Teresa Tang Karaoke

Knowing when the morning ceremony for the monastery was I got up earlier than that to do my own ceremony so that I can be done in time to join the monastery one. As I headed out the door to join the monastery ceremony, I noticed the grandmas were all up sitting in their bed tucked in the blanket reciting their own ceremony. Everyone was vigorous and dedicated. It was something they did every day. Not for show, not for anyone else. It was a beautiful sight to see.

I joined the morning ceremony in the main hall, and realized I was the only one in my room who did; I quickly noticed the residents all paid special attention to the morning ceremony because there were guests in the nunnery whom they thought would partake. They were disappointed when only I showed up after putting out their best for the chanting.

During the chanting I realized the style the ladies chanted in were in Shan Ge style. Sung like mountain songs were sung in China, with a high nasal pitch strong enough to break through valleys, mountain, hills, and then rolling back in echoes. I am not used to this sound at all.

I inhaled breakfast, it was a bowl of porridge. I was going to pass on breakfast fearing I would miss the first shuttle down to the gate where I can catch the bus to Tunxi, Xidi, HungCun but the residents wouldn’t have it my way. They like the fact I joined in on their ceremony and was a self starter kind of a person. Well I am much younger than the grandmas and I have been in monasteries so I have a little bit of experience. Well, I didn’t want to miss my bus for the day so I ran after breakfast in hopes that I would nit get sick from all this rushing.

The bus ride out was amazingly beautiful with the mountains of Huang Shan as the backdrop and old farm lands with wooden barns to set the scene, it was a place for an artist to stop and do some art. It was beautiful, as beautiful as nature inhabited by humans with modern convenience could offer.

It was raining outside and I contemplated on whether or not I would visit HungCun where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed. I saw the sign for it on the road and the bus driver did not stop where I was suppose to get off. He forgot and I wasn’t sure enough to call out for him to stop. So there went that possible plan that I was still working on. Just like that it was decided without any deciding.

The bus was ride was a joyful one with beautiful scenery on the outside and Teresa Tang’s karaoke being played on the bus. We all sang the classics. We were like little children on a school bus out on a field trip. It was fun.

When I made it back to the bus terminal at Tunxi where my backs were in the Youth Hostel, I passed by a bus that was heading directly to HangZhou and it was leaving in half and hour. At that moment I made a convenient connection and decided to head straight to HangZhou and be done with AnHui.

I ran to pick up my pack and ran back to the bus terminal barely in the nick of time. As I approached the bus, another driver pulled me over and said his bus was the right bus and I was boarding the wrong bus. I was confused. In fact all the other bus drivers were lobbying for their bus. Then a female ticket taker flagged me down and asked me what bus did I really want to get on. I told her the express non-stop bus to HangZhou by means of the highway. She instructed me on how to get the right bus ticket at the counter by giving them the code for the bus. I mean, who know the code off hand? It’s not even listed anywhere. The people at the ticketing counter are not usually the most helpful. They are merely functional and don’t have the time for questions.

I think the ticket taker lady really saved the day. It was a good thing because I afterwards while on the bus, in the parking lot, I saw how others got snagged and was on the other bus to Hangzhou that was not the express and would not take the highway. What did that really mean? It meant it will drive for hours picking up riders until the bus was full at all times, all the way to Hangzhou. Being on the highway means you can’t just stop to pull over to pick up a rider. Plus there wouldn’t be pedestrians on the highway.

The express bus was new, clean, and heated. I had peaked at the other buses, they were old, stinky, and dirty. After getting on the right bus with the right ticket in my hand I asked to sit in the front seat and was approved by my neighbor. I quickly dumped my packs off and ran to the empty back seat while the bus rolled off. I looked to the right, I looked to the left, I looked to the front, I looked to the back and double check for visual clearance for privacy because I needed to take off layers of stinky wool shirts that I had been wearing for the past week. It was the only place I could change on the bus. The bus was heated and it would be much warmer in Hangzhou than Huang Shan was at 5 degrees and dropping each day.

I arrived in Hangzhou in the evening. I must have looked really tired because everyone who I came across handled me with extra care. Either that or people are gentler and nicer here. Hangzhou is known for its leisure and culture.

I was able to finally check into the Youth Hostel off West Lake after walking in the fog and rain. It took me a long time to figure out the entrance to the hostel is through an alley, a back alley.

I met three English teachers from Wen Zhou college who had a Thanksgiving buffet for 100 yuan in Hangzhou. Tonight, their mission is to find Mexican food in Hangzhou. I passed on their invitation to join. I decided to wash up first and check out the Historical Cultural Street.

The Pureland Grandmas

After finally getting dropped off at the gate I dashed up to Rou Shen Dian where there the hall of flesh body masters of the past are kept. I wanted to bow to it. It was dark and I asked for housing at this monastery. I was told that I could pay for a hotel room that is in the hotel that is in the monastery. Something didn’t feel right and I proceeded to leave.

