Po Lin Monastery and Giant Buddha

Today a few of us took the trek out to Lantau Island to see the giant Buddha.  We first took the subway to Tung Chung station.  Then we got a bus which took about 35 minutes to climb the mountain to where the Buddha shrine and the Po Lin Monastery are located.  When we got off the bus we were surprised to look left and see this enormous Buddha gazing down upon us!  The trip out there took over two hours.  It was quite a pilgrimage!  I walked up the 250 steps to the base of the Buddha and, having bought a ticket to see the relic inside, I then toured the inside of the Buddha. No pictures are allowed there, alas.  It was adorned inside with many walls of memorials to ancestors with offerings of flowers, food, incense all around.  It is fascinating the extent to which the ancient Chinese religious custom of veneration of the ancestors, which comes from Confucianism and Daoism has permeated the Chinese popular piety among Buddhists.  I went up to the third level inside the Buddha and saw the place where the holy relic is kept.  It is a small crystal, found after the cremation of the Buddha's body, and they believe it to be the relic of a bone.  There were many Buddhists visiting there as a religious pilgrimage, circumambulating around the statue, offering prayers and incense, most particularly at the place where the relic is kept.  Inside the building are enormous wooden screens on which are written Buddhist scriptures and scenes depicting the Buddha and stories from Buddhist history.  Its really quite beautiful inside.  Those of us who paid for a ticket to go to the relic got a free ice cream and bottle of water after the visit, so I enjoyed that treat when I emerged from the Buddha shrine.  After I descended the steps, the others in my group were anxious to get on the cable car and make the return trip back to Hong Kong City.  I decided to stay behind, because I wanted to tour the grounds of the Po Lin Monastery, an old monastery that is in the process of being restored and re-built.  I watched devotees making incense offerings outside the temple itself.  I wandered the grounds and saw the hall of devotion to Avoletikeshvara, the Bodhissatva of Compassion.  I also visited the Hall of the Ancestors, yet another place where veneration of the ancestors takes place.  The complex is pretty huge, and there were lots of Buddhists there making offerings and saying prayers.  They even have a large vegetarian restaurant on the monastery grounds and I noticed that was where the Chinese were eating.    I was pleasantly surprised to see Buddhist nuns at the monastery, at least walking around. Don't know if they live there or were just visiting.  But they are the first nuns I've seen in all our travels to date!

After I was through visiting the monastery and the shrine I made my way back through the little tourist village they have built up on the hill there, and was fortunate that the bus I needed to take was there and about to depart, so I didn't have a long wait.  It was a 35 minute trip down the mountain, with lovely views out over the mountain and when we got to the bottom gorgeous views of the ocean and beach.  All told it took about 2 hours to return to the hotel, between the bus ride and then the subway.  But I feel quite comfortable navigating Hong Kong's public transportation now!  Too bad we're leaving tomorrow!!   That trek out to Lantau Island basically consumed the entire day.  Once I got back to the city there wasn't time for any more sightseeing, so I returned to the hotel to start the arduous task of packing!

We have our group "farewell dinner" this evening and then its pack and leave before dawn tomorrow.   Pray for traveling mercies and that there are no delays on the return journey.  I've got a pretty short layover in Tokyo, so am hoping the Hong Kong departure is on time because if its not the dominoes will fall and the whole trip will be delayed!

Temple, Sampan, Tea and Night Harbor

Hong Kong Day 2

Really full and busy day today.  We had a group tour this morning, which started with a walk through the "old section" of the city, the western side, where the high rises and shops and restaurants are built on the mountainous terrain.  There are a whole series of escalators and "travelators" that transport people up and down that neighborhood, which includes their version of "Soho" and "Chinatown."  Their Soho looks a lot like Soho in NYC!!  After wandering that neighborhood we visited the Man Mo Temple, a Daoist Temple, which was fascinating.  We went into the hall of ancestors, where people  make offerings to their dead relatives who are memorialized on plaques in the temple.  Then there are two other shrine rooms with statues of Daoist saints where folks bring offerings and make prayers.  The incense that burns in the temple are HUGE coils that hang from the ceiling. They light the end of each coil and it just continues to burn for hours.  I've incuded pics of some of the statues in the temple and the incense coils.

