Yi Ge Ren For The Day, Part II

I was feeling all kinds of bold after my zombie hide-out climbing adventure.  I struck off for the Buddha with wide-open eyes, ready to notice all of the things. 

There were not very many people at this place at all. Lots of stanchions were set up to guide lines in long winding paths, but the few of us that were there got to bypass them all.  On the path up to the Buddha itself, I saw some hilariously translated signs:

The one on the left means don't throw stuff off the cliff and the one on the right

says "no scribblings" but means "don't carve stuff on the rocks".  More or less.

There was a little pool of water with a carved dragon curved around it:

And then a jade tiger.  The dragon and the tiger are supposedly guardians.  Some Chinese boys (one of whom totally took several surreptitious pictures of me) took some pics for me *of* me on the tiger:

(I like the first two, but my hair looks cool in the last two...)

They and I kinda kept pace as we walked up the mountain (while the camera happy one engineered his selfies to capture me in the background ((I know I sound vain, but I'm not making this up))).  The other guy was the only one to say anything to me and all he said was, "Yi ge ren?"  That means "alone?"  And I knew that!!!  So I said, "Uh huh", in true non-Chinese fashion. 

The Buddha was cool, but I was a bit underwhelmed.  Maybe because I had been reading hyperbolic accounts of what an amazing feat it had been to build.  It took 80 years, back in the year 1000 or so.  A hundred people can fit on one of his feet!!  Turns out that a hundred people just don't take up that much space.  I mean, he was big, don't get me wrong.  He just didn't seem very...colossal. 

That's okay, it was still really cool.  You start up by his head and then there is a very narrow very steep stair case that zigzags down the cliff beside him.  There are little grottos with other Buddhist figures carved into the cliff face on the way down.  I wonder if the workers made those on their breaks from carving the big guy.  Maybe they finished his head and carved up some mini vignettes on the side before cutting further down into the rock and freeing his shoulders. 

There was a Chinese girl in a yellow coat in front of me who was evidently afraid of heights.  She went slowly, with a bit of squealing and holding onto the girl in front of her. 

Once at the bottom, the Buddha loomed quite impressively.  They say his toenails are big enough for someone to sit on them.  I might even say that someone could dance upon them.  There was a cute fluffy pigeon parked in front of one of them:

purple sticks of incense

 Once you've seen the Buddha, you can leave or you can keep going towards the "Cave Tomb Museum".  Who can pass up that kind of invitation!?  I kept going.  It was quite a climb, with interesting vistas.

Another girl very definitely took my picture.  It was a little awkward because she stopped in the middle of the path and was taking a picture back the way she had come.  I was trying to get past her quickly to get out of her way so she could take her picture in peace.  Turns out I was her subject.  I was probably all blurry.  She should have just asked and I would've stayed put and maybe even smiled for her!

At one spot you walk down some stairs and end up in a gaggle of women in aprons and sleeve-cover things.  Obviously trying to sell stuff.  I breezed right on by until one woman came up to me and said--in English!--"Did you eat lunch?"  I was super surprised, so my default defense of brushing off any and all hawkers was overridden, and I answered her truthfully: "Not yet."  Turns out *her* restaurant has an English menu, and I ended up following her through the gauntlet of dingy food joints to her place. 
(On the way, I noticed all of this buckets of live fish swimming around.  Lunch on parade for the buyer, I presume.  Some of the fish had twine tied through their back fins, and as I watched a women reached in and pulled one of these fish out by the twine.  It writhed and wriggled in the air and I pulled out my phone to capture it's out-of-water-beauty, when suddenly the woman lifts it into the air and SLAMS that fish down onto the sidewalk!  One, two, three times and the last time she lets go of it and that's when my phone actually captured an image.

Poor fish.  Stunned, if not dead, it didn't flop around anymore as it was hung on one end of a scale.  Fascinating.

The place I ate also had buckets of fish.  There was one HUGE fish and I inspected it.  Poked it.  I think it was already dead.  Anyway, ever since our hotpot tastes-like-dirt fish fiasco, I haven't really wanted to eat fish around here, so my lunch was roasted eggplant!  Quite tasty, though I ate it wondering if it would end up making me violently ill.  I watched the woman who led me down and took my order "wash" her hands in one of the fish buckets.  Granted, the water was pouring in and running through.  Granted, she may not have been the one to cook for me.  But that bucket did have a dead fish in it...

After I saw the cool cave tomb museum, I spotted a really cool- looking covered bridge from afar, but when I got there and tried to cross it, some guy cut me off and chattered at me in Chinese.  I caught "Chengdu" a couple times, but I was otherwise completely confused.  I breathed deep, ready to immerse myself in the figure-out-what-the-heck-this-guy-wants mode, but then, heaven-sent, some friendly faces popped into view and asked, in English, "Do you need any help?" 

Turns out they were a Chinese who have been living in Australia and they were super nice.  Told me that guy was trying to sell me tickets for a bus back to Chengdu.  Um, no thanks.  But they were headed in the direction of the train station, would I like to tag along?  Yes Please!  I longingly looked over my shoulder at that tantalizing covered bridge and whatever mysteries lay beyond it, but fate had brought me some English speakers and I was not about to look that fate-gift-horse in the mouth.  They helped me out, getting me a little rickshaw to the bus stop, and then commandeering a quiet young man at the bus stop to be my guide.  Thank you!!

Now, before I get bored with telling this story...

sigh. It may be too late. 

There were some adorable old old ladies on the bus.  I gave my seat to one of them and then my young chaperone gave me his seat.  ^^ so cute.

There was a flushie toilet with toilet paper at the train station!

And I read the Wheel of Time all the way home!  Tah dah!

(it was a really fun adventure)