A Daring Adventure

I Would NEVER Do Such a Thing!

So this totally awesome lady who has a blog but who I won't link to because if anyone ever messes with her it will NOT be because the mess-er found her via a link on my blog linked to this totally hilarious and very irreverent article about totally idiotic diplomats.  But I would never EVER publicly link to such a hilarious article because, as I have told all of y'all before on multiple occasions, I am 


Not. Completely. Stupid.  


And also because I don't want my husband dragged into a dark room and flogged or something because his idiot wife went and acted out on her blog again, like always. 


But since said article is just totally way crazy, I just couldn't help but at least bring it up. You know.  As a conversation piece or whatever.


Ahem.


In other news, it used to be Christmas.  Which was... odd... in China.  Because here in China (or at least in Chengdu) people decorate for Christmas all the hell over the place and no one fights about whether that's acceptable or not.  Everywhere you go, you see Christmas decorations like:



 

and shopkeepers dressed up like at this store (the motto of which is "No Right Just Suitable") where they wore Santa hats for the occasion:





Yep, here places decorate and no one argues/debates about it.  Which was... surreal...because I would read on the internet how, back in the U.S., some shop refused to put a Christmas tree up or some town refused to let some Christmas banner hang and...yeah.  


I even had someone here in China, I am not making this up, note to me with utter confusion that one of the only places on the street where the Consulate is located that was NOT decorated at all on the outside for Christmas in any way whatsoever WAS THE U.S. CONSULATE.  And then they asked me, confusion in their voice, "Don't you Americans celebrate Christmas? I thought Americans celebrated Christmas!"


Um, YEAH.  Try explaining to someone in China all about how decorating for Christmas is all totally fought over in America... while standing outside a ton of Chinese places that are, themselves, decorated for Christmas.  


[I will note, however, that I didn't see a single Hanukkah decoration whatsoever here in Chengdu. Not. One.]


And that's not all!  Because this totally uncomfortable thing seriously happened to us.


Christmas Eve, James and I walked to our favorite little Chinese restaurant to eat dinner.  (The kind of little Chinese restaurant that is so yummy I literally cry when thinking about how, someday, we won't be here to eat its yummy food and also where you can get enough food to stuff four adults for about $9 USD.)  On the way there, I saw that some of the other pedestrians on the sidewalk had glossy fliers in their hands.  Glossy fliers with Christmas pictures and Christmas colors on them. And with the writing on the fliers being IN ENGLISH *AND* IN CHINESE. And I saw those fliers, but didn't think much about it, though they really were out of place, since I never ever see anything written in English.


Then, when we were eating in the restaurant, some Chinese folks with big smiles on their faces stopped by our table, wished us Merry Christmas (in Chinese), and handed us one of those same glossy Chinese/English fliers.  


Turns out, it was some sort of glossy flier about how Christmas is about Jesus and God, etc., etc., and you guys?  I'm not proud of my reaction.  I Totally. Freaked. Out. They had handed it to James and right after they walked away I quietly hissed to him across the table: "OHMYGOSH, JAMES, GET RID OF THAT THING!  GET RID OF THAT THING RIGHT NOW! WHAT IF SOMEONE SEES YOU WITH IT AND THINKS *WE'RE* THE ONES HANDING OUT THOSE RELIGIOUS FLIERS TO PEOPLE! GO THROW THAT THING AWAY!"


But then I felt like a total and complete nutjob (nothing new there) because I realized that some kind-hearted, Christian Chinese person probably thought that James and I were totally headed for hell and needed a serious Christmas Message. And, really, you guys?  If pretty much all I really knew about Americans was what I had seen either from Hollywood movies or from a bad translation of Desperate Housewives or Sex in the City or whatever (heaven help us all), I would totally be thinking that James and I probably needed a Christmas Message, too.


Talk about humbling.


Anyway, literally the day after Christmas - December 26th, no lie - every Christmas decoration vanished from the Chengdu streets/shops and Chinese New Year decorations appeared.


