First, thank you Dave and April for a wonderful time in SZ! This wonderful time began with a tour of the city. Dave and I walked through the parks watching people perform tai chi, fan dancing, badminton, playing hackysack, karaoke and more! The most interesting place Dave and I accidentally stumbled upon was the English Corner...which we weren't aware of until we were encircled by 30+ Chinese asking us questions such as "Where are you from, What is your name, How are you, Do you work here?" And then rattle off the cities and states they are familiar with in the US. Dave was very good about making our escape! Phew!!!
That evening I experienced my first deep-fried shrimp (with legs attached) on a stick covered in cayenne pepper...it was delicious!! I just had to trick my self regarding the legs...yeah I don't want to think about that anymore. That dinner was a typical spicy Sichaun style dinner. Post-dinner we stopped by a lounge for a drink and some great reggae music! Next stop, 3D bar! We sat outside for a few hours sipping on some drinks and checking out the locals...Dave and I had a good time giving out scores!
The next day the three of us (Dave, April and I) checked out Fairy Lake Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful and nice and quiet...a good break from the noise of the city! We hiked and hiked and hiked and finally we arrived at the top of the temple to a pretty cool view of the area! Afterwards we hit up the foot massage center. First your feet are soaked in a tea bath while you sit on an ottoman your neck, shoulders and back are massaged and my girl was droppin some elbows in my knots...oooh it felt soooo good!!! Next, off the ottoman and into an oversized lounge chair for the foot massage. Again my girl was very strong...and of course I was a wuss and had to tell her to back off a bit. In the end my feet felt rejuvenated!! Just another fabulous evening in SZ!!
On one of my last days in SZ it rained colts and phillies all day long!! So I sat in Dave's apartment getting laundry done and watching movies. Eventually we made it out for a friend's (Jamon's) party! The party was great because it was a reminder of home...first of all Jamon is a Pitt Alum...woohoo PITT!!! And secondly there were a bunch of Americans!! So the night only began there and ended at U-bar with a ton of dancing and drinking!! We had such a great time!! We were out until the sun came up!!! I can't even recall the last time that happened! So needless to say a late start for the next day! We enjoyed dim sum, which is like having a tapas style brunch, then moved onto the sauna...oh which was my favorite place. I spent some time in the steam room and then in the dry heat room and just a few mins in the ice box room and then finally off for an hour and a half massage at which point I fell asleep...sigh! How lovely! It was a lovely way to leave SZ and begin my volunteer experience in Thailand...
I Fell in Love...
...with Hong Kong! I must say my most favorite city in all of China! I fell in love with the people, the skyscrapers, the mountains and the sky terrace view of HK Island, Victoria Harbour and Kowloon! I know many people say HK isn't really China...well that's true and maybe that's why I fell in love with it?? It doesn't matter, but what does, is the following. My favorite skyscraper...The Bank of China, amazingly beautiful day and night. It's design was based on the principles of feng-shui. The people of HK can pass underneath the building and walk directly to the government buildings...which is good feng shui! Another one of my favorite spots in HK was the Mid-Levels escalators that take you to Conduit Road, which then I followed to the HK Zoological and Botanical Gardens. The escalators are a series of about 20 which only run down (into the city) from 7a to 10a and thereafter run up! The escalators run through an area called Soho and there are cute little coffee and pastry shops as well as small eateries and bars that would fit about 20 people max! Yeah I never would have thought just taking a bunch of escalators would be a cool thing. Maybe Pittsburgh ought to think about that for Mt. Washington or even getting up to the Peterson Events Center??? Oh yeah, so the Zoo was great!! I saw a Burmese python, sleepy orangutans, ring-tailed lemurs, tamarins, pygmy marmosets, lion-tailed macaques and black and white ruffed lemurs!! It was incredible. I would have taken more pics and spent a bit more time there, but the mosquitoes were sucking the life out of my ankles!!! My evening ended with a delightful vegetarian thai curry with deep fried noodles and a beer at Bahama Mama's (yes a place for westerners)! The next day is was overcast...PERFECT weather for me to visit the beach!! So off to Shek O Island I went. I sat on the beach for about an hour reading and taking in the view (sigh)! and unfortunately for me the sun finally broke through...so I turned a "few" shades darker and finally couldn't tolerate the heat any longer... I headed back to HK Island and ascended Victoria Peak...not via steps...but via the tram. The incline was ridiculous!!! I would guess the incline to be about a 30 degree angle!! After 8 mins I reached the top and took 3-4 more escalators to the sky terrace to see the view of beautiful Hong Kong, Kowloon and Victoria Harbour!! Breathtaking...one of the I-can't-believe-my-eyes-are-taking-witness-to-such-an-amazing-sight...moments. So after being a tourist up there I hiked up Mt. Austin Road to where only one other person was viewing all the beauty that is Victoria Peak. He was nice enough to take my picture at the top!! Just like a McDonald's commercial..."I'm lovin' it"!! So instead of heading back down right away I decided to read and dine on Victoria Peak. It was very difficult for me to tear my self away from there, but eventually I took the tram back down and called a wonderful night!!
