Awaking a new m
an and at 24 with a whole new set of skills and knowledge bestowed upon him... or just seriously tired as I need to catch a 7.30am bus from the station in the south of town and so have to wake up at about 5.30am. I get to Leshan nice and early at
around 10am and take a walk around the complex, The majority (99%) of tourists go straight to the giant Buddha and that's more or less it, which means I end up having the rest of the complex more or less to my self which I take full advantage of. The temples and gardens are very peaceful and although it's quite sad I brought some Mo
on Cake (a type of Chinese cake that is extremely popular and originates from the moon festival in October) and sit down with around 100 Koi Carp beneath me and tuck in. When I do reach the big Buddha is it is a colossal statue chiseled out of the side of a cliff over many many years. It was built to try and calm the river beneath it and the process of dumping thousand
s of tons of rock into the river during it's sculpting, actually filled in the hollows of the river bed and did indeed tame it. A person can comfortably sit on it's big toe nail it's that big. Leaving the Buddha and the complex I jump on a bus back to Chengdu and run
into an Aussie guy and his partner called Andy and Lauren who are also staying in Mix hostel. He is interested in organising events back in Australia and so we end up having a lot to talk about, his aim being to throw big outside events in tents! When he finds out it's my birthday today he says I can't celebrate it on my own and from this point on (about 5pm) the fun begins.When we get back to the hostel we head straight to the beer garden and Andy gets in some beers. We are shortly joined by some more people from the hostel, some of whom Andy met yesterday and before I know it there are 9 of us all sitting down outside finishing off beers and about to head to the local hot pot restaurant for a large meal. It's a fantastic meal and we end up doing shots of a Chinese spirit which is distilled from rice and sits at a comfortable 50%. After the meal where we are joined in multiple toasts by people from other tables the route back to the hostel is via one of the Chinese outside communal gyms and we have a slightly drunken play on the machines. The night ends with drinking until 5am and Andy even gives me a gift, a stubby holder for bottles of beer that keeps them cool if you're in hot countries, he designed it himself and is for the promotion of his events company.
It has turned out to be such a great day and so unexpected being so far away from home. It's all thanks to a random meeting with an Aussie couple, maybe the visit to the giant Buddha did indeed bring me a great birthday...
