Saturday, November 12, 2005
Partying in Putoushan
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).
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).
