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20.09.09The train gets in
late at about 3pm and I make my way to Mix Hostel, the only reason I chose it is because on the flyers it says that there is free music exchange for mp3 players and you can load up on tracks. A short hop on the bus and it's into Mix Hostel which is like a Tardis, it looks small on the outside, but has an outside beer garden, large inside restaurant bar two floors of rooms and a roof terrace. After dropping
off my stuff I check out Wenshu Monastery which is just around the corner. It'
s a massive complex and is the biggest in Chengdu, with lovely gardens and several big prayer hall/rooms, monks shuffling around in red an orange robes, it's a great place to spend a few hours. After my religious excursion I get in the thick of it and walk to the middle of the city in search of a Sichuans famous 'Hot Pot'. The meal involves a big pot full of oil, stock and lots of chilies, where you throw in various ingredients of your choice and allow them to be cooked in a kind of Chinese spicy fondue. I end up empty handed and settle for a meal in a standard Chinese cafe before visiting my local mega mart and getting some shopping. Chengdu seems like a pleasant city, but with nothing I
really want to see here I make the call to head out to the giant Buddha at Leshan tomorrow and make my birthday day trip one of seeing the biggest seated Buddha in the world. I'm a bit sceptical of the day ahead and don't think it will turn out to be one of the best birthdays, being away from home with no one around, but we shall see.
19.09.09Saying goodbye to my new friends and heading off to Guilin to start my train journey north into Sichuan province for the penultimate stretch of my China journey. On board I know that the train leaves at 1.30pm and arrives at around 2.30 the next day, but in my head it's just over 12 hours. A woman who lectures in psychology back in the UK promptly puts me right and tells me that we have a 25 hour journey to Chengdu and I realise that I'm back approaching trans Siberian train journey lengths. I spend my next day chatting to her about her travels and mine and then meeting a Chinese man called Han from Chongqing, about 4 hours away from Chengdu. I think he wants to speak to me to practice his English and he tells me how he works in Guilin selling minerals and rocks like Quartz, Granite and Marble to people in America, France and Germany and is travelling to Chongqing as that's his home. He has learnt English by listening to a tape in the same way that I am trying to learn Chinese and considering he hasn't learnt it from a teacher his English is extremely good. When he finds out that it is my birthday in a few days, he offers to take me out in Chongqing and says I will not have to worry about anything while there. I am tempted, but I need to get to Chengdu and then move on to other parts of Sichuan Province and Chongqing would mess with my schedule. He's on business trips to America next year and also France and so wants to learn English so his travels and business will be easier. He is definitely up there with the business men of China and I think he isn't joking when I said he would sort my accommodation and everything else if I went to Chongqing.Lights off at 10pm and the sleeper carriage becomes a bedroom on wheels transporting us 50 or so sleepers north back into the mainland of China and up away from it's tropical south.
late at about 3pm and I make my way to Mix Hostel, the only reason I chose it is because on the flyers it says that there is free music exchange for mp3 players and you can load up on tracks. A short hop on the bus and it's into Mix Hostel which is like a Tardis, it looks small on the outside, but has an outside beer garden, large inside restaurant bar two floors of rooms and a roof terrace. After dropping
off my stuff I check out Wenshu Monastery which is just around the corner. It'
s a massive complex and is the biggest in Chengdu, with lovely gardens and several big prayer hall/rooms, monks shuffling around in red an orange robes, it's a great place to spend a few hours. After my religious excursion I get in the thick of it and walk to the middle of the city in search of a Sichuans famous 'Hot Pot'. 
really want to see here I make the call to head out to the giant Buddha at Leshan tomorrow and make my birthday day trip one of seeing the biggest seated Buddha in the world. I'm a bit sceptical of the day ahead and don't think it will turn out to be one of the best birthdays, being away from home with no one around, but we shall see.
