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.

Lazy morning, dumplings for brunch.

Headed to the station nice and early because I was not sure where to go but as it turns out it’s less than 20 mins from my hotel room.

Through the priority check to enter the station and then same again to board the train. This foreigner malarkey is great. Because you only need to show your passport after buying the ticket online and it has to be manually processed so it’s to the front of the queue almost every time.

I was one of six that strolled in late and onto the train first, I’m liking this very much.

So I arrived at the museum for the second time and went to see the happy folk in the ticket office. I was told to go to line one and I was in. In front of me at the counter was a young foreigner who discovered that he too should have bought a ticket online as they were sold out once more for today. I was going to give him some information that I had gleaned but he was gone.

So so busy, but you have to expect this. Pushing and shoving. Tour groups everywhere, everyone of them talking over the other. Huddling around the displays trying to get the best angle and as usual very few look at the object in the glass case. It’s click click and move on, but that’s what the Chinese do, they would rather look at life through the phone.

In the process of getting the money shot you have to hold your ground and push others back. They try to get in your viewfinder and age is no limit. The look on those little faces when you don’t move and sometimes you might just happen to stand on their toes, oh it is priceless. One of the few pleasures one gets at these places, oh of course the exhibits are not bad too. The little princess’s and prince’s don’t seem to understand what is happening when you don’t let them win.

At the other end of the scale are the old buggers like me and they are just as bad, but they too got the same treatment. It’s never too late to learn me thinks. No quarter I say 😋

This museum holds an absolute amazing collection from a culture that is so so different to anything, well here in China at least. There is a resemblance to South American civilisations like the Aztec and Myans, not the Chinese. They could well be alien. As with many ancient civilisations we don’t really know how they made many of the objects left behind, we can only surmise and I often feel that the so called experts are barking up the wrong tree. Some of the jade on display is simple to look at but the quality of the machining again is exquisite. Even today jade is one of the most difficult stones to work and when you see it in its raw form you can only stand with your mouth open and be in awe of what lies before you.

And let me just say again here, almost every Chinese person here today fighting to get that all important picture of one of the most intriguing cultures in history spends less time than it takes to blink before studying the picture and then posting it onto social media. Reality for them is not real and seems very unimportant.

I’ve wanted to come here for years and I’m so glad that I got in here today. Being the weekend I knew it would be busy but as I said I had a bit of fun on the way.

If you come to Chengdu I would give the Panda’s a rubber ear and come to Sanxingdui….. You will not be disappointed.

And don’t forget to buy your train tickets in advance, buy both ways and get your museum tickets too, they can be bought up to five days in advance.

The incredible Bronze Tree.

Thank goodness for Shadowrocket VPN, the only vpn that works almost every time. There are over 700 proxies and they are updated every day. I’m using the free version but when I get home and I can check all the in’s and outs I might just have to give up my paid version of Surfshark because in China it has been useless.