A long hard drive from Foping on the way to Chengdu with motorway all the way. The beautiful quality of the road surface saves a fortune on diesel, but the toll charge still comes as a painful shock. However the diesel is very cheap, so can’t complain. Lots of tunnels and literally thousands and thousands of trucks travelling from Xi’an to Chengdu.
Stopped to see an authentic ancient Chinese town, except that it looked very much like a reconstruction for the Chinese tourist industry. There was a Confucian temple, which makes a change from the Buddhist temples, but the gaudy pink statue was garish whereas the Buddhas are beautiful. Bound to be a disappointment for folks like us who have seen Fenghuang.
Green found us a very nice place to park in the hills above Guangyuan next to a homestay where they cooked us a delicious meal and let us use the toilet and shower for a small charge. In a fit of generosity I bought Jim a beer for 80 pence.
