1 October 2010, Part 5 ~ Jade Buddha

Nancy, Claire and I then headed into to a temple that housed the world's largest jade Buddha. It was carved from a massive piece of stone called the "Jade King" discovered in the Jade Metropolis, Xiuyan County, Liaonig Province. The actual stone is 7.3 meters high, 6.8 meters wide and weighs 260 tons. Sakyamuni was carved in the front and Guanyin at the back by 120 jade sculptors in 18 months. It was quite impressive!

Sakyamuni is carved in the front...

I was impressed with the immensity of the hands alone...

Guanyin is carved into the back of this massive piece of jade.

Nancy and Claire at the back entrance of the temple with Guanyin behind them.

Red ribbons to leave prayers and wishes.

Love this!

Long arm shot!

Great shot of Claire...

I love this shot of Clair and Nancy walking through this tunnel leading into the next courtyard and temple.

Beautiful!

1 October 2010, Part 4 ~ The Little Guy and the Coin

This story is too funny and too cute for words!

Okay, I was feeling like I needed a little luck after the "Four Ring" incident when we came upon this tower with people tossing coins into the windows at the top. I was sure that if I tried, and tossed a coin just right, my luck would turn and all would be well in my world again.

Claire made it in on the first shot...

I kept trying...

and trying...

and trying...

and trying! Until the cutest little guy in a bright orange shirt...

walked up, picked up my coin that had fallen back toward me,

walked over to the tower, and tossed it in at the bottom. He looked back at me with a big smile as if to say, "That's how you do it, Lady." It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I'm the luckiest woman alive now. Thanks, Little Guy! : )

1 October 2010, Part 3 ~ Bell Tower

The infamous bell tower...an event Claire still hasn't let me live down!

There was a stern gentleman at the door to the bell tower who was collecting 10RMB from each visitor to go to the top of the tower. For reasons unknown to us (maybe because we showed him our tickets from the front gate and he wasn't up for communicating to us that we had to pay more), he let the two Americans and one Canadian up for free.

Nancy took this shot looking up from the base of the bell tower.

Good one, Nancy!

Inside the tower was a desk where Chinese calligraphy was written.

Love the pink sunglasses...so out of place!

A view from the top looking out over the Taoist Temple.

Nancy and Claire being goofy...

While at the top of the tower, I really wanted to ring the bell, but wasn't quite sure of the rules, so decided to be a good girl and settle for a fake picture of me doing so. Until...

...a young man and his daughter came up and started ringing away. They asked me to take a picture of them while ringing the bell together, so afterward I decided what the heck...

...I'm going to ring it too!! Claire and Nancy had already made their way back down, so my new bell-ringing friends snapped my picture while I rang away!

On my fourth ring, a very stern yell came booming up from the man below. It appeared that he was not a happy camper about my number of rings, so I quickly stopped at four. Along with my two new friends, I could hear Nancy and Claire, bellowing with laughter from below! Claire then came up with all kinds of reasons why it's extremely bad to ring the bell four times and upset the bell master: it's bad luck, four must mean death, etc! After that, each moment something went wrong during our trip (and there were quite a few!), Claire would remind me that it must be because of "those four rings!"

Someday I'll find out what this sign says and know what four rings really means....

Until then, I'll stick to three!

1 October 2010, Part 2 ~ Jade Buddha Garden

As it turned out we were in Anshan's 219 Park that includes a zoo, amusement park, many lakes, and Yufo Yuan also known as Jade Buddha Garden. The name 219 Park commemorates the liberation of Anshan by the People's Liberation Army on the 19th of February 1948.

The bridge over a lake that leads into Jade Buddha Palace. Just beautiful!

Nancy and Kimberly at the entrance to the Jade Buddha Palace.

Note the guy on the left taking our picture with his cell phone.

China's borders have not been open all that long to foreign visitors, so the Chinese were very interested in meeting us! Seeing a foreigner here is like spotting a movie star for us in the US. Many, many people walked right up and asked if they could be in a picture with us, snuggled right in as if they've know us all our lives, showed a peace sign, and smiled for the camera. It was an interesting way to meet some very sweet people! Many others tried to take pictures nonchalantly like this guy on the left!

A happy Claire purchasing tickets for us to enter the Jade Buddha Temple.

When we entered through the gates, this is the first sight we laid eyes upon. The dahlias were incredibly beautiful.

Something out of the "Little Shop of Horrors" or an amazing dahlia...

you choose!

In Buddhism the elephant is a symbol of mental strength and it often appears as a guardian of temples and of the Buddha himself.

Maybe this symbolizes the Bohdi Tree where Buddha achieved enlightenment, we're not sure, but we were up for a little enlightenment ourselves and decided to give it a try! : )

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." The Buddha

What it's all really about...

Candles and incense burn outside the temples as a mark of respect and evoke the state of impermanence and change. Their light also symbolizes the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Good friends, beautiful dahlias, and an amazing connection to Spirit...

Two more friends...

We walked into the temple and saw the first of the many jade Buddhas...

They were incredibly intricate with carvings upon carvings.

Along with burning incense, food is often left on the alters as gifts.

To be continued...

1 October 2010, Part 1 ~ Weekend Getaway

Our wonderful driver Jack picked Nancy, Claire and me up early on Friday morning and we headed north toward Anshan City in the Liaoning Province of Northeastern China. It was October 1, China's National Day, and we were off to enjoy our five day weekend and explore the sights and sounds of China.

Festivities for the holiday across the street from our hotel in Anshan City.

Nancy and Kimberly checking into the Futian Hotel in Anshan City.

Claire and Nancy...checking in.

Jade heart on bamboo plant.

After checking into our hotel rooms and settling in a bit, we had a yummy lunch. Jack then picked us up to ferry us off to what we thought was going to be a jade Buddha garden called Yufo Yuan just outside of Anshan City. We were quite surprised when we got out of the car and found ourselves smack dab in the middle of an amusement park. Well, we were in China and it was conceivable that the "jade buddha garden" we thought we were visiting was actually an amusement park called the "Jade Buddha Garden." After living in China for two months, I've learned that things are not always as they seem and never to assume a thing! We were all a bit disappointed and not one of us was able to shift our jade Buddha mood into an amusement park mood, so we started walking away from the rides toward what looked like a park.

Me being silly.... I wanted a "China Picture of the Day!"

This was a beautiful archway that led into the park.

Claire and Nancy framed...

View from the other side...

Beautiful architecture

Taking pictures of...

...people taking pictures.

(Notice the two sweet little girls in their winged outfits. Adorable!)

An amusement park named Jade Buddha Garden??

We were all quite relieved to find this sign. We had a choice! Pirate City or Jade Buddha Monastery! Jade Buddhas here we come...