Hanging Monastery, Datong

The evening after the Yungang  Grottoes , we actually stopped over another place in the city. We even passed by a mosque in the city .

The small crescent on top defines the place .

Right in the middle of the city , there was this wall built in 1771 - the Nine Dragon Wall .

Nine Dragon wall , 1771 

Too bad it was quite dark at that time . The glazed tile screen built during the administration of Emperor Qianlong , Qing Dynasty, looked dull at evening .

The second day at Datong, we started early to travel another 65 km away south-east of Datong to visit the Hanging Temple . This temple hangs on the cliff of a hill with over 50 meters above the ground , first built in 491. It was then rebuilt and maintained in the Ming & Qing Dynasty , some 600 - 900 years ago .

On the way there, the government are building highways through mountain range .

high rise highway ? fantastic

Along the way, there was this unique village . Look at the village houses made of red clay .

Look at the round windows .

After the winding road, we arrived at this place .

That's the name of the monastery

And the cliff hanging monastery from a distance !

Across this hanging bridge to climb up the cliff .

This is the hanging monastery at a nearer distance

And when you are up in the temple, magnisficient is the word.

Datong , Shanxi district

This was the first time I  visit Datong in the Shanxi district . From the tour leader's explanation, we realised that it is a very dry county.

Upon arrival, after a late lunch, we headed to Yungang Grottoes - a collection of shallow caves located 16km west of Datong . It was reported that there are over 50,000 carved images and statues of Buddhas and Buddhisatvas within these grottoes. The imazing fact is, most of these carvings are around 1000 years old.

This place had been opened as a tourist attraction . Thus , expectedly had a nice entrance .....

a wooden carving at the entrance

The long corridor leading to the hill side

A midway tower with bells or chimes

Gate to the caves/ grottoes

This temple housed the first two caves

The first two caves were supposedly the most beautiful with colourful carvings . However , to protect the drawings, no photographs are allowed in these two caves .

other caves

The Buddha statue in one of the caves

Some of these caves may have been robbed, look at the holes left 

We are so small in front of this Buddha statue

Looking at these ruins, we just couldn't help marveled at the ancient men's superior craftmenship. These are just amazingly huge projects of the past .

Worthy visit - Yungang Grottoes .

A China Holiday

With my daughter's many reminders : keep yourself warm, bring thermo flask to keep warm water , text me after you checked in, enjoy yourself ....etc etc. and my son's simple words : enjoy yourself , take lots of photos to show us ,I went on a vacation with a warm heart. Those lovely texts are from my children who are thousands of miles away .

So, I went and came back with lots of photos to share with  them .

It has been 8 years since the first time I visited Beijing. Deep down many of us wanted to look at the changes China had undergone at this posr-Olympics period. We were met at the airport by a young English speaking tour leader . The weather that greeted us upon arrival was said to be 0 degree Celcius, but it was sunny and not chilling .

We were brought to breakfast in one part of the Beijing city . This was our first glimpse of Beijing.

8 am early morning street view

Window display - Beijing fashion or western fashion ?

Microsoft is here !

 

 

 

Well, this is really a different sight from what I saw the last time I was there .
We moved on to Datong after breakfast .
Datong is considered outskirt of Beijing, a 4 hour bus journey, in the Shanxi district . It is a coal mining city.
About an hour after moving out of Beijing, we saw these giant windmills .

Then we passed by many deserted plateau with stony-looking mountains in the background . It was a totally different view . These areas were dry.

The background mountain looks like an artist's work.

And there were coal- transporting trains along the way. These were real long trains with about 208 coaches including 4 locomotives.

Notice the train in the middle of this picture ?

As we came near to Datong city, we saw this energy plant .

Size is never an issue in China .

And we arrived at Datong, a dusty city with a number of historical heritages in the surrounding , two of which we were scheduled to visit . 

Down under at Adelaide

My recent trip to Adelaide to visit my son was important to me . I want to see this place that make my son homesick so badly .

