I remember that Chengdu had such a warm atmosphere around the city. Everywhere people were so friendly, honestly interested in you and the small streets with low houses made me feel like I was in a small cozy city, except Chengdu is one of the biggest cities in China. There is not one certain point or memory that fascinated me the most while staying in the city, it was more the feeling I had while strolling through the streets, the fellow travelers I met there, the cozy hostel with a book exchange, where I left my beloved Frank Schätzing thriller and traded it for a Nicolas Sparks, kind of boring but kind of a nice romance.
Right at my first morning, while I was treating myself good with banana pancakes, two girls from Iceland asked me to join them on a daytrip to the giant Buddha in Leshan and of course I joined! If my memory does not fool me, it is the biggest sitting Buddha in the whole world! And again – built with bare hands. The gigantic buddha protrudes from a stone wall, facing the river. As if the Buddha was watching the fish jumping up the stream, quite a peaceful activity for the rest of life. Probably several hundreds of people gently pushed their way through the queues to stand in front of the buddha. The path down the hill was so steep and narrow, that barely one person fit between the questionable railing and the rough stone wall. And the end of the path you stood right in front of the Buddhas feet, looking up respectfully to the Buddha. Many bright pink incent sticks were lit in front of the toes. One toe being twice as big as me.
I didn’t do much in Chengdu, I just was there, enjoyed every second wandering around the city, trying all the delicious street food. Sichuan Province is truly so rich in good food, spices you’ve never tasted before and honest kindness in every shabby restaurant or street food joint I went to.
