Strike Three, You're Out!/ Jade Buddha Temple

  Shanghai, China
Friday, April 25, 2008

This morning I showed up at the designated hotel to be picked up by a bus for a tour of the city, Hangzhou.  I started to get concern because I saw no one waiting in the lobby for the tour like yesterday.  I was getting ready to call the travel agency, when a representative of the tour company approached me.  Unfortunately because there were not enough people signed up for the tour, they cancelled it, but they offered to send me on a city tour of Shanghai as a substitute.  Thanks to Andy and Choe, I believed I would have seen all the sites on this tour's itinerary, so I opted for the refund.  I made 57 RMB ($8) out of the deal because they refunded my $100 fee in cash at a 7 to 1 rate, which was better than I was getting at the bank without the 50 RMB exchange commision.  There is a famous Chinese proverb "In heaven there is paradise, on earth Suzhou and Hangzhou".  Thanks to the DiscoverChina tours I will have to see the paradise on earth on some later trip to China.

Shanghai Railway Station

Since I am free all day and it was gorgeous outside, I decided to give Andy a call and see if he was still up for playing golf.  Unfortunately, Andy had several scheduled meetings this afternoon, but we made plans for dinner.  I went to the train station to see the possibility of taking a train to Hangzhou.  The next train left Shanghai at 11:30, arriving around 1 pm.  Unfortunately, the last train from Hangzhou to Shanghai leaves at 5pm.  I did not think that would be enough time especially since I wanted to cruise the West Lake.  On top of this, you can not purchase a round trip ticket for the train.  I would have to buy the return ticket at Hangzhou and there was no guarantee any seats would be available.  This was a risk I could not take since I am flying back to the states tomorrow.  Besides Choe said it would have been best to see Hangzhou on a overnight trip so you are not rushed.

Ooowww

Plan D...I took the Metro to the Intercontinental hotel 

Little feet

because I left my jacket in the closet during my stay last week.  Fortunately, the cleaning staff did not claim the jacket for themselves and it was waiting for me at the Lost and Found.  On my way back, I stopped at the China Sex Culture Museum.  It was located in the same area as the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel and Shanghai Aquarium...like the Sightseeing Tunnel it was a little kitshy but interesting.  Admission was 20 RMB and a additional 10 RMB for the audio guide.  Among the collection of erotic art and porcelain sex toys, there were some historical pieces like a knife used to make court eunuchs (Ouch!!!) or a collection of shoes worn by women with binded feet.  I would not suggest going out of your way to visit but if you are in the area and have 45 minutes to kill, this is an intriguing attraction.

I decided to spend the rest of my afternoon exploring the Jade Buddha Temple.  Getting there would not be a problem...so I thought.  I flagged a taxi and showed him the entry in the Lonely Planet Guide which had the name and address written in Chinese.  He took me to the Jade Buddha Tea House.  Fortunately, I remembered the entry mentioned that there was a tea house around the corner from the temple.  This time my timing was perfect.  There were two English speaking tours at the temple, probably one of them was the city tour DiscoverChina was trying to get me to accept.  I inconspiciously bounced between the tour groups to get some good information about the temple.  The Hall of Heavenly Kings housed the statue of the four kings representing different virtues and the Laughing Buddha.  In the Great Treasure Hall they were having a Buddhist ceremony which they allowed

Afternoon prayers

the tourist to photograph...again great timing on my part. 

The piece de la resistance was the Jade Buddha, 6 foot high Buddha which was carried all the way from Myanmar (Burma) and it was made in the Southeast Asian stlye which I am familair with in my travellings in Thailand.  It cost an additional 10 RMB on top of the 20 RMB entrance fee to see the Buddha but you are not allowed to photograph it.  However there were some interesting stylus and clocks outside the hall which I did photo.  Interestingly there was also a marble reclining buddha which you were not allowed to photograph.  The buddha was maybe 1.5 feet long and I was more impressed with it's larger replica they had on the display case in the gift shop, so I photographed that one instead.

Reclining buddha

The temple was a short walk from my hotel so no repeat of the little taxi snafu getting back to my room.