a full day

this morning at 8 o'clock i was invited to the opening ceremony of sports day (or track and field day, to be more precise.) i went out to the field wearing my nicest clothes. all the students were assembled in their classes, as were the teachers behind them. the kids all wore the track suits that are their uniforms and bright pairs of white gloves, and the teachers wore grey suits, which are theirs.

when the bell rang, they began marching around the track. when a class would arrive at the center of the track where the headmasters sat, they would stop, do something creative, and then move on. it was all very much like a military parade. one class did a neat hand salute with many flourishes, while another class performed a martial arts demonstration. their demonstration prompted me to move closer to the center, where i was spotted by mr. hu, the headmaster who is my boss.

he graciously gestured to sit down, so i joined the three headmasters at this red velvet covered table. me, a lowly english teacher. amazing. it was enjoyable, but at nine, i had to leave, for i had another appointment.

because it was sports day, mr. hu arranged for oliver to take us to huang long xi, an ancient chinese village about an hour and a half outside the city. the village is restored to its ancient grandeur, like it would be in crouching tiger, hidden dragon. but inside these beautifully restored buildings were only shops. shops and shops and shops. the commercialism of the scene quickly overpowered the feeling of ancientness that may have been there.

we were not the only foreign visitors huang long xi had that afternoon. while we were there, we saw lee hsien loong, the prime minister of singapore. he seemed nice.

after a lunch where the dishes did not seem to stop, we decided to take a boat ride. we boarded a gondala like boat loaded with tea-chairs. the two men who ran the boat pushed off, and i settled down in one of the two bamboo recliners positioned at the bow of the boat. we rowed slowly down the river, and quickly i was dozing, catching sight of the river, and dozing again. it was a quiet rest as we passed fisherman, geese, and tea-houses.

when we arrived back on land i was well rested and ready for more...sitting. we sat and had green tea as an endless stream of vendors came around pushing their wares--peanuts, pomolo, a rice cake snack specific to huang long xi, and massages. most of all massages. bu yao would have quickly come to my lips, had i been asked, but they must have sensed that, and stuck to the other waiguoren instead.

after tea we piled back in the minibus, and on the way back to school i picked oliver's brain about chinese characters i saw, and got from him a promise to teach me xiangqi, or chinese chess. i've decided i'm going to teach myself, and try to win the first game we play. i like to win.

it has been a great day for me...many different experiences, a lot of chinese speaking, and a lot of eating. 3 for 3 in my book.

le shan

le shan is where the giant buddha is located. it resides in a park with tons of buddhist statues, temples, and...stairs. many, many stairs. we entered into the park by the south gate, and we paid 105 yuan per ticket. now that is a measly 12-13 american dollars, but after 3 weeks of living in chengdu, paying more than 20 for anything is "tai guai le" too expensive. but we forked it out anyway, because, hey, when are you going to see a giant buddha.

so we entered into the park through the south gate, crossed a small river choked with water lillies, (you can click on each picture to enlarge it)

and into the buddhist park/museum/theme park. there were a great many interesting statues to see, of buddha, and different bodhisattvas floating around. we were unclear if these statues were here originally, or if they thought that this would be a good place to put them. it didn't matter. they were beautiful, and where we were was quiet and uncrowded. patrick and i walked peacefully through the statues, breathing deeply, and snapping an odd photo.

we reached a pavillion that led up to a steep set of stairs. i wanted to call and tell someone about it. and luckily, there was a china telecom pay phone. how convenient! unfortunately, as payphones have failed me in the past, so did this one. to this day, i don't know how the phone card in my wallet works.at the top of the steep steps, there was a big buddha, and we asked ourselves, "is that the giant buddha?" and we answered, "nay, it is not. the giant buddha is larger." so we continued on. we passed through a cave with a beautifully carved thousand-handed bodhisattva. it was carved so cleanly. in fact all the carvings in that cave were crisp and clean. gorgeous!

after that we began to follow signs to "da fo" the giant buddha. we spent hours climbing up and down stairs. as we got closer to da fo, the density of chinese tourists was rising. steeply. we would come over a hill, and there would be big umbrellas with pepsi logos on them, and tourists, quite snappily dressed, sitting underneath. eventually, after stopping for directions, we found the back of da fo's head. his hair looked peaceful and beatific, but the hordes of tourist pressed to every inch of rail around his head, did not. i, like any good tourist, needed to see for myself.

a quick sidenote: the chinese know nothing of lines. if you are waiting for the bus, it does not matter where you are standing, only how close you can squeeze in to the person in front of you. this is true everywhere. i have yet to enter a chinese bank, but i shudder at the thought.

so i mushed myself into the fluid crowd, and with a little politeness (unheard of!), a little patience (never!), and a little boxing out (which i learned from my dear friend abbey), i was able to make to the rail. it was quite a sight. he was huge. and i appreciated that. the crowds of what seemed millions of people, i did not appreciate. on the right side of the buddha, there is a switch back trail you can take to get to the bottom of the buddha, and see it in all it's splendor. the "line" looked to be about 2 hours long. i had seen all i need to see.

so we trekked back, stopping for an expensive lunch, and eventually making it back where we had began. unfortunately, now, it was full of tourists like the rest of the park. the constant hum of conversation was unsettling for me, in such a beautiful environment.

this is something that i clearly need to learn to accept.