Cheng who? Chengdu.

Well with the prices of domestic flights in China so low it was just to tempting to resist a trip to Chengdu. It was arranged with a group of foreign teachers and thier signifcant others. We all left on Thursday. I came back Sunday, because I had a class to teach. Ben and Angela came home on Monday, and Ben and Han Ru came home on Tuesday.
This picture on the right is from the first night. We purchased a 12 pack of beer to get us through the weekend.

This was taken at a park Qing Yang Gong.

There is some pretty amazing horticulture in China. This is the Chinese character for tea and the English spelling below it. Qing yang Gong is a very popular spot to have a tea in the afternoon. In fact there are thousands of old people playing Mah Jong in the tea houses.

There is a mixture of pictures from Ben and Rory (so thanks guys for sharing), but this picture was taken by me!

Our Chinese friends claim that the paper on the Ying-Yang with the animals which correspond to the year people are born, is placed there on purpose. I have the suspicion that it is just trash.

Han Ru was attacked by this dragon/horse creature.

This is the symbol for Dao. This was taken at a taoist temple.

This a horse which is my the animal for 1978, the year I was born.

Feed Me!

In a park inside the shopping street Jinli in Chengdu. Jinli was really a pretty cool shopping street.

What a good sport.

Map of Qing Chen Shan. We spent the afternoon Sunday at this Taoist temple about 1 1/2 hours west of the city. This is a map at the base.

Not sure if people are supposed to get on and ride the sculptures, but since she is Chinese and this is her culture I didn't say anything. Made for a good picture.

This is price list for people to carry you around on a stretcher type aparatus. They actually approached me to carry me up the mountain. I briefly considered, but the last thing I want to do is kill someone on a taoist mountain.

Angela is in China on maternity leave. 1 year in Canada with 3/4 pay. what a way to spend the first year of your childs life.

Beautiful courtyard in the temple

Qing Cheng Shan Shang Qing Gong

Shang Qing Palace in Qing Cheng Mountain

The workers are rebuilding the temples that were destroyed in the earthquake. They are hand cutting the wood from the moutain and planing the wood by hand. A lot of manpower goes into rebuilding.

Top of the world ma.

The ruin and wreckage from the earthquake

An actual Golden Calf. It is huge, like 4 stories tall.

This wood was in the wreckage and looked to be just thrown to the side. I hope they salvage some of these amazing relics.

We adopted Tommy from Norway. He was just hanging out in the lobby looking lost so we hung out with him during the weekend. He was a great guy on a month long vacation from work.

I told Rory that he didn't have to smile. I didn't think he would actually do it.

They twisted up these trees in a pretty cool way. I imagine it would take years of dedication to grow a tree in these shapes.

Fu Shou Lu

Fortune, Long Life, Wealth

This is my favorite picture of the bunch. I look like I am like 10 years old.

Turtle Power.

What a cheeseball.

Hot pot. We had Hot pot 3 of the 4 days I was there. It would be like eating extremly spicy food for 3 of 4 days. Certain parts of your body begin to really burn after that second meal.

THis is a dry lake. They are having to make some repairs after the earthquake.

Riding the lift to the top of the mountain. When I got off I was so used to just standing there and my skis pulling me away from the chair that I just stood there for 2 seconds and had to run off to the side.

A scene carved into the side of the moutain on the way up the lift.

On the mountain coming down near dusk.