I arrived in Sichuan Province from Guangzhou, Guangdong, in the city of Chengdu. The city lies in a basin, which means that it rarely enjoys the cool breezes of other cities, and it was very humid and hot. There was not much in the way of a blue sky either, and my guide John acknowledged the overcast sky as a constant phenomenon. Fortunately, we were only starting out from the “Brocade City” and wouldn’t have to bear the heat for long or the “civilised tourist street” that we were staying on, for that matter. The city owes its name to the four rivers which makes Chengdu “becoming perfect” in the eyes of the Chinese. Sichuan people are also proud of their spicy food, their many rivers and their wonderfully entertaining operas and arts. I visited the Taoist temple of the Green Ram and walked in the parks admiring the leisurely atmosphere of the mah-jong play and then fed the carp in the fishing pond for 2 kwai. Many, many local people keep fit, catch up the news and relax in the pleasant atmosphere of the parks, drinking from huge flasks of green tea and cracking open monkey nuts onto the linoleum tables. During the evening time, the group went to the Sichuan opera and we enjoyed the face changing show, a farce with a nagging wife, and some spectacular shadow puppetry. The Taoist temples that I visited offered an insight into the religious aspect to Taoism and in particular, the deities and immortals which, are not dissimilar to those in Tibetan Buddhism. There were giant tortoises sculptured from stone with Taoist texts engraved on their backs. On the front steps of every temple, incense burners were found in prominent positions for the Taoists to worship their ancestors. Many of the temples have been repaired with great care, and the gardens are well maintained by volunteers and monks alike. There are simple oracles and spaces for drinking tea, which makes the experience more enjoyable to the visitor.
Departing Chengdu on the way to Xinduquiao, my group of eight (Jason, Bert, Jim, Michele, Francis, John, Hilton and Elizabeth) got on the private bus and headed for the Garze prefecture. The landscape of deep gorges formed by the Qingyi River was our first impression of the journey. The region is served by a fairly good road, although there is a real danger of landslides caused by loose rocks and the recent rain fall. Landslides would also be a danger on highway 318, which we would join up with later on in the trip. It was in this Garze area that a French priest first set eyes on the wild panda, although these days, pandas are isolated to a breeding centre in Chengdu, and from what I have heard, not in such great sympathy either! Ahh, the English and their fondness of animals!
The Ya’an/Tibet border has a large population of 1 ½ million inhabitants. In ancient times it was ruled by the Mongols. After lunch at the restaurant at “the end of the world” we made for Kangding.
Kangding city was the main tea collection point and reshipment centre for Sichuan. It was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1786. Today it has the world’s highest airport, which seemed like a massive anti climax considering the delay it took us to reach the pass, due to unmade roads and heavy goods traffic. What we did experience after the long delays was a splendid sunset at a high altitude. As we descended into Xinduquiao, we missed our hotel and drove up and down the dusty road for quite a while before reckoning on the right driveway. It was a basic place, with fairly minimal maintenance and no hint whatsoever of the feminine touch. Still, the manager had dinner on the table within 5 minutes and we were able to recover from the sudden ascent into the mountains and the long delayed drive from Chengdu quite pleasantly. Dogs barked all night long, but in the morning it was cool and fresh, the perfect condition for viewing the total solar eclipse, which we had all come for...
