Wenshu Monastery

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Today I made it out to the Wenshu Monastery, just a few blocks from my hostel. It was a bit of a dreary day and I wasn't feeling motivated. Plus, I know I'm heading out tomorrow and don't want to wear myself out.

I headed out to "old town" which is really close to my hostel. And not old. Like Lijiang, it's been rebuilt to look old and peddle trinkets to tourists. So I skipped most of the town and just went to the monastery. It was a cheap entrance at only Y5 and I wandered around inside for a bit over an hour.

The complex was much bigger than I had anticipated. I actually saw monks there (some monasteries are just buildings and not living places) and even saw their dorms. It's a bit odd to see monk laundry hanging and drying. They have a massive meditation hall--I took a few sneaky photos--the most visible thing being the rows and rows of yellow cushions. Upstairs was their library, complete with metal detectors. There was one monk in yellow studying while the one at the front desk was trying not to sleep. The paint in the building was fresh and bright. I could have gazed much longer, but people were already looking at me enough as it is.

Outside the main building there were many gardens and in many of them the locals had come to gather. There were old men playing cards, a group of women--2 with erhus and one knitting--sitting in a long pavilion. There were birds in cages with old men looking after them, and lush, moss covered rocks.

I managed to get seemingly lost in the endless maze of temples within the monastery. Every turn, instead of taking me back to the gate, gave way to a new building with incense in front of it. In one case, a girl stopped her prayers to answer her cell phone.

New China is seldom far away, I guess.

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