Why do the Chinese paint the bottom of their trees white? Also why do the Chinese have so many stone lions everywhere when no lions have ever lived in China? Why do all the Buddhist statues look similar to Hindu statues? I think that have decided that I don't understand China at all. However, I successfully asked for "another bottle of beer, please" and so I'm very happy this evening.
Sha is currently watching Chinese TV and eating her way through most of the fruit department at the local supermarket. Apparently the pears that she is now eating are from the Sichuan province. The apples that we just had were from Xanxi province. I'm a bit nervous about what she'll pull out of the shopping bag next. There were large, alive bull frogs sitting in a big bucket.
This morning we checked out of our fancy hotel in Shanghai. I wasn't going to write too much about crazy Chinese signs today, but a sign in the lift in the hotel clearly stated "The right way is to hold one of the hall buttons which is the same direction, up or down, with the running car, or hold Open button in car operation panel. Never allow those who are unable to take the civil responsibility for their behaviours to ride elevators." We took the shuttle bus to the railway station. The train to Hangzhou was spectacular. It only took 50 minutes (and that included one stop). We travelled most of the way at around 350km/hr! The views were great, but odd. The new houses were all trying to follow a European style, but, for some reason, they looked very strange in amongst the Chinese farms.
Immediately after checking-in to our hotel, Sha went bounding out to her favourite restaurant. She had been talking about the duck soup for ages (and how they don't put too many necks in it) and, yes, it was good! We also had amazing xiaolongbao, chicken feet and porridge.
We then went to the Lingyin temple. A Buddhist temple that Sha always goes to when back in China. This temple was built in 326 AD and is one of the ten largest Zen Buddhist temples in China. I have no idea how to describe this visit except to say that it was an incredible experience. Sha burnt lots of incense, said her prayers and gave me a wonderful tour of all the different parts of the temple. I wasn't allowed to take photos within the temple, but the statues were simply phenomenal (and huge). One enormous building contained 500 buddhas, all with different expressions. I didn't really know what to expect in a Buddhist temple, but I certainly didn't expect a basket-ball court!
The scenery just outside of the temple was spectacular. I rather stupidly ran to the top of a mountain whilst Sha waited below. We then inspected the huge rock carvings that were everywhere (including within some dark caves).
We took a bus back into the city and then walked around the lake as it started to get dark. It's a beautiful city!!
Oh, and according to wikipedia "Asiatic lions" were once common in present day Northern India and are believed to be the ones depicted by the stone lions seen everywhere in China!
The instructions in our current hotel tells me that I must not "circulate salacious books".
2 comments:
I have to make clear that:
1. the pear was actually from xinjiang
2. Xanxi should have been written Shanxi
3. Sha DID NOT buy any frogs
4. The lake that we went to see was the famous "West Lake"
From Sha---Hen hao, hen hao, very good attitude, we do have a wonderful day,In LingYin temple-- 500 buddhas, jiao zi found the one whom he looks like :)
Hangzhou is a bit raining and snow, we had pizza as dinner, jiao zi had two Tsing dao beers, I am still eating fruits....
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