Spinning through the world
Clarence drove us to caves after the Temple and before we arrived to see the warriors. He was setting the stage for really old rural Xi’an life dating back 5000 years. The villagers today have stayed in these caves living a simple life and pass it down to their families. 20 families live here.
They have walnut trees and many others. In the front is pomegranate. Behind is a persimmon tree.
This is the biggest Taoist temple in Xi’an and is a famous Taoist architecture in northwest China. This was built in the Song Dynasty but the fastest renovation was in the Qing Dynasty. This place is very peaceful and serene and why I was attracted to chinese culture.
Outside of the Temple were antique sellers on the outer streets leading to the temple.
The immortals are legendary in Chinese mythology. Each immortals power can be transferred to a vessel to bestow life or destroy evil. One of the immortals is female. The may have been named after the 8 immortal scholars in the Han Dynasty.
The paintings in the ceiling are impressive.
Taoism is based upon the writing of Lao-tzu from the 6th century BC. It is based upon humility, living in harmony with the Tao, and religious piety. It is the oldest religion in the world and as much philosophy as it is religion:
It emphasizes doing what is natural and “going with the flow” in accordance with the Tao (or Dao), a cosmic force which flows through all things and binds and releases them.
https://www.ancient.eu/Taoism/
Taoist temples are usually not in cities but in mountains which makes this one special. It is said you will meet the immortals when on the bridge.
The eye on left hand off this sculpture means it can tell whether you are a good or bad person.
The colors of the faces have particular meaning. Green stands for green dragon and is the god of east. The white tiger is the god of the west. The black turtle is the god of the north. The red bird is the one for the south.
When die you go to the west as sun sets.
Taoist people wear their long hair in a knot on the top of the head. This was also seen in the terracotta warriors as that was the religion back then.
This is the oldest religion. All other religions were brought to China on the silk road. As I walked through a passage, people would put their hands in specific phrases on this plaque. You can see where people touch the most.
Despite a little trouble on the airplane with extra requirements as we were foreigners, the rest of the trip was uneventful. I am really beginning to wonder what the narrative serves by thinking that only foreigners moving around need scrutinized and not Chinese. They have to register with the app like we do, but they do not need to be virus tested before traveling or having to show the date when we arrived back to China.
Regardless, we found someone to help us register the health code on the plane and the owner of the apartment picked us up. He gave us history of Xi’an.
His apartment is called Warrior pit 1 (he also has a Warrior pit 2). As a tour director for decades, he outfitted the apartment with clay warrior sculptures.
Entrance
Living area
Bedroom
Bathroom
We went out to the Muslim quarter to look for food.
Fun with the warriors
Relaxing in the apartment we thought of funny things to do with the warriors. We will think of more…
The town was first discovered in the year 687 during the Tang Dynasty.
There was often fighting between the Qing Emperor Kangxi and the Miao ethnic minority group. This town was rebuilt for military purposes (along with the southern great wall).
There are four gates. The south gate has been permanently closed. The eastern gate is called
the “lucky gate,” and is the one used most often. It is the entrance for events such as weddings. The north gate is used for funerals. The west gate belongs to the chief of the Miao people in ancient times and only he could use it.
Besides the ancient city wall, the interior of the town is similar to other villages the area. People live here peacefully. They have livestock
and local residents grow and process corn outside their houses.
In a few years, the town will be rebuilt in the style of the Tang Dynasty, and no one will live
here. While this might be beneficial for providing tourism, it is a shame
that tourists will no longer be able to see this way of life.
This game the kids played is like Rock, paper, scissors but with feet. If you choose the same footing as the champion, you lose. This young man had been game champion many times.
We traveled to a remote area halfway from Zhangziazie on our way to Fenghuang ancient town. It is not as popular as our ending destination and it is for this reason it is quaint and worth a stop to see as it is not touristy.
Furong Town is also known as Hibiscus Town. It was originally Wangcun Village but changed after a popular and award winning movie Hibiscus Town that was filmed here. It is found in the Western Hunan Tujia and
Miao Autonomous Prefecture.
Today the old town is a mix of Tujia (original people here)
and Han Chinese people. The town is beautiful. The scenery is lovely with cliffs and a waterfall to the You River.
Lunch was amazing. We are just outside of the gates of the old town. The potatoes are unbelievable and the spice here in Hunan is hot but so delicious.
The typical Tujia “Diaojiaolou” building is high on the cliff for easy defense against invaders.
This “Xizhou Bronze Column” marks the ceasefire after a long war. It is inscribed with over 2300 characters of the story of the war and teens if ceasefire.
The waterfall was closed but we went around the one side where there was no guard to go behind the waterfall. It was so hot that standing under the water felt great and just what we needed. I was waiting to be going out but we made it through without interrogations.
Behind the falls are statues of native Tujia people.
At the top of the falls.
From there we had another 2 hour ride to get to the next ancient town. As buses are not allowed into the town, we had to transfer to a shuttle bus. Unfortunately they did not know what to do with foreigners as covid-19 restrictions have changed. Finally they were able to straighten out whether it was safe to let us enter.
We started the day at the same entrance at the Bailong elevator, this time going in a different direction than the day before.
Tianzi Shan
Tujia minority
One of our guides is from the minority village. They had an information center explaining much about the culture.
Yuanjiajie
From there we took a bus to get further towards a trail that we would take to get back closer to the town. It was a lot of downhill but at least the steps here were dry.
