28th July 2009
CHENGDU: EXPECT NOTHING & YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.
Today was eventful. We had a much needed lie in and then went to visit Wenshu Temple, recommended to us by the receptionists at our hostel; for a bit of culture.
The temple was just what I needed and was exactly how I had imagined Chinese architecture to be. Wenshu Temple has a history of over 1000 years and is the largest and the best-preserved Buddhist temple in Chengdu. It has been a destination for Buddhist pilgrims for centuries and dates from The Qing Dynasty (1644 -1911).
The monastery was full of local people worshipping outside the various buildings, lighting incense and rubbing the dragons for good luck and protection.
There are five main buildings in the Monastery; the Temple of the Emperor of Heaven, Sandashi Palace, Daxiongbaodian Palace (the palace for sacrificing to the statue of The Buddha Sakyamuni and for the monks to chant sutras or performing meditation), the Sermon Hall and the Sutra-Depositary Pavilion.
On either side of these buildings are the drum towers, vegetarian dining hall, accommodation and bell tower. Near the main entrance is the tallest iron pagoda in China called the ‘Peace Pagoda of a Thousand Buddhas’.
There are over 400 statues throughout the Monastery, among them, 19 bronze statues that were cast in the Qing Dynasty, and 10 iron statues in the Song Dynasty. The most precious item is the skull of Xuanzang, a revered monk of the Tang Dynasty.
In the main Scriptures Hall there are numerous Buddhist cultural relics from around the world, including a white-jade statue of Buddha from Myanmar, incantations on pattra-leaf in Sanskrit language from India, Japanese gold-plated scripture cylinder of the Tang Dynasty and calligraphies of the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The surrounding neighbourhood has been restored and so it looks authentically Chinese; how I had imagined all of China to be. It was nice to see China looking Chinese.
When I visited Japan, I found that Kyoto and many districts of Tokyo still retained their cultural and historical buildings, so I was surprised that so much of China had been pulled down and rebuilt with untraditional, unattractive tower blocks.
I know the Cultural Revolution is responsible for a lot of the old/traditional buildings being wiped out, but I was unprepared for how much has been destroyed and the hideousness that has replaced it.
After Wenshu, we flagged down a taxi to the airport – to catch our flight to south to Jinghong. While booking on to our flight, we were advised that our names were not listed. We thought maybe we had got the wrong flight carrier and went to another desk, only to be told we were not listed on that flight either. We went to ‘Booking Information’ and were told – no, we were no listed on any flights, today or tomorrow. We were also told the flight we thought we were on had been cancelled since the 3rd July!
Lizzie had paid for the flights on her card through Terminal A’s website. She called her credit card company who advised that not only had Terminal A taken the money, but they had taken it twice. So we had paid TWICE for a flight that didn’t even exist!!
After a stilted 2 hour battle we booked an alternative flight for the next day. We were livid. Now not only had we got to fight Terminal A to return the twice taken money, but this would 1. inevitably take ages 2. Leave us without money in the meanwhile and 3. Run up a huge bill on my mobile phone. We then had to attempt to get back our hostel without anything written down in Chinese, pay for another night’s accommodation and pay for another taxi tomorrow. Things are so much more complicated in China.
Later, we met some nice guys who we spent the evening playing drinking games with: Alex (Isle of Mann), Mike (Singapore) and Idan (Israel) and we all whiled away the night until 2am. Our new motto: Expect nothing and you will not be disappointed.
danilovescats - travels 