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So I finally had a day off. This English speaking contest has thrown everything off. I haven’t had a day off for 9 days, so I’m going a little batty. But, the school decided to give us today off and some of the teachers took me to Da Zhao Temple. So, at 9:30 this morning Caroline, Seven, Wendy, Emma, and I took the bus to meet Addison at the Temple.
If you ever find yourself in Inner Mongolia, and anywhere near Hohhot, you need to see Da Zhao Temple. If you don’t mind the bus, route 58 goes right to Da Zhao. Or you could take a cab. Either way, you have to go. (On the record, I am sure there are other buses to Da Zhao, but we took 58.)
We took a 10 minute ride into the heart of Hohhot, and got off. Thinking that we would have to walk far, I was shocked to discover that we were only a few yards from the entrance to the temple.
Da Zhao was built in 1579 CE, according to Wikipedia, and houses a priceless silver Buddha statue. Da Zhao consists of three main courtyards, and a few
Giant Buddha
His robe is made of rubies and diamonds. No joke. smaller ones. The first courtyard has one of the many incense shrines and the first of the many shrines to the other Gods. And, of course the gift shops.
The temple was visited by the emperor Kangxi (pardon my spelling if I got it wrong), and the temple was later named for him. There is a special platform in the main hall for him to meditate on, when he attended services at the temple.
The 10 foot silver Buddha was incredible. But my favorite had to be the 15 foot gold statue of the Goddess with One Thousand Hands. In the room are 21 smaller images of her, displaying different emotions. They are all incredible similar, except for one, which is kind of scary compared to the others. But very cool all the same.
There are other lesser Gods placed around the temple for people to pray to, and monks will take your prayers and send them to heaven, or wherever they are going. There was also a large stump where a little tree was beginning to grow. How Buddhist...
After the temple we went to lunch. We went to this little chain, Hu He Pan
To the Third Courtyard
The large incense holders were everywhere. Pang Pang, which allows you to pick different ingredients which they will cook in a special broth. It was fantastic, until the Sichuan chili’s kicked in, and then we were all in pain. It tasted so good though, so all of us ate until we were sweating, I was worried that Addison was going to collapse. But we all survived.
Finally, Caroline and I went to the large park in downtown Hohhot. We walked around and sat by the lake. You can hire boats to take on the lake. Which looks like a lot of fun to do in the summer. There was also a Ferris Wheel, I didn't get to go on it because it was closed. But it goes slow enough for you to get a great view of the city. Boo.
I’ll be heading back to Beijing on Friday, the 5th; and will arrive on the 6th. I still need to buy a ticket because I would like a sleeper rather than a chair. My tailbone still has not forgiven me.
I got a lot of sun, and am developing a nice tan. Oh, I saw four foreigners today, I was very excited!
-Kaye
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