Sunday was my last day in Shanghai and my first full day off, all by myself. I knew it was going to be getting really hot and sunny (and humid) so I got going pretty early. First off, I headed off on the Subway to the Jade Buddha temple.
The Jade Buddha temple was created for two Buddhas carved out of Jade (imagine that) that were brought from Burma. I was so proud to be able to find it myself, because it is really easy to get turned around on the streets here and the streets are barely labeled and especially with the English characters. On the way I saw this interesting hotel:
The temple was very busy. There were many groups of people chanting prayers and doing dances. There were individuals everywhere doing their prayers in various methods; with incense and candles. An interesting bit of history, so I am told, is that the temple was only saved from destruction in the 60’s because the Abbot bolted the doors and covered them with pictures of Chairman Mao , which the Red Guards did not dare touch.
You can also see people in the photo trying to throw coins into the large lantern in the middle.
This is carved out of one large mahogany root.
This is a marble replica of the Jade Buddha showing the reclining Buddha, in death.
Monks chanting over the fires being stoked.
The Jade Buddha the temple is most known for is just under 2 meters high and I got to see it, but we were not allowed to take photos.
I then got back into the crowded subway and headed to another temple, the Jing’an Temple. It was right outside the Metro station, so that was nice to not have to walk too far as it was getting hot.
This temple surprisingly had a Jade Buddha too, and it was bigger! This Jade Buddha is almost 4 meters high. It was much more impressive than the first.
At the top of two flights of stairs was a giant Teak room housing a 9 meter high Buddha made of 15 tons of Silver. It was so beautiful.
For my last stop I got back on the subway and headed to the Yuyuan Garden. It was a little walk from the Subway station. The Garden is located in the middle of an old city that has been kept up and restored over the years. Here, I found the crowds.
It was neat to see these old style buildings and narrow streets for shopping, but it was crazy crowded.
I actually did not get into the gardens, which sound very nice, because I figured I would not be able to enjoy it if they were packed full of people and I was not able to move. Since it was getting peak day by then, I decided to head back to the hotel. On the way I found more Shanghai soup dumplings:
And I got a chance to capture a nice photo showing how much people pile on their bikes.
And look what I found to quench my thirst!
I went back to the hotel, had a nice shower, and then went and treated myself to a Chinese massage. It was much less painful then last time. I spent last night just relaxing and packing.
Today I am up early and we are off to the airport for my first inter-China flight down the Shenzhen. We have a busy week planned!
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