Dazu Grotto

Entrance to Dazu Grotto

We woke at 5 am and put our bags out for the porter to load into the truck for our trip to Chengdu. We went to breakfast with Mark and Cindy around 6:15 and had a very good meal of mostly local breakfast items. Bacon, eggs, toast and cereal as well as other Western breakfast choices were available but we usually ate Chinese as much as possible.  Mary has really come to enjoy the bao which are dumplings filled with meats or bean paste.  I look forward to the steamed black rice and the Chinese yams and sweet potatoes.  Although the terms yam and sweet potato are used interchangeably in the US, they are very different foods from different types of plants from different parts of the world.  Fortunately, we had access to both at most breakfasts here in China.

The light rain had gotten heavier and we knew that our rain gear was in our checked bags, but Cindy and I were able to catch the porters before our bags were loaded onto the truck and retrieved our jackets. Patrick wanted to get an early start because holiday traffic was expected to be heavy, and we wanted to be at the Dazu Grotto in time to see the carvings.

After about a two hour drive in the rain we arrived at the Dazu Grotto. We walked a short distance then boarded golf carts to go to what would be called a hollow or canyon in the US. We were treated to hundreds of elaborate carvings in the limestone. The carvings were started over 1400 years ago but have continued by faithful Buddhists over the centuries. Detailed panels depict Buddhist gods, prophets and disciples. Interpretations of Heaven and Hell teach the consequences of good and bad behavior. Carvings illustrate how good Buddhists should live.  There are also depictions from Confucian and Taoist teaching. This illustrates the blending of these belief systems that is so common throughout much of China.

The beauty and craftsmanship of the panels were amazing enough but considering that the panels have been in place for over a millennium is even more impressive. During the Cultural Revolution Communist Chinese soldiers destroyed religious artifacts and locations on orders from Chairman Mao. However, farmers in the area who realized the importance of Dazu Grotto did not tell the soldiers about it. The remote location of the carvings in the hollow did not let the soldiers have a clue that they were there.

We were amazed with the detail and size of the carvings.  We thought there would be a few old statues, but we were treated to over 50,000 statues in the rock walls of Dazu Grotto.  Although the carvings started around 650 AD during the Tang Dynasty the work there continued until 1911 in the Qing Dynasty.

The Dazu Grotto was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999. Until then the site was closed to all foreigners. Only Chinese Buddhists could come here to worship before 1999. Even when we were there most of the visitors were Chinese. Many visitors kneeled down to pray before the carvings. It was quite impressive and was one of the highlights of the trip. Even though we had to walk around the grotto in a steady rain, it was still a memorable visit.

We walked back to the bus in the rain then rode for three hours to get to Chengdu. This city of over 16 million is probably best known to westerners because of the Szechwan or Sichuan style of Chinese food from this area. Although there are several things that we want to learn about Chengdu, we certainly want to try the local Sichuan cooking.

We arrived at the St. Regis Chengdu at 5:30. Patrick needed our passports to check us in and he had our room keys ready for us when we arrived. When we got to the rooms our bags were already in the rooms which were spectacular. We have a huge bedroom with a king size bed, two desks, a multidirectional shower, a fully automated bidet, a television with Bose sound that sinks into the desk and automated lights and curtains. Our corner room looks out on a beautiful view of the city.

We dressed for dinner but decided to step over to the McDonald's across the street. They had a number of local Chinese and Sichuan choices available. Mark and Cindy tried some popcorn chicken and fries to see how they are different from McDonalds in the US.

We went to dinner at the St. Regis a little after 7 pm and had a large array of Chinese and specifically Sichuan choices. We had several meat and vegetable choices as well as fruits and cheeses. Mary and Cindy finished with a coconut crème brule. We all enjoyed our meals. We went up to get some sleep since we leave for a visit to the museum in Chengdu at 8 am.

Old Lijiang

Once again we awoke early and did some reading in our room at the Intercontinental Hotel. We used Google Hangouts to call Gran and the girls just to say hello. We went to breakfast in the hotel which was a good mix of Chinese and western breakfast choices, We tend to choose Chinese foods since we can have eggs or oatmeal any day when we are back home. It isn’t every day that we can have Himalayan breakfast foods.

Meat markets in Old Lijiang

We prepared for our morning trip into old town Lijiang after breakfast. Those from the group who wished to go out met with our local guide, Janice, at 9:30 am. As we waited in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel we chatted with a nice young man who is in training to be a Buddhist monk. He shared a number of parables with us that are especially meaningful to him. Much of the teaching in the Buddhist faith is taught through illustrative stories to teach lessons on how to live a good life.  After Janice arrived we walked into the old historic section of Lijiang starting in the local market.

