[Day12] Panda

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

Our sad last day in China... our flight back to Malaysia are around 11pm.
But, we are not going to sit down, upload our pictures and doing any video edits on our last day... today is the day to do see everything (hopefully) in Chengdu.

We started our day with a short breakfast. We booked our visit to the Panda Research base yesterday. A van will pick us up at 9am. I've been here with a bunch or europeans and my Hostel (Sim Cosy) bartender act as our tourist guide. He knows a lot.

Cute Baby Panda :)

But this time, I remember some guy with the driver become our guide. Well, didn't pay attention at all... I just read whatever little note they put on the observation deck. Mornings is the good time to observe Panda, because mostly they're active. Play around having their meal...

Red Panda

The difference that I noticed between the research base on 2010 and 2013 are the Red Panda conservation area. The new Red Panda observation is like a safari... we're able to enter the conservation area were the Red Panda roaming around you... they walk beside you and between your legs. But caution... they're not like cats that can be petted. They looks domesticated by obviously, there're small bears... you can see their claws are sharp and the length is half of your fingers. You don't want that claws to touch fondly on your skull don't you... but anyway, Red Panda are pretty damn cute.

Towards Wenshu Monastery

Then we return back to our hostel for lunch.
While Ain took her rest... me, famy and dura explore Chengdu a little bit more. We went to visit the Wenshu Monastery. Wenshu Monastery is a popular tourist attraction in Chengdu, but the surroundings (outside) the monastery are equally interesting.

They preserve the old building around the monastery... you'll walk along interesting old chinese architecture. Currently, these building serve as a restaurant, medicine house and souvenir shop.

one thing for sure... if I have the chance to return back to Chengdu... I'll hunt this guy down... period!

Wenshu Monastery

Then we enter the quiet Wenshu Monastery.
The smell of the incense fill the monastery air... like most of religious places, the sense of tranquility is monumental. Secretly we took our cameras and snap a few shots despite the warnings... sorry. The urge to share the experience is strong.

We whispered when we talk... walk slowly and leave in peace. Respect.
Difference from Tibetan Monastery... the monks always murmurs the Tibetan Buddhism Scriptures... with lots of incense and candles made of yak fat. And again different from Kek Lok Si in Penang, Malaysia... who  always vibrant, colorful and interesting.

I like to visit all of them... religious places. For me the more I experience or learn other practices and faith... the more I understand why I love my faith so much. The reason to believe.

Wenshu Monastery

Then we took the metro towards Tianfu Square. We wish to ended our visit to one of the famous mosque in Chengdu... the Chengdu Huangcheng Mosque.

Tianfu Square during the day is different from night... there's music played everywhere with dancing fountain. Lots of locals hanging around Tianfu square with families and friends. We stroll around Tianfu Square for photos and observing the surroundings.

Then headed to the mosque.

Tianfu Square

Blurry group photo with Mao Statue. :P

Chengdu Huangcheng Mosque

We arrived at the mosque after painstakingly walk few kilometers around the building... I've always experience this when searching for mosque in China. Actually its really near Tianfu Square... my mind always projects the usual mosque in Malaysia. However, in China... their architecture is different. But, mostly, inside the mosque is fairly similar. 

I remember it just pass Asr when we arrived... the wood floor is lavish. I've been to mosque in Xi'an, Guangzhou and Lhasa... all of them have wood floor instead of full carpet floor like we have most mosque in Malaysia. I guess wood preserve more heat during winter... maybe, because I believe all place that I've been to in China... their winter reaches below than 5 Celsius... 

Tranquil and automatically the sense of belonging felt greater. Again... I felt really grateful to have the chance to visit all the places that I've been to... It creates what I'm today. The way I think... the way I attract to people... the more you travel, you'll realize that everybody is the same. Different ideology, religion, race, color of the skin, language, customs, culture gave the world its identity. Gave human the identity... how vibrant and colorful we're. 

Embrace Humanity... greed that sets us apart.

*****

We return back to our hostel, pack our things up and have our early dinner. Famy and dura return back to Wenshu for a couple of Pandas (soft toys)... sat down at our hostel lounge until the sun sets.

We took taxi towards Chengdu Shuangliu Internation Airport... check in early adn summarized our journey from Siem Reap to Chengdu... hopefully one day, we'll travel again together. 

