Chengde, China
So far today, as there is still plenty of time to go, it has been temple day. We’ve done a few.
One thing I have certainly learnt about temples is that they like to be close to god. This of course means plenty of steps. The first one just kept going up and up but this did mean great views when you got to the top. At the top of the first one was a throne room which is the seat of the Dali Lama when he is in this part of China, built for the 60th Birthday of the Emperor Cheng Long. Unfortunately, the Dali Lama never bothered to come as he’d fled Tibet. Oh well, nice decor anyway.
Next was a temple called Puning Temple which we were told had a wooden Budda in that was worth the climb up the many more steps. This time, they were definitely right. This thing was enormous and if the idea was meant to make you fear and respect your god they got it exactly right. It was made out of five types of wood and was about six storeys high with the Temple built around it. It must have been about 20 feet in diameter and had 42 arms. That would make this Budda an excellent goalie. Certainly spectacular.
On the way out our tour guide, Peter who is from Chengde and teaches English here showed off an impressive musical talent. Outside were a group of 8 Lama’s or Monks who for a small financial offering would play a tune together which Peter said would give you ‘Good bless’. He has a lot of a Chinese twang to his accent. Peter took one of the monks flutes type instruments which was made of bamboo and played some amazing music. Before long all the monks had gathered round to listen as well as most of the other visiting guests. It was an amazing moment.
Before we left though it became quite surreal when one of the monks, who had an arrangement of metal bowls in a wooden frame that he would strike like a xylophone, began to play Jingle Bells. A Chinese Monk playing an English Christmas carol in a Buddist Temple in hot sunny weather was more than odd.
From there we went to an Art School and watched one of the teachers create a spectacular watercolour painting on rice paper in what seemed like seconds. I would have liked to have bought it but it was sold to another member of the group who was quicker off the mark than me. We did buy a small picture of our own which we were very impressed with and only cost 50 EMB, about £4.
We now have a little time to ourselves before we go out again. Amy has gone to sleep in the time it has taken me to complete the first paragraph so pictures will follow later.
This evening we are going to a woman who does paper crafts and is apparently world renown so Amy is quite excited. After that it’s dinner and off to a Chinese/Tibetan stage show. Should be interesting.
Rob
Leave a Reply