Xi'an to Chengdu to Leshan

We've had many more adventures since we were last able to post. We left fabulous Beijing Sept. 9th after a couple more days of exploring the city, visiting the Forbidden Palace, and then headed on another sleeper train to Xi'an, home of the Terracotta Warriors.
<-- This picture is of the very busy entrance to the Forbidden Palace, overwhelming at first but very interesting as we got into the smaller back alleys.
The warriors were the main reason we wanted to get to Xi'an and they were well worth it. They were made as a result of Emperor Qin Shi Huag's desire to be buried with the protection of a giant army to serve him. He had the same belief as the Ancient Eygptians, that what you were buried with could be used in the afterlife. That was around 100 BC and they were only discovered in 1979, when a farmer was digging a well. Since then, most of the soldiers have been uncovered and a museum has been built around the site. The whole of Qin's tomb was several acres big, we drove 10 minutes by bus from the site of where his body was to where the soldiers were found. It was amazing to see the life-sized figures that had been made by slaves so long ago and have been deemed the archeological find of the century.

<-- The detail on the warriors was incredible, to think these were made by slaves over 2000 years ago!

Xi'an was also a great place for late night kebabs and street markets. Our hostel was very central and though we were only there for 2 days we had plenty of time to enjoy the old capital.

From Xi'an we headed on a 17hr overnight hard-seater train to Chengdu. The train was about as much fun as you could imagine. Though we were spared of the babies peeing at our feet, as we heard from other travellers, it was still a full night of lights on, straight backed seats, loud-mouthed food sellers, smoking men in the aisles and little sleep (especially for Mark).


Chengdu was excellent. We started off by visiting a Panda breeding base the morning of our first full day. As it was feeding time, the Pandas were wide awake, active, and not too concerned with their human spectators. There were so many it was hard to keep moving along. It was definetly a memory to last a lifetime.

<-- These were the most relaxed eaters we have ever witnessed. Serious couch-potato like tendencies.


<-- A new born Panda. They are all born prematurely and sometimes the mom kills them because she doesn't know what it is so the breeding center incubates them for the first little while.
<-- The Red Panda, a kind of fox/raccoon little guy.
<-- This was taken at the Sichuan Opera in Chengdu. We didn't understand a word, but made up our own convincing story line and enjoyed the music, singing and especially the costumes.








<-- Us and our packs, not bad for 9 weeks eh???





We left Chengdu this morning to visit Leshan, known for it's Big Buddha, measuring 192ft, that was built in 713. It seems that every city in Asia boasts the biggest Buddha as a number one attraction, and we have seen our share, but this one definitely takes the cake. We took a bus to Leshan and then a ferry along the river to see the Buddha that is carved into the mountain side. It took almost 90 years to complete and was the project of a Buddhist monk who's goal was to calm the violent rivers that converged at this mountain. It's amazing to experience these glimpses into the past. The history in this country is unbelievable and hard to even grasp.
<-- In case you can't figure it out, this is the big dude. If you look closely you can see all the tiny people walking down on the left and some right in front. HUGE!
<-- Up close and personal.


Tomorrow we're off to hike up Mt. Emei (we're staying at the base tonight) and then onto Kunming, our last stop before we enter Vietnam.