Terima Kasih 

Ain Zalikha

Khairul Fahmi

Mohamad Adura

[Day11] Chengdu

I'm a morning person. 

When I'm travel, my normal day-to-day to do list is to get up early. Whenever you're in a city or villages or some remote area... there're always something interesting happened. I would like to called early morning rush as an art... different places have different kind of style. :)

Baoguo village, having the title as a tourist attraction... their weekdays morning are a pretty quiet. Yesterday were pretty hectic... today the other way round.

Baoguo Temple Bell

I didn't get the chance to took proper photo of the bell on our previous night outings. So, decided to walk towards this monument and spend a couple of minutes. It was freezing and quiet... ring the bell a couple of times just for fun. Hopefully I didn't wake everybody... especially the monk.. haven't seen one, but I guess they rest up there in the monastery or temple.

Teddy Bear

When the sun nearly up... I walk back to our hostel and woke Ain. Get ready to our short bus ride towards Chengdu... our last city/place before heading back to Malaysia.

Baoguo Bus Station

Baoguo and Chengdu is less than 200km... the bus journey took about 3 hours to reach Chengdu with one toilet/restroom stop.

The 3 hours trip was immensely scenic. A vast vegetable fields, villages... streams. The scene changes from loose villages to dense populated area when we approaching Chengdu... obviously. :P

I love countryside, villages... I think its more vibrant, more colorful and peaceful. I think China have it all... beautiful countryside and villages.

We arrived in Chengdu at the afternoon. Bravely walking quite a distance, trying to search for our hostel. But after an hour we quit and took taxi. As soon as we check-in, we have our lunch and hang around update photos and videos we took along our journey. Tomorrow is our last day in China... need to sort out our luggage and bags for the airport.

In the evening, me & famy follow dura looking for a famous Muslim restaurant... we found it and ate beef stew with a little rice. We ended up walking towards Tianfu Square where the Mao Zedong statues lies.

Sad, it was nearly the end of our travel venture... but we have responsibility and work at home. Hopefully, I get the chance to travel with these guys again in the future. :)

[Day10] Emei Shan

yes.., again an early morning. We tried to get the first bus from Baoguo to Leidongpin Bus station... I've this crazy idea going up the summit and hiking down towards Baoguo in the same day. But, it was unrealistic at the moment. So, we headed to Leidongpin... hike towards Jieyin Hall and took cable car towards the summit.

Leidongpin Bus Station

It took about 2 hours towards Leidongpin Bus Station with a toilet stop in the middle. The first 30 minutes bus ride was amazing. We're entering mountains, ridges and small rivers. As the bus stroll along the winding road, the landscape became white... snow that is. Anxiously worried about the slippery roads. You can see asphalt covers with ice... you can felt sometimes the bus seems like sliding or washing from its path. However, I guess the driver are kind a used to it... we arrived at Leidongpin intact and safe. fuhhh.

The bus station asphalt entirely cover with ice... it was difficult to walk on to. Slowly we stroll towards hiking starting point (actually a stairs cover with ice) that lead us to Jieyin Hall. I forget how long does it takes to reach the cable car station, but the stretch is only 1.5km.

OTW towards Jieyin Hall

The hike was super slippery, the mountain was entirely covered with snow... You'll find locals selling mini crampons, fruits and food along the way. We didn't bother to rent or buy any of those, our main focus now is the summit. Surviving on our trusted shoes...

OTW towards the Golden Summit

When we exit the cable car, this golden summit merely looks like a ski resort. :P 

The more higher we go, the warmer it gets... and its getting brighter too. We came across a huge stairs and a huge Samantabhadra Statue on top of the hill. Unlike Guanyin Statue at Nanzhao Fengqin Island of Er Hai, Samantabhadra sit on top of 4 huge elephant... and have a bunch of elephant around him (sorry this is my first time... hahaha)... the statue was painted in gold color... Maybe that's the reason why they called it the Golden Summit. 

We wonder around the temples and monastery... took few pictures and start to descent back down.

Samantabhadra Statue

The view up here is breath taking... the sites actually above the clouds. Its like an endless stretch of white cotton as far as your eyes could endure. It was breath taking...

