On Christmas day, Cindy’s boyfriend took me to another bus station to go to Dengfeng. HOLY CRAP! The bus driver spent more than half an hour driving round and round to get more customers. It was really irritating. Later on I learned that they were bending the rules, if they get caught, they will be fined.
It was freezing cold, with constant wind blowing my head off. The sun brought no warmth, but still, the weather was really nice. I arrived Dengfeng, asked around and took a bus to the study 嵩陽書院. As you can see from the picture, there was hardly anyone around….
These beautiful flowers are called 臘梅. They only blossom in Winter. They smell really nicely. I could almost smell the sweet, pure smell by looking at this picture….
So this was the right place. How come they charge everything? Crazy.
Confucius was once teaching here… so that’s what this study is famous for… well, may be plus 2 really old cypress trees - believe it or not - more than 4,000 years old.
There were 3 originally, but one of them died…. how sad.
This monument is so old… it’s from Tang Dynasty, my favourite dynasty of all time. I felt young standing right in front of it :p There were Chinese carved all over, though it wasn’t all readable anymore. China is so historical, I wish Chinese government had done a better job at protecting the monuments. They are part of our culture and history.
In the middle of the picture.. well, a bit to the left, did you see a temple? That was where I wanted to go… seriously :) I asked a kid who was walking towards me, how long would it take to get there, he gave me a painful and surprised expression and said it was impossible, haha, well, he was the local but I decided to walk and see what I could get.
THAT COW, please pay close attention to that cow!
After talking to several people on the streets, I learned Fa Wang Temple (法王寺) was not too far away (actually it was quite far!), so I took my time and strolled there. On my way, clearly, I saw that farmer and the beautiful cow. I’ve never seen this type of cow before, with horns. The farmer saw me taking pictures of the cow, he yelled at me “come down and get the pictures done”. Alright, I had time, therefore I went.
It gave me that look. After I crawled all my way down to get the pictures. Those plants got thorns, damn it! I got scared when it got closer and closer…. OK, I admit I ran a bit… In my mind I pictured myself chased by this cow, just like in a corrida…. After I crawled back to the road, I realised I lost my lens cap. :(((((( It was Christmas and I had lost the lens cap. I crawled back down again to search it among those really tall thorned grasses…. of course it was nowhere to be seen.
It really did upset me, plus all those negative feelings I had the day before, I had to call my family. I talked to my family, my mum told me my dad had asked me to go home if I found this trip too unbearable, I didn’t dare tell her I lost my lens cap but to lie I had a great time. Then I called Yan, my best friend, and I almost cried. Aw, it felt so good to hear her voice! She told me she was going to a party. I missed Hongkong terribly much, oh, I was such a baby!
I walked and walked but still couldn’t see the temple…. the sun was hiding behind the mist.
There I was!
The left picture I asked the only one I saw in the temple… who was a rather old lady (you could see her in the right picture climbing the stairs), haha, she told me she didn’t know how to take a picture, so I asked her to just press the botton… and that’s what I got on the left. It made me laugh! A minute later, I saw this young monk, so he helped me take another picture, look, he did a really good job, thus the picture on the right! (Hehehe.. I was super bulky!)
This temple was even better than Shaolin. Well, I didn’t really see so much in Shaolin Temple, did I? On the contrary, this Fa Wang temple was really huge, quiet and in there I was so calm. I forgot all about my sorrows and worries. And I had to think about Kyle and Shane… how they missed such a great place!
The picture on the left is the Sharmon tree, legend goes like this… in the middle of the night (there isn’t any ghost, OK?), the tree will produce the “monk chanting” sound… I think that’s pretty scary :p
I particularly liked the picture on the left :) It’s just so beautiful! And the paintings on the wall on the right…
An overview of the temple :) I will go back one day!
Those 2 pagodas are really old. The right one is also from Tang Dynasty, the left one is the “Fa Wang Si Pagoda”. Extraordinary!
That was my Christmas day… Nothing special… I went back to Zhengzhou quite late that night, feeling sad and lonely (again), thinking about my lens cap and all. Cindy and her boyfriend really worried so much about me … I’m sorry. Sometimes I just couldn’t control my hot temper, sometimes I thought they were annoying because they called every 10 mins to check where I was…. I know, I know. I will be patient the next time! Though, please, do have faith in me, I’m not so young and innocent as I look, I can take care of myself.