After the temple we went to a jewelry factory and then went to the harbor where we took a sampan ride through the area of the harbor where the floating village (or more accurately the vestiges of the floating village) still exists alongside multi-million dollar yachts!  There are boat people who have lived on small houseboats in the harbor for generations, although they are dwindling now as the younger generation has been required to attend pubic schools and, once educated, no longer want to continue the boat people's life.  The boats are extremely small.  The boat people are fishermen who sell their catch to the wholesalers at the fish market.  

We returned to the hotel and then three of us decided we wanted to do "afternoon tea" at the Peninsula Hotel on Kowloon Island.  We changed and took the ferry across the harbor to Kowloon for the tea which begins at 2. We got there a little before 2 and there was already a long line for tea.  Fortunately it moved quickly so we only had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated.  It is a very elegant hotel lobby, not unlike the Plaza in NYC.  The afternoon tea is a full on British tea, with scones, finger sandwiches, cakes, and even an absolutely delicious chocolate mousse!  There was live violin and flute music to accompany tea.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely and it was very relaxing to sit there and enjoy the good food, terrific tea and the atmosphere.  I've included a pic of our three tiered tea tray and one of the restaurant itself.  The scones with clotted cream and jam were fabulous.  We rolled out of there close to 4:00 and had only a little time to browse around the area before we had to head back to our hotel for our evening excursion which began at 5:30. 

Our evening activities included a thai dinner (which I only picked at since I was still very full from tea!), followed by a walk through the night market, then a ferry ride across the harbor where we were able to enjoy the many lights on the buildings.  The lights are really fantastic on the buildings in the harbor, as they move and change and are multicolored and the whole scene is just a glittery, rainbow of color and special effects.  Its really magnificent.  Then we drove up to Victoria Peak, the highest point in Hong Kong where we were looking down on the enormous skyscrapers that we had watched from the harbor.  Then we came back down the mountain and took a trolley ride.  The trolleys in Hong Kong are double deckers, like London buses.  After that we returned to our hotel and it was nearly 11:00 PM when we rolled in here.  So it was a fun but somewhat exhausting day!!  Tomorrow is our last day and there are no scheduled activities although a bunch of us want to do a couple of tourist sites so we will all go together to those. 

I'm pretty tired from the day's activities so I'm off to sleep now.

More tomorrow night....

Hong Kong- Kowloon and Ferry Rides

Hong Kong Day 1

We were up very early this morning to depart Wuhan for Hong Kong.  Had to leave the hotel in Wuhan at 6:30 AM.  I didn't even have a chance to make a cup of PG Tips tea!  We got to our hotel in Hong Kong by 12:30 by which time I had a pounding headache from lack of caffeine. No morning tea, and very little breakfast (mostly Chinese options at the Wuhan hotel which I simply don't "do" in the morning!) and only a light snack on the plane.  I got into my room, went directly to exchange money and immediately bought milk so I could make tea!  Also bought a meat pie at a local bakery and came back to my room to have tea and the snack before heading out for the afternoon.  We had a fully free day, but our guide did arrange to take us on an "orientation" tour.  Basically he accompanied us to the ferry terminal so we would know how to take the ferry over to Kowloon Island. We are on Hong Kong island, in the city centre.   We took the ferry over to Kowloon and walked along the waterfront.  Then a few of us went meandering through the extensive shopping district in Kowloon, looking in various stores. 