It took us around 4 hours to be here... the bus ride... hiking then cable car... then hike again... does it worth it. Hmmm well... for me if I could hike down towards Baoguo would be nice... however, we don't have that much time to do that. I'm just lucky enough to be able to experience this.

Then our next stop Wannian temple. We descent back towards Leidongpin Bus Station... however, along the way we decided to return back to Baoguo because it was end of the day... plus we're worn out and super hungry. :P

Emei Shan Map

Again, we spend our night at Baoguo Temple and play with the huge bell. :) as the day getting colder and colder... we return back to our hostel and called it a day.

tomorrow we continue our journey towards the big city of CHENGDU,

[Day9] Leshan Grand Buddha

Paddy Field sunrise.

We have a really good rest on the train. Today going to be hectic, we need to check in and headed towards Leshan to visit the Grand Buddha. 

I believe it was minus zero degree at Emei today. We need to wear our jacket and gloves to stand this frigid weather. It's my first visit to Emei, excited and ready to explore. 

As soon as we exit the train station, we took taxi towards our hostel at Baoguo Village. We arrived at our quirky but cute hostel called Teddy Bear. Took a quick shower then we headed towards the bus station for Leshan.

It took about an hour to reach Leshan, again we took taxi towards Leshan Grand Buddha sites. you guys might realise that we took a lot of taxis instead of buses. Well, that's the advantages of traveling in a group, especially in a group of four. Just nice to spread the traveling cost and it's much more faster. An I think is the ideal way of traveling around cities that doesn't have metros and if you have little time to spend on the road. But, don't caught up in the traffic... well usually small city = no metro/city train = less traffic. :)

We haven't get the chance to have a proper meal since we reach Emei. Before we visit the Grand Buddha... we stacking up in a plush restaurant for a big lunch. Our most expensive lunch on our journey... two bowl of fish and a vege cost around RM100. I think we deserve it... but so far nothing can top our dinner at Panee Seafood at Khao San Alley in Bangkok. No not yet...

i didn't realise Leshan Grand Buddha park was huge. After our lunch,  it took us about 30 minutes walk towards the entrance. and I think more than an hour hike to reach the grand buddha. However, we're contemplating a great view along the way. If you're plan to visit, bring a lot of water... to hydrate.

Leshan Grand Buddha is the largest Buddha Sculpture in the world. Stated around 71 meters tall and was made during Tang Dynasty. It was located at south sichuan province and it lies where Dadu river and Qingyi rive meets.

This guy is pretty huge. It took quite amount of time to hike down the steep stairs, with quite amount of visitors. The other way to view this huge statue is by the river. However, walking and hike towards this sculpture is enough for me. The park surroundings is interesting too.

group picture. :) don't get fooled by the bright sunlight... it was minus zero.

Then after the massive Grand Buddha, we hike up towards Wuyou Temple. Along the way, we hover around the Fishing Village. It was pretty quite around here, it felt like we're back in time. After all these years, all the buildings seems to survive. The local claim, they still use the village as a fish market. They're small souvenir stalls here, but not too much. Along the village there's small restaurant selling fresh water fish... i guess the village will be alive early in the morning. It almost the end of day...

Then we found the entrance towards Wuyou Temple. We need to hike up small stairs to see it. Dura and Ain decline to called it a day. It's getting dark, but me and famy end up hiking up anyway. We manage to get the sunrise in action from the temple. Well the sunrise not that epic, but the view overlooking the river was great.

Then we rush hiking back down. But, unfortunately we took the wrong stairs... hahaha.. ended up in an old small residential area. Slightly panic, but we manage to regroup with ain and dura after a long walk. Kindly the local call a van to be shared with other Chinese traveler to return back to Baoguo village. Cramp in a small van... we're lucky we're back in our hostel an hour later.

After having our dinner in the hostel, and ain took her good well rest. Me, dura and famy took a night stroll towards Baoguo Temple bell... it was a quite weekend. But, clearly this is a gateway for local to spend their weekends. They're few lavish restaurant and resorts around.

Having enough freezing evening, we heading back to our hostel for tomorrow. The reason we stay here in Baoguo is... EMEI SHAN (Emei Mountain).

