Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
After one of our easier bus rides, we found a really nice hotel in Zhaotong, Yunnan that happened to be next to the only surviving parts of the old town; that is, a mosque, two chuches, the hardware and tea market, and a couple of old factories.
View from the bus window.
This mosque - how about that neo-classical dome - and Islamic school are expanding.
Another mosque faces a catholic church.
We bought a tool to take out the "eyes" of a pineapple from this vendor. Can you guess which tool? And which tool is used to take hair off pig meat?
Barbershop.
Scale vendor.
View of old factory complex or maybe a guild hall from our hotel window.
After a quick no-hassle bus ride from Lincang to Fengqing, if you ignore the clouds of cigarette smoke, it took an hour to find a decent hotel. Bonus: the nearby clock tower chimes The East Is Red every morning at 7:00.
Once installed, we set out to buy onward bus tickets and to visit the Taoist Temple, Mosque and Confucius Temple.
The Taoist Temple was uninspiring although it did feature a couple of nuns (I think).
The deserted Mosque surprised us with its domes and graceful lines.
And the Confucius Temple, with its 3 gates, flowers, pool, and four pavilions easily surpassed our expectations. Not to mention the helpful administrator who gave us some good information on hiking the Tea Horse Trail in Lushi, his hometown.
Nun at the Taoist Temple.,
The Confucius Temple is on a hill with the gates at the bottom and successive pavilions going up the hill.
After some Internet studying, Sun-Ling determined that Lincang, Yunnan, China was home to at least 5 different religions. So we set out to find all the various places of worship and succeeded: Two Protestant Churches, the Muslim Mosque, four Taoist Temples, two Mahayana Buddhist Temples, and two Theravada Buddhist Temples. But no Confucius Temple? Stay tuned.
In the afternoon we strolled out the 7 kilometers or so to the Ling Shan temple and Wen Bi Pagoda. What a nice pagoda. Built in 1906 and set atop a hill in the middle of a pine forest.
Theravada Temple with children and elephants.
The Buddha image inside the Theravada Temple.
Another Theravada Temple.
A pavilion at a Taoist Temple in the city center.
The Mosque is located off a narrow lane. I could not get a good shot of the green dome but the nice folks at the mosque opened the prayer room so we could take a look.
Mahayana Buddhist Temple.
This Protestant Church was built in 2004; actually converted from a rice granary said the pastor.
Ling Shan Taoist Temple just outside Lincang.
Wen Bi Ta - Pagoda in the pines.
Bonus photo. John with Giant Cabbage, Zhou Enlai and Chairman Mao.
And a shot inside Lincang's well maintained circa 1960's cinema.
We had such a good trip to Southeastern China last New Year's holiday that we decided to return this year to visit Quanzhou and Xiamen in Fujian Province. Here’s the story.
Dec 29, 2006
Taxi from home to Hongqiao Airport (28 RMB). The 12:45 flight to Quanzhou took off on time. I had the window seat and the passing landscape below had me engrossed the whole journey: the mountain ranges of Zhejiang, the construction of the new high-speed railway from Fuzhou to Xiamen, and the coastline and cityscape of Quanzhou.
I was surprised when the flight attendant produced 2 vegetarian lunch boxes upon our request even though we had not ordered special veggie meals in advance.
Here’s a shot where you can see tunnel construction for the new Fuzhou-Xiamen High-Speed railroad.
As we neared the Quanzhou airport, I could see both the coastal islands and the coastline. The local granite is known world wide and appears to be quarried with no thought to the consequence; aesthetic or environmental.
Beautiful Coastline.
Scars from mining.
Landed at the Quanzhou airport at 2:11 PM. Ignored the transport touts, walked out to a main road, and snagged a taxi (32.5 RMB) for the 20 minute ride to the recently renovated Quanzhou Overseas Chinese Hotel. For 300 RMB per night we got a double room with new carpet and new bed quilts, breakfast included, modern stylings, and a view of the nearby Confucius Temple.
We threw our bags down and headed out the door at 3:05. First stop: the Qingjing Mosque of Quanzhou (3 RMB). Cool - and just a 5 minute walk from the hotel. The first Muslims – missionaries sent by Mohammed himself - came to Quanzhou in about 618 AD.
This mosque is in the Persian style, built about 1000 AD and modeled after a mosque in Damascus. It’s the first Mosque we’ve seen in China that was not Chinese architecture.
After 20 pleasanst minutes in the Mosque, we walked through the back streets towards the Kaiyun Temple (10 RMB). Lots of back-alley activity.
Bamboo basketmaker.
.
Elementary school pickup.
Kaiyun Temple is big complex with twin stone pagodas (no entrance – bummer), monks, monk’s quarters, gardens, new temple construction, 1000 y.o. old trees, a main temple of 100 pillars, and a ship museum.
One of the pagodas.
Closed(L) and open(R) mouthed Guardians carved into the lower pagoda facade.
Gardens
Main Temple of 100 Pillars – no photos allowed inside.
Ship Museum: Ship excavated from nearby harbor.
New Construction
After leaving the temple, we rode a bicycle rickshaw (6 RMB) to the Beimen (North Gate) in search of a vegetarian restaurant that turned out to be closed. In Quanzhou the bicycle rickshaws are the side-car design; that is, instead of the usual symmetric tricycle design – one wheel in front and two in the back - it’s a regular bicycle with a two-seat side car.
Here’s a photo and some video of the ride.
So we rode Bus #3 (1 RMB) back to the hotel area. The one vegetarian restaurant near the mosque did not look appealing so we hit one of the side streets for some on-the-spot, deep-fry, Yunnan-style veggies and a cold beer (all for 26 RMB).
Back to hotel at 7:30 PM.
SLHOTD: “The Mosque was really cool.” JHOTD: Dinner.
