The territory was divided into two concessions given to France and the United Kingdom by the Qing  government in the 19th century (1859 to 1943). The island is a gazetted historical area that serves as a tranquil reminder of the colonial European period, with quiet pedestrian avenues flanked by trees and lined by historical buildings in various states of upkeep. The island is the location of several hotels, a youth hostel, restaurants and tourist shops selling curios and souvenirs.

I did not write that, as you can tell I’m not that eloquent. But I did go there today, it wasn’t planned, I just happened to stumble in it’s direction.

I went into Guangzhou to look at a few tech markets near the river and when I got off the metro everything was closed, I forgot that geeks don’t get up early. So I wandered down to the river. The river was a lovely brown colour due to the flooding further up stream. There were also some flood defences in place and in the few hours I was here there was a significant rise in the river.

I’d seen the concession somewhere recently and was very happy to have found it. The architecture is so different and yet recognisable as well. On the riverside you pass the old customs house with its links to Queen Victoria me thinks.

It’s a great place to visit to get away from the hustle and bustle of Guangzhou which is undoubtedly one of the busiest city’s in China. This oasis is a very calm and beautiful place to just spend time in marvelling at some of the best architecture for miles around. Oh and don’t forget some of the beautiful trees that compliment this colonial boulevard and some have been here for nearly 200 years.

The only sad thing is that a couple of places have been bought by the usual culprits and they have plastered their logos out front for all to see.

Kubla Khan came across these mountains and after being nearly at the top I’m quite impressed. I got to just under 4000 metres and my poor old body knew about it. My lungs were working overtime and as I reached the top I could feel my legs beginning to tire, but I got there and there were still pockets of snow on the ground.

I was still wearing my thin summer clothes but I was generating a fair bit of heat so I didn’t really notice until I stood still.

Your chest begins to tighten, your breathing increases and your legs feel twice the weight but I just kept my breathing steady and a slow steady pace and all was well. We only had to climb a further 230 metres or so after we got off the cable car but it was still quite the workout😂

This glacial lake sits just under the 4000 metre mark and is called Horse Lake because it is said that Kubla Khan watered his horses here in 1263.

A ticket cost 320 RMB. I wasn’t going to go because of the price but the taxi driver stopped at this gate instead of the one I was going to go to. The other gate only went half way up and was half the price, but as I’m leaving here tomorrow I thought “what the hell” I’m glad I did go up on this one because the view is spectacular, and you can almost see the whole of Erhai Lake. I’ll come back again one day and I’ll stay on the lake I think as it will be a lot more peaceful.

At one section the cable car gets quite a swing happening, the wind was very strong and it made the journey that bit more exciting.

A few people had bought oxygen and one young girl in the car began to use it shortly after we left the bottom, not sure how she got on at the top.

I got there early and so the crowds had not arrived yet but as I made my way back to the cable car the tour groups were just arriving.

I was hoping to do a 14km walk but the climb was over 1000 metres and me thinks that my fitness is not good enough to tackle this and after last years fiasco of falling in Petra I took the easy way and took the cable taxi to the top instead.

Dali is actually a nice place, it’s just the tourists that are the problem. This evening I went for a wander around the the old town and managed to escape from the hustle and bustle because the tourist numbers are a fraction of what they have been the last two days. I would come back to this area again but I’ll choose my dates more carefully. That being said I’m still ready to return to my sanctuary.

I came across this music store selling all the latest hits

Is busy, it’s the weekend. The days just come and go with no sense of time. What day is it? If I’d realised it was the weekend when I arrived I would have made different plans to arrive on a week day maybe, but I left myself little room for change.

The old city is bustling, restaurants, souvenir shops, sweet shops and many other business however they are just repeating as you move from street to street. The food is better here which I’m happy with, there’s more choice.

I’m not enjoying the trip now, too tired and I’ve been on the road too long. I’ve met many good people along the way but unfortunately there are too many ignorant, selfish, entitled stupid bastards that are irritating the fuck out of me now and they are everywhere.

They just walk in front of you without even looking or they see you and think well I’m just going over there and push in front anyway and the thing is they have absolutely no idea what they have just done, because for them it is OK… It’s what they do.

What did I say? Ignorant, selfish entitled stupid bastards! Oh and arrogant.

I’m sitting in a cafe over looking the lake and instead of enjoying mother nature in all her glory we still have to have noise. Riding bikes with music blaring. There’s a booze bus going up and down also blasting out music with some stunt musician pretending to play. I’m borderline postal. Oh and did I mention the constant use of horns? The horn is used to as a substitute for fucking thinking for yourself and taking responsibility, how about slowing down and looking to see if anyone is there or maybe wait two seconds till they move.

