Lingyin Temple

Lingyin Temple

Lingyin Temple (founded 326 AD, oldest structures 11th century onward)

Lingyin temple, commonly translated as "Temple of the Soul's Retreat" is one of the largest and wealthiest temples in China. It was originally founded in 326 AD, but has been rebuilt no less than sixteen times since then. The current buildings are modern restorations of late Qing buildings. The hillside to the south of the temple is also famous as a site of old Buddhist caves and rock carvings. Many of these date back to the time when the temple was first founded and a great many were carved during the blossoming of Buddhism during the Tang dynasty. Despite some damage inflicted by red guards during the Cultural Revolution, the temple and grounds escaped much of the wholesale destruction that other temples in China suffered because of the protection of Premier Zhou Enlai. Today the temple is thriving, though most of the thousands of visitors who come do so for sightseeing and not for religious reasons.

Here are some Pictures I took.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=deaneamynash&target=ALBUM&id=5544588570143884753&authkey=Gv1sRgCO3jyaXohc-7UQ&feat=email

Pomelo Fruit





Pomelo Fruit



Cut the top off and section skin. Peel off thick skin





Fruit inside

This is now one of my favorite fruits. I bought one of these at Zhers one year around Christmas time,and I used it as a decoration instead of eating it! These are native to China as I would assume they are to Florida.  Check out the supermarket and pick one up! They are not tart like a grapefruit,and they are not sweet like an orange. They have a very neutral taste and are very firm. It takes me close to an hour to peel all the skin off,unlike an orange where you eat the skin. This skin is thick and tough. I had to throw this on here with the holiday season here I think you can find these in the supermarkets right now!













Dining InThe Streets

I am about to talk about food....and this is where I miss my Dad. He was planning on coming over in October. So many times I wish he would have had the chance to come here I know he would have loved the food.Well let's be honest, my Dad loved food no matter what country it came from!

If the Chinese know how to do one thing well, it's cooking. Now I'm not going to say they eat the most appealing things but on the whole, the food is exceptional! Everywhere you go in China there are these little hole on the wall places to eat. Now I have ordered food from one of these places....that look just like this one. The food smells wonderful when you pass by, however as I was waiting I noticed there was blood on the floor and a guy working there was telling someone how he cut his finger(or so I think.... he was pointing to the band-aid) The cook was the dirtiest man I ever seen smoking a cigarette over my food. In the end I took the food home and never ate it, I was nervous. I have only been slightly sick once. I ate at a night market and the next day my stomach was tight and I was a little sick. But so far we've had no problems. One place I took a wrong turn on the way to the bathroom and ended up in the kitchen.....GOOD GRIEF!.....The bathroom was cleaner than the kitchen, but the food was really good, lol.

Six Harmonies Pagoda Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/deaneamynash/Pagoda02?authkey=Gv1sRgCICznfzSlcuC1AE&feat=email#

CLICK ON THE LINK TO VIEW

Grand Opening

Grand Opening Fan Fair

Ok so this is a common sight in China when a new business has just opened.....accompanied by the fireworks for good luck. Isaac and I had just spent the morning relentlessly trying to hail a taxi to take us to the six harmonies pagoda we wanted to check out. After we checked out the pagoda we headed in the direction of home. I said to Isaac let's just walk....it can't be more than an hr......turns out it was more like 2! lol. We didn't mind because the reward in the end was stopping to eat at one of our favorite restaurants called Grandma's Kitchen...serves traditional Chinese food but has an English name. Finally we make it to the restaurant to find out that it is closed for renovation! So I tell Isaac there is a restaurant by our house that has a menu with some pictures so at least we can point out what we  want.....it's kind of a fast food Chinese style. So there is where we go! I order some chicken and rice, and Isaac orders pork and rice.....my chicken looks like brain, not much meat at all but alot of other things I have never seen in chicken before. Isaac's pork is a fuchsia pink color and taste purfumey. Anyway we don't each much of anything and end up heading home. Around 7:00pm I said to Isaac, do you want to go check out that new restaurant around the corner? We would have stopped there before the other crappy place, but we didn't know it was open.So off we head to check it out. We are greeted at the door by about 4 people...we tell them we are a party of 2. In the lobby there are about 4 tables filled with people chatting and smoking.....They smoke everywhere here by the way! Even when there is no smoking signs! We are not sure if it is in fact a restaurant, but it looks like one and we tell them we want to eat. The girl leads us up stairs and is saying in English, ok ok this way please, this way. We get upstairs to be lead through a long corridor with a whole bunch of doors.....we are thinking what the heck is this.?She shows us to our room and as we go inside we realize we are in a SPA! The room has massage tables.....lmao. Now we need to explain that we want food and not a rub and tug! The girl keeps saying you speak Chinese? you speak Chinese?.....well if I did girlfriend I wouldn't be standing in a massage parlor looking for dinner!  So needless to say we left hungry, Isaac way more embarrassed than I, as they laughed at us. As you age that kind of stuff doesn't embarrass you..... I don't know those people and I will likely never see them again in a city of 8 million!  Ok I kinda stand out since I'm the one with the "round eyes". Look at the picture it looked like the name of a restaurant to me! lol. That's what happens when you don't speak the language..... I know we like to bitch about foreigners in our country who can't speak English but you know, I am seeing what like is like as an adult when you are put into that situation. Maybe they are saying the same thing about us, why don't you go back to your own country round eyes and learn some Chinese if you wanna live here. Some of those people come to our country to make a better life for their family's.....and sometimes come with nothing! I have taken a new appreciation for people who move half way across the world, away from what they are so comfortable with, to a strange country and culture. A lot of our own fellow" country men"...( was that politically correct?) Are to lazy ,or to good ,to endure some of the things that people that come over from other countries do. Ok I am wandering into a whole other topic of conversation.....so here is where I will END! lol

