Day 41 Golden Week- Ba Da Chu Temple

This morning a group of us met at the north gate of our
apartment complex to catch the 389 bus out to the
Ba Da Chu Temple.  It was the official start of the
National Holiday, and Santosh, one of our AP Physics
teachers, got us all organized to begin our vacation :)
As the bus pulled up to the Westerlies Mountains,
even the mountainside was decorated for the holiday.

We were pleasantly surprised that the 10yuan admission fee was waived
for the holiday.  Not that it really mattered, 10 yuan is only $1.63 USD.
This was the entrance just beyond the front gate- very pretty!

As is tradition, we each took a turn throwing coins at the bell for good luck.
I hit the center bell three times :)  Looks like good luck is coming my way!

All of Badachu Park was beautifully decorated,
and the crowds really were not that bad.

Badachu Park is known as the Eight Great Temples of the
Western Hills. There are a total of eight former Buddhist temples
 and monasteries in the park. This is my hiking buddy and fellow
Hoosier, Hank.  He always keeps me laughing :)

Here's Santosh, Rob, and Hank walking up to the first temple,
Chang'ansi, The Temple of Eternal Peace.

We all got our incense sticks...

Dip the ends in oil, then into the flame for a light.

You are to light three at each temple.  I should Google the
significance of three- past, present, future- maybe?
I prefer to think of the Holy Trinity :)

They offered up their prayers...I assume this one was for peace,
given the name of the temple, but I could be totally wrong.

I placed my sticks in the giant oven along with all the others.  This reminded
me of lighting a candle for my father as I have done in cathedrals and
churches all over the world.

And then we passed through the impressive temple.
I could not, would not, bring myself to kneel at the alter.

The Lingguang Temple stands out majestically over
all the others.

There was some sort of ritual about following the monks
in prayer as they walked a number of times around
the base of this temple.  

I think this was the Dabeisi Temple, the Temple of Great Mercy.  It is known for it's famous carvings made by
Liu Yuan, living in the Yuan Dynasty from 1271-1368.  It was so interesting to take it all in- so many things to see
when you really studied the wall of sculptures.  It was a beautiful piece of artwork.

And there were candles to light at this temple.

It had begun to rain, and we were all a bit chilled and hungry, so we stopped
for a bowl of hot noodles and some snacks.  Left to right are my teacher
friends, Hank, Santosh, Adam, Rob, Brandon, his wife Maria from the
Philippines, and their little girl, Calliopy, and Carlos.

She is so beautiful, and such a good baby.  It was cold,
rainy, we were on a bus, hiked for hours, and still,
she never made the first fuss.  So precious <3

Rather than continuing the hike up the mountain in the rain, we opted
to ride the cable car up.  The sign said, "Drunks, sufferers of hypertension,
heart disease, epilepsy and pregnancy are not allowed.  After he already
bought his ticket, Brandon said, "Damn, I have two of those things!"
To which I replied, "Brandon are you pregnant?!" lolllzz
Carlos was doing his best impression of drunk and disorderly.

This was definitely the way to go :)  There was a luge you could take down
the mountain, which looked like SO MUCH FUN, but the track wasn't
open due to the rain.  Dang it.  I so would have done that!!!

Adam, my UK buddy, and I were freezing at this point.  We were
hoping the rain wouldn't interfere with what already seemed to be
pretty rickety cable cars- yikes!

By the time we took a walk about up top, the rain and fog had really
settled in.  The good news was we nearly had the entire park to ourselves!
No other fools dared to stay out in the cold rain, I guess.  I kept seeing
these signs on the poles as we rode down.  They cracked me up-
more Chinglish- "No Naked Light!"  It wasn't until I looked
at the picture on my phone that I realized they were trying to say
"No Open Flame."  Now what makes more sense; I was having a
hard time figuring out how to dress a flashlight!

With wet shoes and feet, damp clothes, and noodles that had long since
worn off, by the time we caught the bus back to our side of town,
nothing spelled 'comfort' like a stop at McDonalds :)

And...with a happy, full belly, I was more than ready for a long hot shower.  I then buried myself under my down comforter for the rest of the evening.  Day One of Golden Week, on the National Holiday, in spite of the cold, rainy weather was still a success.  Now, if I only had some hot cocoa and marshmallows...

G'Nite, y'all!