Hi guys ( and Matty especially),
I am down with the flu and thus am finding it difficult to write with a clear mind. Hence, Part II of Chengdu write-up will have to wait until I have conquered the flu bug.

Anyway, I finally got my pictures sorted out, so here are pics taken of me and lovely flowers in Chengdu... enjoy them!


This was taken at the garden at Leshan Giant Buddha. For your information, Leshan Giant Buddha was built in the Tang Dynasty led by Master Haitong and took over 90 years to complete. The sculpture stands at 71 meters and faces three rivers, namely Min Jiang, Qing Yi Jiang and Da du Jiang river.

Wonder what the Leshan Giant Buddha looks like?


This is an overall picture of Leshan Giant Buddha. The only way to take a picture of the Buddha is to go on a river cruise to the middle of Min Jiang and quickly snap a picture. It is quite dangerous as the boat can only stay against the current for a few minutes, so you have to act quickly. I have a picture of myself taken with the Giant Buddha, but I haven't had the time to scan it and upload it.


At one particular angle on Min Jiang river, you can see that the three hills (Wu You, Ling Yun and Gui Cheng) extend to form a huge sleeping Buddha. I took a picture of the three hills and this is how the Sleeping Buddha looks like:


Nice right?

Back to the garden at Leshan Giant Buddha, I saw this:

This is a Yin and Yang fountain. According to the local guide, the white colour represents the "yang" element, and the black colour represents the "yin" element. A man is supposed to wash his hands on the "yang" surface three times in clockwise position, while the lady is supposed to wash her hands on the "yin" surface three times in clockwise position. By doing this you will wash away all your bad luck. Cool.

Another place of interest which we visited was Emei mountain, 3077 meters above sea level. Here are some pictures which I absolutely went gaga over.


This is "qiang wei", a species of rose which grows in abundance on the roadside leading to Emei Mountain.


This is me with a small azelea tree at the Golden Summit at Mount Emei. It was cold up there which explains why I am wearing a winter coat.

On the way down from Emei mountain, I took a picture with the azelea tree in full bloom:

May I add that this was on the roadside. Very dangerous as azelea trees grow on hilly slopes and one step back would have sent me rolling off the hill.(Imagine the road to Cameron Highlands) Azelea trees are exclusive to Mount Emei because the flowers will only bloom if the temperature hits zero degrees. It was a wonderful experience sitting in the bus and watching lots and lots of blooming azeleas on the way. The mist and clouds made me feel as if I were in paradise...

This was taken at Bao Guo Si, a temple in Emei city. Thanks to Mr. Chong who took this picture for me (My folks and my brother thought I was lost because I was far far behind, this was taken in a rush, hehe)





More roses in full bloom at Bao Guo Si temple.


Me receiving the "Qi" from the waterfall at the foot of Mount Emei. :)

And last but not least, these are shrub species of azeleas taken at the EmeiShan grand hotel.

There you have it! Flowers, flowers and more flowers...and my matching clothes too! Hahhaha perasannya...

More to come... stay tuned!