Day 11, 10 June 2012 Meigu to Chengdu

Today total distance travelled 392.5km

Meigu in the morning

Finally! A big city! The road condition was pretty bad after we left Meigu with thick and soft mud after the heavy downpour from the night before.

This is our real first off- road test since we left Penang, condition was so bad that we have to go down to low gear on 4WD transmission and we event dented our engine mud guard.


Stopped at Leshan along the way and visited the Giant Buddha. The Leshan Giant Buddha (simplified Chinese: 乐山大佛; traditional Chinese: 樂山大佛; pinyin: Lèshān Dàfó) was built during the Tang Dynasty (618–907AD). It is carved out of a cliff face that lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers in the southern part of Sichuan province in China, near the city of Leshan. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below his feet. It is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world[1] and it is by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world.

Construction was started in 713, led by a Chinese monk named Haitong. He hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels traveling down the river. When funding for the project was threatened, he is said to have gouged out his own eyes to show his piety and sincerity. After his death, however, the construction was stuck due to insufficient funding. About 70 years later, a jiedushidecided to sponsor the project and the construction was completed by Haitong's disciples in 803.
Apparently the massive construction resulted in so much stone being removed from the cliff face and deposited into the river below that the currents were indeed altered by the statue, making the waters safe for passing ships.

Next we went into Chengdu city just in time before sunset. Our group split to into two, one went for Chinese dinner and another to Hooters!

Our day ended in Chengdu after a slow walk in downtown after dinner.