After a beaut brekkie (Dave’s words) Hang picked us up at the Hotel and we headed out of Chengdu, towards the south.

This is my breakfast. No chilli – I thought that was best with my slightly unwell tummy 😉 

The drive south to see the largest Buddha in the world in Leshan was a great start to the day. Hang is an excellent driver and managed to keep up with the conversation and drive in the pouring rain in traffic on the highway for the 2+ hours drive. We had lots of questions and he answered each one with patience in excellent English. I feel like I have learnt more about China today than in the whole trip so far. We did stop for a fast food style sweet milk tea at a road-side petrol station.

Here are a few pics of us before and after walking up lots of steps to get up to the top of the park in Leshan where the Buddha sits.

We then enjoyed a delicious lunch at a nearby local restaurant, which included wild vegetable omelette, tofu soup, beef noodles, rice and a spicy dried pork dish which was particularly good.

Hang organised a tuk tuk ride back to the car. I noticed the driver wasn’t peddling very hard, given he was carrying both Dave and I. We soon realized he had an electric motor powering the back wheel! It was great fun. ​

A drive for another hour or so took us to the location of the highlight of the day (especially for Dave), a coal mine steam train ride.  When we arrived the train had just left, so Hang organised a taxi to take us to the point where the train turned around – Ba Gou station. It turned out to be an excellent detour as the taxi drove the 30km through farmland and we got to see corn, potatoes, chili, herbs, plums and other vegetables grown along the way. As we were in a hurry to make the return train it was a little hairy at times – but that added to the adventure I think!

The train ride back took around 50 minutes. The coal-fired steam train ride was like stepping back in time. The high-speed train yesterday was terrific – but this was even better. Coal smoke in your face, the whistling of the steam release, the amazing mountain views… just like travelling 70 years ago when the locomotive pulling our carriage was built.

As it was 5:30pm, we headed back to Chengdu, which took nearly three hours. A highway petrol station dinner of pretty decent noodles (A$3) broke the trip and Hang had us back to the hotel by 8:30pm. A quick walk to a local shop for some Pepsi Max (for me) and M&M’s (for Dave) then writing this blog. Please excuse any spelling and grammatical errors, I’m exhausted.

Last brief word: Congratulations to my little sister Katrina on her promotion. Super proud of you xx.

Tomorrow another day of adventure with Hang. Better go to bed. Good night 🙂