Our trip to Chengdu---Day One and Two

We have just returned from our trip to the southwest province of Sichuan. It was fantastic! Let us tell you a little about our trip. We left on Saturday morning on a plane. It took only one hour to get there. When we arrived, we went straight to our guesthouse. Our guesthouse looked like a regular building on the outside but inside the courtyard it was magnificant! There was a garden and a pond and lots of animals. For example, frogs, fish, rabbits, kittens, and guinea pigs. They also had toys for kids, books to read and swap. They also had a great kitchen where they made Chinese, Sichuan food and FRENCH fries!!!





On our first day there, we relaxed and went to an ancient temple. We heard monks chanting. It was a very peaceful place. On our second day we went to a nearby mountain and hiked up for about 4 hours. When we got to the top, it was an amazing sight...although almost everything was blocked by mist..you could smell all the green. Along the way were little villages where you could sleep or buy food but we wanted to go all the way to the White Cloud Temple. And we made it!!!






By 5:30 we were at the monastery. There were no other tourists there so it was just us and the monks and the people who took care of the temple. After we told them we wanted to spend the night, they showed us our rooms which were quite nice if simple. We had dinner with the monks..after they finished praying and then did some drawing and reading while looking over the mountain.



In the morning we woke to the sound of a gong...before sunrise and then had breakfast with the monks. It was also Hana's 11th birthday. It was a fun way to spend her birthday.



Going down the mountain my mom had a nervous breakdown. Every second my mom would order Hana to hold onto the rail (and Dad would keep telling my mom that it would be ok). I , on the other hand, was not nervous. My sister wasn't either. We counted over 6,200 steps going down.

When we got down the mountain, my mom started crying saying that we were so lucky to be alive.





We went back to Chengdu and our guesthouse to attend the Opera. The Sichuan Opera was fire-spitting, mask-changing and jaw-dropping. The acrobats were cool; the two women laid down on their backs and rolled a table on their feet and also a huge container made out of wood. It was amazing!!!


Ok. We will put up some pictures soon...of the monastery, pandas, monks, the mountain and then an ancient village that is not even on the maps!!!


Julia and Mom
(with pics by Dad)