Although our train ride from Xi'an to Chengdu was short (only16 hours) it was restless. We shared our sleeper cabin with two Chinese men, one of whom snored for the entire journey! Needless to say, when we arrived in Chengdu we were exhausted, and looking forward to settling into our guest house. After a brief nap to make up for the lack of sleep on the train, we were out and about exploring the streets of Chengdu. We walked around for about seven hours, taking in the sights of Chengdu (although there weren't too many, unfortunately!). We were lucky enough to stumble upon Pete's Tex-Mex restaurant, a rare treat on this side of the world, and indulged ourselves with some excellent tex-mex cuisine. Upon arrival back to our guest house, we set up some activities for the days to follow.
We were up bright and early the next morning, and ready to go to the Panda Breeding Centre, the main highlight of Chengdu, and our reason for coming to the Sichuan Province. We arrived at the centre around 8 am, just in time to view the Panda feeding (the best time to see the pandas, because it's when they're the most active). After the pandas were done eating, and returned to the usual activity of sleeping, we headed indoors to see the babies. We were in luck, as just two weeks ago twin babies were born! We were also lucky enough to see three babies, about one month old, who were still learning how to crawl. They were adorable! However, the highlight of the day came when Amanda's dream came true. Upon paying a small (ok, not-so small) donation, she was able to hold an adorable panda on her lap for about three minutes and get her picture taken with it. According to her, it was an amazing experience. The panda, who was about a year and a half, weighed the equivalent of a small child (aged 5 r 6), was very soft and just, in her words, “lovely”. This was definitely a dream come true for her!
The fun didn't stop at the Panda Centre though. That night we made our way to downtown Chengdu, where we were able to catch a show of the world famous (so they say!!) Sichuan Opera. Although not necessarily an Opera in the sense that we knew it, this “variety show” of sorts was definitely entertaining. It included everything from comedy routines, to instrumental solos, to acrobats, traditional mask changing (so quick you can't even see the change) and fire spitting performers. It was an interesting glimpse into Chinese cultural entertainment.
The next day (after a hectic experience at the Post Office) we were on a bus and heading out of Chengdu. After only two and a half hours we arrived at our destination, the base camp of Mount Emei Shan. Our main goal was to get ourselves acclimatized to higher elevations, so we opted out of hiking up the entire mountain (3100 meters in total), and drove one hour up to 2450 meters. We spent the night at a small hotel and huddled close together because it was cold up there, and there wasn't any heat! The next morning we put on our hiking shoes and started the trek up the hill and to the top of the mountain. It was short (only about 3 hours) but difficult because the altitude made it hard to breath. When we made it to the top we were thrilled and the view was amazing. We could clearly see all around in every direction, something that wasn't possible the day before (or the day after for that matter). We spent the night up on the top of the mountain, and learned that such high altitudes were not our cup of tea. After only a short time Jon started feeling sick, with breathing difficulties and dizziness. We tried to sleep it off but it didn't help. In the morning we were up early and on our way down the mountain to a more comfortable altitude.
We arrived back in Chengdu in the late afternoon and settled in at our guest house. We than proceeded to cancel our previously booked Tibet trip, as it's not wise to mess with altitude sickness, it can be deadly! We spent an extra day hanging around Chengdu, relaxing and recuperating and getting ready for our next destination!
After a breathtaking flight over the Himalayas, we arrived in rainy Kathmandu, Nepal. We were a little apprehensive a first about coming to Nepal because only 2 days before our arrival a series of bombs went off throughout the capital. However, we arrived without a hitch and were well onto our way to exploring our newest destination. After checking into our first guest house (complete with brown water flowing flowing out of the taps) we were out and about the streets of Kathmandu. After a only a short time we realized that Nepal was somewhere which was totally different from anywhere we had ever been before. Although the city was perhaps one of the least “clean” places we have seen thus far (garbage all over the street, wild dogs, cows and goats walking the streets and eating garbage, etc.) we were easily swept up in the excitement and busyness of the city. We enjoyed wandering the streets during the day, checking out the shops, the food and the people. One thing we weren't prepared for in Nepal was the constant power outages. It seemed that everyday, at least once (sometimes thrice) the power was out and we found ourselves in the dark, eating, reading or talking by flashlight or candlelight.
We spent a few days in awe of the capital, just wandering and looking around our area. After a few days we decided to check out the main sights of the city. We taxied our way over to the Swayambhunath temple, were we were greeted with beggars, stray dogs and monkeys. We made our way up what seemed like hundreds of steps (365 to be exact) to the top of the temple. From here we were greeted by a guide (a student trying to make some money) and he explained some of the ideologies, stories and cultural aspects of the Hindu religion. From the temple we made our way to Dubar Square, located in the centre of the city (a UNESCO world heritage site and perhaps our favorite part of the capital). We wandered the around the square, and captured some stunning photos of what life in the city was all about.
The next day we hopped on a 7 hour bus ride west of Kathmandu, to the quiet mountain city of Pokhara. We spent three days here, relaxing and enjoying the mountains (although the Himalayas which make the town famous, were covered by clouds for the most part). Pokhara is a great place to do some trekking, however we weren't able to take part, because the only short route (we had only three days) was closed down due to a landslide that happened the day before we arrived. Four villagers were killed on the mountain, and many rescue teams were working on cleaning up the mountain and making the way safe again.
After our few days in Pokhara, we boarded our bus back to Kathmandu. We stayed in the city for two more nights, picked up our visa from the Indian embassy before deciding that it was once again time to pick up our packs, and hit the road.
