Overland from Lhasa to Kathmandu
via the North Face of Everest

Greetings from the Himalaya group.

Impressions from Chengdu (Sep 25, 2011):

Chengdu - the third largest city in China – 10.3 M people

Panda Park
An outstanding facility responsible to save the Pandas from almost certain extinction.. The panda is native to the remote northern and northwestern mountainous regions of Sichuan and the Tibetan frontier, and is an elusive animal, difficult to see in the wild.

This Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, was opened to the public in 1995 and we visited it this morning. Some of us got pictures taken with the Pandas.

The case of the missing person: The park is a sprawling complex and you can see Pandas in various habitats. People got dispersed and got together at Exit around 11 AM. However, one person was missing. It was no surprise to Rod who knows Gary well. He is a wanderer, he will show up, said Rod. Everyone was getting edgy as it was delaying our trip to the giant Buddha. Sanjay went on electric cart looking for him followed by Rod, all in vain. Finally Sanjay called the hotel where we were staying and found Gary. Ever since, it has been a source of endless jokes.

Leshan Buddha:
Long 2 hour drive from Chengdu. Best view is from a boat where you can see the mountain front that contains the carved Buddha and the stairs built around it. A magnificent piece of stone carving on such a huge scale.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996, luckily, it was undamaged by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Carving of the Buddha was started in 713, led by a Chinese monk named Hating. He hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels traveling down the river. Construction was completed by his disciples ninety years later.