Giant Buddha

Total distance: 4430 km
Chengdu - Mei Shan - Leshan

Cycling out of a Chinese megacity is easier than it was in for example Tashkent and Almaty. Broad and separated bicycle lanes led us out of Chengdu. The bicycles lanes were in impeccable conditions until we reached the city limits and the countryside. We had to share the road with lorries, motorbikes and cars. Did we complain about honking cars in Central Asia? China is even worse and the horns are louder than in Central Asia. Our poor ears!

After 90 km we called it a day and made a stop-over in Mei Shan. We thought it would be a small city (it looked so small on the map) but it was huge! Every Chinese city must be a big construction site. The Chinese are building so many new, yet empty buildings that we wonder where the demand is.

It took us 2 days to reach Leshan, the city with the 71 m tall giant Buddha. This week is the so called "golden week". The Chinese celebrate their anniversary and got seven holidays in a row. Can you imagine what this means? When we visited the Buddha park it was so crowded that we didn't walk downstairs to the Buddha's feet. The queue was incredibly long. Anyway, the Buddha was still amazing! 8 m long ears!

---