Sunday April 17th

Bao Ding Carvings

This morning I was still feeling ill.  Nevertheless, I went to breakfast and managed something at least.  It was such a shame though, as this was a 5 star hotel and this was the best and most amazing breakfast spread so far!!  I tried a croissant but it didn’t work, so I went back to the room earlier than Mathew.  I had a “Resolve” and still felt uneasy by the time we went to the bus.

Bao Ding Carvings

The first thing we did today was visit the Baoding Shan carvings – more carvings and sculptures similar to the ones we saw yesterday, and this place was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.

At Baoding Shan, some of the carvings date back to the Tang Dynasty in the 7^th century.  The monk Zhao Zhifeng oversaw the work between 1179 and 1245, and most sculptures are carved into limestone.  They were REALLY tall and very colourful, with vibrant reds, blues and some gold.  Most colour was partial but it was amazing to see how bright they really were, and to imagine them in full colour better than Bei Shan.

Bao Ding Carvings

Although it was great to see the ‘Reclining Buddha’, it was a little annoying having lots of random electrical equipment around it, but Mathew was able to find a great angle for the best photo of most if not all 15 metres of him.  The only one we weren’t able to see was the 1000-armed Guanyin, as it was being restored.  We saw little bits of it through the curtains though!

Bao Ding Carvings

We actually spent all morning here with Oliver telling us absolutely everything he could.  It was a slow and easy pace (good for me!) and we all got to see anything for a decent amount of time.  Afterwards, we went straight to lunch which everyone agreed was too early at 11:30am, but nevermind – I thought the journey to the restaurant was going to be half an hour, not 15 minutes!

I managed to eat rice with some PLAIN pork and PLAIN cabbage, and I immediately felt better.  It’s so far to find plain food here, which would help my stomach.  Back on the bus, I started a bottle of sprite and nibbled on chocolate and nuts.  We had a 4 hour bus journey to Chengdu, split by a couple of comfort breaks.

Bao Ding Carvings

We arrived in a very warm bus (serious air-con issues!!) at around 5:30pm.  We had bade farewell to Oliver earlier, and our new guide for Chengdu was Tony, who had excellent English and engaged the group well.  Mathew and I washed some clothes before dinner, and I was feeling more my usual self again.  This evening I managed rice, chips (yes, CHIPS again!), sweet and sour pork (but only a little), egg and tomato.  My stomach felt pleasantly full which was nice after having an empty stomach for the last few days, we went to our room where I wrote my journal and started marking our journey on the map of China which I had bought in Shanghai.