Health & Chinese Medicine

Coming to China has changed me a little. It has allowed me to focus on me! Losing my Dad to cancer has made me wake up and pay attention to my own health. I have the knowledge, it's just applying it.

This is kind of a mission.... I am the guinea pig!  Upon arriving in China I was not healthy at all! I had just lost my Dad and the stress I had been under was breaking me. I had taken up smoking the 4 months prior to his death and was just eating crap that made me feel good. On top of everything I didn't exercise and drank very little water. I mean like maybe 1/2 a cup a day..... I am never thirsty. I had serious menstruation issues, major cramping all the time, back ache. I was afraid there was something wrong with the water , my hair was as dry as a corn broom and my skin was very oily and gritty. What the heck was happening to me I was starting to fear that I may die myself! Maybe I have cancer too???
So I got to reading and discovered that you are really damaging your internal organs when you don't drink enough water so that was my first step. I started drinking 8 cups of water a day, plus herbal tea. And within 2 weeks I noticed how much better my skin looked. The cramping and backache....gone! My diet has changed and not by choice, but it is amazing how creative you get when you have no oven and not alot of processed foods to choose from....well ok you do, but the American imported pizza and processed crap is soooo expensive here. I won't buy it cause I know it's not worth the money. Now the Chinese cook with alot of sugar and MSG which we know is not healthy, but I would say it is a better choice having MSG on fresh food...then eating prepackaged shit. Eating with chop sticks and sharing dishes really changes how much you eat. When it's on the plate in front of you, you feel obligated to eat it.....(cause that's how we were raised) but sharing multiple dishes removes that mind set, and nothing is put on your plate really, you just pick out of each bowl. Even if you served it up on your plate it's like eating off dishes made for munchkins. The chopsticks, well they prevent you from shoveling the food in  your mouth at break neck speed!
Next step.... get my ass to the gym! Sweating removes the toxins from your body which trust me I was toxic, and alot of us are. Then I went on my first mountain hike and there is where I met the woman who would introduce me to the most wonderful Chinese Medicine Doctor.

We have all been to see him.....but I will tell you my story, cause well I am the one typing! And frankly guys don't really give a crap about this stuff.( Ok don't email me and say I'm a guy and I care....your either an exception or a fruit!....my blog I'll say what I want! lol) As it would turn out he has explained to me (Dr) that almost all women in there late 30's into early 40's suffer from.....insomnia,extreme mood swings(that's me!!!.... and No it's not bipolar like our husbands think, although they are probably the reason for the mood swings....them and the kids!)  always tired, mental fogginess,hard time losing weight. I could go on and on but you get the point. I have read alot over the past couple of years about holistic health, and I believe a great deal in it. Dr Livingston has summed it up...if your body is functioning properly than you should have no troubles. In Western medicine if you go to the Dr and have high blood pressure he puts you on pills. Western medicine is a band-aid to fix the aliment or pain right away.....Chinese medicine fixes what part of your body is not functioning properly.....the reason for your "high blood pressure". Granted sometimes you need western medicine, but on the whole you are masking the problem and not fixing it, makes sense to me.

This is the herbs that have already been boiled by the pharmacy.
We each drink 2 of these a day, they are about 1 cup each.
And yes it tastes like dirt!

