Attention....

"We can never be too careful with fire one moment careless may lead to life-long regret"
Now, isn't that just the truth? A careless moment, life long regret. I've had careless moments in life, however, that I did NOT regret. :) How about you?

First Comes Love.......

A long entry about my friend Yeheng's wedding is coming soon! :)

Just Hangin' Out......

The following was copied from information on the internet and edited by me: Xuankong Si (Hanging Monastery or "Monastery in Mid-Air") is perched precariously on a near-vertical cliff face of the Jinxia ("Golden Dragon") Gorge , 40 miles from downtown Datong City. Since it hangs on the west cliff of Jinxia Gorge more than 50 meters above the ground, it is called Hanging Monastery. Hanging Monastery, built in 491, has survived more than 1400 years. How could a building like this withstand the winds and storms of so many years? Hanging Monastery is an architectural wonder. A unique mechanical theory was applied to building the framework. Crossbeams were half-inserted into the rock as the foundation, while the rock in back became its support. Seen from below, Hanging Monastery appears to be a tumble-down castle in the air. Inside, Hanging Monastery provides the same scene as other temples. Construction experts from countries including Britain, Germany, and Italy, come to see the monastery. In their words, Hanging Monastery, which mixes mechanics, aesthetics, and Buddhism, is rare. The monastery and everything it symbolizes embodies a great cultural achievement of Chinese people.The second attraction of Hanging Monastery is that it includes Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Inside the monastery, the sculptures of Sakyamuni, Confucius and Laotzu appear together, which is unusual. There are 40 halls and cabinets, which contain about 80 sculptures made of copper, iron, terracotta, and stone. The features are vividly carved.Why build a monastery like this? Location is the first reason; building a monastery on the cliff could shield it from floods. In addition, the mountain peak protects it from rain and snow; and the mountain around it also diminishes damage from long-time sunshine. The second reason is that the builders followed a principle in Taoism: no noises, including those from rooster crowing and dog baying; so from the upper ground, all noises drop away.
I like that last part: all noises drop away.
It's true; and for a while you even forget that you're standing on a structure supported by wooden poles!!!! As you see in the first photo, however, I'm not standing very close to the edge and am hanging on to "Mama." ha You know, I look at my photos of Xuankong Si and I can't believe I was actually there! What a magnificent place! Hua's childhood friend works for the government office that oversees this cultural achievement so we were allowed in at no charge and escorted by Hua's friend. And just in case you're wondering (and I know you are), yes, there was a souvenir shop within this monastery that hangs from a cliff. I bought some small brass bells on red strings there and a few stamps with the Hanging Monastery on them to use in my photo-journal (that I hope to complete by summer).

Wall to Wall Haze

No doubt, the Great Wall of China is amazing! The photo above, however, tells the all too real story of the level of pollution in many cities in China. Seven of the world's top ten most polluted cities are in China. I'm not sure if Beijing is on the top 10 list but the small town near Datong where I went for the wedding is the third most polluted city in the world. The haze on this particular day, the day we went to the Great Wall, was unfortunate. But for the blanket of pollution we would have seen a bright sun and blue skies. Additionally, this section of the Great Wall has been thoroughly "Gatlinburg-ized." This is my special term for beautiful places of nature and history being overcome by commercial kitsch! Comparing the Badaling section of the Great Wall to Gatlinburg in East Tennessee is not that far off. One of the first things I saw as I walked toward the "entrance" was a black bear exhibit. There were many souvenir stands along the Great Wall and the atmosphere was somewhat tainted by one man playing "Auld Lang Syne" on little flutes he was selling over and over and over again. Seriously. Another great and wonderful part of the world that has been Gatlinburg-ized is Niagara Falls. But that's another story. Despite the endless souvenir stands and the thick haze......it was a dream come true to walk along the Great Wall of China. I confess that I cheated by starting out "higher up" on the wall by way of little one-person cars that chug nearly straight up. Li-yin and I just knew we'd have to wait on Yeheng and Hua who, to save money, were walking up. They called out "hello" to us as we stepped off the ride! ha ha So the savings was just in lung power for me. :) Getting to the highest tower of the Great Wall at Badaling is a bit tough, despite where you start out. One step might be 6 inches high and the next step nearly a foot. Folks stop and rest a lot and in some places it is very, very steep. I'm happy to say, however, that I made it. Don't you know I would have regretted missing those souvenir stands at the very top if I hadn't trudged on! :)

Winter Advantage

Here's what the lines look like at the Palace Museum (The Forbidden City) in Beijing in the winter! :) The big copper pots were once filled with water in case fire broke out. The Forbidden City was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The palace complex is the largest in the world, covering 74 hectares (which, for you metric system-deficient Americans, is 183 acres).

The Blues....