Lord knows, this city is a shrine to the God of Consumption and wealth!!  High end stores selling everything from leather goods, to clothing, to jewelry and watches, to silk and wool tailors making custom suits, along with the usual array of Chinese souvenirs are absolutely everywhere and clearly, tourists come here with the sole purpose of shopping!  Finally three of us remained and we wandered through the Kowloon public park which was really beautiful.  Its very hot and humid here, but the sky is blue and the weather nice but for the heat.  All the stores and restaurants are fiercely air conditioned and as you walk along the shopping streets you get cooling blasts of cold air from open shop doors!  Its a relief, actually!  On our way back to our side of the harbor, we stopped for gelato at the ferry terminal, and then returned by ferry.  We were on our own for dinner and our only stipulation was "not Chinese!"  We found a nice Italian restaurant, where I was able to get my Tanqueray and tonic and one of the others got a good Belgian beer and we were happy!  I must say, we are all relieved to be back in a "first world" city, after weeks in China.  Being able to safely eat restaurant and street food, having rest rooms that are manageable and clean, having signs in English as well as Chinese just feels so relaxing after the rigors of this trip so far!  But we are paying for those luxuries.  Prices are astronomical here, just as they are in New York, San Francisco and London or Paris.  Its way more expensive to eat out here than back in China.  Tomorrow we have some scheduled events in the morning, then the afternoon to ourselves and an evening excursion with the group.  

I've included some pics of the harbor, which really is beautiful.  More tomorrow!

Ship Locks, Three Gorge Dam and Wuhan

China Day 13

Yichang to Wuhan

Not much to report today as it was primarily a travel day.   Last night at about 11:30 PM we entered the ship locks at the Three Gorge Dam.  I was packing my suitcase and getting organized for our departure today when I thought I'd go out on my cabin balcony and see what I could see in the darkness.  To my surprise, I was confronted with bright lights and a cement wall!  We had just entered the first lock.  It was absolutely fascinating to watch the ship lock process.  Since the ship was in the lock with my side against one side of the lock I decided to go up to the top deck so I could see better.  There were lots of folks up there in their pajamas, rain notwithstanding!!  One of my traveling companions was there too and we wound up staying up there till 1:00 AM.  We watched through the third lock, by which time we decided it was time to go to bed, since we had to be up early this morning.  It was amazing to watch the whole process.  Those lock chambers are pretty big - there were two cruise vessels and three huge barges going through the locks at the same time.  I was amazed as we passed into the second lock and the gates closed behind us.  We could see the lock on the other side for boats going upstream.  They were being lifted ever higher at each lock as we were being lowered.  It was really fun to look over at the other lock and all of a sudden ships started appearing over the edge of the wall and before you know it they are in full view!  Then when the gates closed on our lock we descended really quickly, in less than ten minutes.  What takes time, however, is opening and closing the hydraulic gates and then moving the ships (all 5 of them!) slowly from one lock to the next.  We noticed a lot of bats flying around over us as we stood there, but figured that was a good thing since they eat mosquitos and since we were in malaria territory the bats are actually helpful!

This morning we had an early excursion to the Three Gorge Dam visitors center. It would have been better on a good weather day. It was pouring rain and very misty and cloudy so we couldn't see really well and taking pictures was not helpful as everything just looks grey!  I took a couple of shots of the locks as we passed by them in the bus, so I've included one here. 

We then returned to our ship for lunch and then disembarked for our 6 hour bus ride to Wuhan, an industrial city with an international airport from which we will leave for Hong Kong tomorrow.  As we were leaving the ship, local Chinese porters carried the big luggage off ship.  I've included a picture of how they carry the luggage!  I couldn't believe my eyes as those guys hoisted 4 suitcases on the poles and walked down several flights of narrow stairs and through very narrow passageways and across the gangplanks to shore with those cases dangling from the pole!!

We took the main highway up here making a number of pit stops along the way. Honestly, the rest rooms on the highway rest stops were a Chinese cultural experience all their own.  The Chinese do not "queue up" or line up for anything.  They just push their way in.  It was every woman for herself in those rest rooms, a truly Darwinian survival of the fittest situation when there were crowds (which there were most times since this is prime traveling season!!)  And of course, the facilities were Asian style, which is its own kind of cultural experience!!  Never a dull moment on this trip, to be sure.  

When we entered Wuhan, an industrial city of 8.3 million people we once again saw the plethora of new high rise apartment buildings going up all over the place.  Huge, cement, high rise buildings are just springing up like weeds in every Chinese city.  The urbanization that the New York Times has been reporting on recently is very much in evidence here.

We checked into our hotel, had dinner and are now getting ready for an early night as we leave the hotel at 6:30 tomorrow morning.  More tomorrow from Hong Kong!

