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When Sunee's new art teacher visited, we asked him about the above two places. He immediately set up a visit to the two sites using a friends car. This is the report of that trip. Unfortunately, Tom was not available to make the one day excursion.
Luocheng
From the internet: Ship-shaped Town in Sichuan Luocheng, an ancient town located in Jianwei County, Sichuan Province, is now on the list of the 100 Classic Chinese Ancient Towns. The town is honored for its size and shape: the entire town looks like a ship. It was built in the first year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty (the year 1628). Up to the present, this surviving old street still preserves part of the human style and features of the ancient Sichuan culture during the Ming and Qing Dynasty. This old street, which is overflowing with the beauty of late afternoon is said to be the sole boat-shaped street in China. (http://www.chinahotel.com.cn/ch_scenic_info.php?sl41_No=1461)
To get to Luocheng we first got a private taxi to Leshan. These taxis can be found across from the White Dragon in downtown Emei City. They charge 10 Yuan a piece and will get you to the bus station in Leshan. At the bus station, we met Sunee's teacher and we drove the 60 kilometers to Luocheng. It was a bone-jarring miserable ride as the road was torn up as soon as we left Leshan. It took well over an hour of misery to get to the town.
On the way, we notice this above-ground "water" pipe running along the highway. This area was very rural with the Sichuan ability to use every small piece of land to grow produce.
We found a parking place and walked to this sign which told us we were in the right place.
The entrance to the "boat-shaped street."
Street scenes from Luocheng. The street was nothing more than a street between two long open buildings. The place was less than impressive.
We found this building in the back end of the Luocheng street. The door led to an empty lot that was once an ancient Buddhist temple.
Part of the ancient town in back of the boat-shaped street. The blue door stood out.
Lunch on the street was noodles and these sweet rice balls. Just OK, nothing much.
This lady and her son was at the door of an ancient temple which had been torn down.
Beautiful Sichuan scenery in back of the town of Luocheng.
Found this flower near the entrance to the old temple grounds.
As we reached the end of the town we came across this guy fertilizing some of his crops from the sewer.
This area was worth the trip. The two dogs were obviously guarding a now destroyed ancient temple. The scene in the background was beautiful.
Two of the guard dogs we found standing guard.
One of those abandoned dogs guarding something from the past.
Overall the trip was interesting but really not worth the effort to get to it. The street was historical but nothing memorable to talk about. I did by an old tobacco pipe but there was nothing else. The trip was painful and the results were disappointing.
Jia Yang Steam Train
Not much on this steam train on the internet. I spent several hours googling the train and only found a couple of sites that mentioned it. Appears to be one of the last working steam trains in the world. Pretty impressive if this is the case.
This sign guided us to the steam train. It was better than advertised!
This is what we saw as we rounded the corner at the sign. A bunch of metal cars on a narrow gauge railroad. How exciting but also extremely primitive. My understanding was that this train was built with help from the British in 1939 to bring coal out of the mountains and has been operational since then. The whole thing felt like 1939. Wonderful!
A real, honest-to-goodness working steam engine. It was breath-taking to look at and touch!
We boarded the train and sat on metal seats, uncomfortable and hot, but who cared. The seats cost us 30 Yuan ($4) for the 12-mile, 90-minute ride. Worth every minute!
The train was loaded with locals either going home or taking products up the line. This lady sat across from me so I took several portraits of her. She had a kind smile and was probably a very beautiful Chinese lady when she was young.
Along with us were a couple of special passengers. They, too, were friendly.
The train underway was an exciting experience. Looking out the open windows, one smelled and felt the cinder coming from the steam engine.
During the trip we went through six tunnels like this one.
Wonderful picture showing the train about half-way through its 12 mile journey in the Sichuan countryside.
As we rounded a corner, the railroad personnel sitting near the door called me over to take a look. As I looked out the window, I saw the engine shoot out the side a huge spray of steam. As the steam vapor made its way back to us, I took this huge rainbow which appeared right in front of me. It was one of the best pictures I have ever taken of a rainbow.
Along the track, we saw rural buildings nestled among the corn fields.
People seemed to be standing along the tracks watching as it went by.
The scenery was typical Sichuan rural. Every place that can be used to plant was used. Beautiful visions of rural life.
The above pictures give you an idea of how rustic and wonderful the scenery was, as if we were traveling along in the 1930s and 1940s China.
We stopped at several small and obviously ancient towns along the way. I took this picture at the second stop where we unloaded and loaded some passengers.
I caught this guy looking out the door as we unloaded some of the passengers in one of the small towns along the way.
The trip included stopping at he end of the line at one point (Bee Rock), changing the steam engine from the front to the back and then continuing on to another stop. The trip was in the form of a "V" with the stops, changing directions by changing steam engines and then returning to the starting point. The whole thing will be a highlight of our stay in Sichuan Province.
After we returned to Leshan, Sunee's teacher took us to a famous restaurant where we enjoyed a special soup of herbs and vegetables. Very good and not too spicy.
We then went to the teacher's studio for relaxation and tea. He showed us a lot of his paintings and awards. He is a great Chinese watercolor painter.
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