Day 18 - Giant Buddha of Leshan and 2 concerts

We drove 2 hours this morning to the city of Leshan. The road we traveled on originally connected Egypt to China. Our first stop was the Giant Buddha - the largest in the world (71 meters tall). It's about 1700 years old, there used to be a wooden roof above its head, but it burned in the 1930s. The area surrounding it is cool and green, but with all the climbing a sweater is unnecessary.

We drove to a beautiful restaurant close to the river and had many different and delicious dishes - lots of tofu - but tofu here is finer and actually worth eating. I did eat duck tongue - one of the few that did. It's not that bad, kind of chewy, and tastes like the sauce it's cooked in.

The first school was a high school, the bus was greeted by students that were our roadies I asked one girl her name (Sue) and she asked me mine. After that I had kids coming up and calling me Karen, I asked one how they knew my name and they said they overheard someone else. Even I had to pose for pictures. The auditorium was packed out, I sat with Cory and Dustin at the sound board and kids came up to me during the concert and wanted to have their picture taken (I told them they had to wait until the song was over). After we sang, the kids helped us pack up the equipment and one of them gave me a fan. The singers and band got mobbed (again) Lane said it was the worst they've experienced, he got backed up to a wall. We had to keep them away from the bus while we packed the equipment, but then it was a swarm. They were lined up along the road as we exited the school. I think everyone has decided they don't want to be famous.


One of the students spoke English with almost no accent, he said that he listens to Obama speak. I asked a group around me how late they stayed at the school, those that live there are expected to study until 10pm, those that live off campus leave at 9pm.

The next concert was about 15 minutes drive at the Leshan Teachers College. Once again we are greeted by a student volunteer that escorts us everywhere. After a buffet dinner we went to the gymnasium to set up. The gymnasium is packed with people and others are standing outside. Everywhere we go they take such good care of us, here they had chairs set up for us with a water bottle on each chair. Mid performance they ran up and gave the group water bottles. When Jeff, Teresa, Adele and I left mid concert to go to the bathroom, we had to have the security guard let us out, they had closed the gates into the gym.

I had decided to not write anymore about the bathrooms, but once again, the stalls have no doors so there are Teresa and I squatting and getting punchy over the toilet situation. BTW, the trash cans are not for feminine products, they are for the used TP. Apparently, the sewage system can't handle TP.



While the mob was going on post concert, one of the teachers said that the reason the students go wild is because it's the first time they've ever been to an event like this. We are now on the road back to Chengdu and will hopefully arrive before midnight. Of course you wont' get this until we get back and I get internet access.

Someone asked when do I write, most of the time it's during a concert, sometimes its at night at Sam's.

Tomorrow is an early call - we have to leave by 5 am for a flight to Guangzhou. Yikes!