Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 4

Day 5 - 21st Dec 2012

Rice in Bamboo

Today woke up early again...got ready and put our luggage outside our room and went for breakfast. Simple dishes for breakfast, there was a bowl of soya too which doesn't taste like it. I can't find my battery pack...sad..don't know where it went to (until now, also cannot find it). After breakfast, we boarded our bus to set off our journey. First stop, we were going to Highland Bee Farm. There, the guide brought us to a room, where the staff started to introduce to their honey products..i almost fell asleep there (due to sleepless nights from the previous days).....he let us tried their honey jelly too, which is the best of all. And after the introduction, he led us to another room where they are selling their products there...Mi and my friend just walked out and went to toilet. Hahahaha....don't want to get cheated again...So we just went up to the bus to wait for the others. After that, we traveled back down the mountain (it's a long journey ride down) and went to China's bamboo City where we had our lunch there. Along the way, the tour guide told us about the bamboo city and bamboo was being used in making pictures....The dishes for our lunch were quite slow in serving...in fact when they had served until the 4th or 5th dishes, everyone was already full. But there were still some more dishes being served, which we didn't even touch. There was a dish quite nice from this meal, which is the bamboo rice. They had cooked the rice in bamboo...too bad only 1 serving for each..if 2nd serving of rice is asked, they only give white rice.  The tour guides gave us cold drinks and beers to drink too....as the ban is lifted (not allowed to drink cold drinks/beers while staying at high altitude). After lunch, we started our tour in the bamboo city.

Holders made of Bamboo

The tour guide introduced us to the local guide of bamboo city and she led us around their exhibit to see their masterpieces. The master (don't remember the name..still alive...) is a great person and he even have classes to teach people how to do this art (people from around the world actually comes and learn the art from him). After showing us the products made from bamboo, we were led to a room where there is a demo - step by step how a picture is being done by using bamboo. It was very amazing, and it really really takes up a lot of patience. There is a master piece - a picture of Guan Yin. It will go invisible if you are seeing straight from the front. But if you turn the picture to slightly sideway, the picture of Guan Yin will appear before you (It is called 'The Invisible Guan Yin') and it is made from bamboo! They even have colored bamboo, there is a piece of art - where it has 99 tigers in it. It is made by using colored bamboo. There is another art piece where ancient kings & queens faces (total of 100 kings & queens) are created in it. They even made a calendar, wireless keyboard and mouse from bamboo, very interesting. Amazingly the feel on the keyboard feels good...hohohoho...After spending some time for bamboo products shopping, we set out for our next stop - Leshan Buddha.

LeShan Giant Buddha

We arrived at the ferry jetty, our tour guide went to the ticket counter to help us to get our tickets. Then we made our way down to the boat. And we are required to wear a super orange colored life jackets. We also waited for some time, cos our boat was not full yet. We waited for at least 10 or 15 mins, finally our boat left the port. It was first started by a monk called Haitong, but the construction took too long to complete. He died before it was completed, the Buddha was later completed by his disciples. The whole place looks like a giant sleeping Buddha and where Leshan Buddha is, the 'heart' of the sleeping Buddha. And so, the boat set off and arrived in front of Leshan Buddha. We were told that we only have 7 or 8 minutes to take the photo of the Buddha. They even provide service to help you take professional photos. After that, the boat brought us back to the port and that's it (Tour ended...hohoho..). Then we made our way to our new hotel in Jiajiang - Venie Hotel. Ohh...there were some of the tour members who went for body massage when the rest went back to the hotel. So dinner was set at around 7.45pm. We didn't went for the massage, so we were brought to the hotel first. We arrived at around 6 plus, then we went up to check out our room. The room was slightly better than the previous ones and there is heater in the room (too strong...hahaha..). Anyway the room was facing the main road (too much noise by cars), so we requested to change room. Our tour leader changed the room with us, which is not facing the main road. My friend went to the toilet and then followed by mi. We both thought the toilet had a smell after that (she thought it was me and i thought it was her..hahaha). Anyway after settled our stuffs in our room, we went down to the lobby for internet. Dinnertime....we finally had dinner without wearing our outer jackets. Heater was strong enough to keep our food warm. After dinner, we wanted to go the mall opposite the hotel but we need to cross a super big road with no traffic lights and there were alot of big trucks passing. It was very dark and it started to rain. So we gave up the idea and went back to our room, by then there was a super strong stench coming from the toilet. My friend still went in to take a shower...with the smelly stench...hohoho..I tried to call the housekeeper to come and take a look after her shower, the housekeeper just washed the drainholes with water and sprayed some air fresher. After the housekeeper left, i went to smell the toilet. Gosh!! It's a mixture of smelly drain smell and air fresher...wanted to faintz....So i went to look for our tour guide and request for a change of room again. Luckily the hotel has available room to change for us. So we moved from 1 end to the other end, and we went to check out the toilet, whether got stench. There was none, for start. Don't know why, the stench started to come later by the night...Sianz sia....we needed to stay in this hotel for 2 nights and we got a smelly toilet....But luckily the stench in the 3rd room is not so heavy than the previous room..so just bear with it and tuned in for the night....My friend complained too hot to sleep cos the heater was too strong, causing the room too warm for her to sleep well...But for me, i finally slept (really feel like i am sleeping) after 4 days of no proper sleep (think craving for sleep by this time)..hahaha....

To be cont'd.....

Places visited:
1. China's Bamboo City
2. LeShan Giant Buddha

Hotel Stayed:
Jiajiang Venie Hotel