The Great Buddha of Leshan

The last stop of our vacation trip should lead us to a monumental stone statue southwest of Chengdu, the Leshan Dafo, the Great Buddha of Leshan. 

In order to tame the wild waters of the nearby rivers 'Min Jiang, Dadu' and 'Qingyi', this 71m high statue and thus the largest Buddha statue in stone was carved over the course of 300 years. Today, it is not known for certain whether it was Buddha's grace or the tons of boulders that made the waters navigable again for shipping. The whole story took place from the 7th to the 10th century.

You can view the Buddha statue from the opposite bank, walk around the statue on stairs, or sail along the calmed waters on a boat. We chose the latter. We booked a driver through didi. He drove us to Leshan, which takes about 1.5 hours, then waited for us on site and brought us back safely in the afternoon. The young driver told us that he comes from Shanghai but currently lives in Chengdu because his family, or only his brother, we didn't really get that clear, also lives in Chengdu. At the ticket counter of the excursion boat, we could only pay in cash, which was a novelty for us in China. Normally, it's the opposite. Philipp enjoyed the boat ride itself, of course, we enjoyed the Buddha and the proportions between the big toe and the big people.

The boat ride lasted just long enough for us to take pictures of Buddha and also enjoy an ice cream.

The other potential excursions around Leshan are unfortunately not very suitable for small children, so we ate the most delicious 'Jiǎoze' yet.

We strolled along the 'Market Street' again to let us be driven back to Chengdu.

In the evening, my dear family went to the Hotpot Restaurant No. 1 recommended by the travel guide, just for me. This was definitely a risk because Chengdu is considered one of the spiciest areas in terms of food (and as my colleagues assured me, women like me 😱). The spiciness of the food is also categorized into different levels from 'Bù Là' (not spicy) to '... Là' (depending on the restaurant). As a precaution, we ordered 'Bù bù bù là' and got a pot with 'slightly spicy' on the outside and 'mild' in the middle.

Despite that, my loved ones struggled and had to be brave. When Philipp even got a 'spicy splash' in his eye, the only consolation was watching football. Luckily, there are TVs everywhere, and it was the World Cup, although Germany had been eliminated the day before. In the end, we managed to finish the meal, because even in China, the Swabian motto applies: 'It's better to have a twisted stomach than to give something to the landlord for free!'