Cruising through The Gorges

China Day 12

Today started out somewhat quietly, and then got busy towards the end!  Got up early to do tai chi with "Dr. Lee."  Then after breakfast went to a lesson on how to play Mah Jong.  Pretty complicated game even though our Chinese teacher said she was giving us Mah Jong 101!  By about 11:15 the ship began its journey through the three gorges, which are absolutely spectacular to see.  It was very rainy/cloudy this morning but by midday the sun was coming through the haze, making it exceedingly hot.  I stood out on deck as long as I could stand the heat then came inside where the AC makes it bearable.  For part of the afternoon I sat on my own balcony and watched as we made our way through the second gorge, the Wu gorge.

The first and shortest gorge is the Qutang Gorge.  Its very scenic and majestic and goes for about 5 miles.  Then the next gorge is the Wu gorge, which is 28 miles long and has spectacular mountain scenery, with relocated villages dotting the hillsides and cliffs, and the occasional small waterfall coming down the side of the mountain.  The water is low now, at about 155 meters high. During the winter, it is 175 meters high and you can clearly see the high water mark on the gorges as you drift along.  The third gorge is the Xiling Gorge, at 47 miles long the longest of the bunch and in places pretty treacherous.   We're actually floating through that one now, although we can't see it because its dark!  As you go through the gorges the mountainsides are dotted with relocated villages, where folks were moved up the side of the mountain from the water's edge because the dam project flooded out their villages.  You can tell the villages are relocations because they are new, cement block homes, painted white.  The old village homes that were flooded out were usually made of mud and sticky rice!  You can see the farms the villagers have cultivated on the hillsides.  They use no machinery in their farming.  Its all done by human labor and aided by oxen.  They do have electricity, but not running water in their homes.  These villages are pretty remote, to say the least!  

At the end of the Wu gorge is a small relocated village, Badong, which is now more a city than a village as relocated families have swelled the population. It is connected with a suspension bridge to Guandukou which sits at the mouth of the Shennong stream.  We took our cruise ship to a dock in Badong, and transferred to a smaller ferry which then took us under the suspension bridge and into Bamboo gorge, a smaller but completely magnificent gorge that goes back into the area where one of the local ethnic minority peoples of China live.  They are the ancient Ba people, mountain dwellers who also fish and make their living from the river while also farming the hillsides.  The Tujia tribe were historically trackers who pulled boats along the Yangtze River by hand before the river was widened for the dam.  They are mountain peoples who live pretty simple and spartan life on the mountain, retaining many of their ancient customs.  Our local guide was a young woman of that tribe who was really delightful. As we rode through the Bamboo Gorge we saw one of the only remaining "hanging coffins" that used to be commonplace on the tops of these mountains.  The Ba people believed that when a person dies you need to get them as close to heaven as possible in order to help them get to heaven, so they would suspend coffins high up in crevices in the mountains. Years ago the practice was abandoned and the coffins that were all over those mountains were removed when the Three Gorges Dam project was started.  They were taken to museums.  This one was left so that there would be some record of what the mountains were like prior to the building of the dam project.

We rode into the Bamboo Gorge for about 50 minutes by ferry and then transferred into sampan boats, rowed by Tujia oarsmen, who are incredibly strong.  We took the small sampan far into the gorge.  It was fantastic to be so far into a side gorge and to see the wildness of the area.  We saw fish jumping out of the water, and a rickety suspension bridge that the Tujia peoples use to cross the gorge.  Their homes  are at the top of the mountain and they are remarkably agile at climbing up the steep and rocky cliffs.  Our local guide sang a folk song, a call and response song that alternated between her and one of the oarsmen.  It was really great fun.  After our foray into the gorge on the sampan we returned to the small ferry and then back to our cruise ship in Badong harbor.  On the way out of the gorge we saw macaque monkeys scampering along the shore, having come down the mountain for water from the river.  Just as we were arriving back at Badong an enormous and somewhat ferocious thunderstorm came through, so we disembarked from the ferry to our cruise ship amidst crackling lightning and ear splitting thunder!  It was pretty dramatic to set sail for the evening in the midst of that storm!  Tonight at about midnight we will arrive at the ship lock at the Three Gorges Dam area and go through a series of 5 locks which takes about 4 hours.  When we wake up tomorrow we'll be on the other side of the dam.  Our cruise director suggested that we try to stay up to see at least the first half hour or so of the ship lock process.  