Except at this one high-end jewelry store.  THEY still have Christmas decorations up, even to this day, probably milking the Christmas gift giving thing for all it's worth.


So maybe America and China just really Aren't. That. Different. You know?  Except for the fact that it seems that it's easier to decorate for Christmas if you're in China... and Chinese.  Go figure.

 

So Much History - Chengdu, China's Buddhist Temples in Pictures

After we left the US, stopped in Beijing, and then arrived in Chengdu, we began looking around our new city - our new home for the next two years.  We jammed all manner of walking around and doing touristy-things into each and every opportunity that we had while there was a long Chinese national holiday.


Our first historical stop was the Wenshu Monastery, a Buddhist temple originally constructed sometime between 618 - 907 AD.  As in almost 1,400 years ago.


Now, here's what's cool. Super pretty and really historical places like this?  They're totally tucked away right in the middle of downtown Chengdu.  As in, you're walking around office buildings or whatever and then BAM!  There you are standing at the gate entrance of a hidden gem of historical proportions.  It totally blows my mind, because, of course, we have nothing like that back in the States.  In the States, you walk around office buildings and get...more office buildings. So, yeah, the two places I'm going to talk about in this blog post are both right in downtown Chengdu.


Blows. My. Mind.


You walk into the Monastery through the entrance gates (which are on a busy downtown street) and you've entered a historical era from long ago:





I love the buildings.  They are so gorgeous up close:





The Wenshu Monastery (and other such historical areas) consists of many different lovely period buildings scattered around a large area in a park-like setting.  


This next building is the actual Temple.  It is HUGE:





And so beautiful inside!





Outside, as you walk around, you can catch glimpses of the modern world, which seems so far away but actually isn't.  Such a striking, fascinating contrast:





I think this next building was my favorite out of all of the buildings at the Wenshu Monastery:





You couldn't go inside, but the outside was so lovely and colorful that I fell in love with it.


Toward the front of the grounds (for these sorts of places usually have many lovely buildings scattered across a large amount of green space, quite like a park), there were many areas where people were burning incense.  I think you could purchase incense to burn in front of different Buddhist shrines or gods. This man was tending one of the incense areas:





It was a nice smell - somewhat spicy.  You could see people kneeling and praying all around.  


Very peaceful.


                                                 ~   ~   ~


A few days later, we visited the Wuhou Temple, which is also right smack in downtown Chengdu. Its admission fee was much higher - about $10 U.S. dollars per person - but, then again, it is right next to Jinli Street, which is a nifty shopping area and a place that every tourist to Chengdu should visit when they come.  So: location, location, location.


Wuhou Temple (along with many other beautiful buildings) was a short walk from the front entrance gates, and we were pleasantly surprised to find one of the sets of directions sporting some English:





One of the buildings had a set of ladies dressed in period costume (I would think?) playing period musical instruments (I assume?).  It was quite charming for the minute or two that it lasted... and then we realized that it was actually an advertisement of sorts:





You see, the goal of playing the instruments was to draw a quick crowd of tourists (it worked), and the goal of gathering the crowd of tourists was to advertise that we tourists could pay money to dress up in period costume, as well, and have our pictures taken (with or without the musicians in the shot).


And interesting offer, but we declined.


The carvings around the grounds were beautiful - this little dog was part of a vast set devoted to the different animals of the Chinese zodiac.  This dog drew my attention because of its sweet little face and expression:





Barking?  Smiling?  Who knows.  It's quite charming.


The grounds were covered in different carvings:





Dragon?  Lizard?  Both?


After meandering through all of the buildings, we exited the temple/monastery grounds directly onto one of the most interesting shopping areas I've yet seen in Chengdu: Jinli Street.


And wouldn't you know it?  Tucked in among all the shops and the vendors... where you can find shadow puppets and woven decorations and stitched shoes and all manner of food... there's a:





STARBUCKS COFFEE.


There's a message there somewhere.  I just know that there is.