Thursday, November 8, 2007

Yongfu Monastery

Peter has been insanely jealous of Jack this week since Jack has been out of school, so we told Peter he could have the day off today, too.  They both wanted to stay home, but no such luck when Adventure Dad has the day off.  It was also nice to have just the boys without Sophie today so that I could give them more attention than they have been used to having.

Today we started at the cablecar which went up the mountain next to the Lingyin Temple area. It started out quite foggy but the sun came out eventually.  Here are my two older rugrats happy to be out of school for the day.

Hangzhou 001

... and here we go, up the mountain for about a 5 minute cable car ride to take in the view of the mountains and the tea fields below. 

 Hangzhou 008

At the top of the ride was a nice little Buddhist temple that we explored...
  Hangzhou 011

Here's the Buddha of the temple.  I should have put one of the kids in for scale, but I guess this Buddha is about 25 feet high.

 Hangzhou 013

Hangzhou 016 Hangzhou 018

Colorful flags decorated the doorway.  An infusion of new with old, a radio tower has been built in the courtyard of the temple! 

 
Hangzhou 023
Hangzhou 022

Even at the top of the mountain, necessities still prevail!
Hangzhou 024

These little creatures decorated the fence posts that surrounded the temple.  The creature had a different pose on each fence post!

 Hangzhou 025

The boys found a bamboo stick and were practicing caning each other.  They are such good brothers to one another!  Maybe they'll live in Singapore when they grow up!
Hangzhou 026

Along with us, up came a load of coal bricks for fuel on a janitorial cable car.  These men spent several back-breaking minutes unloading all of the coal bricks.  There is so much coal burned here, it's no wonder the air looks like pea soup sometimes.
Hangzhou 030

A charming little village next to some of the tea fields...
Hangzhou 033

We passed through the Lingyin Temple area so that I could show the boys some of the wonderful stone carvings in the side of the mountain.  Of course, rubbing the belly of such a Buddha can bring great luck and prosperity!

Hangzhou 034

Here's Peter, holding up a mammoth piece of rock in this cave.  The strength!  The poise!  He loves posing for these kinds of shots.
Hangzhou 039

We are starting to get some autumn colors here.  It was a gorgeous crisp fall day today that we all enjoyed!
Hangzhou 041

Here is Siddhartha and her two sons all in deep contemplation of all things Universal.  Actually, I think the two sons here are thinking about lunch.
Hangzhou 044 Hangzhou 045 Hangzhou 046
The famous laughing Buddha seen on so many local postcards. 
Hangzhou 047

Next we made our way to the Yongfu Monastery, originating in the Qing dynasty.  Many gorgeous old trees, water features and Buddhists praying.  The boys didn't see anything wrong with yelling and screaming since they were outside, but after a few sideways glances from folks they finally got the message that they were supposed to be quiet.
Hangzhou 048 Hangzhou 050

At the entrance of the colorful Yongfu Monastery.
  Hangzhou 054 Hangzhou 055

The courtyard inside was fairly deserted except for a couple of worshipers and some monks.
      

 Hangzhou 058

Hangzhou 059 Hangzhou 061
The last time I tried to get a picture of a monk he chased after me angrily and said "One Dollar!  One Dollar!"  So, I was a little nervous when I asked this monk for his picture with the boys, to which he heartily agreed.  Definitely more monk-like in my book!
 Hangzhou 062

Some of the decoration around the monastery grounds...
Hangzhou 063 Hangzhou 064 Hangzhou 066

The boys requested Indian food today so we went to our favorite Indian place next to West Lake.  They zeroed in on the pool table as usual while I awaited our order.
Hangzhou 070

And finally our Chicken Tikka Masala arrived with rice and Garlic Naan.  We sat in our favorite comfy booth by the window and had a wonderful lunch.
Hangzhou 071

Next we got in a taxi and headed for home.  Since we had walked so much we were all tired, but home isn't very relaxing now due to all of the noise and construction.  It looks like like a hotel in Beirut right now, and sounds like it too!  I hope they will be done with the demolition phase soon!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great pictures as usual, Tim! And it's certainly nice to see my nephews are happy!

Love, Cara