I've included pics of a couple of the gorges (I took literally hundreds so it was hard to pick, but here's a small taste, a boat we passed in the Bamboo gorge, me on the sampan, and our local guide on the sampan.

Tomorrow we tour the Three Gorges Dam and then depart our ship for a 5 hour bus ride to Wuhan where we spend one night before our flight to Hong Kong.  I won't have access easily tomorrow until we get to Wuhan!

Fendu and Yangtze River

China Day 11 - Fengdu - Family Home and Local Market

Today we visited a relocated family in the town of Fengdu, 150 km from Chongqin on the banks of the Yangtze River.  Millions of villages along the river were flooded out to build the Three Gorges Dam, causing no small degree of controversy.  Our tour company arranges this home visit with a family that has been relocated because of the dam project.  Mr. Dao spoke with us.  He is 74 years old and moved to his relocated home in 1999.  He used to live right next to the river's edge, in a small mud home that had been in his family for 150 years.  He said the mud home that he had was about 2000 square feet, while this new home is a little over 5000 square feet.  He has a wife, 4 grown children, several grandchildren and great grandchildren.  He is a farmer and still has a small amount of land at the new place where he grows fruit and raises fish in a small fish farm.  The government compensated him for the move by paying him 100,000 rmb (yuan) (roughly $17,000)and he borrowed another 50,000 rmb ($8500) from relatives to have his new home built.  He seemed pretty happy with the relocation.  We toured his home which is spacious.  When he first moved he had a number of his children and their families living with him, but now only his wife is with him.  His new home was built right up against existing older homes that had been there for centuries.  The contrast between those older, mostly mud homes and his bigger, newer cement and brick home was stark.  

The building of the Three Gorges Dam has been quite controversial in China.   Millions of villagers were relocated as their villages were flooded out as the dam was built.  The government compensated them and moved them, sometimes nearby their old home, as was the case for Mr. Mao, sometimes further away if they had relatives in another area or were offered new jobs by the government in some other area.  In China, families cannot just decide to move.  They are assigned their housing permits in a particular city or village and that is where they are expected to stay for their lifetime. That is where they get their medical care, their old age social security etc.   If they want to move to another part of the country they have to ask for a permit and those are not easily given out.  The relocated families did get that option because it served the government's interests as they were doing the dam project.

When we left Mr. Mao's home, his next door neighbor showed us how they grind corn, to make corn meal for baking.  They have a stone mill that they operate by hand to do the milling. I've included a picture of him showing us how it works.

Then we went into Fengdu and walked through the town market.  This is where the locals go, not a tourist spot.  We were the only Westerners walking through the place.  Children found us fascinating!!  The food market had stalls and stalls of meat, fish, herbs, spices, pickled vegetables, raw vegetables, herbal medicines etc.  We saw women chopping and fileting fish with amazing speed wielding large knives with remarkable accuracy.  The highlight of that walk through was the stall where people were having pigs legs (complete with feet) "barbecued" which was accomplished by scorching it with a blow torch!  And the blow torch was big enough for a welder to use on steel, never mind on food!  Folks would bring their meat to the stall and the guy hung the leg on a hook and torched it!  One stall had smoked pig products including everything in the pig - stomach, heart, intestines, kidney, you name it.  They smoke it and eat it!  There were boxes full of chicken feet, which the Chinese consider a delicacy.  We walked through the market and then through the local streets which were teeming with people.  It was great to be in the local neighborhood watching people playing mah-jong, cards, walking babies, milling about, shopping.  A couple of our group who were in China over 10 years ago said this town was more like the China they saw then, rather than the upgraded China that we have seen in the major cities, where the building boom is everywhere evident, as monumental high rise apartments are being built all over the place.  In every city we've been in we have marveled at the endless array of huge, (ugly) high rise apartment buildings that are under construction.  

