Schell of a Man

On Tuesday, November 1, after I finished teaching my morning class, Jessica and I made the hike to the top of the Lufeng Temple, located on the top of a tall hill (small mountain) just outside of Shaoxing. We set out from our base camp at Starbucks around 2 pm and caught the Number 2 bus to the end of its line, which is at the foot of the hill. We then caught a shuttle up a little ways up the hill to the entrance of the monastery. This was my second visit to the monastery. I was there a few weeks before with Bryan. The monastery is very exotic with its temples filled with large statues of kings and Buddhas, as well as the sound of voices chanting to clashing cymbals. All the air smells of incense, and there is the occasional monk walking around in his orange habit. It is exactly what I thought a Buddhist monastery would be like.

As we followed the stone path that led past the monastery and into the hills the terrain continued to get steeper until we were simply climbing steps up the side of the small mountain. I don't know how many steps there are, but it took about 35 to 40 minutes to reach the top. Some of the other foreign teachers said it took them nearly two hours so we must have been going at a good clip.

I would categorize the climb in three different segments: the first is the thrill of the climb. You look at the top of the hill and almost don't believe you are really going to reach the top, but you are excited to be on your way, climbing steps. The second part is the lull. It hits after you stop at the first pavilion to take a break and drink some water. Your legs are a little shaky and your lungs burn a bit. You look down and it doesn't seem like you have gone very far up and it is still a long ways to the top. You continue to climb but don’t seem to go anywhere. It's the worst part. Conversely, the third part is the best. Once you reach the top of the first hill you must continue along the crest another couple hundred meters to the hilltop temple, but this is a beautiful hike that affords a beautiful panoramic view of the city and a lakes around it. You are still climbing up, but barely notice.

As we climbed, I tried to explain to Jess how I think of climbing this mountain as a kind of metaphor for most challenging experiences in life: at first you are excited to be doing it, even the hard parts (especially the hard parts); then you hit the lull, (everything is painful and seemingly without purpose or profit); finally, you are at a place to see how far you've come even while you are still in the midst of it. Perhaps I was a bit off or trying too hard to seek out these little object lessons in life, but it seemed to make a lot of sense to me at the time.

Towards the top of the hill there is a tall pagoda, which is securely locked up, but still provides some pretty cool vibes. Just beyond it, on the top of the mountain sits a temple, which seem to balance on the peak. Walking up the last few steps you enter a dark concrete hallway that takes you through the center of the relatively small structure and out onto large terrace with three different binds for burning incense and candles. To the right and left there are small areas with altars and several different sized-statues. The aura of the place is one of quiet repose and immense beauty. It cannot help but cause you to stop and reflect a while. Both times up there, I took time to burn some incense and spend a little time in quiet reflection.

Jess and I were up there on a Tuesday evening so it was especially quiet. We watched as the dusk slowly approached the city below. It was very peaceful to sit silently as the evening light slowly changed. One smiling monk tried to talk to us as we watched the landscape. The conversation consisted of me trying to say it was beautiful and him laughing and saying, "Mei Guo Ren" (Americans).

I think we were some of the last people to go that night. I was almost sad to leave the temple, though I am sure I will be back again soon. I can see the outline of the hill, pagoda, and temple from my classroom window, and I often look out during class and wish I could be back up on the hill with the rest of the world so far away.

Sorry if this one is a bit long, but there was a lot of fun to pack into one post.

Last Thursday afternoon, Jessica, Bryan and I set off for a holiday by the sea. We caught a bus bound for Zhoushan, which is the largest of a cluster of islands out in the East China Sea. We rode a crappy little bus two hours east, through Ningbo to the coast. We, along with the bus, were ferried across the straight that separated the island from the mainland. When we arrived at the Zhoushan bus station, we set off on foot toward what appeared to be the most brightly lit part of town. It was around 7:30 pm and already dark when we set out looking for a hotel. We didn't actually have any information about the city and it wasn't in either of our guidebooks.

We went to a couple of other hotels before we found one that would let us stay. A lot of hotels don't allow foreigners to stay because they need certain authorization from the government (these also happen to be the cheaper hotels...how convenient). I don't think the hotel we stayed in was supposed to let foreigners stay there since they didn't ask to see our passports (standard procedure) or even ask us our names. We just paid 200 RMB (about $25) for the room and another 200 RMB deposit. The whole thing was a little shady. However, we lucked out and got a suite on the top floor that had a leather couch and even a small card table.

