LeShan-the biggest Buddha in the world

Today we went with the International school to LeShan and Mei Shan. We stopped at Mei Shan first. There we went to Sansu Shrine, which was the former residence of Su Xun, So Shi, and Su Zhe, famous writers from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Sansu Shrine was a beautiful park with a compound of little buildings all around. If there is one thing that the Chinese do well, it is parks. This was of course the classic Chinese tour where you get off the bus and have someone yell at you through a bull horn for a half an hour then get back on the bus. So we decided to skip out right away. It was very pleasant just wandering around the winding paths over rivers and by waterfalls. There were lots of very nice tea houses and a guy doing calligraphy. If we would have had longer, it would be a very nice place to sit and drink tea and read. But alas, after 40 minutes we got back on the bus and drove somewhere to eat lunch. We ate at this fancy hotel restaurant and it was very good. Not very spicy though, I think they think Westerners don't like spice. Then we went to LeShan. LeShan is famous for a 71m high Buddha carved into the face of the mountain. The carving of the Grand Buddha (Da Fo) was started in 731 AD by a Buddhist monk and engineer by the name of Haitong. The sculpture was finally finished 90 years after Haitong's death, but he did all the work organizing funding and hiring workers and planning the giant feat. The Grand Buddha overlooks a place at the confluence of the Dadu and Min Rivers where there was a hole in the river and boatmen used to vanish. He built the Buddha in hopes of protecting the boatmen. It worked because all the rock from the carving fell into the river and filled the hole. The Buddha was utterly amazing. The toe is like 4 ft tall. It was very crowded though as well. We got in line at the top of the Buddha's head and walked slowly down the cliff, past other ancient carvings in the sandstone, to the foot of the Buddha. Then we wandered off to explore the rest of the park, which was also beautiful. We found a restaurant that overlooked the river and a lovely tea house set back in the mountain. There was also an area with a waterfall and lots of calligraphy tablets on the stone walls.
While at LeShan I was walking around with this other American I have made friends with named I think Ben, but I forgot so I'm going to have to ask him tomorrow. Anyways, he is a chef from New York and is here taking language classes at Sichuan University before starting culinary school at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine, which is also in Chengdu. I was asking him about it today and he told me that the school had set up a special 7-week program for him with a chef and an interpreter. Then he said the course cost 18,000 RMB but could be split among a number of people. He said another American named Zach was planning on taking the class with him and asked if I would like to join. I thought about it all afternoon and decided that I have always wanted to go to culinary school and I cannot pass up an opportunity like this. So I emailed my advisor here to try to drop the one class I have that conflicts, Chinese Archeology which is kind of boring anyway, and will now have cooking class Monday, Tuesday, Friday 2:30-4:30pm. The class starts October 30th and they provide you with a chef outfit, but you have to get your own cleaver. Ben said he knows where to get them and we are going to go pick some out next week. At the end you get a certificate of completion and I will be a real Chinese chef! I'm so excited! It's like all my dreams are coming true. I'll let you guys know more once I find out more, but I can't wait! It will be a little expensive (about $750 US), but it will be worth it and you will all benefit from this enterprise. I said I wanted to learn how to cook Chinese food while I was here and now I'm going to!! The website for the culinary school is in Chinese, but Fuchsia Dunlop is a chef who went to the school and has published a Sichuan cookbook called Land of Plenty if you want to find out a little bit about it. Love you all and talk to you soon!!