Wuta Pagoda N the Very Colourful Da Zhao Temple

Trip Start Jan 01, 2005

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Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of China Hohhot, China
Saturday, July 26, 2008

34-Wuta Pagoda & Da Zhao Temple

25-Wuta Pagoda & Da Zhao Temple

49-Wuta Pagoda & Da Zhao Temple

Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya

Under a bright blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds that reminded us of little sheep happily playing we spent the day in Hohhot's 'Old Quarter' which is found in the south west of the city. The main streets are lined with architecture that crosses between Chinese and Islamic and it pretty much leaves you wondering what country you are actually in.

As you follow Danan Jie you will come across two of the city's most famous temples
'Da Zhao and Xilitu Zhao.

We decided to only visit one of them and continue on to visit other sites around the city. We both chose Da Zhao which has a sixty Yuan entrance fee.
And what a beautiful choice we made! The Da Zhao Temple is the oldest Buddhist monastery in the city. Building began in 1579 and the main hall (which is copied from a Tibetan Lama Temple) houses a two and a half meter silver statue of Sakyamuni Buddha.

This statue gives the temple its alternative name.
The Silver Buddha Temple.

It was in this brightly coloured Lama Temple that we met Oscar the English Student Happy Monk. We did actually meet him about twenty minutes prior when Luo Wei asked to have a picture taken with him and of course he happily said yes. Twenty minutes later Luo Wei was giving him an English Lesson and for the next nearing an hour they happily chatted away whilst going through his English books.

All this was done beneath ancient Buddhist scrolls.
Each one housed in a small cabinet with a glass door.
Each showed a shimmering reflection of the famous Silver Buddha.

After the Silver Buddha Temple we continued down Danan Jie and then visited the small city square to the right that had a huge white Stupa that tourists such as ourselves lined up to take photos before. We then haggled with several cab drivers and Tuk Tuk drivers over a price to take us the short way to our next stop.

Strangely the Tuk Tuk drivers wanted more than the flag fare for the cab drivers.
Needless to say we walked the rest of the way.

Wuta Pagoda. An Indian style temple constructed in 1732 and is world famous for its frescos of 1,500 carved figures of Buddha. The Five-Pagoda Temple (Wuta Si), which is also called Jingangzuo Sheli Baota.. I won't bother boring you with my silly description of the Pagoda, here is a description I got from From Wiki.com

The pagoda is around sixteen meters high and it is composed of three parts: the base, the seat and the top (five dagobas). The lower part of the seat is inlaid with inscriptions of Diamond Sutra written in Mongolian, Tibetan and Sanskrit. The upper part is niches holding gold-plated statues of Buddha. The body of the pagoda is glazed in greens and yellows.

On the northern wall of the pagoda, three sculptures are inlaid. The Mongolian Astronomical Map is the only one labeled in Mongolian so far in the world and it is of great importance to scientific research.

Compared with other pagodas, Five-Pagoda Temple is unique in at least two aspects: its special structure, pagodas over pagoda, and the green and yellow colored glazes on the short eaves and tops of pagodas.

Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by The Dandy Warholes.
The album was '13 Tales from Urban Bohemia'
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