Asia Trip: Day 155 - Chengdu 成都 (6/17/19)
Daily Highlights:
Woke up early and arrived in Chengdu at 8:30am
Found my hostel and chilled until Ron arrived
Finished watching The Nice Guys
Got lunch at the hostel - I got a VERY spicy lunch
Did a walking tour at 2:30pm and went all over the city
Came back, chilled and had a local honey craft beer which was pretty damn good
Took a bus to Jinli Street
SO MANY PEOPLE, got dinner and cigars
Went to a Buddhist souvenir place
Took bus back to hostel, got a glass of Chivas and smoked a cigar
Asia Trip: Day 156 - Chengdu 成都 (6/18/19)
Daily Highlights:
Woke up and went to see THE PANDAS
They were cool, but pretty underwhelming
They looked poorly treated, sad and uninterested in everything
Also Chengdu markets and milks the crap out of these pandas
Came back to the hostel and chilled
Went to a local Buddhist temple - pretty damn cool
Watched YouTube videos and napped
Workout on roof - 100 burpees and jump knee tucks
Went to Hot Pot
Such an interesting mix of people: mid 30’s Chinese woman from LA, mid 40’s engineer from Wisconsin, 20 y/o British guy teaching English here, girl from DC who could handle all of the spice in the world, and another guy from San Jose.
A motley crue but pretty good times
Asia Trip: Day 157 - Chengdu 成都 => Leshan 乐山 (6/19/19)
Daily Highlights:
Called dad and wished him a happy birthday
Took the high speed train to Leshan
SAW THE GIANT BUDDHA
Crossed yet another thing off of my 16 y/o bucket list
Hiked all around and up the mountain
Tried to do the boat tour, but missed it for today
Rested for a bit and watched YouTube videos
Went out for dinner
HAD AMAZING DUMPLINGS
Beef and greens with a spicy oil sauce made up of chili’s, garlic, fresh herbs, and chives
Watched Dances with Wolves
I love walking through cross walks today, almost got hit by a few cars and yelled at them. It’s funny how the children are usually more mature and well behaved than the adults.
In my dorm room, there was a rotund Chinese guy who was sitting at a desk playing video games with the sound on full blast, with a huge lit up keyboard, wearing only his boxers exposing his big belly, sitting around a pile of discarded sunflower seeds. What a sight to behold.
Asia Trip: Day 158 - Leshan 乐山 => Emei 峨眉山 (6/20/19)
Daily Highlights:
Woke up early to see the Big Buddha - such a big line
I went back to the hostel
I worked out on the playground - all of the old people loved me
Pullups 5x8
Pushups - 5x20
Chinups - 3x6
Dips 3x10
Took bus to Mount Emei
Walked around the town for a bit and then went back to the hostel and chilled
Watched Dances with Wolves - INCREDIBLE
Saw a live fish jump out of an old mans plastic bag in the middle of the hostel
The bag had a hole in it, so the fish came out three more times haha
Watching Dances with Wolves made me want to visit truly wild places before they are gone. Seeing the beauty of somewhere untouched and pure. It makes me want to explore the American west on another trip. Soak up all of the nature, run through deserted fields and be in the wild to really be feral.
Asia Trip: Day 159 - Emei 峨眉山 => Chengdu 成都 (6/21/19)
Daily Highlights:
Woke up at 6:00am to climb Emei Shan
We got convinced by some Italian guy
Took a two hour bus ride to the base and it was pouring raining
Hiked two hours to the top and we were in a cloud
It was very cool to wander and see the culture
The place just felt holy and sacred - we stood by the massive fire pit to warm up
Finally came back to the hostel - four hours later
Took a bus to Chengdu
It was supposed to take three hours - it took five hours
The toll station back backed up with a mile of traffic across six lanes, there were only two windows servicing cars
Then two lanes became one because a huge truck ran out of gas on the highway blocking the other available lane
It was like everyone cutting line at the ticket counter, but it was cars on the highway
FINALLY GOT TO THE HOSTEL
Asia Trip: Day 160 - Chengdu 成都 (6/22/19)
Daily Highlights:
Slept in until 8:00am
Woke up for a walk. 早上的时候，我吃了一个牛夹肉，两个香蕉和很多樱桃
我看了一个电影，这个是Bullitt跟Steve McQueen
我去过人们公园，这个地方又安静又有意思。
我晚饭吃了水饺和肉夹馍。我有新的朋友，这个人是两个老人。
我学很多新的东西，所以我很累。
Today was a good day to hang out, v relaxing and doing nothing. I’m excited to go to Danba tomorrow and see Tibetan culture, but not stoked for the bus ride. I can feel my Chinese getting better, but I need to practice more during the day.