Shanghai!!
Day 1:
Tower and the World Financial Center! Absolutely incredible structures!! Discovery has an episode of the construction of the World Financial Center (the most recently built building). It's unfathomable what architects and engineers can create! Instead of taking the tourist ferry to Instead of staying at a usual hostel we decided to rent an apartment for a week in Shanghai. The apartment is on the 22nd floor with an amazing view of Shanghai...day and night!! Our first night we spent strolling along The Bund and Pudong, viewing the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin MaoPudong, we took the cheapa cheapa ferry across with the locals...I think we were the only tourists on there! Yeah we roll like locals! No matter what form of transportation one is embarking upon in China it's always a mad rush! Patience China, patience. On the return to Shanghai we decided to take the "sight-seeing" tunnel under the river??? I was puzzled as well, but agreed and we entered a tram (like the ones at the Pittsburgh airport only much smaller, it could fit 10 Chinese or 5 Americans ;)) and saw a terrible, very cheesy light show! I could have produced a better light-show with Lite-Brite! So no sights, just lights...awful! At least it made us laugh!!
Tower and the World Financial Center! Absolutely incredible structures!! Discovery has an episode of the construction of the World Financial Center (the most recently built building). It's unfathomable what architects and engineers can create! Instead of taking the tourist ferry to Instead of staying at a usual hostel we decided to rent an apartment for a week in Shanghai. The apartment is on the 22nd floor with an amazing view of Shanghai...day and night!! Our first night we spent strolling along The Bund and Pudong, viewing the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin MaoPudong, we took the cheapa cheapa ferry across with the locals...I think we were the only tourists on there! Yeah we roll like locals! No matter what form of transportation one is embarking upon in China it's always a mad rush! Patience China, patience. On the return to Shanghai we decided to take the "sight-seeing" tunnel under the river??? I was puzzled as well, but agreed and we entered a tram (like the ones at the Pittsburgh airport only much smaller, it could fit 10 Chinese or 5 Americans ;)) and saw a terrible, very cheesy light show! I could have produced a better light-show with Lite-Brite! So no sights, just lights...awful! At least it made us laugh!!
Day 2
We hit up The Old City of Shanghai stopping to visit the Yu Yuan Garden (Jade Garden) and Huxin (Heart of the Pavilion) Teahouse. We reached the teahouse from the garden by walking across a zigzag bridge flocked with tourists at every angle, taking pictures with the Yu Yuan in the background. From the Old City we headed over to the French Concession viewing skylines from the Garden Hotel and the Jin Jiang Hotel and then shopping for knock-offs...well Kristin did the shopping, I just did the watching. I can't tell a fake from genuine, so I have no interest. Anyway, you could purchase Foaches, Fradas, Fiesels, Fuccis and many more fakes! Everyone wanted to give us "best price for you" and "best quality for you"! Kristin haggles well!!! The best part of the French Concession besides the skyline views, was the little dumpling place we ate at. Our first experience with cold dumplings...YUMMY!!!
Day 3
Nearby our apartment we visited Yufo Si (Jade Buddha Temple), where each Buddha is carved out of one single piece of white jade. No pictures were allowed to be taken :(
In the evening we decided to check out an opera...well at least we thought. We ended up purchasing tickets for a reality tv singing show. The locals loved it...we unfortunately did not share the same feeling...we made an escape after a half an hour!!! :)
Day 4
Off to Suzhou at 7am and on the way to the train station I ALMOST got pickpocketed or should I say packpocketed. A group of 3 boys were behind me and I had my pack on my back. Kristin walking beside me fortunately caught a little greasy Chinese hand pulling at the zipper. Phew!!! I can't believe that, because I'm usually very careful about my pack. Luckily nothing more happened, they were confronted and yelled at and then they retreated.
