No Babies in Wuxi

Today was the first day of a week-long holiday in celebration of China’s National Day (the PRC was founded on October 1, 1949; free history lessons courtesy of Clark Nielsen). Unfortunately, to deserve a whole week off, we had to attend school on Saturday and Sunday. Technically, then, we only get three days off. I see what you did there. Nonetheless, I plan on seeing some nearby cities, and the first was Wuxi.

My interest in Wuxi was sparked when I asked a friend if she would want to go somewhere with me. She mentioned a big Buddha statue in Wuxi that she has always wanted to see. After looking at some pictures, I really liked that idea, but the next day, my friend changed her mind. Apparently, if you visit this statue, you are obligated to come back the following two years and see it again. You have to. I understand cultural differences exist, but this I don’t get: you can either never go to the statue, or you can visit it three times? I’m willing to push my luck on this one.

So I went alone.

Asking somebody else to come was a possibility, I just suddenly felt like I needed to do this on my own. I needed to prove that I really am brave. I know, I know, I flew to China by myself, for heaven’s sake, but as soon as I got here, I hid in my apartment, too scared to go out and talk to people. And it’s still a problem. When I went to Pinghu, I paced in front of the bus station for five minutes before finally approaching the ticket counter! I may do a lot of adventurous things, but I also struggle with a lot of insecurities that have weighed on me my whole life.

This time, though, I was determined to break that. I marched up to the ticket counter and said, without hesitation, “I today want go Wuxi!” And when I got to Wuxi, instead of taking the easy way out by buying the same bus ticket back, I went to the train station and bought a train ticket. (Interesting fact: the bus cost 21 yuan and took an hour and a half to get there. The train was 12 yuan and only took 15 minutes.)

The Lingshan Grand Buddha was the only thing I wanted to see in Wuxi, but the park itself had a lot of other cool things in it (other statues, temples, museums, etc.) and was definitely worth the trip. Oh, enough talking already. Here are the pictures:

Doesn’t look too intimidating from afar.

But it’s actually pretty big: 88 meters.

I’m huge.

29 September 2008 | China | Comments | Home
tags: attractions, holidays, self-improvement, transportation

• < Next Post
• Previous Post >