A Peace of China: Dafo, Leshan

What I admire most about PCV Stephanie is she’s so willing to attempt friendly conversations with people around us. We usually understand what each other is saying even if no one else does, and we’ve had many laughs over this. She makes a perfect travel companion: friendly, ok with silence, adventurous, open, flexible, happy, and relaxed. But, a recent trip to the Big Buddha, Dafo, in Leshan tested Steph’s easy going nature and sent me into a crowd induced critical red zone.

The trip for me got off to a rough start on the subway. A silent crush happens on Chongqing subways, especially at the interchange station Lianglukou. People more or less line up waiting for the subway, and then when it arrives, everyone pushes on, a forceful silent push. Everyone has full 360-degree body contact. As an American, I like personal space, so this makes me very uncomfortable. The Chinese don’t have the same concept of personal space, very, very close is ok. Besides feeling crushed, I have the most trouble with the smell of humanity in all its stages of washed or unwashed bodies, clothes, teeth, and hair. When someone’s hair is in your face it’s hard not to notice. My coping strategy is to look up, close my eyes, and concentrate on breathing.

A guy pinned along my right side didn’t know this strategy and passed out. The silent crush responded with impressive efficiency, getting him up and into a seat. How, I have no idea because I couldn’t move with my backpack wedged between two other people behind me. Then, someone attempted to revived him by dabbing on his face and neck some vile smelling green medicine used for insect bites. He and his medicinal smell got off at the next station.

view of Leshan from Dafo, nothing to do or see there

We traveled from Chongqing to Chengdu by a very comfortable fast train, which takes 2 hours. The town of Leshan is about 2 hours south of Chengdu and an easy day trip from there. Dafo is a half hour city bus ride from the long distance bus station. The guidebook warns about crowds on weekends. Why don’t I pay more attention to these warnings? Is Dafo worth the trip and dealing with crowds? Probably not. It might be less crowded during the week, during bad weather, or during the winter.