So with all my belongings we finally arrived in Suzhou via the high-speed CRH train which I noticed to be clocked at 195km/h!! Upon arrival Kristin and I detoured to Tongli to see some active canals that locals used for transporting themselves as well as goods. It was interesting to know that this town, back in the day, "floated". The waterways were their only means of transportation. So back to Suzhou to visit the Bei Si Ta (North Pagoda Temple) which enshrined the fattest and tallest Buddha I've seen! This temples claim is that it is the tallest Chinese pagoda South of the Yangtze. That's like saying the Hancock building is the tallest building on Michigan Avenue west of Lake Michigan between the Water Tower and an El stop...anyway! We climbed 9 stories of steps to see the entire temple grounds and Suzhou city. The climb worked up a ferocious appetite so we headed into town for some Muslim treats...eggplant with green peppers, red chili pepper, cumin and slices of garlic...Yumm-O!!! Nan covered in sesame seeds and cilantro...the meal couldn't get any better!
Day 4
Off to Hangzhou...anticipating a smooth transfer just like Suzhou, but not the case. Apparently the train leaves from the South station (not the North like Suzhou). So off to the south train station to purchase new tickets...no refunds on the old tickets and just an hour behind...so over all not bad. Immediately arriving in Hangzhou we spy a DQ...DQ does it right...and next minute we were having blizzards!!!! After inhaling our blizzards we rented bikes and headed for the causeways! This was the most relaxing time I've had in China...no one yelling hello at me...no one crowding around me as I open my English to Mandarin phrasebook...none of it!! We rode our bikes for about 5-6 hours and then took a paddle boat ride to Lord Ruan's Mound and Mid-Lake Pavilion, the latter of which is the smallest and earliest. Another one of the most relaxing moments...even if it only lasted an hour. :) (sigh) Our last stop in Hangzhou...Papa John's for some cheesesticks!!! P-A-P-A baby!!!
Day 5
Bags...watches...shoes...This is the phrase that all of the street hawkers knew clearly! I can't even imagine to tell you how many secret knockoff back rooms we'd been to! Although one is a memory that will last forever. So Kristin is approached yet by another bags...watches...shoes...seller and we are off at the Chinese pace...which is a fast walk, almost to a competitive level. In this room we find the usual fakes: Coach, Prada, Diesel, Rolex and many more. So Kristin immediately checks out a Coach and it is a horrible copy! So she asks for better quality and the next we know the guy is pushing on a shelf of bags and low and behold there is another room! We just start cracking up!!! It was hysterical. So nothing there tickles her fancy, so we ask for more and with another push of a shelf, there's yet another room!!! CRAZY!!! In this room there weren't many good options either, so I anticipate another room and I begin pushing on a shelf or 3 and to our dismay...nothing!! Everyone just started laughing at me...hey I had to give it a try!!! Wish I would've taken a pic of that!!
Last Day in Shanghai :(
Off to a real Peking Opera! A high-class meal at Subway...Eat Fresh!...was had prior to the show. Again, we were slightly disappointed with the show...I guess our expectations were too high??? There was initially some fighting, but then it was all singing and not much acting, but we made it through the entire performance. The rest of the crowd loved it and cheers and applause were given frequently. We didn't know why, either?? Out of the theater we see a torrential downpour...hail and wind gusts turning umbrellas inside out!!! So for 20 yuan, we bought two umbrellas and head for the Royal Meridian Hotel...a hotel we frequented to use it's lovely bathroom...as we approached the doorman said "Welcome Back"! I guess we tinkled there a little more often than we noticed! After cleaning ourselves up we decided it was time for wine. The was our 30th birthday party celebration!!! We sat for hours chatting and laughing while sipping our South African Cabernet and eating spiced cashews! As not to look like big alcoholics, we headed to the Jin Mao Tower to Cloud 9 on the 87th floor for yet another Cabernet, roasted duck, spicy fried tofu and lovely spring rolls! Even through my wine goggles the view was spectacular. Shanghai all lit up in it's beauty!! Flickering lights here, color-changing lights there...(sigh)!! To top our wonderful birthday celebration off we were entertained by a magician at our table. Card tricks, ring and necklace tricks (Yangtze cruise friends are all well aware of this one thanks to Michael!) and a disappearing/reappearing scarf trick! After 3 bottles of wine anything was entertaining to me!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!!!!
