7/23/07: Dali day 2 - San Ta Si & Chongsheng Monastery

After promising ourselves we’d get up early, we woke at 8:30 – ½ hour before our complimentary breakfast ended. Judy, Chris & I made it. Adam & Dan didn’t. They didn’t miss much. Chinese buffet from unheated trays of oil-soaked food is not the best. They had interesting coffee, though: very reminiscent of Turkish coffee, but too sweet.

We stopped across the street to drop off laundry & I learned that not everything in China is cheap. A big load of laundry – 1, maybe 2 washers full – cost 249 yuan, or about $30! More than a nice room for a night. I was outraged, but Dan gently pointed out that they don’t have big washing machines. Every item – every sock, shirt, and undergarment – would have to be hand-washed. They wouldn’t be done for 36 hours.

Next, we headed up Yu er lu street (our road) to the east gate. I saw 3 pagodas to the north and said “let’s walk up there.” Someone mentioned that the pagodas were cited in The Lonely Planet, but to be honest, I didn’t read about it. Serendipity.

The 3 pagodas (San Ta Si) at the Chongsheng Monastery are among the oldest structures in southwest China. But we didn’t know that, and The Lonely Planet didn’t give us a clue about the extent of the complex behind it. So when we got there and saw a 119 yuan fare to get in, we were taken aback. Like the laundry.

Anyway, we paid, and what a blessing that was! After the pagodas, the temples and pavilions climb up the mountain into the sky, layer upon layer, with each level opening onto a new vista. Many original structures date to the 800s. Some were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, only to be rebuilt in the 1990s. The Forbidden City in all its splendor has nothing on this. For pics, see http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172083241/a=102868539_102868539/fromupload=true/t_=102868539.

As we climbed through temple after temple, filled with amazing gold-covered statues of the Buddha, Buddhist saints, and various supernatural beings, I kept thinking of the thousands of man-hours that went into building this. And the aesthetics – mountain rivers channeled into ponds & falls, water spewing from stone dragon’s mouths, gardens lovingly trended, hand-hewn granite and quartz walkways…

It’s still an active monastery. Monks intone prayers in the main temple at the top, accompanied by horns and gongs… all in Dolby stereo through speaker systems now, but let’s not quibble.

About halfway up, we stopped for lunch at the only restaurant, a vegetarian place (of course). It was lovely. The serving staff was all dressed in traditional Bai garb. None spoke a lick of English. We ordered a variety of things, including some faux meat dishes. I thought it was pretty good. I was in the minority.

Our main hostess clearly decided that Dan was our leader and through a combination of Mandarin and sign language invited him to a rather spectacular view of the temple complex from an open gallery on the roof. We all followed and she got a little flustered. Dan insisted that it was because she wanted to make out with him and didn’t want to be followed. Whatever, Dan. She's in the pic with Dan and Chris at the beginning of today's entry, dressed in Bai clothing.

At any rate, words can’t describe the complex. I’ll have to rely on the pictures, and there are plenty. I shot until my memory card was full. I replaced that and shot until the batteries went dead. And then I nursed those to coax a couple more pictures. Amazing!

We made it to the top. That would be when Judy and I lost the boys. Judy stopped for a bathroom break & I waited by the WC. The boys hung around for a minute and then were out of sight. When she came out, we started down the mountain – slowly – assuming that they had gone ahead. When there was no sign of them at the bottom, we lingered a little, walked up a little, then convinced ourselves that they had left and walked back to the hotel.

We were wrong. They were waiting inside the entryway to the temple closest to the WC. When we didn’t show up, they eventually walked down, assuming they’d catch us. When we weren’t at the bottom, Dan walked back up, and that is one heck of a climb. They finally gave up & came back, finding us at the hotel. In all, they’d probably spent another 2 hours waiting or looking. I felt bad for them, touched, and a little indignant. Bad because they’d wasted their time. Touched, because Dan was upset enough to assure us that he’d never leave us alone. Indignant because they clearly see us at age 50 and 51 as too senile and weak to find our way back to the hotel without their help. But mostly I felt touched that they cared. A very nice warm fuzzy.

After sitting for a bit, we went to Huguo Lu, to a café that enticed Dan and Adam with the promise of a “burrito bowl.” It turned out to be something like an open-faced burrito, which Dan tried in vain to roll. Totally unsatisfying. Judy had a pizza, which she said was pretty good. Chris had a chicken sandwich that was absolutely pathetic – plus some fries. I had a Szechuan-style pork dish that our waiter warned was too spicy for me. It wasn’t nearly as spicy as Szechuan in the US.

After a long day, we picked up some night snacks & beer and went back to the hotel for some Polish Pitch. I played abysmally and was the butt of many jokes.