Leshan

The city of Leshan is famous for the largest carved stone Buddha in the world (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It is carved right out of a cliff face, at the convergence of 3 rivers. It was hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that made travel on the river difficult. Ironically, the massive construction resulted in so much stone being removed from the cliff and deposited into the river, that it actually DID alter the currents and calmed the flow!

I have to admit, it was pretty impressive, BUT.. I think this was even more awesome!:

I have no idea what the history is behind this "masterpiece", located randomly in the middle of the city; there was no signage to explain it's significance. I guess it's just one of those art pieces that the local government commissioned to "beautify" the city. And what's not to like about an image of a naked female riding on an alligator?

Pump Up The Jam

We were driving on our way to a city called Leshan ("Happy Mountain"), which is 120km south of Chengdu in Sichuan province (where that big earthquake was last year, and also where a lot of panda bears live), when we suddenly came to a dead stop on the highway.  After sitting there for a couple of minutes, it didn't seem like anyone was going to be moving anytime soon, so our driver got out to do some recon. Apparently, a truck had flipped over a few kilometers ahead and was blocking the entire road.  Great.  

All we could do was sit and wait for the accident to be cleared, so people got out of their vehicles and got comfy in the shade.

An hour later, we were finally on our way.  I can't imagine how long the back up of cars must have been.