Upon exiting I saw a group of grandmas from Henan and asked them where they were staying for the night. They told me they were staying at the Pureland Nunnery for 10 yuan a bed a night. Sun had set, it was drizzling, and the fog had rolled in. Many of the elders were still up the monastery. I decided to head up to light their path for their way down because they didn’t have flash light to see where they were going. The grounds were dark by now, wet and slippery. I guess I was suppose to be there to light their path.

On the way out of the monastery to where we were staying I showed them the cut away that they didn’t know about. They had come from the back of the mountain from a day of pilgrimage and didn’t know their way to the nunnery in the dark and rain. I showed them the way since I had just come from the front gate and did cut through the open play ground and could make out where the fence openings were even in the fog..

Upon entering the nunnery an old nun was bowing the Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance. She consulted me on identifying a character. I was least of all possible qualified people she could consult. But looking around I realized I was the most literate of all in the place. The characters were in standard form not the current modern simplified form the main land Chinese were raised on the last 50 years. I can tell the texts were printed in Taiwan. It was nice to see someone taking the time to bow to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance.

The room was simple with beds covering the room. All the women somehow let me have a bed all to myself. Their explanation was it would be warmer for them if they curled together. I think they were just being polite. But really, I was the young one and I should be yielding to them. But for some reason they were all yielding to me as if I was the senior elderly in the room.

There was hot shower water in the nunnery. I could not believe it. I was so happy to have a place to sleep for the night in a monastery, and on top of it all, a hot shower! What a gift, all for 10 yuan.

I could see the residents of the nunnery were really intent on being disgruntle about the presence of the guests. Wanting to make sure we understood how much of a trouble we were and how much we were taxing them and that we should know better how to serve ourselves and not the other way around. Well, I can understand all of it. First of all, we really didn’t know where things were and how to get to where so we needed to be guided and ask silly simple questions repeatedly, especially from a group of grandmas who had a short memory and was hard of hearing, and moved very slowly. And if guests are too much of a hassle then guests should not have been invited in, the door should not have been open for overnight stays.

In the evening I recited while everyone else chatted in the room and watched me recite. Then I meditated with my ear plugs on for an hour and half. It was a good thing to meditate before going to bed.

I Could Fly?

I woke up this morning feeling joyful and physically light. I decided it would be the day to dash down the mountain. Chen had two female roommates who moved in with her last night and they teamed up to head down the mountain together.

People had different takes on how long it would take to get down the mountain. I wasn’t sure at all. After two days of seclusion in meditation, I felt I could fly. In fact, I ran down the mountain in just two hours. I had no idea how fast I was going until I was down in the valley at the main gate and checked the time.

While running down the mountain a passed a young man who decided to be competitive and run too. On the way down I saw lots of people who were hiking up that looked like they were in pain. It’s a difficult hike I my opinion and they should have taken the cable car up and then hike downward.

The trail from the main gate up to the central mountain is rigorous. And then from the central area through the Western Sea trail up to top valley is more intense. It is best to start from Eastern Gate up to the Swam Peak, go west to do Western Sea Trail down to Central area then back down into main gate.

I took the main gate shuttle to the bus terminal where I bought a ticket heading toward Jiu Hua Shan “Nine Flower Mountain”. I had missed the direct bus to Jiu Hua Shan. There was only one per day at 6:20am. Being intent on being in Jiu Hua Shan tonight I decided to find ways to make transfer buses that will get me there. It was only 11:30am what else am I going to do?

I was dropped off at the nearest intersection for Jiu Hua Shan by the bus driver who called for a cab to pick me up to drop me off at Jiu Hua Shan gates. This way I would save myself an hour of extra detour to Tai Ping where the bus was headed. It was arranged that I would only need to pay 10 yuan for this cab ride.

As I approached the cab I noticed there was a driver and another man sitting in the shotgun seat. The driver was under the command of the man in the shotgun seat. It turns out this man was an owner of a hotel in town not on Jiu Hua Shan. He wanted my business for the night. He spent his time trying to convince me how I don’t need to visit the mountain. All I have to do is go to this one monastery and it would be good enough. In fact, said he, that most of his clients do this upon his recommendation. He continued to teach me his form of Buddhism that involved offering money here and there and then burning pyramids of incense here and there. Why? Because he also has a connection to an incense shop. Maybe he gets commissions or something. Maybe he owns the shop. He insisted that I need to buy incense and it is cheaper at this shop he recommends.

The man continue to try to derail me from going into Jiu Hua Shan. He took me to a monastery outside of the gates that was working on expansion. He instructed me to make an offering of any amount. The monk at the desk was ready to write my name on the merit and virtue sign in book to log me in when I pulled out the nearest money I had and it was 5 yuan. Seeing my sum, the monk stopped me from signing my name on the booklet. I guess it wasn’t really any amount that was all good. I guess only certain amount was considered meritorious.

Outside this monastery one can pay a sum to have a, no joke, incense bundled in the form of a 6X5 feet pyramid tower outside. I passed on such an activity and the man told me how as a Buddhist I know nothing about Buddhism, blah, blah, blah….. Afterwards, I continued to keep up with my determination to not get derailed by his business intentions through using the name of Buddhism.