For those of you have not been to Asia and specifically to China it is hard to grasp the sheer intensity of the crowd on a daily basis let alone when traveling during the holidays. It is estimated that over 102 million people travel during National Week in China and I seriously think that we encountered 1 million at each of the sights we saw. When we went to the see the Big Buddha at Leshan (a 71 meter tall Buddha carved into the side of a mountain), we had to wait in line for 3 hours to see it. At one point as we were being jostled by the crowd, I turned to Andy and declared that I was not sure that the Big Buddha was worth this. But he was indeed a spectacular sight.
Yes indeed, this is the line at Leshan.
And us in that line!
But even though the line was crazy, the Buddha was such an impressive sight. We are standing in front of his toes. His fingers are longer than a grown man!
This was what the line was for: the perilous path along the cliff to be able to see the Big guy.
I think we are looking down from about at his arms.
We joked that we were trapped and could not escape people taking out pictures. But then when Tori was tired and Andy carried her on her shoulders, our little character took it to a whole new level. She was smiling, posing and chatting with the crowd in Chinese. I love that girl!
Going down the mountain at Qing Shan (near Chengdu). Believe it or not, we are walking on steps not a trail. This my friends epitomizes traveling in China over the holidays.
Challenge: ☐ Pass ☐ Fail
I am not even sure I can vote on this one. Yes, the crowds are crazy, overwhelming, and just altogether draining. But we knew that going in. So I really don't think I can count it as a fail. Maybe we will just chalk it up to: ☑ SURVIVED. And leave it at that.
Umm, surviving a three hour line with a gazillion people and three children IS a win!
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