Sichuan and the Yangtze River page4

One of my memories as a boy was doing a day trip across the river to the giant Buddha. In 700 A.D. this enormous sitting Buddha was carved out of the sandstone facing the river, and it is still reputed to be the largest Buddha in the world. As we took the taxi across the bridge, I imagined a 15 minute excursion to photograph the Buddha and check the box of memories. It turned out that the Buddha is just one of many huge Buddhas in a park covering several hills. It was a setting which demanded to be explored and photographed.. Around every bend were statues, giant stone staircases, temples, and tingtzes (gazebos), each capturing an enchanting view of the river, a pond or a Buddha. We spent three hours there, and finished it up with a pedicab ride back to the river.

For our last dinner together, we ate at a magnificent restaurant on the river. We ordered perhaps ten patters of various meats and vegetables, which we cooked in the broth at the center of the table. We washed this down with chilled peanut juice. The uniformed waiters provided impeccable service. We commented that in few places in the United states could one find a restaurant of this quality. When the bill finally came, it amounted to $5.00 per person.

We said goodbye in the morning. Jim and Cherry headed back to Chengdu and I caught a bus for the six hour ride to Chongqing. Jim and I grew up in Taiwan together, and so it was fitting to awaken childhood memories in a setting which so well replicated our Taiwan experience of 50 years earlier.