Bye-Bye China

I've given up waiting to properly update with pictures and everything, so I have scraped this together. Besides, China will be a country of my past in a few days. I'm currently enjoying Tibet but I am sick of being sick and my mantra isn't om mani padme hum, but stupid China. Enlightenment, no. Karma, yes.



The highlights of my second sets of days in Beijing were the Lama Temple and the Taoist temple- they really pound the afterlife punishments into you. I suppose if your religion enjoys icons you may as well go all out! My favorite dioramas reminded me that those spooky stories of faraway places we hear as children do serve us well as adults (hell, for one). Oh yeah, the last picture is at least someone's version of hell, Chinese acrobatics.








Being back in China was delightful at first, food is easy and predictable and transportation is generally easy- long and short distances alike. After wasting some time in Beijing, I headed close-by for some rarely-visited but pretty spectacular sites. In one day I hit Yungang Caves, the hanging monastery and the 11th century wooden pagoda Mu Ta. The caves are awe-inspiring, carved into the mountain are over 50,000 Buddhist statues. It is hard to impress the size and scope of the carvings. They are so amazing that I found myself trying to convince strangers that they must be made of cement and couldn't be actual carvings. I do think many of the statuettes were made with molds, but the majority of what is there is truly world-class.




The hanging monastery, where to begin... I've never even thought of describing myself as having a fear of heights, but this place dates over 1400 years ago and really isn't hanging off a cliff, it was built straight out of the cliff's face above a canyon. Several small buildings are connected via corridors, steep stairways, bridges and boardwalks. It was frightening, and I felt for the first time what a severe physical reaction to a phobia must feel like.



The pagoda was nice, plucked it seemed from the past and precariously placed in the middle of one of China's bustling nameless cities. An appropriate swelling of souvenir shops selling the same crap surrounded the structure, but once inside the grounds and up the stairs I found some peace. It was worth a stop, as recent Western monies have brought some regeneration to the tipping pagoda.

My next major stop was Wu Tai Shan, one of China's scared mountain ranges. I slept and read a couple days away and then did a mountain tour of temples, nunneries and monasteries. Even after a short visit at one temple, a nun invited me to spend the night on the premises. There was no way I could say no- until I tried to find my way back there at the end of the day. My only true regret in China.

One of the "Top Sites" in China is supposed to be the Terracota Army in Xi'an, so there was no way I could miss that! Oh God, I wish I had. Other than some tremendous Chinese-Muslim food and a quaint Muslim Quarter in which to indulge, Xi'an is a tourist trap engulfed in a giant cartoon character with tiny traps as necklaces and eyes. If I was big on regretting things, I'd punish myself for taking the time to see the army and Xi'an at all. Question anyone who claims the city was worth it. A few moments at the site were nice, but nothing of the spirit of the find exists in my eyes. You'd be better off watching a public television documentary about the Qin Dynasty.

I set myself up to revel in the sweetness of my next major stop, Chengdu. I loved the park and the main temple. It is a great city even though there are millions and millions of people there. At some point all my pictures will be up and I will be back home. By request I do a wonderful imitation of all elderly chinese women dancing in the parks and temples of Chengdu. Something happened to my body in that city and I fainted in a cafe. I was okay, save for my bumped (stone floor) head, and quickly recovered. The next day was I went to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base:



I paid for the privilege, but it was worth it. I sniffed and hugged and was denied a change to hand that HUGE thing some food. Qing Zai is just two years old, and clearly hundreds of pounds. The encounter with the red panda wasn't as spectacular, but they are pretty cute.

So, now I am in Tibet, and I take a bus to Kathmandu, Nepal in a couple days. I've been sick here- two visits to the hospital- but have little choice about leaving. I'm already paying a high tariff to be here a few extra days since my visa has run out. Socialized medicine is nice for the pocketbook (two visits, all meds, less than $12 bucks), but more than one of my SEVEN prescriptions was some weird herbal thing with antlers in it. Better than you'd think.

See you soon!