My son had described Adelaide as " a very clean city, much cleaner than Melbourne &  Sdyney , polite, artistic , old , ideal for retirement " . " You will like it , " he said . We must see it for ourselves . Yes, he had described it well.

Old & new builings in the city against the beautiful blue sky of cool winter August .

Creativity is expressed openly ....fallen autumn leaves on the walls .

A chapel with maple leaves on its wall , amidst this busy street.

The Adelaide Art Gallery that displays a wonderful collection of Arts .

The Haigh's Chocolate retail in town - same building same location as in 1915 .

Arts extend to the street ....piglets in Rundle Mall Street

Flowers always add colours to life , as we can see here in Rundle Mall street .

I can't disagree that Adelaide city is clean, old as well as modern , and it is artistically creative .  

Eat for charity

A friend gave us two tickets to a charity event today. It is an event called  ' Eat for charity ' .

We went in at the allocated time , at 3.45pm , the feast began at 4pm, and an hour was given for each session. The food ........ all you can eat , in an hour....

The King & Queen of our local fruits !
If only my daughter is here , she will .............!!!!

The organizer managed the event better this year , so we heard. Last year's participants said they could not even get a bulb of the King of fruits during last event. This year, participants will stand at one place of your choice at the long tables, and the fruits will be brought to you. No take away, you can eat as much as you can within that one hour .
So, here's how these participants enjoyed the feast for charity.....

 I know what my daughter will say after seeing these photos..........
Next round , ok ?

Mooncakes

This tiny little piece of sweetie called mooncake is so costly these days. Imagine paying near RM 50 for 4 pieces of mooncakes in a beautiful packing ! Imagine eating a tiny egg yoke stuffed into the tiny piece of mooncake at the price of RM 1 per egg yoke !
So I decided to give it a try this year.......by making my own mooncake ! With the recipes given by two friends, I have my first adventure. I cooked the red beans and make my first " tausah " or red bean paste. Then I make the dough to wrap this filling....and ......taaalaaaa , here's the red bean mooncake !Wow......that's fun , and that saves money. I can give my friends homemade mooncakes ! So the adventures go further with these Shanghai Mooncakes .


And now , the fun is......... we say we will make mooncakes again come next Mid-autumn Festival !

Gopeng retreat @ Adeline's

This weekend retreat at Adeline's was first mentioned two years ago , finally we made it this March.

16 of us went in 5 cars , started off at 7.30 am . We stopped at Serendah for breakfast and made a detour at Cenderiang Lata Kinjang Waterfall . This is the waterfall we can see from far along the PLUS highway. Spectacular !

We arrived at Adeline's Rest House at 1pm , just nice to have lunch . Lunch was crispy fried fish , fried cabbage , and tofu . The portion was just sufficient , nothing wasted; but Adeline was generous to top-up if insufficient, and also gave an extra dish.

Well, check out Adeline's Rest House at Gopeng .....It's in the midst of rubber trees, durian trees , etc .....accommodation is bamboo-wooden huts !

Not much activity within, but arrangements can be made for outward bound activities like Rafflesia trekking, white water rafting, wet abselling, paint-ball games ,etc. We opted to take a 40-minutes walk to the waterfall .

The waterfall was not as high as Lata Kinjang. Water was strong that afternoon and it was raining. The uncles in the group enjoyed themselves doing waterfall spa .

Dinner at 7.30pm served with soup boiled in bamboo . Supper of curry puffs was served at 10pm. We had mahjong and cards session after dinner as there was no other activities. Night trekking was shelved after the rain as none of us like to be licked by leeches.

Night was quiet, peaceful and serene........

Breakfast was served at 7.30am . Adeline had prepared nasi lemak, fried mee, fried meehoon, 'wat tan hor ' and toasted bread with butter and jam.

The uncles went out cycling after breakfast , while some of us continue to play mahjong , chit-chatting or just take a good rest .

Lunch was served at 1pm before the journey home.

This was a relaxation retreat , light and easy.........except that we came back with sand-flies -kissed itchiness !