Shaolin Monastery (少林寺) and Pagoda Forest (Henan, 河南)

Being a martial art fan, I had to go here too. I did not expect much, and actually you don't get much. I-m not the only fan... The monastery is heavily exploited for tourism, and the entrance to the site looks more like the entrance to a stadium than to a historic site.

I was lucky, however. It was raining, a heavy storm, water pouring all over. So there were no tourists! I had the place almost for myself!

Nearby, I visited the Pagoda Forest. Each pagoda
seems to be related to a master. Among them, I found a
rather interesting one. The drawings included a kung-fu practice
scene as well as a Laptop!! 

Longmen Caves - Giant Buddha (LuoYang, Henan, 龙门石窟, 洛阳 河南)

A trip to China would not be complete without seeing some gigantic buddha statues :-)  From LuoYang city is a short bus trip to this place by the river. It is impressive - not just how big, massive and time frozen - but think of all the work to carve this out of the rock!

The guys below are said to be the Boddhisatvas, beings in a state close to Buddha (depending on the interpretation). I cannot help to notice, they remind me of Indian figures...

That's me :-)

The surroundings are also pretty. You can see, below the temple, the carved grottoes that abound around here. More details here.

On my way to the site, I stopped by a Buddhist temple, supposed to be the first site where a buddhist temple was erected in China. Now its is a rebuilt/renovated construction, with gardens, with construction in wood and cement. An interesting scene which I could still capture with my camera, two monks playing table tenis. It is nothing extraordinary, especially in China, but it surprised me, I guess I was still expecting the stereotype of the introverted meditative monks!

LuoYang: the Museum (Henan, 洛阳河南)

LuoYang was one of the ancient capitals in China, like Xi'an. I found the city to be a grey concrete aglomerate, but it has a nice museum. The meditating man (left) inspires a peaceful state of mind to me. The coins (right) are also interesting, more than two milenia old I think, money was not invented only around the mediterranean..

The Great Wall (万里长城)

I believe this part of the Wall is called Simatai.. There's many pictures of the Wall on the net, so I don't show much here. Some parts of the Wall are way too touristy, too crowded. We had a 5 hour drive on a crappy bus from Beijing (small accident included :) to get here, and was definitely worth it. We could walk some 8km along the wall, enjoying the sight, the quiet..

Beijing 4: Museums, Culture (北京)

In the city's museum I found some interesting artefacts (left pics) some of them more than 30 centuries old. The fine line work on some bronze or copper pots really strikes me (low left), as the meso-american counterparts are very similar. I often wonder if someone has investigated this, to me it seems sure there must have been links between these people..


The pictures in the Arts museum were also very interesting, contemporary, bold. The contradictions of a country come up as we see a farmer daydreaming of rock'n roll, and the extremely hardened and abused miners... . . . .

Beijing 2: The People (北京人)

I found some interesting people around the city, as you can see. . .

 

This guy was crossing along a busy avenue, carrying all that stuff all by himself, mostly empty bottles and containers. Amazing. He does symbolize the hard working chinese spirit (though precarious..), doesn't he?

The people on the right are my friend Bo Zhang and his family. He can speak a number of languages, very gifted. They received me in their house and one evening his mom cooked us this delicious meal!

 

 

 

 

I  met some foreigners in Beijing, of course. There are many people coming here for work and business, cultural interchange or just travelling, above left that's me with a group of italians. A group of youngsters coming for the 1st of May celebrations, a man at the park who fashions figures from caramel (really nice!), a family from Sichuan who runs a modest restaurant serving the spicy hot-pot, and also a "pilgrim" to the island in the middle of the city park: swimming to the temple and back on a sunday afternoon.

Beijing 3: The Streets (北京)

Beijing by day and by night..

Typical streets, and the famous hudong

A mosque, and a christian church in the middle of a busy shopping street

Beijing 1: Famous Places

I first went to the Temple of Heaven. It was a quiet, impressive place, a good introduction for the sights to come.

The Summer Palace, in its prime must have been a fabulous place. The eccentric empress had her own theater stage, and the emblematic Marble Boat, which goes nowhere (it's really stone), was built with money meant for the navy. Indeed the army would have been more useful, as the palace was ravished twice by Anglo-French forces.

Notice the newly painted woods, and the different style of buildings on the back.

Of course, I also went to the "Forbiden City". As you can see, Mao is still looking over the entrance. The place is huge, and though you can see the main sights in a couple of hours, you need a whole day to see it thoroughly - endless courtyards..

And (part of) Tiannanmen Square. It is a strange place. You can just feel it. Here you see it on workers day, all the red flags were out, and the large picture on display is of SunYatSen, initiator of the Chinese Republic.

On a normal day, walking around this huge square, children and adults flying kites, one feels cheerful, safe and small (as you should feel in China?), a oasis of calm in hectic Beijing. But - it is also too quiet, no garbage, no games, no salespeople, only the occasional guards crossing about in their perfectly robotic movement. Order. Not quite natural. As if.. peace and order are kept by an invisible force. Symbolic?