Day 385 BaDaChu; Eight Great Temples

On Sunday, I took a few new teachers to BaDaChu, also
known as Eight Great Temples which sits against the Westerlies
mountains out my bedroom window.  I am a new 'Social Director'
of sorts, and I sucked at it.  Let's be real. I introduced them to the
Beijing bus system, got on the right bus, but headed the wrong
direction. Epic failure on my part.  My face is red as I type this,
five days after the fact. We had PLENTY of time to get acquainted
as we rode all over creation and back.  Seriously, O. M. G. :(
As you cross the bridge to the first temple, the above photo
is typically your view...

...only that wasn't my photo, as there was no blue
sky. For as beautiful as it was yesterday on the
Great Wall, the pollution was on it's way up
the following day.  You can see in the photo as
we boarded the cable car, we were in pea soup.

The good news was as we rode higher, blue sky
was beginning to emerge. The bad news is that
the haze in the valley below meant that the city
was a little under the 'weather'. The Chinese
call it 'fog'.  It's not fog; call it what it is-
you're saving no one's face. Some days the
air can really suck here in the 'jing.

We bought tickets for the luge ride down.  One teacher had
her husband and young son with her, and I think both
boys were itchin' to go sledding down the mountain.
I caught this father and daughter as they came through
the trees from my cable car up above them.

After the LONG bus ride to the park, we were all starving.
Thankfully there is a delicious snack bar on top- bowls of
spicy noodles with all the trimmings for three bucks :)
Ice cream for dessert, of course!

We visited one of two temples on top...

...where I got Zach to pose with some Chinese warriors...

...I posed by the koi pond...

...we bought some coins...

...and tried our hand at tossing them to ring the bells.  Between
Zach and Jason, they hit them all, so I think we're covered
for love, success, wealth, happiness, and a long life.
Or maybe the bells meant other things- like there's
a donkey burger in your near future. Who knows?!

I think this has something to do with reciting prayers

 as you get the bowl to 'hum'. I just thought it was

 cute watching a little boy trying to do it.

We passed through the gate to the highest temple.  Rici is a
super nice Mexican-American girl who is our new Spanish
teacher for BNDS and the National school. I adore her.

Her bf is an English teacher at a primary
school in Beijing.  They were in Venezuela
last year, but broke their contract after the
first year due to the disarray the country is in.
It all sounded pretty scary to me; I am
happy they chose to come to Beijing :)

The locals burn incense before entering
the temple to offer up their prayers.

Guanyin Hall had a Buddha on a white elephant
to the left, and a Buddha on a lion to the right-
to symbolize the infinity of Buddhism.

There was a lookout point which also had an alter...

but you could barely see the city for the 'fog' down below.

And then it was time to ride the luge- my

favorite!  You have to be sneaky with the 

camera though, as there are 'security' guards,

(smoking and playing video games on their

phones) who will holler at you in Chinese. I

just laugh and give them a "Ni hao!" as I zip by!

The key to a great ride is to be sure there is
plenty of room in front of you, and not some
grand mama who rides the brake all the way down.
Scott had the best ride of all :)

In spite of our inauspicious beginning to the day,

we ended on a fast, high note for sure. There were

more temples still to explore, but we'll save it for

a blue sky, clean air day. Besides, the park is absolutely

beautiful when the fall colors are at peak.  

G'nite, y'all!