Teal-colored M&Ms taste better. Honest. :)

Walking on Water

The setting sun at the Summer Palace, Beijing. Winter is a wonderful time to visit places such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, etc. There are hardly ever any crowds, lines are very short or non-existent, and I'd much rather be bundled up in cold weather than sweating in hot Beijing summers. You can't tell it in this photograph but there are many people walking across the lake (which was frozen solid) in the far background. I observed one lone ice-skater. The one negative about visiting Beijing this winter or next winter is that many "cultural relics" or "beauties," as the Chinese call them, are being refurbished, renovated, painted, spruced up, etc., for the massive influx of tourists during the 2008 Olympic games. We were not able to visit parts of the Summer Palace and also the Temple of Heaven due to scaffolding surrounding the temple. Still, the sights were amazing. I do wish, however, to sometime in my life go to China in the Spring. In many places I imagined how much more beautiful it would be when all the trees and flowers are blooming.

Love at First Sight.....

Have I told you lately, my Chinese Dumplings, how much I love you?

Blessings of the Wheel....

Tibetan Prayer Wheels are spiritual devices for delivering blessings and positive wishes to all beings. It is said that using a prayer wheel brings great blessings, creating powerful karma. The reason is simply that all of the thousands of prayers written inside the prayer wheel exponentially increase the blessings.
A short teaching by Lama Zopa, Rinpoche: "Just touching and turning a prayer wheel brings incredible purification and accumulates unbelievable merit."
This prayer wheel is located inside Yonghe Gong, a Tibetan Buddhist temple in the heart of Beijing that was first built in 1694 as the residence of Prince Yong of the Qing dynasty. This was our last stop before heading to the airport to return to the States. I'm not a practitioner of Buddhism. However, it was very interesting to see folks lighting many sticks of incense and bowing (three times each) to various Buddhist statues in the buildings of this lamasery.

It's All About Food......

The food in China is not the same as the food in my local Chinese restaurant. It’s better. There are wonderful dishes of vegetables, (my favorites were bean sprouts and this delicious dish of fresh green beans with finely chopped chilies on them; oh man!) beef, pork, tofu (okay, I don’t like tofu, but I’m sure it was good), seaweed (well, I don’t do seaweed either and although I’m sure it was good, it was gray and well, slimy-looking). I ate some things that I will surely never eat again, or at least for a long, long time (can you say "donkey"?). I did not eat snake wound around and cooked on a stick, scorpians on a stick, bugs on a stick, lower bodies of frogs on a stick, etc. These were just some of the items offered on the night food street in Beijing, which just happened to be right outside our hotel. Our first night in China we ate our fill of food from the night food vendors and it only cost about $6.00 total for both of us! I have some pics somewhere of the night food and when I get them developed (I think they're on actual film), I'll post them. I ate plenty for every meal and I ended up losing weight while in China. I suppose it was because I rarely ate bread and ate a healthy diet full of vegetables and lots of fruit and very few sweets. No wonder the Chinese appear so fit. I have to say, however, that about halfway through the trip someone presented me with a McDonald's Big Mac and it was wonderful! McDonald's food is the same in China as it is here, with additional items on the menu such as soup.
I brought new food resolutions home with me: eat more fruits and vegetables. I still, however, do not like tofu....

Smiling Faces

Children everywhere are adorable and these young boys were running around me and stealing glances and stares. They would back away maybe 20 feet and then shout "Hello! Hello!" So cute. I motioned for them all to come over and took several pictures of them and with them. They seemed very excited to have their picture taken with me. This was in a small town about an hour from Datong in the Shanxi Province. The entire 3 days I was there I never saw another "Westerner." Many times, the children would follow me when we were walking on the street and shout "Hello, How are you?, I'm fine, thank you" as if it were all one sentence. I would answer them and ask them about learning English in school. They were very shy to speak English but just needed some encouragement. One day, as we were standing on a corner waiting for the car that was going to take us back to Datong's train station, a man brought his entire class up to me and told me that he was their "English" teacher. So I spoke to them for a few minutes as he encouraged them to use their English skills with me. I gave them more encouragement to continue studying English and then they all ran off laughing. I can just imagine the stories they told their parents that night: Mom, Dad, I saw this strange lady with brown hair and blue eyes today and she was very, very tall! ha The children of China were a joy to watch and talk to. I got many, many stares from adults as well but they were much more hesitant to talk. Many times when someone was really staring at me for a long time I would call out, "Hello" and they would immediately smile and say "Hallo!" :) As long as I would speak first, they would always speak in return. I found the people of China to be very welcoming and generous. They were very interested to know if this was my first trip to China and how I was enjoying their country. It was so nice to be in some small towns where conversations like these can take place. In the large cities of China, people are rushing around much like here and no one really has the time or inclination to stop and chat. More to come, LB

No Longer Forbidden

I have returned! :) Unfortunately, blogspot.com is a "blocked" internet site in China and I couldn't figure out how to access the posting site. Returned to K-town yesterday and back at work today. Sigh....
China is an amazing country inhabited by an amazing spectrum of people. I was able to experience everything from a large city (Beijing) to a fairly small rural town in Shanxi Province where most folks live in traditional Chinese homes and sleep on kangs (brick "beds" warmed by heat from coal from underneath). I enjoyed sitting on the kang and breathing in the culture at my friend's new husband's family home. I feel like I could write a book about my experience, thoughts, observations over the small span of 15 days in China. Right now, however, I am playing "catch up" on work responsibilities and trying to adjust sleep functions, etc. More later folks, LB