West from Chengdu- Daoism and Dujiangyan
Our last full day in Chengdu was full of walking, sightseeing and festivities. In what has become our routine, we all arrived in the early morning at the school and then boarded a bus for our destination of the day with two Chengdu teachers. First stop was a trip to Qingchen Mountain, known as the birthplace of Taoism or Daoism. Unlike hiking around Bethel, hiking here involves walking up lots and lots of steps. There are also numerous opportunities to buy ice cream along the way! We walked, took a very short boat ride, rode a cable car part way up the route and then we walked some more before arriving at the Taoist temple.
The Shangqing Temple
The whole group at the Tao temple
Our group on Qingcheng Mountain
We ate delicious lunch with many dishes, some spicy, some not so hot. The restaurant was located alongside the swift current of the Min River, a tributary of the Yangtze.
The girls, finishing another fabulous meal
The boys table. We’ve all gotten efficient at chopsticks.
We then walked along the Dujiangyan Irrigation System which was engineered and constructed around 250 BC.
The water of the Min River, which flows from Tibet, is a beautiful greenish blue color.
Grace is looking up the river.
Our teacher guides of the day Autumn and Lisa, with Marita
Here’s the whole group at the Min River
We were told that tossing money into this pool would bring us good luck, so many students dropped in a few yuan. Kohuske noted some Japanese money in the water.
Andrew and Henry and Ji Dangpu
We had a little time when we returned to school. Our students played a little basketball while many of the Chinese students attended PE class.
When we returned from our outings today, the Chengdu students were outside doing their exercises.
Our final event of the day was a banquet with our students and their hosts at a restaurant. Dish after dish of delicious local specialties were delivered to the tables.
More than a dozen dishes were served at our final banquet dinner, including turtle, which is said to bring good luck.
A coy-looking Grace holds the fan given by our hosts at the Chengdu School.
The girls and their hosts at the final banquet.
The boys and their hosts at the final banquet.
It has been a great week here in Chengdu with our new friends and a taste of springtime. We’re now looking forward to hearing the stories from our other 9th grade groups when we meet up in Beijing tomorrow. Off to pack!
