Day 10 - Prayerful Afternoon

Hey Everyone!

This morning, I spent 20 minutes trying to find the nearest piano to practice.  I found out there was no piano on campus, but there is a School of Music in China and I have to take a taxi.  After lunch, a couple of us went to the Lama Temple, the most famous Buddhist temple outside of Tibet.  

1,500 monks used to live within the temple but now only 70 remain.  The layout of the Lama Temple is similar to the Forbidden City in that you continuously walk through large courtyards separated by large buildings.  

These buildings, including the Hall of the Heavenly Kings and Hall of Eternal Protection, house shrines of different manifestations of Buddha.  The Hall of Ten Thousand Happinesses contains the largest Buddha carved out of sandalwood.  It stands 80 feet high!  One of the tour guides said the tree was purchased from the government and it took three years to get the tree to the temple and three years to carve the Buddha.  Another interesting item was the prayer wheel. 

 Worshipers would place a prayer inside the wheel and spin it, sending the prayer to heaven.  

Incense trays were outside each shrine and we saw many people praying.  The place had a calm feeling attached to it and a number of us commented on how relaxed we were all feeling.

Right across the street was the Confucius Temple.  This again was very tranquil.  Preserving the Confucius Temple has been a priority for the government.  Throughout the main square I kept hearing soothing flute-like music and thought it was a recording from hidden speakers.  Later, I realized a woman was playing that music on an ancient pottery instrument (Xin?).  The fingering was a lot like a flute except you were covering holes on a round object.  

We each got a chance to try playing it, but to no avail.  It was a lot harder than it looked!

After a long day we headed back, but not before stopping off at a Super Walmart.  Other than the famous logo and smiley face mascot, this Wal Mart was a lot different than in the States.  The store was three floors and you had to snake your way through everything to get to an exit.  You accessed the different floors via ramp escalators that also allowed carts.  While you were waiting to get to the next floor, boxes of merchandise lined the escalator so you could browse while waiting.  If you wanted to be really lazy, you didn't even have to move your head and just watch boxes of merchandise pass by.

Tomorrow begins our three day tour presented by the Beijing Olympic Committee and begins with a tour of the Water Purification Plant.  While it may seem random, clean water is a concern for the Chinese because they believe it may run out.  The water is pure when it leaves the plant, but it is uncertain what is in the water when it comes out of the tap.  This dilemma is one that I hope we learn about while touring tomorrow.

I hope to have lots to write about in the coming days!  Thanks to all for posting comments!  We get them all and appreciate your support and dedication to our blog site and to us.  This has been a lot of fun and I hope it's fun for you, too.  I hope you can experience China vicariously through us!

Ted