After dropping off our bags, we continued to walk through town, looking for a place to get something to eat. We walked through the city's night market: a couple of blocks lined with little portable stalls that are erected for a couple of hours each night. Shaoxing has something very similar. We finally found a restaurant on the far side of the city center. We ordered rice, vegetables, fried shrimp, and some fish. The food was pretty good, though my stomach was still a little queasy from the food I ate on the ferry. The fish, which was cooked and served whole, head, scales and all, was full of bones and only Bryan had the patience, persistence, and chopsticks skills to de-bone and eat it. We also split four bottles of beer between the three of us, which made Jess inexplicably drunk. I chalk it up to the jetlag. I had a bottle of beer my first week here and I was asleep before I could even finish it. After dinner we walked back to the hotel, stopping to buy a couple of cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon (an imported delicacy). We spent the rest of the night playing Texas Hold 'em on the card table in our room.

The next morning we took a bus across the island to another ferry station where we caught a small boat to Putuoshan. Historically, Putuoshan has been a very important holy site for Chinese Buddhists. Today a mix of pilgrims and tourists visits it, and it lives up to the expectations of both. We were able to book a cheap hotel for the night right in the ferry station but had to buy a pricey ticket just to enter the island. It set the precedent for the weekend. We were buying tickets to see and walk everywhere.

After checking into the hotel, we walked around the southern part of the island. The center of the island is covered in dense vegetation that provides shade for the stone roads that run across it. We walked for a while then decided to stop and get lunch at a restaurant near Puji Temple, which is the main temple on the island. It was an amazing meal with hot and sour soup, chicken and green pepper, egg and tomato, and glass noodles (which are clear noodles that have a very unpleasant texture). Unfortunately, the meal made all of us sleepy, but we decided to push on a little further. It was a good decision.

A short walk from the restaurant, we came upon the Hundred Pace Sands Beach, a beautiful sandy beach with a large rock outcropping dividing it in half. On the end of the outcropping was small gazebo where you could sit and watch the sea and the waves on the beach. I sat in this gazebo and listened to a monk chant softly and "play a bowl," (he produced a single tone by running a piece of wood or jade around the rim of a brass bowl). There were few other sounds besides the wind and the waves on the shore. It was incredibly peaceful.

I also took the opportunity to walk barefoot across the beach with the waves alternately trying to push me further up the shore or pull me out into the sea. There is nothing more calming than feeling the motion of a large body of water. After walking the length of the beach, Howie and I put our shoes back on and did some rock climbing on the high boulders that edge the two ends of the beach. I understand why the island was chosen as a holy site, it has a very peaceful and spiritual aura to it. Things appeared just a little bit clearer sitting on top of the rocks, watching the sea.

After we had gotten our fill of the beach, we started back the way we came, stopping to visit Puji Temple. It was interesting to see, but to be honest, seeing temples in China is like see cathedrals and museums in Europe, after a while they all blend together and aren't as inspiring. Because I am not familiar with the history and stories of Buddhism, much of the symbolism and art is lost on me.

Now I'm not proud of what we did next and I won't try to make excuses like we had traveled a lot in the past few days or that the work week was long, but after visiting the temple we made the twenty minute walk back the hotel where we decided we were all going to take a rest. Well, I lay down around 5:30 pm and didn't get out of bed until 7 am the next morning. Both Howie and Jess did about the same, though neither slept as long as me. It was a wonderful 14 hours of sleep.

We were unable to find a place to stay on the island for Saturday night. Our hotel and most of the others were completely booked. So the next morning we checked out of our hotel but stored our bags at the front desk. We then headed off by foot towards a giant statue of Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy (she also happens to be the Buddhist equivalent of the patron saint of fishermen). The statue stands at the southern most point of the island and faces out to sea. We walked around and took pictures. The sheer sized of the statue was the most impressive part of the place.

From there we caught a mini bus across the island (stopping to buy ferry tickets) to the base of its tallest mountain, where we took a cable car to its peak to see the Huiji Temple. After a quick temple walk-through, and a break to climb some more rocks, we ventured off the beaten path and worked our way to highest point on the mountain (actually there was a path but it said "No Admittance"). We were rewarded with an amazing view of the whole island. We stood for a while watching as the clouds swirled around the hills and trees below. There was one other family (mother, father, grandmother, and baby) up there with us. We offered to take pictures for them and they did the same for us.

