Yuantong Si

This is the 1000 year old Buddhist temple right in the middle of Kunming and a very active one. There were lots of true believers there, all burning jossticks and praying to some deity. I wouldn't be able to tell what and who they pray to. There was a lot of smoke. The remarkable thing about these Buddhist temples is they are so beautiful, has the most gorgeous architecture and brightly painted. They are found in some of the loveliest settings, there might be a moat and the pavillions goes on forever and just absolutely delightful to amble around and enjoy the beauty. Of course, tucked in the various buildings would be the various deities. So depending what you are asking for, you pray and burn joss sticks to that particular deity.

The temple grounds are usually so beautiful and meticulously manicured.

There is old gate that they are restoring.

I think they are duplicating an old beam, they are in the process of carving it and painting it later.

I like it when they smile for the camera. I would smile beacuse I know my picture might end up in some famous publication like National Geographic or something.

They are saving the old tiles to put them on the new beam.

The old dragon heads.

I had to rush back to Kunming after visiting the villages and the 2 farmer's markets. I needed to pick up my plane tickets for Lijiang before the travel agent closed for the day. So it was still early on a Sunday afternoon, I took a taxi and came here to the temple. It was a lovely way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. This was another gorgeous Buddhist temple. The amazing thing about this trip was I didn't encounter any churches. China is one huge opportunity for a big 'Christian harvest'.

After visiting here, I got lost, I wasn't familiar with this part of town. So I wandered around for a bit and found myself in Green Park which I will detail in the next post.