The drivers whether they are on a bike or in car drive way too fast with absolutely no concern for the safety of others and they come way too close. You really have to have your eyes and ears open.. The horn is used here to warm you they are coming, let’s just say they slowed down a bit and gave you a wide berth when safe to do so and took some more responsibility rather than scare the shit of you.

Definitely Postal😏

And don’t get me started on the smoking, now these guys are in a different league completely. They have passed, with flying colours may I say, with all the attributes mentioned above and then some. Most of the time they are not even smoking the fuckin things, it’s just part of the pose. They would be the first ones against the wall! 😈

No patience left, I’m worn out and I would quite happily board a plane today and head for home.

I could sit and bitch all day and of course it’s very cathartic.

Now as I return to my room the hotel has the builders in with a jack hammer, oh joy oh fuckin joy……………..

I came looking for Salvador but instead found the best cup of coffee I’ve had in nearly two months, well apart from my own coffee that I brought from home. and there was a little bonus it only cost 18 RMB which is almost half the price of a shit flavoured Starbucks 😜

Just down from my hotel I watched this woman walk slowly into the building carrying a large basket on her back. Every step deliberate and slow.

On the street her partner was filling up another basket. It’s overfilled and smoothed off to hold the maximum amount of what looks like cement.

He then puts his arms through and picks it up and again the slow deliberate steps as he makes his way up the slope. I can’t begin to imagine how much weight he is carrying but it’s impressive.

Rather than break the ambience of my story telling in the previous post I thought that it would be better to share a few things here that happened yesterday.

At the train station when I’m in line to get my passport checked a young guy stepped up to the front and tried to get the attention of the station employee, I looked at him and told him to wait and then pushed him back. He insisted in doing it again and I did the same thing again and then the guy checking my passport said something and the young guy backed down. This really fuckin’ annoys me, am I invisible? This happens all to often, young and old alike.

For the most part the behaviour at the big Buddha was OK as long as there was no queue, for some reason the Chinese treat this as a race. As we are waiting to go down to the Buddha we are corralled into a maze of fencing, zig zagging our way to the top of the stairs. As we leave the fence there is about 4 metres of open ground and then everybody makes a dash to the stairs and the next thing you know there are about 50 folk in front of you that should be behind. Old and young and cripples.

Eventually we form two lines only because the stairs are narrow. To my right a girl is looking at herself in a bejeweled mirror, she’s one of the fuckers that pushed in front. Two flights of stairs and the mirror is already showing signs of over use.

The guy in front that pushed in is busy on his phone taking shit pictures and sending them to someone on Wechat. He can’t do two things at once so he had to stop while he fumbles with the phone, so I push passed him. As the stairs narrow a bit more we need to be in single file and so I take this opportunity to push by the vain femme fatale.

The stairs zig zag town to the foot of the Buddha and you really have to be careful, the steps are not all the same height. At one corner the right lane seems to have stopped and my side is still moving. Around the corner the cause of the delay is apparent, some gay pretty boy had stopped dead on the stairs to watch his soap opera, I mean what the fuck?

Walking down a dangerous flight of steps where one mistake could make you lose your footing and fall and you might even take a few others with you and this fucker is watching his phone.

They’re just fucking stupid and should be thrown into the water below. A few people are shouting at him and I do too and even give him a hurry up. But gay boy is not too fazed by anybody because the drama unfolding on his phone is oh so real.

I only stayed for a short while at the foot of the Buddha, there were too many people and I needed to get away from everyone of them. Especially the ones smoking, when it clearly says NO SMOKING. The security guards don’t seem to care either.

Even when there is a bin it’s still too much for many to put the empty bottle into the bin or that snotty tissue because it’s so much easier just to drop it or put it down on the fence where is can fall into the river. Have they no respect?

At almost every venue that you visit in China it is the same story and I find it very annoying and difficult to keep my mouth closed. It really gets on me tits. You get to the point where you just don’t want to go because a few dickheads, sometimes many, just spoil it.

China is trying to attract foreign visitors to the country and I’m sure many will feel like me when they see this behaviour, we tolerate it but we don’t like it one bit. China has almost worn me out after seven weeks. My trip should have been shorter and so I guess I have answered my initial question about returning to China to live and the answer to that question is a resounding no!

I will come back for a holiday and to see friends but I think 6 weeks would be the maximum, 8 weeks is just too much.

I’ll tell you how bad it affected me, I even walked twenty minutes to Starbucks to buy a Latte, what the hell is happening?