Chicken feet for sale in Old Lijiang

The market is huge, noisy, smelly and chaotic. There are streets for each food category. There was a meat street, fish street, mushroom street, potato street, pickle street and noodle street. We entered at the meat street where we saw chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits and other animals being sold alive then slaughtered and dressed to order right there in the market.

Market in Old Lijiang

There were also parts from pigs, yaks, cattle, sheep and goats being cut up and prepared for sale. We saw a lot of potatoes especially purple potatoes which are a regional specialty. There were giant bags of peppers, mushrooms and other food being sold by the pound. All the while there were many people visiting each of the vendors to buy food and small trucks and motorbikes mixed in along the paths between vendors. It was nearly impossible to walk. Each area had a very characteristic smell. The animal area smelled like a slaughterhouse anywhere would smell. The earthy smells of the mushroom and potato streets gave way to fragrant smells of flower stands and noodle shops. We decided that we could locate our whereabouts blindfolded just on the characteristic smell. 

One of the many mushroom markets in Old Lijiang

In some ways the Lijiang market wasn’t much different than the Milton flea market. There were stands selling cheap junk as well as shops selling staples for existence. The market definitely caters to local Lijiang residents. I think we were the only non-Chinese in the market today.

From the market, Janice led us through other historic areas of Lijiang. We then headed for the home of Mu, the leader and Shaman of the Lijiang Naxi community. The Mu had a complex of living quarters and center of civic government. We walked through the area and looked at the statues and locations that were important

Residence of the Naxi Mu

to the Naxi culture. We noticed that the thresholds to rooms in the Mu’s complex were especially high. As we learned earlier in the week the high thresholds were intended to keep evil spirits from entering the dwelling according to Chinese superstition.

There were a number of children and families in the courtyard near the Mu’s residence making and decorating moon cakes.  These dense sweet cakes are a traditional celebratory food for the Mid-Autumn Festival sometimes called “Moon Cake Day”.  This holiday is celebrated on the day of the full moon in late September or early October. 

Children making Moon Cakes

After leaving the Mu’s residence we walked through some of the shops in town and stopped at a shop doing embroidery on silk similar to the gallery we visited in Shanghai. Several people bought things after a period of haggling over the price. There was a speaker and demonstration of the hieroglyphs that make up the Naxi written language. Although most people in Tibet and Eastern China now use the simplified Chinese written characters, many people of the Naxi minority use the traditional hieroglyphs as well.

Traditional Naxi hieroglyphs

After leaving the silk store we went to a restaurant that Janice recommended for lunch. We sat with Gary, Robin, Darla and Sherry who we learned met while working for the FFA in Anchorage. We ordered a family style meal with yak meat, corn, Naxi potatoes and steamed lotus. We had tea to drink. When we got the bill for the four of us we were shocked that it was less than 200 Yuan which is about $31.

After lunch we walked around the ancient city again including the market which was far less crowded now that the morning rush was over. Most of the vendors were there but fewer than a quarter of the shoppers were in the market by afternoon. We continued walking through the stands and small stores until a heavy rain hit. A huge crash of thunder shook us and then the rain soaked us. We took shelter for the heaviest rain then went back out to walk around the old city of Jijiang. We walked up the hill in search of a geocache then headed back to the hotel in a light mist of rain.

Naxi woman selling purple potatoes in Lijiang market

We met Janice again in the hotel lobby at 6 pm and walked to a wholesale tea vendor in old town Lijiang. We tasted several varieties of Pu-er tea and learned correct and incorrect ways of making tea. The shop owner poured water over the tea leaves and disposed of the water twice after a steep of only a couple of minutes. He then put hot water in again for a slightly longer soak and made cup after cup of delicious tea. Through Janice as an interpreter, he told us that he can make 30 runs on a set of tea leaves. He made a pot of tea from a dried tangerine that was hollowed out and filled with Pu-er tea. We bought a cake of good quality Pu-er tea and a bag of tea tangerines for 300 Yuan each. Mark and Cindy bought a stash of tea as well.

We walked back to the hotel where we had an excellent buffet dinner of Chinese and Naxi foods in the hotel dining room. We had to get our checked bags out in the hallway that evening for our flight to Chongqing that night so we headed out to our rooms.