Chengdu is really famous for its Panda research base. So we went there directly from the train station when we arrived. As it was no holiday yet, we were lucky and it was not crowded. There, I learned that also small red pandas exist. And they are very cute, too!

Red panda (小熊猫)


And of course we saw giant pandas, too. At a lot of Chinese tourist attractions you can take an electric car (about 10 people fit in it) instead of walking. The driver will relentlessly honk the pedestrians out of his away. But not in the panda research base, because of the pandas they use small chimes

Giant panda (大熊猫)


Small fight


My favourite spot in the city was a temple (unfortunately, I don't remember which one). It felt like an oasis, very green and quiet in the city.

Temple


Then we did something very touristic, but not very relaxing: We decided to go to the big buddha in Leshan and on top of Emeishan at the same day. And not any day, but on the first of may. It's a public holiday in China, so everyone is travelling. Therefore we got up early and took the train at 6:30 to Leshan. By high speed train, it's about one hour. The buddha is the biggest stone buddha in the world and was build to calm the waters of the nearby river. Apparently, the construction caused the river to alter its current and making it safe. Luckily, we made it there before it was completely crowded.

Giang buddha (乐山大佛)


Stairs down


Afterwards, my friends still wanted to see Mount Emei (峨眉山). Thus, we took a cab to the basis station halfway up the mountain (I think it took us roughly 1.5h). Instead of hiking, next we took a bus up for another 45 minutes, had to actually walk for 1 km and then took a cable car for the final leg. All to see this:

Nothing to see


Unfortunately, it was super cloudy and we could barely make out the temple on top of the mountain. As the weather was rather nasty, we didn't stay long and hurried to make it down to take the last train back to Chengdu.