However on the way there I found this beautiful spicy hamburger 😋

Another bucket list destination accomplished. The Leshan Buddha is one of those places I only discovered after returning home and thought to myself, why did I not know about it?

I got a taxi from the station and with a lovely lady driver. She asked me “what gate I wanted to go to?” and I said “I don’t know”  We checked Gaode and decided on gate 1 and set the map to work. She asked me many questions and I could only answer a fraction of them but if was a good laugh. She even tried to teach me how to read some of the characters and then it was my turn to give her some English. The thirty minute ride only cost 35 RMB however I gave her 50 as a tip. Not common practice here but you know, sometimes? Oh and she is the best driver so far here, none of this coasting malarkey.

The ticket process was a bit confusing, no English, but my skill level was enough to understand and I think they made a mistake with the ticket price because I only paid 50 RMB to get into the underground palace and down to the foot of the Buddha. I’m sure they told me it would be over 100, but not complaining.

For me the Underground Palace was way more impressive than the Big Leshan Buddha. There are two more large Buddhas inside these huge caverns that are connected by passageways. From the entrance there are very large niches with intricate carvings of deities, my favourite is the one picking his ears… I see myself here 🙄

The first chamber that you enter has a very fat Buddha staring you in the face and watching on his henchmen both right and left.

Carry on and you will come across the first of two Buddhas standing over 33 meters tall making you feel quite small and insignificant. Where do you start to create this? It’s head is nearly touching the ceiling but it’s also free standing within this massive chamber.

Up another flight of steps and you’re introduced to the story of the Buddha and followers through this reliefs and beautiful carvings within another massive chamber.

As you exit this room you enter a space that is bigger then any before and here on your right another interpretation of the Buddha. He seems even bigger than the previous one and again the details on his clothing and the presence of such an unbelievable statue makes you look in awe.

By the time I get back outside and make my way to the famous Big Buddha I found it a little bit underwhelming to be honest. Yes it’s big and impressive but compared to what I have just seen inside the mountain the craftsmanship does not compare, or maybe he is just looking a bit worse for wear as he is sitting outside in all weather😁

There are so many other temples and walks that you can do here but for me all I wanted to see was the Big Buddha, however you will discover that there is more here than meets the eye.

It only took an hour to get here from Chengdu, a bit of a gamble coming here due to the inclement weather. I’m here for three days and it’s supposed to be raining.

The hotel resort is interesting, it’s basically a residential complex come hotel. The room is comfortable and even has a washing machine. WiFi is quick the staff have been great, however the only complaint is the breakfast which for me is not compatible and so I bought the usual things… bananas and bread, I just can’t start the day with noodles.

I went out to for a recce and there’s not too much to this place, there’s the mountain and many many restaurants that look the same and seem to have the same menu. The flavours are not bad but the food just does not fill you up.

I did find a small place selling fried rice and it was good. In the evening outside the hotel there were street carts and the chow mian was very good but the next night the beef noodle was shit. It’s a bit hit and miss.

I was going to climb the Emei Mountain, however there is not much point when the peak is covered in clouds and it’s over 200 RMB just to get in and then they hit you for other charges. The transport is a bit hit and miss and that will cost about 150 return and so I don’t see the point of going only to be disappointed. I’d much rather walk in a mountain such as Tiger Leaping Gorge where you are free to walk on natural ground rather than man made steps and tracks and there would be almost no Chinese there which is an added bonus.

Tomorrow I’ll go to Leshan and see the big Buddha but for now I’ll going to the hot tub for a bit before I settle in for a quiet night.

Very different to Suzhou, it’s so much bigger, it feels vast and the roads are wide. I got a taxi from the airport because it had been a long journey and I just wanted to sleep.

The taxi driver definitely knew how to drive, even although he was horsing it on the motorway I didn’t reach for my brake pedal once. You’ll also notice that many drivers are way more polite and drive in a manner that you would recognise. There is a some courtesy here. When crossing at traffic lights they will stop without being challenged, how refreshing, mind you the use of horns is unnecessary at times.

The accent is also a bit more confusing and I’m having trouble communicating, mind you it’s a bit of fun playing charades.

The dress code here is more relaxed compared to Suzhou. They also seem to be living in the present, in Suzhou it feels very different. The young folk seem to be young folk, not young folk dressing like old folk, which is a feeling I got in Suzhou.

Mind you Suzhou is steeped in culture and I guess the legacy is in the DNA. Not sure about Chengdu history so I can’t comment.

Looking forward to leaving today, two days is enough for me. Heading to Emeishan today and hopefully it will be a bit quieter and cooler with any luck. So hot here the lady two days and I have packed mostly winter gear.