From Mao Xian (Maoxian) to Chengdu
It is a omplete surprise that we haven't seen any dead bodies, animals or auto accidents anywhere on this trip. The highways (with the exception of tollways around Xining) are two-lanes filled with cars, trucks, people walking on the road, sheep and yaks crossing at will, little tractors. Going through unlit tunnels with little tractors ahead of you in the darkness was very scary. Oh...and I forgot to add...everyone passes on curves...mountains or not. Today would be the last long drive to Chengdu. No more Tibetan Autonomous zones...no more yaks...each small town and city would be primarily Chinese.
Our driver was a rabid smoker and packs of Chinese cigarettes run anywhere from 3-20 yuan...most commonly 10 yuan a pack. There was plenty of time for him to smoke with all the road delays. We sat at one place for close to an hour while the road builders flagged one row of traffic at a time through this three-block area. I watched the cabbage trucks heading to market with pounds of road dirt on each cabbage...
...another Qiang woman...using the stop to find a rock for "natures call"...
...a truck taking sheep to market...
At long last a lunch stop in Dujuiang where Wang Lee picked a restaurant serving "MU TIONG FAN." The meaning - "wooden basket food." Mu Tiong Fan consisted of egg custard, spicy pork, a not spicy pork, green beans and sticky rice. The serving utensils were unusual. For example, the sticky rice was spooned out of a strip of bamboo and very good.
This was a nice sized city and the streetlights looked like lotus flowers. Several towns had unusual street lights..one town used fake metal palm trees ....
...and we also got a good laugh from this supermarket sign next to the restaurant...
Lunch over, it was time for a drive to The Dujiang Yan Irrigation System. The Dam was nothing like we expected. We thought it would be some sort of Hoover Dam. Wrong. The Dujiang Yan Irrigation System was was founded in the 3rd century B.C....
...and is still in use! Just think, the Chinese have been using this irrigation system for more than 2,200 years. We could have used a lot more time to walk around enjoying the landscaping, various pagodas, Tao temples, bonsai, flowers, and statues of important people in Li Bing's dynasty, 2,200 years ago.
Chengdu and civilization. Hot and steamy. 100+ degrees. We walked to a restaurant for dinner, passing by one that Wang-Lee said served snake...another that served rabbit exclusively...kept on walking.