Day 3
Nearby our apartment we visited Yufo Si (Jade Buddha Temple), where each Buddha is carved out of one single piece of white jade. No pictures were allowed to be taken :(
In the evening we decided to check out an opera...well at least we thought. We ended up purchasing tickets for a reality tv singing show. The locals loved it...we unfortunately did not share the same feeling...we made an escape after a half an hour!!! :)
Day 4
Off to Suzhou at 7am and on the way to the train station I ALMOST got pickpocketed or should I say packpocketed. A group of 3 boys were behind me and I had my pack on my back. Kristin walking beside me fortunately caught a little greasy Chinese hand pulling at the zipper. Phew!!! I can't believe that, because I'm usually very careful about my pack. Luckily nothing more happened, they were confronted and yelled at and then they retreated.
So with all my belongings we finally arrived in Suzhou via the high-speed CRH train which I noticed to be clocked at 195km/h!! Upon arrival Kristin and I detoured to Tongli to see some active canals that locals used for transporting themselves as well as goods. It was interesting to know that this town, back in the day, "floated". The waterways were their only means of transportation. So back to Suzhou to visit the Bei Si Ta (North Pagoda Temple) which enshrined the fattest and tallest Buddha I've seen! This temples claim is that it is the tallest Chinese pagoda South of the Yangtze. That's like saying the Hancock building is the tallest building on Michigan Avenue west of Lake Michigan between the Water Tower and an El stop...anyway! We climbed 9 stories of steps to see the entire temple grounds and Suzhou city. The climb worked up a ferocious appetite so we headed into town for some Muslim treats...eggplant with green peppers, red chili pepper, cumin and slices of garlic...Yumm-O!!! Nan covered in sesame seeds and cilantro...the meal couldn't get any better!
Day 4
Off to Hangzhou...anticipating a smooth transfer just like Suzhou, but not the case. Apparently the train leaves from the South station (not the North like Suzhou). So off to the south train station to purchase new tickets...no refunds on the old tickets and just an hour behind...so over all not bad. Immediately arriving in Hangzhou we spy a DQ...DQ does it right...and next minute we were having blizzards!!!! After inhaling our blizzards we rented bikes and headed for the causeways! This was the most relaxing time I've had in China...no one yelling hello at me...no one crowding around me as I open my English to Mandarin phrasebook...none of it!! We rode our bikes for about 5-6 hours and then took a paddle boat ride to Lord Ruan's Mound and Mid-Lake Pavilion, the latter of which is the smallest and earliest. Another one of the most relaxing moments...even if it only lasted an hour. :) (sigh) Our last stop in Hangzhou...Papa John's for some cheesesticks!!! P-A-P-A baby!!!
Day 5
Bags...watches...shoes...This is the phrase that all of the street hawkers knew clearly! I can't even imagine to tell you how many secret knockoff back rooms we'd been to! Although one is a memory that will last forever. So Kristin is approached yet by another bags...watches...shoes...seller and we are off at the Chinese pace...which is a fast walk, almost to a competitive level. In this room we find the usual fakes: Coach, Prada, Diesel, Rolex and many more. So Kristin immediately checks out a Coach and it is a horrible copy! So she asks for better quality and the next we know the guy is pushing on a shelf of bags and low and behold there is another room! We just start cracking up!!! It was hysterical. So nothing there tickles her fancy, so we ask for more and with another push of a shelf, there's yet another room!!! CRAZY!!! In this room there weren't many good options either, so I anticipate another room and I begin pushing on a shelf or 3 and to our dismay...nothing!! Everyone just started laughing at me...hey I had to give it a try!!! Wish I would've taken a pic of that!!