[Day8] Train Ride

I've always adore train rides. I mean the overnight ones... it saves logging cost, cover great distance and compare to flight it's more affordable and you won't see an array of clouds along the journey. Specifically in CHINA, train rides between Kunming, Chengdu and Xi'an always amazing. Tunnels after tunnels, ridges and gorges... rapids and huge Yellow River (Yangtze River). I like yunnan and sichuan back country where some small village we're made between ridges in the mountains. There's mountain paddy fields along the way with houses made in the mountains.

Kunming Train Station

As usual we started off early in the morning. Get my famous hostel hot chocolate with ain while waiting for dura and fami to get ready. Fami packed his braekfast and we headed to our bus waiting at the side of the road. It's tie for us to leave our favourite place called DALI. We will back... I'm pretty sure of it.

We already booked our train to Emei at 5:00pm. So, hopefully we arrived early so we can have our lunch and buy some packed food for our long journey towards Emei. It took around 6 hours to reach Kunming from DALI.

We reach Kunming in the afternoon. Took taxi straight towards train station. Haggling is the key to have a good bargain. Since we bring a lot of stuff. 4 huge backpacks and day packs. 

We have a perfect time, manage to get our lunch and buy a little supplies. 

I'm pretty excited to show ain, fami and dura how great train rides in CHINA. It's super comfortable and the view are amazing. 

China train management was tight. The train was on time, boarding 15 minutes before departure. In 2010, I've nearly miss my train journey from Xi'an to Chengdu with few europeans because we're just in time 15 minutes before departure. The door are about to close. They're few locals still fighting to get in but the officials are pretty strict. I'm feel sorry for them.

ain enjoying the view from our cabin

I've realise that this train have an english speaking cabin crew. I think, CHINA tourism are stacking up a notch. On my previous several train ride in 2010 and 2011... none of the cabin crew can speak english this pretty well. 

Yangtze River (Yellow River)

We sort our bags and food supplies right after we found our cabin. Fami and dura was nice enough to allow ain and me having the lower berth. We share quite amount of time hanging out and summarised our previous journey in DALI and Bangkok. Enjoying out train ride, the view... the ourback.. the village.. fields, river and mountains. When we're tired to talk... we just lay down and observe whatever comes outside our window until it gets really dark.

I'm woke early from the rest. Having a cigarette in the cold morning is great. The sun don't even rise yet. I'm blessed to have the opportunity to travel and this time with my wife and close friends. It was surreal after all these year traveling alone.

Woke up everybody for an early start. Early breakfast... tentatively we arrived at Emei around 9am. 

Freezing cold.

[Day7] Ear Shape Lake

Cang Shan (Cang Mountain)

It's amazingly beautiful mountain from a far. It's just like being struck out from a plain land, you have a huge mountain and a beautiful landscape. Dali is amazingly scenic, the wall, ancient city, mountains and lake just right there in front of you to discover and explore.

Today activity is about ferry ride, island hoping and enjoying the fresh lake air. Minutes after we boarding the ferry, we going to the top deck and enjoying the scenery. 

Putuo Island

Cormorant flying as its accompanied the ferry along the way. These Cormorant once are trained by the 'Bai' people to catch fish and return the  fish to the fishmongers. It's very popular, however we never seen these famous fishing method while we're here. 

Then, the ferry stop at Putuo Island. It's a small fisherman Island with a temple. Everybody in the ferry, took this chances to wonder and buy some cheap food in the small market. It's hectic for a small place, we just wonder around and try to take good pictures.

Putuo Island

Then the ferry, took off and headed to Lanzhou Island.

The 2nd Island is more touristy feel like. Proper guestroom, a monument... you'll find the legend Mother Shayi.. and Guanyin Statue like we have at Kek Lok Si in Penang. 

Then the ferry return to shore.

We get a taxi towards our hostel, get out late lunch and wonder around the Ancient Wall until dark. 

Dali Ancient Wall

We completed the day with a hot chocolate at the hostel and sleep early. Because tomorrow going to be a long journey towards Emei, Sichuan.

[Day6] Waterfalls & Horses

There's a lot of things to do just for a day. We woke up quite early to catch transport towards Cang Shan National park. From the new information given, the chairlift at the end of the 12km Cloud Pass (Jade Roo pathway) is NOT working anymore. So, no more hiking towards the cliff, gorges or crags... however, the Qingbi Stream sound intriguing.

