This is a memorial park for the Red Army (am I right?) in Sichuan. Everywhere was snow in this park. Read the full story

This is the start point of the Min River (岷江). It’s a tributary of the upper Yangtze river (长江). There were a number of natives here (Tibetans or Qiang?), collecting money from tourists who want to stand next to the Min River milestone for a picture. We didn’t want to pay for that and stood a distance away to take the pictures instead. The natives were trying to sell us their handicrafts. They were not very happy when we didn’t pay them for taking pictures of the place and didn’t buy anything from them.

When we were about to leave, a native guy wanted to get a free ride on our tour bus. Our guide refused to do that, despite that the native was trying hard to persuade him to do so. The native was quite aggressive when he talked. After the native left our tour bus, our guide told us that it was not wise to let stranger up the bus, as there were incidents that some tourists’ belongings went missing after that. On the other hand, the guide must be tactful when communicating with the natives, so that he will not have any problem returning to the natives’ ground with another tour group in the future!

This is a small town in Sichuan, after about three hours of ride from the high mountain where the Min River starts. There are a few stalls selling winter clothes, fur products and handicrafts. We bought some cold wear from the stalls after much haggling, yet, was not the best bargain as compared to those selling in the city area.

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Try one of these. The bean curds are good! Peanuts, spring onions, sauce and other ingredients are added to the hot bean curds. They are not the normal sweet bean curds that we have in Singapore. These are salty bean curds.

A mystical atmosphere created by the moving mist on the mountain.

A visitor town in Sichuan, with plenty of handicrafts and local food to offer. This lady can write chinese calligraphy in fanciful designs and colours. It’s cheap - four chinese characters on a scroll with lamination for only S$4. However, we later realised that some chinese characters were wrongly written!

The making of crystal glass ornaments.

A cute baby girl with a rosy cheek on the street. She was not afraid of strangers like us at all.

Next: Sichuan Operas & Folk Arts Performance!

The giant panda is a National Treasure of China and a symbol of the world’s endangered wildlife, and Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary is a must-visit attraction. After all, Sichuan is the home of the endangered Giant Pandas!

A child looking after a cub. They were playing with each other.

You can see how much the Panda loves bamboo.

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The Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛) is the world’s largest statue of a Buddha carved out of a cliff and faces Mount Emei (we visited Mt Emei later). The Giant Buddha, standing at 71 metres, was built during the Tang Dynasty. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

The Leshan Giant Buddha is as famous as the standing Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan which were dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban.

Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan, before and after.

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Mt. Emei is one of the four sacred Buddhist Mountains of China and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. Chinese novels have been referring it as a sacred mountain with nuns highly skilled in martial arts.

Next: Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan!