairs with such crowds).
The Giant Buddha was an incredible sight to see, and to imagine it being built in the time period it was. in the Tang Dynasty, over the course of 90 years, is almost unfathomable.
After we returned to the shore from our little excursion, we had lunch in one of the nearby restaurants, and the group went along one of the market streets in the area. Unfortunately, by that time, the spicy food had gotten to my stomach a bit, and I stayed behind to regain some composure, so I am bringing in guest star Blaine to talk about the street market.
After we returned to the shore from our little excursion, we had lunch in one of the nearby restaurants, and the group went along one of the market streets in the area. Unfortunately, by that time, the spicy food had gotten to my stomach a bit, and I stayed behind to regain some composure, so I am bringing in guest star Blaine to talk about the street market.
Why, Thank You, Keegan. This is your blog post photographer, Blaine here, with a report from the street market. During our travels we encountered a small shop at the side of the road while wandering down a street market; however, it turned out that it wasn't a shop at all. We found children writing calligraphy and as we observed their writing with fluency and well practiced hands we were offered the chance to try to write some ourselves. Our writing was rough and shoddy to say the least with very slow and difficult motions. The star pupil that we met here was only 11 years old and the favorite of his master. He was practicing much more difficult characters that had many strokes and was producing them flawlessly at a very fast pace. By comparison he would write three characters to our one.
The boy seen above holds the brush straight up and down and dips into the ink before writing each character. There was no hesitation in his strokes as he copied the character exactly as it appeared under the sheet of paper. The characters we practiced, in turn, all had straight lines and were simple; however, this art form is much more complex. The strokes of the brush have a specific order and the thickness of the line is very important to how the character looks. Calligraphy began as symbolic images and has become graphs to represent different sounds to communicate. Calligraphy must be practiced for many years to produce the beauty and identity that each character holds.
A big thank you to Blaine, for picking up where I couldn't recount our journey.
After our journey to the market, we moved on to another restaurant, to have one of the more popular dishes in Sichuan cooking, Hot Pot. Hot Pot was originally primarily a farmer's dish, as it was relatively inexpensive. However, in more recent years, the dish has been made more popular, and spice has been added to give it the usual Sichuan flavor. While I have had Hot Pot before with our College's Chinese language teacher, the state of my stomach told me I should only pick at this dish this time around. There was a part of the dish separated for those who cannot handle the spice, however, and what I did eat of that was very good.
After our journey to the market, we moved on to another restaurant, to have one of the more popular dishes in Sichuan cooking, Hot Pot. Hot Pot was originally primarily a farmer's dish, as it was relatively inexpensive. However, in more recent years, the dish has been made more popular, and spice has been added to give it the usual Sichuan flavor. While I have had Hot Pot before with our College's Chinese language teacher, the state of my stomach told me I should only pick at this dish this time around. There was a part of the dish separated for those who cannot handle the spice, however, and what I did eat of that was very good.
On our second day, however, was the main attraction for Chengdu: The Panda Research Center. With most of the population of Giant Pandas living in Sichuan, its biggest city makes for the perfect place to conduct research on Pandas, breed them, and ensure this rare specie's survival for future generations to enjoy. As we walked through the main exhibit area, we saw over a dozen different Giant Pandas, including several baby pandas, which were far more active and playful than their sleepy adult counterparts. Seeing so many pandas in one place, going about their day, was a once in a lifetime experience, and I am so glad that I can say that I have been to see them. In addition to the Giant Pandas, there were also several red pandas at the research center. While not quite as iconic or famous as the Giant Panda, these little red pandas were far more energetic and friendly than their giant white counterparts. They were very photogenic, and liked to walk right up to the fence when they saw people watching or taking pictures.
In the morning, we will be headed by train to Chongqing, where we will start our cruise along the river. We aren't sure yet how much internet will be available on the cruise, so the next update may come to you all from the boat, or it may come from Shanghai once the cruise has ended.