We arrived at the Nature Reserve office for tickets and at the same time consume the beautiful panoramic view of ErHai for afar. I can believe, I letting my feet here again for the second time. There's a lot of changes in a 3 years gap. 

Weekdays is the ideal get around time here in China. Not very much people around... I remember only us waiting for the cable car to arrived. No queuing, no rush... most of the cable car passing by is empty. 

It's beautiful up here during winter. You'll patches of snow everywhere... on the grass and on the pathway. The sound of the water rushing down the stream is so tranquil and calm. Maybe in the summer there's going to be waterfalls to the jade color pond at the Qingbi Stream.

Qingbi Stream

After that I climb up higher to the Jade Roo Pathway OR Cloud Path... just to bring back those memories when I'm traveling alone here at 2010. The 12km road towards the chair lift is closed. So, we continue our hike toward on the opposite route. They're platform overlook the some gorges of Cang Shan... the view was exhilarating.

*****

Then we took our way back with the cable car. Having our lunch near the hostel, rest for a few minutes and off we go for another adventure. 

Luckily we don't need to walk through the Cloud pathway... otherwise we don't have the chances to do the horseback ride through one of the trail towards tea plantation. 

Dura and his horsie. :P

Unfortunately, before we started off Ain was kicked by one of the horses. Her ankle swollen like hell, but she brave enough to continue the adventure. 

Sadly to say that, there was a lot of construction at the foot of the hill compare to my previous ventures. They're constructing residential area... a nice one I think, since the view from here is spectacular. Oversea ErHai on the front and Cang Mountain at the back. It was an unpleasant sights for me, however, who am I to judge. Maybe DALI people need this.

The horseback riding continue it's journey until we reach tea plantation. 

Erhai Lake

Tight up our horses, and continue walk up hill. Apart from the construction that we passes by, the tea plantation experience was very nice. We took our tea (off course) and rest overlook the massive ErHai. Famy even took a quick nap before we hike towards a small waterfall. 

Dali Ancient City

As usual we're worn out after all the activities. Since we didn't get enough of the ancient city when we arrived late night yesterday. We took the extra time wonder about the west gate and took few pictures. Including the one below... called 'Dura Alone In The Streets' hahaha. :P

Dali Ancient City

Tomorrow will be ErHai lake.

[Day5] Kunming

Again... morning rush. 

This time towards Don Meuang Airport... catch our flight towards Kunming, Yunnan, CHINA. Started our day early so we didn't stuck at the Bangkok rush hour traffic. As soon as we arrived at Don Meuang, check in our bags change, our remaining thai bath and a quick breakfast.

Airport always have a good vibe on me. Whether I'm going somewhere, pickup somebody or send someone. The feeling of going to places always intrigue me. 

Our departure to Kunming is around 8am. However, the flight was slightly delayed causing our arrival an hour late then schedule. 

Kunming Changshui International Airport is huge... it seems like we are the only traveler picking up baggage at the conveyor. The immigration and custom is pretty straight forward. Yeah... Kunming.. It's dusty, freezing December. 

*****

Last Kunming visit I spend most of my time at dusk, arriving from Chengdu by train then catching the first bus towards DALI... then 5 days after that at night, rushing towards Kunming Changsui International Airport from a massive traffic jam from DALI. It's NOT amusing... :P However, this time was different. Arriving in Kunming at the afternoon giving me time to experience a little about Kunming. 

Like every CITY in the world, Kunming is vast and busy. There's tall building everywhere, traffic is intense. There's a massive array of flyovers crossing each other when we approaching the city. The dry winter season giving Kunming that dusty dirty look. Beautiful city people crammed the city for an afternoon rush hour... LUNCH.

*****

As soon as we arrived at the train station. We booked our 3rd January journey to EMEI... then have a lunch at the nearby Muslim restaurant. Instantly the egg and tomato became my staple dish along our journey until we reached Chengdu. :)

The good thing traveling in a group is that you can always share your transportation cost, especially in the city. Back in the old days, when I'm traveling alone or with another person... taxi is our last mode of transportation. Getting to the bus station was easy... getting the tickets towards DALI is pretty easy too. Luckily the person behind ticket counter converse English well... get our 5pm bus ticket towards DALI. Top up our food ration since it going to be a 6 hours bus ride. :P

*****

The tiring bus ride ends at midnight. We took taxi right after getting our bags at the bus compartment. It took around 30 minutes to arrived at DALI Ancient City. 

