More Xi'an

Sunday morning, May 17, I went out to explore an area close to home; my destination was the largest Taoist (Daoist) temple in Xi’an called The Eight Immortals. I had also read that there is an antiques market there on Sundays. I knew I was getting close when I started seeing the funeral wreaths, incense, and temple money. There was also a whole block of fortunetellers sitting on the sidewalk waiting for customers, although a few were engaged. They had various charts set out and some had sticks used in fortunetelling. Some of the fortunetellers had long straggly hair and beards. I soon came to the temple and first checked out the antiques and jade spread out on cloths on the pavement. Each vendor had a small area with a number. There were coins, porcelain, and bronze items, carved wood, pictures, jade, and other polished stones.

I entered the temple that like all temples consists of many buildings, courtyards, gardens, incense burners, and tablets with calligraphy. Inside the different temples there were many statutes. In one temple, a monk dressed in black and with his hair in a chignon on top of his head in ancient Chinese style, and a black crown hat, was seated at a table, reading characters and chanting. It was a very serene scene. Temples are wonderful places because they are so quiet compared to the busy street life outside.

Afterwards I started making my way home, winding through residential high-rise areas. It is always fascinating to observe neighborhood street life with the different fruit, vegetable, and bread vendors, and noodle shops. Watermelon and cherries are the primary fruits these days. I took a few pictures with my new hot read camera, but it is not quite the extension of myself that my other camera was. I am also using it cautiously.

As I was walking along, I was feeling a bit sorry for myself since my leg was still swollen and bruised. Then a sweet smiling teenager came up to me and handed me a red rose, obviously from her boyfriend, and said, “Welcome to China.” I smiled and my negative feelings disappeared.

On Saturday I spent the day on an outing with the English teachers. We were picked up early in the morning and then headed south to the Qinling Mountains, the mountains that separate the north and south of China. The mountains are not terribly high here, but very beautiful covered with green vegetation. It had rained for a week, which intensified the greenness. The bus parked at a restaurant and we started up the road for over an hour, then up the stairs right next to waterfalls and a rushing stream coming down the mountain. We climbed and climbed, finally right near the top, the stairs ended. There were four of us that continued to the top, climbing on rocks and through mud; the view was lovely. Then back down the stairs and eventually to the inn by mid afternoon where we ate delicious country food. The specialty is thin savory pancakes that are about 14 inches in diameter. They were cut in fourths and one made a wrap putting some of the food served inside. There were potatoes, cauliflower, garlic shoots, cucumbers, several type of greens, eggs and green onion, chicken, lotus root, and on and on. One finished the meal off with noodle soup. As we left the mountains we passed fields of winter wheat, which a month ago were green, but now are turning yellow.

After the hike and food I was tired and was sure we were on our way home, then we pulled into a town where there are hot mineral baths. A bathing suit was purchased for each of us. The young skinny Chinese teachers got really cute two-piece ones. One of the few that would fit me had a matronly look, one piece with a little skirt that hung down to mid thigh level, which was probably good because it covered some of the bruises. There were three pools, warm, warmer and warmest, and many people there soaking. The green mountains surrounded the town. After the baths we went into the shower room, few showers, but many naked women practically on top of each other trying to get at the water. I settled for a quick rinse and was out of there. I did not realize we had to walk outside to get to the locker room and the attendant made sure that I was well wrapped and covered with my towel. I made it to the locker room, relaxed and feeling tired. Since it was about 9:00 I figured we were on our way home, but first we stopped for dinner. Finally home, I fell into bed and was instantly asleep.