Ten mile natural gallery
It is pretty hot here in China. Much like the southern part of Florida. Very warm with high humidity. I run in the morning and still walk outside during the day but works love a pool.
I do miss the infinity pool at my last apartment. It is open but I moved because I wanted more space. The pool at my new place probably will not open as there are many kids. But since school is still in session for Chinese schools they may be waiting to fill the pool. Covid-19 had changed many things.
There are a few places to go and some tours to get to water. I took a tour with global friendship to a water area outside of the city.. it was a fun tour with people I know and others I have not met before.
Gulao water village
The water village is still in Guangdong province but outside the city. The ponds used for fish and the planting fields have been relatively unchanged since the Ming dynasty.
We then took a short bus ride to the restaurant that had the most awesome fish hot pot.
We then went to a water hole but the locals were not very friendly at letting us in the water. They had us go further downstream. My friend is Chinese and was very upset that she heard then say we were bringing the virus to their village. We have all been tested before traveling (again!). It gets really upsetting.
Some images of butterflies and dragonflies…
I also went to my friend’s Trisha and Dan in Huadu. They were very generous to invite Morgana and I up to visit. I went up to enjoy their company, swim in their pool, eat dinner and then brunch, and watch a movie. I also went for a run in their much larger complex, finishing the RunOBX 300 mile run challenge with a 7k run.
The pool was lovely but even lovelier with the company.
It is blistering hot right now. 30C in the early morning and 40C in the afternoon. That is with high humidity.
When we left Dali, we took a train to Lijiang and then a car was waiting for us to bring us to Shuhe Old Town. Our host Shirley was great. When they changed the rules and foreigners had to register at the local police, she went with us to make sure everything was okay. She arranged us transports and walked us to a bus pick up.
Her place is beautiful.
And she has dogs. One night she went to get us apples for breakfast the next day as we could not find the market. Her poor dog howled because she left. I kept him company.
We explored areas of Shuhe old town. The Naxi indigenous people live here. They are known for their embroidery and flower cakes. They keep their town very traditional and it is lovely.
There are lots of photographers and people in costume or traditional dress.
The Naxi indigenous people believe water is sacred. They have three pools at various levels. The first pool has water coming in from the spring and is used for drinking and it flows into the second pool which is for washing. That flows into the third pool which is for scouring. That water drains to the ground which filters the water as it returns to the groundwater.
And I chuckle at some of the signage…
On the last morning I walked to an ancient hotel that is the oldest in the area. It now has a market with handmade embroidery objects. I walked through many smaller villages along the way.
I bought a beautiful handmade jacket. It is all pieced and stitched by hand, not machine. It is also hand embroidered.
A few other places I tired before I was for to fly out. We went to get a coffee drink and have a flower cake with it. The flower cake is a flaky pastry with red bean inside and infused with rose. It is totally yummy.
Shirley was so fun. I had a great time hiking and getting to know Morgana! She teaches at a Canadian school in Guangzhou.
On the last weekend in June, we traveled several hours on the bus to go to camp on an island on the other side of Shenzhen. I really don’t like camping but the opportunity to swim, snorkel, and paddleboard was worth it.
We had a great lunch along the way and celebrated the birthday of one of my friends, Tricia.
The water was terrific. The paddleboard had kayak paddles so I did not stand up on it as the paddle was not long enough.
We camped along the beach.
We caught barnacles and crabs. The crew cooked food on the beach.
Sunset.
Sunrise.
There were plenty of places to explore and many resort buildings were abandoned. The history of the island was that of a place for pirates and smugglers.
The big thing that was hard to see was the amount if plastic pollution. It did not just all wash up there. It was obvious people who were here earlier just dropped their trash. The people who run the camping area really should have a system and more concern for the environment. There was a lot of trash in the ocean when snorkeling.
A good time was had by all. There was karaoke at night, games and camaraderie by day.
It has been officially over for two days. Starting out the year as what we would call normal, we left for Chinese New year thinking we will have a great two week vacation. Who knew it would have ended like this?
The second half of the year was surreal. Walking through rooms not being used and seeing calendars and notes left by teachers to remember things for when they return. It is all weird.
We started school with only about 1/3 of the faculty. Temp checks, teaching online and face to face at the same time, watching other classes while trying to grade assignments. Planning for the start of the next year not knowing what it will actually look like… We also are planning summer school and the amount of resources is a lot. I’m using microbit and making a model of the brain with sensors. This starts next week.
The past few weeks saw senior graduation, modified awards assemblies and only a few teacher get together with the faculty that is left. I think the thought is we can’t have a dinner without all faculty being here but it is cruel not to allow us some time to unwind with all that we are doing.
Friends from other schools. I’ve gone on a couple of tours and a person I met some time ago messaged me. We’ve formed quite a little group of people who like to get out and see the sites and hike.
We went to hike baiyun mountain again but rain got in the way. We ate brunch, hiked an upscale mall, and then walked to Jujiang park. There was a student covid-19 art exhibit in the mall.
The last day of school was a half day for students. Teachers had a lunch and then a farewell assembly for teachers going on to other schools. At the end of the day we went to a local bar for a get together. It was well attended and had more people then in past years despite the fact we have less teachers. At the end of the night, a few of us went to the four seasons and to the top of the tower to the 99th floor. The view is spectacular.
Now that I’ve had a couple days to unwind, I’m off to do a tour and then start summer school.