Last Day in Shanghai :(
Off to a real Peking Opera! A high-class meal at Subway...Eat Fresh!...was had prior to the show. Again, we were slightly disappointed with the show...I guess our expectations were too high??? There was initially some fighting, but then it was all singing and not much acting, but we made it through the entire performance. The rest of the crowd loved it and cheers and applause were given frequently. We didn't know why, either?? Out of the theater we see a torrential downpour...hail and wind gusts turning umbrellas inside out!!! So for 20 yuan, we bought two umbrellas and head for the Royal Meridian Hotel...a hotel we frequented to use it's lovely bathroom...as we approached the doorman said "Welcome Back"! I guess we tinkled there a little more often than we noticed! After cleaning ourselves up we decided it was time for wine. The was our 30th birthday party celebration!!! We sat for hours chatting and laughing while sipping our South African Cabernet and eating spiced cashews! As not to look like big alcoholics, we headed to the Jin Mao Tower to Cloud 9 on the 87th floor for yet another Cabernet, roasted duck, spicy fried tofu and lovely spring rolls! Even through my wine goggles the view was spectacular. Shanghai all lit up in it's beauty!! Flickering lights here, color-changing lights there...(sigh)!! To top our wonderful birthday celebration off we were entertained by a magician at our table. Card tricks, ring and necklace tricks (Yangtze cruise friends are all well aware of this one thanks to Michael!) and a disappearing/reappearing scarf trick! After 3 bottles of wine anything was entertaining to me!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!!!!
The Yangzi River Booze!
On Thursday May 29th I set sail on the Yangzi River for a 3-day cruise. Starting from Wanzhou(Wanxian) and finishing in Yichang! The first night I met Jenny, Simon, Dave (aka: VonDutch) and Michael the German (different German from Mt. Emei). At our first stop we purchased 32 to bottles of Snow beer...let's just say we had a fantastic time!! Day 2 was a trip to see the Three Little Gorges...which aren't so little. The scenery was stunning!! I couldn't believe I was viewing this amazing natural beauty...in China. When I thought of China initially, I thought about the 1 billion people scurrying around the cities to and from their jobs, markets, etc... I also thought about the beauty of the architecture in more rural areas, but never did I think China would hold such beautiful mountains. When we were sailing on the river it was actually lower than the normal water level, because the river was anticipated to flood soon and lowering the level would alleviate flood damage. So it was even better to know how low from the mountain peaks we were and how high we could have been. In Sandouping the construction of the Three Gorges Dam is underway. The hope of the dam is to obviously generate hydroelectric power and help control flooding of the Yangzi, but the downfall is that the river itself will be turned into a lake by elevating the water 175 meters, so many of the villages and temples alongside the river's bank will be submerged. A lot of money from the government and nearby provinces are aiding in the relocation of temples/artifacts and construction of high-rises for the villagers to move in to. So your call on whether it's a good or bad solution?? The Three Gorges Dam is 6x the length of the Hoover Dam and utilizes 26 generators to generate 10% of China's power!!! Incredible!!! Okay back to the cruise...Day 3: we set off into dragon boats for a race. It was hysterical...all of the foreigners were put in one boat and twice as many Chinese tourists were put in another boat and we kicked their butts in the race!!! It was great, they were taking pictures of us!! Apparently we are a tourist attraction for many locals and Chinese tourists!!! So we finished out Day 3 with a drive by of the Three Gorges Dam and off to Wuhan we went...just for the night.
A Humbling Trek on Mt. Emei
ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!!! Those are the words to describe my latest adventure!!! I set out at 10am on Saturday May 24th with Kristin and Michael to hike Mt. Emei. I knew it was a "good" hike, but did not really know it until we began the trek. Michael is a German fellow we met at our hostel. He presently lives in Chengdu, is fluent in Mandarin and on his 6th climb of Mt. Emei, which made him the best tour guide for this hike!! We started at Baogou Si, hiked to Huyu Bridge then to Leiyin Si and over to Shen Shui Si (nunnery)...~12kilometers. At Shen Shui Si we were fortunate to observe a spiritual ritual in process. Ahh-mee-tah-foe (phonetically speaking) was the phrase/word being chanted by the nuns along with the beat of drums and bells...I was mesmerized!!! I wish I could have recorded it, but out of respect I did not, but was permitted to take one picture. The picture I was able to capture was of a nun, performing a ceremony on a cylindrical stone pillar that stood (if facing Buddha) on the left side of the entrance to the shrine. The sight was humbling. To see such devotion in any religion is humbling to me. You could hear the devotion in the chanting and in the movements of the nuns...unbelievable!!! I left with a warm heart and knew the rest of the trek would be inspiring. From Shen Shui Si we traversed ~5k more to Qingyin monastery to spend the night!! Two rivers came together at this point and therefore the English translation is Pure Sound monastery. The three of us had our dinner, then sat on our balcony overlooking the river sipping jasmine tea (my favorite)!!! The clear rushing sound of the river and sweet smell and warmth of the tea made for a good night's rest!! The next morning Michael and I headed for the Hard Wok Cafe...yes that's what I wrote!! It took us about 1.5 hrs to get there for the best banana-honey pancakes on Mt. Emei. Peggy's (English name) cafe has been on Mt Emei for the past 25yrs. (Mt Emei's stone path was created 30yrs ago). We complimented her food and hospitality and then moved on to Hongchun Ping (elevation=1120m). Shen Shui Si and Hongchun Ping are 2 of the oldest and active monasteries on Mt. Emei. At Hongchun Ping Michael and I were invited by Buddhist monks to sit and enjoy some tea with them!!! Again...unbelievable!! Again...humbled. We drank tea Taiwanese style...out of smaller than one ounce handle-less clay cups. Michael translated when was I spoken to and when I posed questions to the monks. These guys were extremely friendly and welcoming. They also invited us to have lunch, but unfortunately we just ate and had many more kilometers to hike. We ended up hiking ~60kilometers of staircases and trails in two days!! Viewing some of the most beautiful monasteries with Chinese and Tibetan influences. ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!!!