After coming down the mountain, we took a bus to the entrance of Fayu temple, the third and final temple on the island. Since we were running short on time (our boat left at 3:30 pm), we decided to skip the temple and just have lunch there. The meal was disappointing; the large prawn, cooked and served whole, was the best part. After lunch we crossed the road to the Thousand Pace Sand Beach. We spent the next hour and a half there, enjoying the sand and water. Howie stripped down to his boxers and went for a swim. He then convinced me to do the same. The highlight of my trip was the applause we received from the Chinese tourists as we ran in our skivvies past them into the water. We were the only ones swimming.

After air-drying and getting dressed, we headed back to the hotel where we collected our bags, changed clothes and freshened up. We then walked to the ferry station and caught a boat to Ningbo. After an hour-long boat ride, we boarded a rickety old bus that took us another hour into the city itself. From the ferry terminal we took a taxi to the train station, and just barely caught the last train back to Shaoxing.

It was a whirl-wind adventure and tons of fun. Along with Howie, Jess made a great travel partner offering well-needed moments of humor and lightheartedness. The trip wouldn't have been the same without them.

(Thanks to Howie and Jess for letting me use some of their pictures here).

Hello all! Sorry for the brief silent treatment. I wasn't mad; I was just hosting a guest. As most of you already know, my good friend Jessica Rosenberger was recently here in Shaoxing visiting me. She stayed for nearly two weeks, and just left on Thursday (the 10th). It was a great time, and fun to have someone else to show around town. (It made me feel like I finally know what's going on...at least a little). There is much to tell from the last couple of weeks, so I will do my best to get you caught up. I may not go in chronological order though, but instead follow my muse as she inspires me. Hope you can follow.

Last Monday, we had a large dinner to celebrate Jess' visit. Besides her, my roommate Bryan (formerly known as Howie), and myself, the dinner was attended by two other foreign teachers, Wendy and Janet (who I work with), as well as three of my favorite students: Shana, Elaine, and Jay. Jay is my assistant but I hadn't seen him in over a month. I can't complain, however, since he is a very popular and busy man (he was just elected president of the Student Union for the whole college--or perhaps it's Chairman, I forget).

Anyways, we all met at the main entrance to the college and walked to a nearby restaurant we had eaten at one of our first weeks here. Unfortunately, the restaurant was full, but Shana knew the owner so he offered to send us by van to a different restaurant he owned a few blocks away. So we all piled into a van and were chauffeured a couple of blocks away to a nearly-empty restaurant. We were shown to a private room in the second story of the shop where a large table with a gas burner in the center awaited us. This kind of restaurant is called a "Hot Pot" restaurant; they originally came from northern China where it is much colder. Here is the premise of a hot pot restaurant: you have a table with a gas burner in the middle. You are given a large bowl with broth and soup bones in it. The bowl is placed on the burner to cook. In the meanwhile, you, the customer, purchase other raw foods to be cooked in the boiling soup.

As I may have mentioned, at large dinners in China it is traditional to order more food than anyone could possibly eat. So when in Rome... Needless to say, we filled the table around the pot with small plates of dumplings, quail eggs, cabbage, mushrooms, fish and pork balls, lamb and beef, potatoes, cauliflower, wantons, and more. Using chop sticks or spoons, everyone puts a little of whatever they want into the soup to cook for a little while, and at the same time pulls out food that is ready to be eaten. It is the most communal eating experience I've had so far. The taste of the whole soup changes as you add different foods, and it’s interesting to see how the dish slowly evolves. Along with soup, you are given two sauces to dip food in: sweet fermented beans and spicy chili sauce. They are both quite good, especially when mixed together.

Conversation was good on the whole, sometimes hit-and-miss, as it always is with the language barrier. But it was fun to have the students there. The meal lasted about two hours and we all ate more than we should have (which also seems to be a tradition at most Chinese meals). It was hard to resist with all the delicious foods, and every time the broth got low in the pot, a server would come around and pour in more water. It was like a challenge. We finally pried ourselves away from the table and paid the bill (let's just say it cost less than $20 to feed eight people more food than they ever needed. Not bad). They offered to get the van to take us back to the first restaurant, but we opted to walk.

On the way back to campus, Bryan stopped to get copies of a test made for his class the next day. While he did that, Jess, the students, and I poked around a small "fashion" clothing shop next door. (As you can see, I tried on some "fashionable" clothes but don’t think I pulled it off). The students also decided to buy us gifts there. They bought me a small wristband and Jess a little silk dress-thing that you put over a bottle of wine (or something like that). It was a really nice gesture. They then walked us nearly all the way to our apartment. We had better conversation on the walk than during the meal. It was nice to spend some time with them outside of class. Overall, a very enjoyable night.