I have been to two local organised climbing competitions near Chengdu recently. Both of them were publicity stunts not really competitions. I was a guest so they could have foreign faces in there photos.  The first one was in Chengdu on an artificial wall. They had a small top rope climbing competition. One route that may as well have been a ladder for a speed competition and another hard route for difficulty. There was know prizes, it was just to demonstrate climbing. Also there was a small orienteering comp with challenges, like tent pitching and first aid questions. There were several stands with information on outdoor sports including, mountain biking, skiing and power gliding. The whole event was carried off in typical local style, with lots of guest speakers, music, some ti-chi and yoga demoes and other performances.

The second competition was about 4 hours drive out of Chengdu. We got on a coach at about 8.00am and after waiting in a service station for 2 hours for another vehicle that had got lost! we made it to a small town just after 3.00. This small town is famous for one thing only. Tofu! We were fed it for every meal for the next 2 and a half days!

In one day we had more than 15 different dishes of tofu! By the second day at meal times everyone cheered every time a dish was brought out that wa

s not tofu.To say eat Tofu in Chinese also has another meaning. It can also be used to refer to touching someone up or caressing someone in a sexual manner. So there was a continual supply of jokes about this for the entire course of our trip.The cli

mbing competition was on a 60 M tope rope; the like of which I have never seen before! Two people were needed to belay. One pulling the rope and one actually belaying! The rock was conglomerate made up of lots of small rocks, mud and sand! A choss pile! Everyone who climbed the route pulled rocks off left right and centre! And if that was not exiting enough it was a speed event! A 60 M top rope speed climb on a choss pile! There was a prize of 2000RMB about £200 for the winner. There was about 20 of us competing; we were there for 3 days but only climbed one route. It was on the 1^st of may holidayand in quite a nice picturesque gorge that has been turned into a tourist park. Everything is new but built in an old style. I see more and more of this here. The creation of fake local culture and history; to tell a fairy tail of the past. This comes from the desire to show good face and although everyone knows that nun of it is real most people prefer the elusion and feel that because it looks nice it reflects well on them.
I came 4^th in the competition but can not really recommend the climbing there as the rock is really loos. But it made for an interesting experience and I have eaten more types of tofu than I care to remember!