The Buddhas

 The big one is shrouded for restoration. I think they said the damage was done in 2008. In 2008 there was a huge demonstration in Lhasa, protesting the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The trouble spread to the Tibetan areas of China and a lot of monuments suffered damage.

There was a sleeping Buddha inside a cave but we weren't allowed to take any pictures. So I took a picture of its picture.

The annual horse festival in Litang, China

More niches

 Even though there are walk ways in the upper sections of the cliffside, we weren't allowed up there. It's such a pity but whatever we saw was impressive. I like the light and airy color of these carvings.

 There's sometimes no rhyme or reason to how the Chinese authorities do things. I heard that Tibet is closed (again) to foreign visitors. This was because of some protestors who killed themselves by setting themselves on fire. The Tibetan culture is so free and beautiful and to see them being suppressed by the Chinese government is heart breaking.

Buddhism was introduced into China some 2500 years ago from India.

The ceiling

A truncated pyramid is what they call it. A pyramid has a pointed ceiling but for Buddhist temples the ceilings are usually truncated and has very elaborate patterns painted on them. Sometimes these patterns are copied onto scarves. While shopping in Dunhuang last year I saw a lot of these scarves for sale and couldn't figure where they got the pattern. I only found out recently they are copies of the patterns found on the ceilings of temples. What an ingenious idea.

Buddhist niches

 All over China are found Buddhist caves and niches and sculptures in remote mountainous areas. Bing Ling Si is just one of them, a small one too. During six months of the year the water level in the reservoir is deep enough for boats to come and bring visitors to these caves. The lower niches have been submerged and that's a pity. These grottoes were inaccessible enough that they were spared the wrath of the cultural revolution. Today wooden walkways have been hammered into the cliffs to enable visitors to walk and view the carvings and frescoes. Windows have also been built to shutter some of them so that only a few can be viewed at any one time. It is the same with the caves at Mogao in Dunhuang. In fact out of the few hundred of caves in Dunhuang, only eight are opened at any one time. This remains the same eight for two years then every two years they opened up eight different caves. We were told by some Chinese visitors that they visit Dunhuang every two years to see different caves.

No pictures

 Again we were told 'no pictures'. So I stopped and took out my sketch pad and drew instead. The uniformed guard thought that that was all I'll be doing. He turned and went back to his hut to nap. I started up again to take pictures. I took a lot of pictures, I couldn't stop. Though the Bing Ling temple grottoes were not as extensive as those we saw in Dunhuang last year, I prefer these because the color is so serene and beautiful. They were very simple. Those at Dunhuang were very opulent and fussy. I guess the religious activity at Dunhuang was more vibrant. A monk was reported to have sold a lot of sutras from the caves at Dunhuang to European explorers including Aurel Stein who took them back to Dresden, Germany. Dresden was bombed by the Allied planes and a lot of the treasures taken from Dunhuang was destroyed.

Way up there

 The temple niche was carved way up on the rock face and this colorful banner guards the entrance to it. Inside the niche was that beautiful blue buddha and in front of it butter lamps are lit. The carvers would dangle from ropes as they dug out the niche, sculpt and paint. There were wuite a number of niches each housing Buddhist deities and beautiful frescoes. Some were opened for viewing, while others were shut up and not seen. These days steps leading to the temple and walk ways linking visitors to the other niches are available.

No pics, oops.

In the temple is this huge statue of Buddha. The old man guarding it, said, 'no pics'. Do I listen? Of course not. I came this far. I'm going to take at least one picture which was what I did. The blue frescoes was so beautiful. I'm glad I took this picture.

Bing Ling Si

 High in those cliffs are carved niches that housed Buddhist sculptures and frescoes. This temple was really high but there were steps leading up to it. The Chinese word means 'many' and there are many niches carved into these cliffs. In its original day there were no steps leading to these niches. The carvers hung from ropes from above to carve, sculpt and paint these niches. The whole place was so inaccessible that they escaped the punitive work of the communist red army. They remained well preserved. Today we can get to them by boats and walkways have been built so that we can view them. Though they are smaller than the caves in Dunhuang, a trip we embarked on last year, nevertheless they are still very impressive.