No Tibetan Culture for You!
So next adventure was one hell of an excursion!! We left Xi'an on an overnight train to Lanzhou at 10pm to arrive at 7am. From there we take the 9am bus to Linxia which was a 3hr noisy ride. We arrive in Linxia and get on the bus to Xiahe after circling around town for 1.5hrs picking up people and cargo??? Don't ask, because I don't know??? Anyway Finally around 130pm we head out to Xiahe, only to get stopped at a checkpoint about an hour outside Xiahe and kicked off the bus and immediately forced onto a return bus to Linxia. So what went down was that the Chinese police are cutting off all Tibetan areas of known rioting to foreigners. Xiahe has a beautiful Tibetan monastery (The Labrang Monastery). It's the place to go if one is unable to get to Lhasa, Tibet. Xiahe is NOT in the Tibetan province, but as I said before because of previous riots the Chinese police/government has closed it off to foreigners. The last information we had before setting out to Xiahe was that it was open to foreign travellers. An unfortunate mishap during our travel, but we did enjoy a remote Chinese countryside for about $7 round trip ;) Okay so now we had to travel the 2hrs back to Lixia, the 3hrs back to Lanzhou and the overnight 8hr train ride back to Xi'an. Backtracking was the only way to go at that point. The train then put us into Xi'an at about 9am, then we took the 130pm flight out of Xi'an to Chengdu and hopped another bus for a 3hr ride to Emei Shan and that's where I am now! Finally at rest for a couple of days. It will finally be good to get into a new pair of clothes since I have been in my current attire for the past three days...and you guessed it no shower in the last few days either! The Garnier wipes sure do come in handy on mishaps like this! T.I. C. = This Is China!
Going to climb to the top of Mt Emei tomorrow!
Going to climb to the top of Mt Emei tomorrow!
Xi'an
The first day in Xi'an we booked a tour for the Terra Cotta Warriors, Hot Springs and the Banpo Museum. The only one worth talking about was the Terra Cotta Warriors. Buried underground to protect the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, thousands and thousands of warriors were created out of clay. The bodies were made separate from the heads. Each face is distinguishable by expression from hand carved details. The paint on the soldiers were faded, but there is some evidence of reds, blues, greens and golds. An interesting detail was the sole of the shoes...with tread meant married and without tread meant single (I am still without tread) :) The wife was the one who detailed the shoes. Other distinguishing features were hairstyles (buns and square knots) and attire (details on the suit). The excavation still continues as money is donated for the feat! I don't think my words can describe the scale of the scene...so hopefully my pictures will. The rest of the tour, unfortunate to say sucked! But in the end we met a great group of people from Australia, D.C. and Vancouver. We ended up at their hostel drinking and playing card games! We were asked to move out of the bar into the back patio area, secondary to earthquake warnings. We were safe and nothing happened, but a good time with new friends!