When we came back to the ship we had a very interesting lecture about the Three Gorges Dam and the history of the Yangtze River basin.  After lunch we had another talk by a Chinese doctor about traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture and "cupping."  He did demonstrations of both!  I had never heard of "cupping" until this trip and it was certainly fascinating to watch the demonstration on the member of our group who was willing to be the guinea pig!  They take glass cups that look like small flower vases, quickly insert a cotton ball that is soaked in alcohol and then set on fire into the cup to remove all oxygen from the cup and then put the cup on the skin at the crucial places (determined through Chinese medicinal methods like they do for acupuncture).  The cup sticks to the skin and then draws it up into the cup - its really incredible to watch!  It leaves quite a bruise when removed but the Chinese swear by it as a way to treat certain kinds of chronic ailments.  Google it - Wikipedia has an article about it.  It was really fascinating to learn more about Chinese medicine.  While it sounds weird to us, I have to admit they've been at it for thousands of years and they know something about healing arts from which Western medicine could learn a thing or two. 

The rest of the day I've spent relaxing on the ship.  We've cruised down the Yangtze River and its been nice to sit on the deck and watch the scenery, although I can't stay outside for long as it is really hot and humid!  In the Executive Lounge they had champagne this afternoon and I can report that the Chinese have a long way to go when it comes to "fruit of the vine" drinks!! Wine and champagne are most definitely not their strong suit!  I think I'll stick to my G&Ts while I'm on ship.  They even have Tanqueray, so I'm a really happy camper.

I've included some pics of the river scenery, Mr. Mao and his home, a neighbor's older, more traditional village home, the neighbor grinding the corn, and shots from the market.  

TIbet to Chonqing

Tibet to Chonqing and River Cruise

Today was a quiet day all told.  We left our Tibet hotel early (7:30)AM to head to the airport for a 9:30 flight.  When we got there we saw that it was delayed an hour. One hour turned into three hours, so we spent most of the day sitting in the Tibet airport!  We were all sitting together and at one point a very nice Tibetan man came over and sat down across from me and asked where we were from.  When we told him we were Americans he launched into a very frank conversation about the situation in Tibet, the Chinese occupation, the extent to which Tibetans yearn for the return of the Dalai Lama,  the extent to which they feel as though the Chinese are trying to obliterate their culture.  He said Tibetans can't get passports to travel abroad.  If they want to leave Tibet they have to illegally cross the border, but of course, if they do that and are spotted by Chinese military they are usually shot.  I was amazed that he was being so frank with us right in the airport.  One of the members of my group asked if he could take his picture and he said no, because he would get in trouble if the picture were to appear online somewhere particularly if what he was saying about the Chinese were to be associated with him.  We asked him if he felt he was taking a risk talking to us in the airport and he said most of the Chinese and the Tibetans don't speak English so he felt safe enough engaging us in conversation. He said he wanted to practice his English.  He said he loves America because we support the Dalai Lama and the campaign to free Tibet.  He felt safe knowing that Americans are supportive of the Tibetan people's desire to be free of Chinese occupation. He learned his English from an American who lived in Tibet for a couple of years.  So, our delay actually gave us a picture of Tibet that we did not get on the tour!

Our flight to Chonqing was two hours so we got in around 4.  By the time we collected all the luggage and got out of the airport it was time for an early dinner.   We stopped at a restaurant in Chonqing.  I only ate rice, as my stomach is still not completely over the bug I got yesterday and Chinese food is NOT what I want at this stage of recovery!  I feel much better, and the meds have kicked in, but Chinese food just doesn't appeal right now.

We then came to our ship, the Katarina.  I had to laugh as we were boarding the ship a small marching band of Chinese kids play music as we come up the gangplank.  They played "O Susanna" followed by Jingle Bells!  We all had a giggle over that one!  Turns out that I signed up for the Executive Level (don't remember doing so but it gives me more perks, so I'm fine with it!).  Got into my room and am looking forward to a relaxing evening.  They have a stocked bar on this ship so a G&T is in my immediate future!  I've included some pics of the ship, my stateroom and the view from my balcony.  We all have a little balcony that we can sit out on and watch the river go by!  Its quite nice.  So that's it for today!  It was a long travel day and I'm glad to be able to relax on the balcony and go to sleep early.