What are we here to see?

 We have arrived and has landed at the jetty. It only took one hour by a speed boat. It was a lovely boat ride and now we are ready to explore.....

A fast boat or a slow one

While it looked romantic on the slow ferry boat, it took too long. Some folks who went with the ferry decided not to come back with it. It took almost 3 hours on the ferry boat, an eternity considering it took that long to return. The guide book recommended the speed boat which was what we took. Even the speed boat, the journey was one hour each way. At the ticket office we were matched with others who wanted to take the speed boat. Once a group of enough people is found, the boat leaves. We traveled some gorgeous scenery.

Liujiaxia reservoir

 It would seem that this is a lake and not a reservoir. But it is a reservoir that used to belong to the Liu family whoever they were. Fantastic. It was huge and it took an hour on speed boat to get to where we were going. The Buddhist grottoes of Bingling Si.

Sunday outing in Lanzhou

 After almost 24 hours of flying and being in 3 airports we finally reached our destination, the little town of Lanzhou in Central China. We had a good night sleep and the next morning we decided to visit a Buddhist grotto. We couldn't find any tour company in town to take us. So we had to go alone. The people at the front desk of our hotel was very helpful, take a local bus to the long distance bus station, take another bus to the reservoir. So off we went. The Liujiaxia reservoir is huge, it used to belong to a family. And tucked in one corner of the reservoir is the Buddhist grotto we want to see.

 Once there we paid for seats on a speed boat or a launch. This was the more expensive but faster way to get to the grottoes. The speed boat can take 8 people at a time, so you have to wait to meet up with other individual groups and once the boat fills up, we left.

 One can also take the slow ferry which is cheaper.The speed boat takes 1 hour while the slow ferry takes 2 and 1/2 hours just to get there. Coming back adds to the time spent just on the water. Some who took the ferry to get there refused to return with the ferry, it just took too long. They had to pay extra to find space on the returning speed boats.

The buses in China

This was the first time I traveled in long distance buses in China and it was only my third trip there. I liked it. We rode the trains too and they were crowded. I sort of prefer bus travel. We rode on local buses as weel and it cost only 1 yuan per ride. China is incredible value for the travel dollars. I highly recommend it.

Back from China

I just got off the plane. Traveling to the interior of China is not for the faint hearted. It is hard but if you have the stomach for it, the rewards are like nothing you'll ever get from anywhere else. We went, again, to Gansu province, this time to a little place at one corner of the Tibetan plateau called Xiahe or Little Tibet. Here is found a Tibetan monastery, the most important one outside of Tibet. My two traveling companions, Zack, my nephew and Sophie, my sister in law, both read, write and speak Mandarin. It did not make things easier because they were not involved in making the itinerary. I was the only one who took care of all the logistics. When I get lost, they are lost too. Anyway we managed and had a great time. I'm looking to planning a trip to Tibet proper.

Leaving...

Leaving for China this weekend.

Temple of Zeus

I have a few more pictures of Jerash to post. Then I'm off to Central China and Shanghai, can't wait. I'm in a kind of lull right now, totally uninspired.

A lazy sunday

A cup of tea, fresh strawberries, French macarons..... this is the life..... life before the wandering wanderlust hits.

Staycation

My backyard, with a cup of tea, a new book and some magazines..... that's the life. One day I'll spend more time doing this than the other things that I now do.....working none stop and traveling to far off places.

On the road again

Cold showers, freezing rooms..... I don't know why I do it and do so much of it. Then again there are converted palazzos like this one in Catania, Sicily. This one is a crummy hostel but the owners were really nice. We've stayed in more expensive converted palazzos in Sicily. In China most cheap rooms have something leaking in them but then again we've found some really decent newer hostels. Our accommodations on the road run the gamut, from decent to downright awful. We're still undeterred and will keep on traveling.