Yungang Caves

There are several cave complexes in China containing Buddhist iconography.  Yungang Caves are interesting because they date from the 5th century and differ from the sinicized later Buddhist images.  Hence the Indian influence, from whence Buddhism originated, is very obvious.  (You can see I have been intently listening to our lecturer!)

Some pictures.

General view of the caves.

Some entrances are built up.

The caves contain carvings - many carved our of "living" stone - ie carved out of the existing stone.  Here is an example of a column.  It gores from the floor to the ceiling.

Another image of Buddha.  Managed to get this when the "no photography" attendant wasn't looking.

Another surreptitiously obtained photograph of the decorations inside a cave.  Some are more elaborate than others.

And every Buddhist complex has to have a Big Buddha.

Chinglish at breakfast

I am starting to feel mean chuckling at attempts to welcome "foreigners".  But basically we are in inland China and best to forget any familiar breakfast items (like toast) and just stick to the noodles.

One part of the breakfast lineup for foreigners.  Bread & butter pudding next to the bacon next to waffles and next to the  fried chicken.

Some items from breakfast. 

Google tells me that a pleurotus eryngii is a King Trumpet mushroom.

And something new

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The Hanging Temple / Hanging Monastery / Xuankong Temple

The main feature of today was the Hanging Temple.  It was one of the reasons for choosing this tour.

It is a temple built into a cliff, 75 metres above the ground.  Oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs provide the main support for the monastery.  The vertical poles don't do much, except provide "visual reassurance", according to our lecturer's book on the subject.

This monastery supports three faiths - Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.  But I think its unusual location makes it much more a tourist attraction than a functioning monastery.

Some pics.  This is the wide view, showing the temple on the cliff face.

Closer up.

Side view.

You can go up.  I got as far as the entrance plaza.  BTW, here I was welcomed by someone considerably friendlier than the previous day's monk!

 Kin Mun went the whole way.

Wooden Pagoda of Fogong Temple

Our first visit today was to the Wooden Pagoda.  This 500 year old, 67 metre high structure has survived many earthquakes.  We could only visit the ground floor.

 Close up

And today's Chinglish

Wutaishan

Posting on the blog by email doesn't seem to be working.  So have activated the VPN and will try to post in the usual way.

This morning we visited Wutaishan - or Mt Wutai.  It has become a pilgrimage site for Buddhists, with all the visitor paraphernalia that involves.  There are five temples arranged on a mountain ridge.

The view over the Valley.

  

On the way to the first temple.

A Buddha

 

And another

And  a thousand arm Buddha.  Knowing how much of our brain is devoted to the operation of our two arms, I pondered the neuro-anatomy of such a creature.

Of course there were prayer wheels.  Something to do as you walk around.

Today's Chinglish.
Self explanatory.

What this one means is that a monk has to be present at all times.  If he leaves a room, he has to be sure than any candles, joss sticks etc are extinguished.  These are all wooden structures.

I got a tongue lashing from a monk (I wanted to take his photo) who told me that Britain and Australia were no friends of China.  Then he wandered on to the Japanese - we hid our solitary American.  So no photo!

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Testing if emails to blog are working

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Beijing - Tiantan

We arrived in Beijing at 11pm, and the longest queue at Beijing airport was for the taxi.  China has begun to fingerprint people between the ages of 14 and 70.  Everyone has to go to a fingerprint booth, but we got a little slip that says OK without having to put our fingers on the glass - being old has one advantage and just as in my first visit . 

Let's not even think about the infection control implications of mass fingerprinting!  I guess it is on a par with lift buttons.

We met up with tour group for lunch then went to one of my favourite places - Tiantan - the Temple of Heaven.  It was my fourth visit to this very beautiful site. It might be called a Temple, but it is really a site of ceremonial procedures in imperial China.  This was to keep the balance and harmony between man, the earth and heaven. The emperor had his role in all this. 

Smaller version, with KM.

Not our tour group.  But a good idea.  Today we managed to lose one of our group, who was found again at the bus.  Fifteen years ago, on my first visit to Tiantan, we also lost a group member, who got himself back to the hotel.  It must be that sort of place.

A warning.  Let's hope you don't get itchy on your visit!

Chinese Wifi works for my Hotmail, not for FB or the blog.  Surprisingly WhatsAp works on the mobile phone, but cannot send pics or videos.

And weather is good and clear.  Beijing's pollution is nowhere to be seen.

Homeward bound

Latam flight between Lima and Santiago.  A minimalist airline with zip/zilch/zero in-flight info.  However they did get us there in one piece.   Sunset over the Pacific.

Santiago to Auckland with Latam was my first trip on a Dreamliner.  They have electrochromatic  windows - there are no shades.  This is the windows as normal

And darkened.  They are never completely opaque though..

Cabin view, with darkened windows to keep out the morning sun.

A long flight to Auckland

Much of it in the middle of nowhere.

Dreamliner on the ground at Auckland

Ahh.... home at last.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are a fact of life here.  So far, we have only knowingly experienced one.  But warnings are everywhere.  From not using the lifts

to secure zones marked in buildings.

There were also tsunami warnings near the coast.

Faces in the street

Faces in the street are interesting.  Peruvians can also be glued to their little screens.

It is winter.  The temperature isn't cold as far as numbers go, but it is overcast and gloomy.  We have not seen much sun, certainly not in Lima.