leaving mid-day monday, may 26th (memorial day)... lax to tokyo... tokyo to hong kong... a 12-hour layover in HK (but will kick it the airport's kick-butt traveler's lounges... $80 for a bed, shower and buffet breakfast... WAY better then trying to find a hotel in the city)... then onto chengdu the morning of the 28th...
i'll cool my heels at sim's cozy garden hostel in chengdu for a few days to get my tibetan
travel permit... sim's is a pretty funky place... but i like that kinda thing.. and it gets great reviews... last, at $14/night for a single room with bath, it officially rocks!
while there, i'm hoping to check out wenshu monastery... a beautiful buddhist temple in the north part of the city... also home of a popular tea garden and great veggie restaurant (yay!)....
the panda research center, where pretty much all the world's pandas come from these days ... on one hand, animals in captivity make me sad (like sad panda?)... but it's also hopeful... as this center is keeping these beautiful creatures from extinction.. (and, damn, if these aren't about the cutest things on earth, i don't know what is... i just wanna hug em!)...
...the leshan giant buddha (i wanted to see this on the '06 trip, but just couldn't work it in... ). the leshan buddha is the tallest stone buddha in the world. it's carved out of a cliff face and, from what i've heard, is simply amazing! (lookie at all the itsy people!)...
oh... and i plan to eat as much ma po dofu (sans critters, of course) i can humanly stand... (mmmmm... spicy!)
more details to come...
