黄龙溪

This is a rainy day. From the moment I woke up till now. Non-stop! No wonder it was still so dark at 9 am and I thought it was only 7 and planned to get back into bed after a toilet break. Hehe ...

I was wondering why my friend had not responded to the 2 SMS that I sent yesterday (found out later that he didn't receive my SMS yesterday and thought I was not back from Emei yet ... grrr...) when I decided to head out to the ancient village 黄龙溪 (Huang Long Xi) instead of waiting, in spite of the rain. It is south of Chengdu, an hour by bus.

I didn't expect it to be so touristy!! Well, mainland Chinese tourists but tourists nevertheless. Still, there're some nice things to see including more temples, one of a huge marble Buddha at 大佛寺 (Dafo Si temple) which is accessible by a short boat ride on the river and the 古龙寺 (Gulong Si temple) where the Laughing Buddha and Guanyin reside. Other than temples, there're lots of good food and endless rows of stores selling "tourist trap" goodies (hailing from Melaka, I know these things all too well!)

The teahouses and makan places serve cheap delicious food like the 豆花 (dao-huay) and 饺子 (dumplings) that I had for lunch. I absolutely love the dao-huay!!! It's not like our silky smooth dao-huay in sweet soup. In fact, it's more like mashed beancurd and cooked in chilli broth ... oohhh, the spicy goodness!!! I must have at least another helping before I leave next Friday - don't wanna go home :(

I spent about 4 hours wandering the cobblestone walkway, praying at the temples, cruising the river, eating delicious food and kay-pohing at the work station of an elderly couple who make 草鞋 (grass shoes) which are good for mountain climbing (saw some people wear these when trekking Emei). Returned to Chengdu about 5pm and it's still raining so I guess it'll be an early night for me ... might as well so I can upload the pix and blog some ...

Hope I can start early tomorrow (think the weather will be fab tomorrow - seems like a pattern ... *pray*) ... will be heading out to 康定 (Kangding) of 康定情歌 fame on Tue through Thu. Flying back on Fri nite (NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) ... will decide what to do on Fri morning ... maybe go visit my other friend - the pandas ;))))

Ciao!!!