The following day we went to see The Dacien Si (temple) and The Big Goose Pagoda. The pagoda has seven tiers with a window at each level. Visitors throw money out of the windows for luck. Unfortunately the pagoda was closed so instead we walked around the temple. Xuan Zang spent 15yrs in India collecting Sanskrit sutras. He brought them back to China to translate the 1335 volumes into Chinese and had the pagoda built to protect the sutras! Some of the halls depicted carvings on three walls of Xuan Zang's journey. The side walls were of black laquer, carvings made in the laquer with glistening gold paint in the grooves. The middle wall was a mahogony colored wood with raised carvings. All of this was so interesting to "see" his perserverance and dedication to preserving the sutras. Inside the main prayer hall sat a 50ft tall gold-foiled Buddha that really made an impression on me. Just outside the hall was a large candle holder made of wrought iron. It held hundreds of lit and melting China-red candles. Unsure if this was a daily tradition or secondary to the victims of the earthquake. At the end of our visit, we came upon a prayer wall, which held 4x6 wooden cards with different colored borders. Red=love and health, blue=success and green=education. We purchased a red prayer card, wrote a message for those injured and/or displaced by the earthquake and hung it on the wall along with many others. A solemn moment for me, but a happy one as well as I paused to remember how fortunate I am to be here and experiencing all that is China.
We moved on to the Muslim Quarter to see the Great Mosque...by far my most favorite piece of religious architecture in China! An old, yet active mosque that was stunning...upturned eaves with detailed carvings of dragons, archways with phoenixes and blue-glazed roof tiles. It's a beautiful and harmonious combination of Middle Eastern and Chinese architecture. After the mosque we headed for the Muslim Quarter, where we ate noodle soup (sorry don't know the real name, secondary to can't read Chinese characters) which contained leeks, garlic and a slew of vegetables...YUMMY!!!!! We also had Chinese pizza, two pieces of crepe like bread filled with meat and vegetables and deep fried...mmmm....good!!! The food has been settling well in my belly! We walked around the market stalls and noted anything was for sale from fake Rolexes to Prada bags to chopstick sets and watches with Mao's picture and his hand as the second hand!! So finally time for us to head out; we decided to leave via auto-rickshaw. Our driver drove us into oncoming traffic and then crossed a raised median and whipped around corners...we made it back safely...can't say my blood pressure was in a safe range, though. :)
The following day we went to see The Dacien Si (temple) and The Big Goose Pagoda. The pagoda has seven tiers with a window at each level. Visitors throw money out of the windows for luck. Unfortunately the pagoda was closed so instead we walked around the temple. Xuan Zang spent 15yrs in India collecting Sanskrit sutras. He brought them back to China to translate the 1335 volumes into Chinese and had the pagoda built to protect the sutras! Some of the halls depicted carvings on three walls of Xuan Zang's journey. The side walls were of black laquer, carvings made in the laquer with glistening gold paint in the grooves. The middle wall was a mahogony colored wood with raised carvings. All of this was so interesting to "see" his perserverance and dedication to preserving the sutras. Inside the main prayer hall sat a 50ft tall gold-foiled Buddha that really made an impression on me. Just outside the hall was a large candle holder made of wrought iron. It held hundreds of lit and melting China-red candles. Unsure if this was a daily tradition or secondary to the victims of the earthquake. At the end of our visit, we came upon a prayer wall, which held 4x6 wooden cards with different colored borders. Red=love and health, blue=success and green=education. We purchased a red prayer card, wrote a message for those injured and/or displaced by the earthquake and hung it on the wall along with many others. A solemn moment for me, but a happy one as well as I paused to remember how fortunate I am to be here and experiencing all that is China.
We moved on to the Muslim Quarter to see the Great Mosque...by far my most favorite piece of religious architecture in China! An old, yet active mosque that was stunning...upturned eaves with detailed carvings of dragons, archways with phoenixes and blue-glazed roof tiles. It's a beautiful and harmonious combination of Middle Eastern and Chinese architecture. After the mosque we headed for the Muslim Quarter, where we ate noodle soup (sorry don't know the real name, secondary to can't read Chinese characters) which contained leeks, garlic and a slew of vegetables...YUMMY!!!!! We also had Chinese pizza, two pieces of crepe like bread filled with meat and vegetables and deep fried...mmmm....good!!! The food has been settling well in my belly! We walked around the market stalls and noted anything was for sale from fake Rolexes to Prada bags to chopstick sets and watches with Mao's picture and his hand as the second hand!! So finally time for us to head out; we decided to leave via auto-rickshaw. Our driver drove us into oncoming traffic and then crossed a raised median and whipped around corners...we made it back safely...can't say my blood pressure was in a safe range, though. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)