15 August 1999
Our vessel had actually sailed into Sichuan territory at Fengjie, but for narrative purposes I’ll start the Sichuan section with Baidicheng. Baidicheng ( White Emperor Town ) is immortalized in Li Bai’s poem Leaving the White Emperor Town at Dawn for Jiangling Town. Chinese literature not being my forte; I quote the following translation from The Chinese-English Bilingual Series of Chinese Classic, 300 Tang Poems, Hunan Publishing House.
At dawn I leave the White Emperor Town with the sun-dyeing clouds,
And travel a thousand li within a day to Jiangling Town,
With the monkeys’ ceaseless whines on the river banks aloud,
Swiftly leaving a myriad mountains behind, my boat drifts down.
Traveling can be fun if mixed with the right proportion of culture, history, literature, geography and whatever else one encounters. I found it interesting to revisit places where historical figures have been; for example, I traced Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s footsteps in Nanjing and Wuhan, Chang Kai shek’s residence in Lushan and kidnapping in Xian, and of course places and events that were mentioned by poets Li Bai, Du Fu et al.
The next day took us to Ghost city, which will be totally submerged when the 3 Gorges project is completed. Plans are underway to have the city relocated brick by brick to higher ground. The tour guide cautioned us not to take any photographs lest we offend the various gods, and most of his narrative has totally lapsed my mind. Research on this subject on my part isn’t forthcoming, so prospective travelers should make their own plans. Now.
The boat trip came to an end when we arrived in Chongqing. My travel companions for the last few days were a Taiwanese couple and a Xinjiang family of 3. We had all signed up with different 3 Gorges tour groups, but were lumped together for convenience sake. While in Chongqing I went to see the Sino-American Cooperation Organization spy training school, Bai Residence.
Took the express bus to Chengdu and checked in at the Traditional Chinese Medicine University hostel. Visited Du fu’s thatched cottage and had tea at Renmin Park. Enjoying a good brew has always been a Chinese love affair; but Sichuanese seem to have even incorporated it into their lifestyles. At the Renmin Park people gather at the lakeside tea-house to relax, gossip, negotiate business deals, break up with girlfriends/boyfriends or whatever over their favorite brew. Touts are forever available to offer their ear-picking or massage services. Even the wicker furniture seems to be designed with multiple use in mind.
Missing the first available bus at Ximen meant I had to catch the next bus at Xinnanmen to Leshan. Arrived at 15:30 and checked into the Taoyuan Hotel, which is supposed to offer a good view of the supine Buddha.
One advantage of staying at the Taoyuan is that the ferry is directly opposite. Catching the 8:30 to Wuyou Temple only cost RMB 1.50. From the pier it was a short walk to the head of the giant Buddha; there is also a flight of stairs that leads to the foot of the Buddha.
Headed back to Chengdu to book myself into a Tibet tour package; at the time, it was made out to be the only legitimate way to enter. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems odd that there weren’t any restrictions when I booked a flight out of Tibet. The official tour had ended, but I stayed behind an extra week or so and had to handle my own travel arrangements. Anyway, I’m jumping ahead of my story.
Since the Tibet tour was a couple of days ahead, I had time to visit the Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Got up at 07:30 to get an early start, took public transport 46 and 10 and then flagged down a motor bike to the base. My Dutch friends Guido and Eline biked all the way from the Traffic Hotel and got there in an hour.