An overnight train to another huge modern metropolis - Chengdu - another 13 million people. But a convenient base to do a few tourist attractions and a friendly, busy hostel to come home to every day. One of the attractions around is the largest stone Buddha in the world in the nearby town of Leshan. At an overwhelming 71m high the Buddha is carved into the cliff face and gazes serenely down over the confluence of two rivers. It was built by a Buddhist monk in AD 713 and took 90 years to build. Its ears are 7m long and apparently, you could picnic on his big toe nail! We watched all the Chinese tourists taking photos of each other trying to 'touch' various parts of his face from afar. Apparently, touching various features brings either good luck, good fortune, or good health, so of course, we had to do it too! We then walked down the steps alongside him to get a closer look from all angles. He was pretty impressive and had lots of vegetation sprouting from his chest! He is really MASSIVE! *Mush
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