Chengdu (Courtney)

We went to a place called Wenshen Temple, which was your usual Chinese temple, gardens etc. Very tranquil and green.

In the middle was this lake just absolutely brimming with turtles! They were on every conceivable surface and were very amusing to watch.

We took refuge in the restaurant/teahouse when it started absolutely bucketing down. How's this for a serving of rice?!

The true gem of Chengdu...Peter's Tex Mex Restaurant! It was good..real good. Turns out there is another one in Shanghai, coincidentally we are off to Shanghai on Monday..

On our last day in Chengdu we travelled out to see Da Fo - the huge buddha. Quite an epic battle to actually get to the buddha, considering the weather. Along the way though we saw some beautiful scenery as we trudged up the mountain. Many smaller buddhas and some great temples.

Up the stairs to one of the buddhas, the handrails were completely covered in padlocks. I've read about this at various mountains where lovers inscribe their names on the padlocks, lock them then throw away the key to immortalise their love.

Ta da! It took us a good couple of hours but we finally found Da Fo. Regardless of how many photos I had seen of this buddha it was still just as impressive to see it up close.