And here we are finally in Chengdu, the fifth leg of my trip to China, the now distant in August 2012.
I noticed something of Chinese cities: it seems that the more you go south and you should encounter quieter towns, less chaotic and polluted, but especially with people with a more similar to our behavior.
So if Beijing was hell, Chengdu is purgatory :)
Arriving in Chengdu is very simple since there is a convenient airport nearby.
I went there by air from Xian (read my post about Xian), but of course we could go there by train.
Chengdu is famous throughout China for being considered the city of the panda.
From the city in fact, you can easily get to a park where the pandas are bred and protected, and where tourists can see them as they play, eat or, if you get the wrong timetable, sleep :)
There are of course other panda breeding in China, but you can tell that to Chengdu is the most famous of all.
The second most important attraction of the area is the Leshan Giant Buddha, or the Buddha of Leshan Giant.
Leshan is none other than a town near Chengdu, where there is a huge park full of statues and temples, and which houses one of the largest Buddha in the world.
The history of this buddha is really unique.
It seems that it was built to protect the waters of the fishermen in the area, as the river current was too strong and there were often the victims.
The funny thing is that building the huge statue was thrown into the water so many rocks that the river current is very diminished and therefore the Buddha made his miracle.
Anyway, what matters is that now there is a large statue of Buddha as a mountain ... truly spectacular!
Given the area's main attractions, we made the usual tour in the city and as usual we had some really unusual scenes.
And of course there is also a nice video playlist to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb1EPQLXxiY&list=PLCBrso9WwkFZnOg6XRTyu6rHZo2_U2cKD
And finally, of course, before you rush to read the post about my next travel stop, Lijiang (read my post on Lijiang), go sfogliarvi album of photos of Chengdu.