I never thought that I would visit here again... hanging out at the same place. Even the hostel owner recognize me after all the years, how cool is that! Strangely I felt at home... getting hot chocolate and spending my new year watching other traveler playing billiards. 

Right after I putting out my cigarette at the ashtray... I lay down in my room and took a well deserve rest after a long journey.

*****

[Day4] Chao Praya

Lazy and Excited.
We woke up late today, it has been 4 days in a row of tiring morning . Catching flight, sunrise at Angkor and van towards Bangkok. I think we deserve this... took our late breakfast in one of Soi Rambuttri alley. Then, walk towards the National Museum.

I haven't visited Bangkok for quite a while. Took a stroll along the steel gates of National Museum, stops an took a glance over Sanam Luang Field surely gaining back the excitement when I visited Bangkok for the first time.

Then we go towards Hua Lamphong Railway Station. It's my transit hub from Butterworth towards Nong Khai before entering Lao. Those days, cycling tour is the thing. Crossing the friendship bridge passing through Lao Immigration and cycle towards Vientiane. Missing the spontaneous way of traveling, but hey... now it became even better. Having your wife to tag along, sharing the adventure together.

Having your close friends to share the moments, it's a dream come true. And usually it took about months of story telling when returning back from travels. But this time, the job spread to 4 people. :) hahaha...

Owing to the fact that we miss our flight on 26th, we miss our visit to the weekend market at Chatuchak. So, before fetching both famy and dura at Don Muang Airport. We took train towards Chatuchak Market just to get to feel of it, hahaha... all shops seems to be closed from outside. However, It's 11am, we don't want to miss famy arrival. So we took cab towards Don Muang which is NOT that far from Chatuchak.

I have this immense feeling of meeting both famy and dura. Excited and curious on their first ever adventure traveling. Hoping that I'm Not going to surprise anyone including Ain on unexpected adventure we going to put ourselves into. But hey, I'm optimistic that everybody is going to have fun.

Both famy and dura arrived afternoon with an hour gap. We took cab towards Soi Rambuttri for them to check in and have a quick lunch. This is our last day in Bangkok, tomorrow we're heading towards Kunming in the morning.

What can you do in Bangkok if time is NOT on your side?

We headed to Phra Athit pier for a boat ride. There's must be a reason Bangkok holding the title 'Venice Of The East', there're going to be lots of interesting sights along the Chao Phraya River. We spend 500 thai bath per person for the boat ride, then  I realized that we charter the whole boat.... hahaha awesome.

The boat venture along the Chao Phraya river passing under Som Dat Pa Pin bridge before heading through Bangkok noi. The river and canals are organized/managed like a proper city road... river name and canals are properly named and it looks exactly like a road sign. All types of houses beside the river have their own jetty OR verandas to hang out... how cool is that!... some of the houses have a garage for boats. We passing through temples, government buildings... lots of barge. We, even going towards much more smaller canals... it is beautiful and the locals are super friendly.

One of the popular tour in Bangkok related to river is the floating market. We didn't manage to see one live, because you need to do it early in the morning. But, we stopped at one even though it's closed. Talingchan Pier was pretty much closed... only few boats selling fish and snacks. But we managed to get a cool group photo at the train steel bridge.

We return back to Phra Athit Pier before dusk. Chao Praya was beautiful during sunset... overlooking the arrays of buildings in the Grand Palace complex. Barge and tourist boats crossing each other paths... again we passing under the huge bridge og Som Dat Pa Pin.

Then we walk towards The Grand Palace. It was decorated with lights along the walls. And from afar we notice there's a lights exhibition shooting towards the sky. Bangkok seems to have a lot of thing going on that night.

It was a lovely day... we felt that we done pretty much touring with a minimum amount of time. Before calling it off for the day, we venture along the famous touristy Kao San Road and ended up at a very delicious seafood joint called Panni.

*****

next Day 05 ;)