Lost in Translation

Well, we left Xi'an yesterday, really loved that place. Amazing light shows downtown, not a building that isn't neon it seems. Very cool with old Chinese buildings in the centre of a booming metropolis, Chanel, Gucci, Prada etc. everywhere and folks flying kites in the town square. Our hostel rocked, really clean and good folks, sorry to leave. We flew to Chengdu and took the bus we thought was going to take us to the hostel but it was just the end of the line so there we stood with all our gear in the night trying to get someone to take us to the Dragon Town Hostel - no takers. Finally found a buddy who collected Canadian coins and for a tooney and 2 quarters, he got us a cab to our destination. Funny the folks you meet on the street. We then got to our hostel and found that it was on a back street completely torn up with gaping chasms for streets - and it was a DUMP - rat running down window kind of made the case for getting out fast. Shared bathroom and wayward, opinionated, repatriated Americans made it even less palatable.

Chengshu is known for its hotpot so of course we ventured out to find place with our Israeli companions and ended up dipping things like pork balls and slimy eel into boiling vats of chili. It's not going to be a staple, in fact, the beer was good.

This morning we went to the panda preserve and watched the pandas in an assortment of poses and eating behaviours and for 50 Yuan (a highway robbery but I couldn't resist) I got to hold a red panda for photos. Too cute. It was a very impressive facility and every day we marvel at the size and scope of China - too big to describe.

This afternoon we got out of Dodge and took the bus to a place called Leshan where it is smaller and has the BIGGEST BUDDHA IN THE WORLD which we shall see tomorrow. Funny of the day is the lady on the street who said hello, we showed her the address for this internet cafe and from then on she took over. Grabbed a cab all the while jabbering away at us in Chinese, we had no idea where she was taking us, and lo and behold here we sit doing the blog. Although, it did not come without a price, she has now extracted our addresses and names and emails and written us a letter and given us her phone number with great gesticulation that we must ring her. Ya right.

The pity of the day is that we can't post the great pix we have from terracotta warriors and pandas today but stay tuned. Ok...seeya.