Well versed in the artistic significance of Chinese drinking culture after our visit to Wliangye we understood the references to poets having a drink before composing.
It was a nice spot overlooking the river.
Three rivers really. The confluence of the Min, Dadu and Qingyi rivers.
A misty, drizzly, day.
Any smaller and the rock breaks.
You'll have to think about that......
This is the third giant Buddha carved into a cliff face that I've seen. I had the good fortune to visit the standing Buddhas at Bamyan in Afghanistan in 1978. Before the Russians invaded and before the Taliban blew them up.
What a silly world!
Blocks of sandstone rather than carved cliff.
There is a panel behind the head where tests on the best way to conduct repairs have been started.
We don't know who trims the toenails.
The other way of seeing the Buddha is from a boat. There's a landing stage below us.
Started about 713 AD. About 70 m high.
Like many large undertakings the project was besieged by politics.
At one stage, to demonstrate his resolve, he gouged out his own eyes.
The project was completed some years after his death.
We were early and it wasn't a weekend.
None of our campsites are particularly special. Just functional.
One thing we've understood is that public space is at a premium. Most useful space has a crop growing.
The road we wanted to follow through the town had a height restriction so we went for a detour.
We met a couple of cars before following the cyclist to the end of this single width road.
We needed to turn left onto a 4 lane main road.
The words "don't panic" were large in our minds.
Fortunately a taxi appeared from nowhere intent on doing a u-turn. He stopped the traffic from the left so we helped by moving towards the middle of the road.
We simply kept moving at a slow pace and merged into the line of traffic from the right. It was simply as if it was expected of us.
It seems that if we proceed at an even pace when entering there comes a time when the stream of cars from the left that seemingly insists on passing in front of us calmly shifts a little to pass behind us.
There is always the driver out to prove a point but mostly it all works fairly smoothly.
Just an idle thought but we couldn't help noticing that most of the adverts were words and numbers. Occasionally there were images trying to convey a message.
Figured we needed somewhere reputable so bowled up at the local Mitsubishi dealer.
They only sell and service cars and small 4wd. Never seen anything our size. Not helped of course that the trucks may be branded Fuso in China.
They were obviously trying to be helpful and after much discussion and lots of phone calls they had some appropriate oil and a way of changing it. A quick phone call to Zupps in Brisbane (Mitsubishi Truck Dealer) told us how much oil was required. I supplied the oil filter.
I was confident that Susanna had enough understanding and had translated well - she had never previously heard of an oil change let alone organised one.
People looked like they were approaching the tasks professionally.
Very different to the quick fix to the exhaust required a few days earlier. Messing with the engine always has the potential to go horribly wrong. I was probably being over cautious.
They didn't seem to have much other work.
They also removed and cleaned the air filter. It was surprisingly dusty.
They'd understood my concern about over filling by just emptying two containers in and checked the level frequently (with appropriate wait for oil to reach the sump).
They decanted our used oil out of the old sump they'd used to collect it.
One was that we pay them. The other that we have our photo taken.
The photo was of the two technicians.
A successful oil change.
We found a suitable car park and settled in for the night.
The bridge over one of the irrigation channels was nicely illuminated, as were some surrounding buildings and the pagoda on the hill.
For the techies the lights are leds.