There is no claim that Chinese herbs will fix you over night.... but over time they heal your body and help it to function the way it should. That's why Chinese medicine Doctors live till their 120 yrs old! So I have been drinking the herbs for 3 weeks now(the taste is bitter and NASTY) but I notice an improvement in energy, he is working on my insomnia  and night sweats at the moment. Our body's all run a little different and according to him I run on the cold side.....I thought I was pretty hot! he he. So my blood runs a little slow which causes blood stagnation, metabolism is slow as well. I should stay warm and eat warming foods to keep my blood circulating well. He also told me I would benefit greatly from drinking alcohol....which is funny cause I don't drink much. And he told Deane to stay away from alcohol.....How do you tell a Maritimer he can't drink.....that's like telling a fish he can't live in the water! lol. Anyway as my quest for health continues I hope you can find yours, I am suprised at how much better I feel about everything in my life......just through taking care of MYSELF!

Drivers Licence Question

After a vehicle falls into water, the wrong method for the driver to rescue himself is to ________.

A. Close the window to prevent water from flowing into the vehicle

B. Immediately use hand to open the door

C. Let the water to fill up the driver’s cab so that the water pressure both inside and outside is equal

D. Use a large plastic bag to cover the head and tight the neck closely

Answer:  A

Ok seriously!!!! What the heck? So the WRONG method for the driver to rescue himself is to roll up the damn window????? The WRONG method isn't to put a plastic bag over you head and "TIGHT THE NECK CLOSELY???? Lmao. See why I failed this stupid test! Oh the joy of translation. I have a hard time reading English sometimes then they go and screw me right up!!!! I will let you know how my 3rd attempt goes Friday morning at 10am.
Think good thoughts for me!

More Bad Signage

Again!...... I am going to write my damn Chinese licence this Friday. I have been studying my A%$ off! I still may not be able to retain all of the stupidity. When I am finished with that manual I plan on posting different things so you can see how the questions and road signs make no sense! Here is a picture I took at Ming Tombs in Beijing..........Luxuriant grassland????? WHERE? Do you see it? Cause I sure don't! lol

Hangzhou Wushan Night Market dancing queen

This is very common to see dancing in the square. They all seem to be coordinated.....it's kinda neat to watch. Why doesn't our culture do things like this?

Buddah Carvings

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Rant

I have moments where I can't imagine being anywhere else in the world! And moments when I walk out the door I want to drop kick every China men I see! Now I don't mean to be rude and disrespectful to the Chinese, but compared to the way we live in the western world, I struggle alot with the way they do things here!

I have the biggest issue with the pushing,shoving and butting in front of me!  I mean come on really? These people are educated.... they are not a  third world country. So how does it work? .....Chinese people are never raised with any kind of manners?...... I will tell you it sure doesn't seem like it! Here is a great example, in the supermarket yesterday and the girl handing out FOOD SAMPLES does a  "farmers hanky" on the floor!!!  WTF????  The woman's washrooms are disgusting. No one flushes toilet paper... they wipe and put it in the  OPEN waste paper basket. The smell can be a little overwhelming sometimes, I swear I walk into every stall that has a dirty maxi pad face up right there staring at me! I am not easily grossed out by alot, but I have been here!

Sorry about the graphicness ..... ok no I'm not really. I am trying to paint you the true picture.....or I could just take a picture! lol   The spitting is a little overwhelming also! Always dodging great big hoarks on the side walk, oh  and the sound of getting ready to hawk that spitball.....the kind you mother would have cuffed you upside the back of the head  for.Again these people for the most part are educated, I don't get it. I find over all the Chinese are not friendly.... compared to other cultures. Shopping.......... when you enter the store a salesperson or 3 will follow you around the store...on your heels I might add, and as soon as you touch something and put it down they fix it like you didn't put it back it the right spot.There are usually a ton of people working in the store......back home we complain and say.... does anyone work here??? lol

There is something  kinda neat about being in a foreign country where nobody knows you and you are free to explore. We have been to some cool places and consider ourselves lucky that we get to see things alot of other people may never get the chance to see!

Chinenglish Part #2

What prompted me to even do the post on Chinenglish was seeing the terrible signs and T-shirts people are wearing with really bad English phrases on them. One T-shirt we seen said NEW YORK SMOKING???? what the hell does that mean? I have learned that I should have a camera on me at ALL times! The best one was a little old lady all hunched over with a cane,who looked like she was 107 yrs old. She was wearing a shirt that was very bright with all kinds of glitter on it.....which was funny enough all by it self. When she finally got to where we could see the back of her shirt it said.....Bite My Ass!

Anyway since the last post with all the bad English signs was such a hit I decided to post a few more..........Enjoy! lol

Chinenglish

I really don't know what to say......you will now get a good idea of why we failed our driver exam! lol. Who does these translations??? Some of them are soooo bad! And the bad words?
I will just let you see for yourself!

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog. I have had 607 page views since Oct 6/10. Thanks for all the interest..... I will try to keep the stories comin!