Family Outing to 'Hongfa Temple'

Yesterday we went on a family outing. It was the Hainan Island crew reunited - Brad, Xian, her nephew Kenneth, and myself. We hired a friend of Xian's to drive us to 'Hongfa Temple' and the Botanical Gardens. I love going for drives in this country. The driving here is so random and crazy, and I find it thrilling, fascinating, (miraculously, in one month I have only seen one accident), and at times so ridiculous that it makes me laugh out loud. People cut in front of others, swerve between lanes, and make last minute decisions. There is a lot of horn-honking going on! And it's not just when people are frustrated, they also use their horns to let people know they're there. It's a driving communication tool, since there are no rules. It's pretty awesome! I am dying to try driving here, just so I can experience the freedom of being able to drive completely intuitively and randomly… and yes, like a maniac!

So anyways, we drove for about 45 minutes to get to the 'Hongfa Temple,' which is actually a collection of Buddhist buildings and temples, and is more like a small village. At the main temple we gave thanks to Buddha by lighting three sticks of incense each, bowing three times before the Buddha, and then placing the burning incense in a giant incense burner. At another temples there was a shrine-type-thing where people toss coins up to. It took several tosses to get our coins to land! After walking around the temple grounds we visited the shops (but of course!). Then we carried on to the botanical gardens. There were a few different stops, but we were too late in the day to get into all of them, and the botanical buildings were all closed for the day, unfortunately. Still, we had a good time wandering around the cacti and other plants. The most interesting stop was at a petrified tree "forest."  We had way too much fun taking photos of each other here. Good family fun!

The drive back to the city was after dark, and the lights on the city skyscrapers are so fantastic. There were alternating coloured lights that scaled the top stories of one building, and blue blinking lights that wrapped around another. It adds so much to the cityscape at night, and driving through the streets with the windows open and the warm humid air rushing by was so exciting, visually stimulating, and blissful. 

To cap off our most excellent day, we went for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant that we recently discovered and had, yet again, an absolutely scrumptious meal. 

The coin toss temple.

Incense burner (and incense lighter in the background.)

For some reason people feel the need to graffiti the plants.

Petrified wood close-up.

Impersonating petrified trees.

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Kenneth, always ready to pose in a picture!

'Kaiping' and the surrounding historic villages.

Last weekend I went on a short trip to 'Kaiping,' to visit the historic watchtowers, residences and villages in the surrounding area. I read about Kaiping in my Lonely Planet travel guide. The watchtowers are recognized by UNESCO, and of the 3000 original towers, 1833 remain. The towers are a fusion of Eastern, Western and Chinese architectural styles, and were mostly built in the early 1900's. Many of the villagers moved overseas to find work, and when they returned home with their fortunes, they built majestic homes and towers.

I took a late afternoon bus to Kaiping and found a great, affordable hotel in the centre of town. The next morning I left the hotel, wondering how I'd manage to find a taxi and figure out how to make the rounds to all the historic villages in the different counties around Kaiping. I hadn't walked more than a 200 feet when a man approached me with a map in hand that he pointed to saying, "one two three four five, 300¥." In other words, he offered to take me to all five village attractions for 300¥, which was half of what the Lonely Planet guide quoted, so I forgot to barter, and nodded yes. We jumped in his mini van and away we flew, through the busy streets, with Michael Jackson playing on the stereo! 

It was a glorious six hours of scooting through small towns, down narrow roads, from one village to the next, and spending 1-2 hours wandering about, at each location. It was an excellent day! It felt so decadent to be chauffeured around. The sights and smells of the day were magnificent. It was heavenly to walk around, snapping way too many photos, breathing in the fresher, rural air. I was finally in rural China. It was so good to smell flowers and to hear birds chirping away. Up until then, the only thing I'd smelled that reminded me of home was fresh cut grass. No other smells have been familiar here in China. 

The old villages were tranquil, peaceful, and so unique. Inside the watchtowers and houses there were artifacts and original furnishings on display. One of the villages was in a forest of bamboo, and one of the residences had the most exquisite garden with gazebos, a little river, soothing music and weeping willow-like trees. I could've spent hours there. At each location, after I'd wandered around and filled my eyes and camera, I would walk out to find my taxi driver who would wave at me and be ready to scoot to the next place. He was an especially horn-honking-happy driver. He drove fast through narrow streets in towns that were so full of character. He seemed to know all the back roads. It was so much fun!

At the end of the day he dropped me off and I went back to my hotel for a shower and rest. Later on I went out for a walk along the river and discovered an area where people lived on fishing boats, right in the centre of town. I loved the rustic look of the vessels, and the signs of daily life on the decks. 

Before retiring to my hotel room for the night, I bought a bowl of food from a street vendor. The kind where you choose the ingredients, they boil it in hot tasty broth, and scoop it into a take-away bowl. Quail eggs, cilantro, seaweed, lotus root, Chinese cabbage, potato, and some kind of mystery veggie balls, were my choices. As always, it was delicious!

The next morning I took a bus home to Shenzhen and sat next to an old guy from Hong Kong who spoke English! It helped to pass the three-hour trip, to have someone to talk to. He offered to show me around Hong Kong the next time I'm there. Having lived there since 1951, he knows all the ins and outs of that city! 

Papaya tree

My new friend, 'Huang' (pronounced 'Wong')