4th June "Long Archie day - stopped off at Zhangye - to see Buddhist Temple with the biggest reclining Buddha in China. Buddha on point of Nirvana. Very peaceful - huge feet & head even bigger than Mogao Caves. The atmosphere of the whole temple complex was very peaceful even though right in the middle of a thriving town-then on the road again- ..." This temple is reputed to be the birthplace of Kublai Khan - so maybe Xanadu! No, I'm joking! Checking out Kublai Khan on Wiki I was delighted to find that his mother, married to Tolui youngest son of Chingiz Khan, is noted as counting amongst the most influential women in world history as she is described as "one of the most powerful and competent women in the Mongol Empire." Some photos of the temple follow.
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| The reclining Buddha |
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| Taken from about half-way along the reclining figure. |
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| One of the decorative supports. |
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| A detail from above. |
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| A "cloutie" tree hung with sacred texts. |
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| The peaceful temple complex. |
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| A rather overheated Suzie enjoys the cooling shade! |
I was not the only person in the group to be very disappointed that we did not get to see the statue of Marco Polo and the street of Italianate architecture built to recognise that Marco Polo spent a year or so living in Zhangye. We suspected that our guide did not know where it was and did not want to "lose face". I checked its position out on Google maps, to find that, in relation to the Dafosi Temple and in the scheme of things, given that we were in the same city, it was not was not too far from the Temple. It was very disappointing not to see one of the iconic sights of Zhangye because checking out photos on Google the statue and the "Italian" street architecture look great fun. So I am including a couple of links so that you can see it for yourselves, even though we did not!
Marco Polo statueSino-Italian architecture!
The campsite where we stayed that night was not a particularly good spot and I note that overall I was disappointed with the campsites, but I suppose there is also the point that when camping on a trip like this that it is best to compromise interesting, unusual, different and out of the way campsites for safety reasons to be near people and not put the group in an isolated situation. But it was difficult to be driving past wonderful, possible wild campsites and not to think of using them. Having in the past done quite a bit of wild camping in the UK in the days when this was possible without being harassed, I felt quite a pang when we were going across some open grassland striped with tracks and bits of the Great Wall just crying out "come and camp by me!"
5th June "Left early (earlier than scheduled even) & drove for most of the day but made good time so arrived @ Liu Xia Jia early- ...." and I ended up having yet another one of those memorable meals! In fact I had 2 memorable meals in Liu Xia Jia. The first one was with a group of us, and I remember walking up through a thriving street market, climbing over a railway line - it did not look as if was used very often - to get to the restaurant. We did our usual looking at various restaurants until we saw one that looked promising. Then inside and looked at what the other diners were eating and had a little "Harry met Sally" moment "went inside, saw what somebody was having, the owner cottoned on immediately and arranged 4 pork noodles with egg & veg - delicious - we sat outside on the pavement & had some lovely interactions with people passing by - Young people & children approached us & welcomed us to their city in perfect English. Everybody we met so friendly - ..." I also had a little "transport of delight" moment in Liu Xia Jia as there was a market with bunches of lichees for £1.40 a kilo! I could not believe what I was seeing - eyes out on stalks but not bigger that stomach! Of all the different fruits that I have ever eaten lichees are my very favourite. I love them. And there they were. Huge bunches of them and a price that I had never dreamed that I ever would see them at. (Note: lichees are rather expensive in the UK!). So that was it - from Liu Xia Jia it was lichees all the way!
6th June We went off to the Bingling Si Buddhist Grottos which were truly impressive, as was the way of getting there. "An hour long speedboat ride up river/reservoir to caves. River ride quite dramatic - dam started off blue/green then slowly became yellow as other tributaries joined the river (the Yellow River) - "yellow" loess silt being heavier? (I surmise) forms an undercurrent that goes under the water? Just a theory- nothing to back it up except the water is most definitely blue several miles upstream and in the reservoir." Next is a photo taken from the Liu Xia Jia side of the barrage which holds back the reservoir. It is an impressive bit of engineering as it is a hydro electric plant. To the right you can see the barrage, to the left the bridge by which the hydro electric plant is reached and the overflow running underneath it.
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| The water on the city side of the barrage is most definitely "yellow" ..... |
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| .... whereas the water on the other side of the barrage is most definitely greeny/blue |
The grottos were beautiful - full of statues & some paintings which are still in excellent state of preservation despite being open grottos rather than protected by doors - the whole area has been very well laid out with a walk way" (One way.) But I kept away from this little fellow - not sure what family he belongs to. I am not sure if this one was poisonous or not but I did not go near enough to find out! But it seemed equally in a hurry to get away from us. (If anyone reading this is a herpetologist and can identify the species please feel free to post a comment at the bottom of the page, thank you.)
There are no photos of the grottos as it was requested not to take photographs. The colours on the paintings are so vibrant after all the centuries but constant flash photography could well damage them. But there were plenty of other things to photograph especially when I took a jeep ride up to the Tibetan monastery in the hills behind the grottos. "Took a jeep ride to the Tibetan monastery up a mountainside where 1 monk ran the monastery. He seemed quite used to tourists & obligingly demonstrated various musical instruments. Beautiful reclining Buddha in small side temple. ........ Back to boat." I missed out on having a cup of tea with the monk as I had to get back to the overcrowded jeep, (how the driver managed to fit us all in I do not know, but he did!) or else I would have had to walk and I certainly would not have done it in time to get back to the boat. But I left some of our party being invited to tea with the monk.
The Bingling Si Tibetan Monastery
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| The incense stick I lit for a friend. |
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| Looking down on the Monastery from one of the side temples. |
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| A glimpse of the stupa in the valley. |
Then it was back to Liu Xia Jia by boat.
On arriving back to the city I chose to walk back to the hotel with S & K rather than a ride in Archie. We stopped at a little pagoda by the side of the road which had the most stupendous views of the city and the barrage of the dam. On 3 sides a steep, steep and deadly drop down to the river and I was pleased to note not a single "health & safety" sign saying "DANGGGGGEEEEEEEEEROUS! LOOOOOOOOK OUUUUUUUT! YOU MIGHT FALL AND DIE!!!! And protective railings were kept to a minimum! So it was question of being sensible - not going too near the edge!
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| The pagoda roof |
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| Pushing over the pagoda! |
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| Question: if we had litter bins like this in the UK, would there be less litter? |
It was such a lovely place to be. Placed as it was with the fantastic views, I imagine on a very hot summer day that it might be a cool place to be, with the open sides and high up on the cliff above the river that it would pick any breeze. Then K&S and I went into town for a late lunch and I had the second of those of those memorable Liu Xia Jia meals. We found a restaurant which was upstairs with booths. We played the crib sheet trick and had a delicious lunch and then more! "Walked into town with K&S. Found an eatery- ate very late lunch - chatted & chatted - shoes - ships - sealing wax -....." All the time drinking tea. "... then had supper until the waitresses clattered the dishes! Back to hotel - stb." It was one of those magic moments of friendship. Just sitting and chatting for hours. The sort of experience that is part of travelling. I suppose we got there mid afternoon and did not leave for another 6 hours or so. While we were there there was a family eating next door and the grandmother came with her grandson and sat with us for a little while proudly showing off her grandson. All done non-verbally but again one of those travel experiences which is deeply fulfilling. Being able to connect with somebody without a common language or cultural reference but there is still the connection of being human. There were moments like this the whole way along the road but maybe it was more apparent in China Eastern Tibet so more of that next time..............................
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