Satani Bat Bi: Chengdu & Leshan, Part 2

We arrived in Leshan at the long-distance bus station, just outside town.  It sounded like there was a city bus we could take down to the ferry pier (our destination), but we decided to walk in so we could see a bit more of the city and the river walk.  An unfortunate part of China is the insane amount of pollution everywhere you go.  A cloudy day? Nope, probably pollution. A river is brown because of churned-up dirt from a recent storm? Nope, probably pollution.  My throat getting dry so frequently because of elevation? Nope, probably all the pollution I'm inhaling.  I had these thoughts as we were walking past the river, looking so brown, and then we saw these dots bobbing in the water:

 What were they?  Logs floating downstream?  No, they would bob down and surface in too-rythmical of a pattern...and now there were three!

We walked further downstream and discovered...they were swimmers!  We watch at least ten people float down the river - some swimming, some just letting the current carry them - then get out and do it all over again!  I really don't think that water was anywhere close to being clean.

Heading back up to the top of the river to hop in again.

On to the ferry dock.  The main site in Leshan is a giant Buddha, carved into the cliff between 713-803 AD during the Tang Dynasty.  To get the best views, you take a short ferry ride from Leshan down the river, hover near the Buddha, then return to Leshan.  

Aboard our boat - is it comforting or disconcerting that we all are already wearing our life jackets? 

One of two guardian Buddhas, carved into either side of the cliff:

There was also a long winding trail carved into the cliff that snaked its way up, down, across, and around the Buddha.  I think we would have done it, if it wasn't clogged with people and a bit windy/slippery.  The railing at the bottom is where people can look straight up to the Buddha.

And our ship makes it around the corner - voila!

Pretty amazing to see in person.  After a few minutes of puttering around in front of the Buddha, our ship headed back to the port and we went in search of lunch.  

As we walked up one side alley, two women with restaurants on the opposite side of the street came rushing out, competing for our business.  They both said they had English language menus, but when the woman to the right actually showed us her English language menu, we went with her.  A delicious meal of Sichuan noodles, veggies and tofu later, we saw her using an abacus to tally up some bills.  Husband became fascinated watching this, and through bits of English, Mandarin, and gesturing, he learned how to count with the abacus!  

Abacus lesson:

Our delish lunch (and the continuing abacus lesson, joined by another lunch patron):

We headed back to the bus station to catch the two-hour bus back to Chengdu for dinner and an early evening - we had pandas waiting for us the next day.