Trek It Out

I just got back from a jam-packed 6 day trip to Hong Kong (almost 2 full days) and Chengdu (almost 4 full days). I'm posting pictures in reverse chronological order...starting in Chengdu and working back to HK.

Pagoda in a bamboo park in Chengdu...it was a very peaceful and quiet park, probably because there was an admission fee.

Tibetan neighborhood in Chengdu (probably as close as I'll get to Tibet given the fact that no visas are given to foreigners). These are people playing an intense game (of what I couldn't tell, but it did involve tiles) on the sidewalk.

Tibetan monk regalia.

Pandas at the eco/research center in Chengdu...these are the baby pandas after they had their bottles...actually the one on the top right still seems to be working on his bottle. It's amazing how cartoon-like they were.

Temple at the top of a sacred mountain.

Tram up to the top of the mountain. The tram covered the middle of the mountain, but the beginning and end had hundreds upon hundreds of stone stairs carved into it.

We visited a place where there were thousands (literally - believe the actual number is somewhere around 2400) buddhas carved into a rock wall overlooking a river. This is the picture one of the kids took of me in front a rock carving...you can sort of see me, you can sort of see the carving.

HUGE Buddha...apparently the tallest in the world - 71m high. If you look at the Buddha's feet, you'll see lots of little Liliputian people.

HK sky line -- tall buildings that go on and on and on and on. Then there's a break (because of the water) and then more tall buildings on islands. Pretty incredible.

In HK we took the tram up to the top of Victoria's Peak (apparently one of the must-do things)...on one of the foggiest days ever. There wasn't much to see, but this is the tram's track, and from the post cards the view's spectacular on clear days.

And that's my trip. I have much more to tell -- little stories, observations, panda videos, but for now this will have to do!