Ningbo Tien Tung Si

Today I set out to Tien Tung Si. After many detours, I finally arrived at the Monastery. I didn’t get proper instruction on where to get off to get on to the proper connecting bus. I went with all my packs just incase in the spur of the moment I decided I would proceed to Putuo Shan. I really didn’t want to stay at that very weird Youth Hostel again. It was very unlike all the other Youth Hostel I came across all over China. The reception at the hostel wanted me to stay another night by leaving my luggage there.

While hiking into the monastery from the bus stop, a man named Han “Cold” from Sichuan ended up walking with me. Well, it was the only path, and there were just the two of us and no one else. He ran to catch up with me to chat with me. He wanted to carry my packs for me but I insisted on doing taking care of my own luggage. He was thin and looked like he could not handle my packs at all.

It was drizzling and Cold was taking a side trip from his job to burn incense and pray for a business deal to go through. I wanted to check out the old architecture out in the back where the Stupas were. Han didn’t want to go because that’s where the dead were buried. I wanted to pay homage to the past masters. I didn’t care for Cold’s work schedule, we were not traveling together, but somehow that was not what Cold thought.

Given the slow start in the morning and all the mix up on the bus, it was quite late already and I knew if I wanted to head to Putuo Shan, I would have to be at the wharf soon. It would take some time to get to the wharf by local public bus. I wanted to make sure I got to the island before sundown because I needed to locate housing on foot for the night. So I ended up skipping out on the rest of touring in Ningbo and went straight to the island.

I took the 2:10pm ferry to Putuo Shan. When I arrived onto the island I got onto a shuttle to Pu Ji Si to look for housing for the night. It was full and I was referred to another place, smaller, humbler and further off called Da Cheng Si by Thousand Steps Beach. People were nice here with a sense of humor and it was less touristy than the other place. I paid 15 yuan for a dorm bed and ended up with the entire room to myself. I later found out the 20 yuan bed was night and day compared to the 15 yuan. But, I preferred minimal crowd even if the accommodation was marginal. To stay warm tonight, I plan to sleep with all the blankets in the room.

After dropping my packs off I went to walk the grounds. By then, all the doors were shut and only a handful of people were still running about burning incense. I saw a woman kneeling in front of a set of closed doors and dropping two pieces of moon shaped wood onto the ground. I watched her do this from afar to give her privacy. When she was done and got up I approached her to inquire what she was doing.

It turns out this woman was from Fujian and came with friends from her town. I asked if she could teach me what she was doing, she shied away. Everyone else encouraged to her show me how to “Pu Gua”. The instructions she gave me was to hold the two half moon shapes in my hand, ask a question, then drop the pieces together and see how it lands. Depending on how it landed the answer to the question was a clear yes, a clear no, and you must be joking. I asked what I should do after Shanghai my last stop in China. I asked about many other countries, India was a clear yes and that I should enter India via Nepal and Nepal via Thailand. I have no idea how I would go about pulling that off.

Canals of Suzhou

It stopped raining so I went for a walk in the morning to check out the canals and the rest of the waterways. During my walk I decided I would leave and head towards Ningbo. I still feel very frail and weak so I splurged and took cabs instead of public local buses.

The bus ride to Ningbo took 4 plus hours of which I slept most of the way. When I got to Ningbo terminal it was already sundown. There was confusion in the communication with the youth hostel staff. It took awhile to figure out the directions they were giving me was for a different long distance bus terminal. They gave instructions without street names but with landmarks. But the landmarks were not significant it was labeled under as ”the tall building”. Well, tall buildings were everywhere. When it was all sorted that we were not talking about the same bus terminal I took a cab.

The first cab driver wanted to meter me without telling me how much it would cost and when I inquired into it he refused my service. I got onto another cab for 15 yuan. I was no where near walking distance like the person on the phone at the hostel instructed.

I checked into the hostel and I was placed in a room directly above the dinning area where the TV was being blasted on some Chinese tear, jerking, drama. I turned the heater on to warm up the very cold room and left it running and went to the connecting café bar. I sat there and asked the bar for hot water. I was not told I would be charged for hot water until I got up to leave. It was the first for me experience getting charged for hot water. The server said I should known of such a rule. I walked out of there feeling weird.

I continued to stroll around the water and ended up at a nearby park where a group of 50 people were all doing jazzercise. They were all women and was being led by a man who was very much into arm movements that are liken to Japanese style. It was fun to watch them move. Then another small group was getting started as the jazzercise group ended. This group was being led by a female who was into aerobic dance and concentrated on floor travel. It was fun to watch them too.

When I returned to the room totally tired and ready to rest I noticed how my room did not warm up. I asked for the reception to come and check my heater. I told her it would shut down automatically after 2 minutes and confronted her that she must have known this already. I questioned why she would lie to me and put me in a room without a working heater. I must have looked really sad and helpless because she told me not to look at her in such a vulnerable way. I was so tired, I was on the verge of tears. She ended up putting me in a different room with a working heater. However, I found out later that the window in this room didn’t shut.

In fact the whole place looked great but had major flaws in architecture design. The windows were designed in ways that didn’t shut. The restroom doors were too big that it would jam into the wall. Overall, it just looked like someone skimped on the building of this place.

Roasted Sweet Potato

I had two bananas for breakfast and the guys had hand pulled noodles. I actually ordered noodles myself but mine came with onions when I asked for none. It also came with meat broth when I asked for none. I just couldn’t eat it. The guys ate it instead. Joe can’t live without noodles and Hiyohe can’t live without rice each meal and I can’t live without vegetables.

We took the bus to Ling Yan Si where JiGong was ordained. We did a quick run and as out of there really fast. We got onto another bus to the Historical Street for lunch. We had a late lunch at a restaurant. I passed on food and just drank tea. Both the guys were feeling very sorry for me at this point. I must have looked really pathetic. Joe bought a roasted sweet potato from a street vendor for me to eat. All of us ate it. It was really good. It was the first solid food I was able to eat. It made both of them very happy to see me eat something.

On the touristy Historical Street one of our main attractions was to visit a Chinese Medicine Museum. It was interesting. We also watched people perform pouring of tea Beijing style.

We strolled around West Lake some more just to have something to do. But the cold wind arrived yesterday for the official on set of winter and it was cold. We were so cold that we decided to go find a coffee shop to sit and hangout. Well, we ended up in KFC because we wanted to be left alone once we sat down. We really just needed a warm place to hang out.

Then we stopped by a market to pack for our journey tomorrow. Joe had a long train ride back to Hong Kong. Hiyohe was heading north to meet up with his friends to head off to Korea together. So they both ended up packing the same kind of food for the road. I picked up nori and more fruits for my bus ride to SuZhou tomorrow.

When we returned to our room another bunk mate moved in. He was asleep. I looked at this older man and listened to his breath which was heavy and in distress. His body was in tension from anger and frustration. I felt sorry for him. What he brought to the room and the air was a kind of stinky, slimy, intoxicating, thickness. He had drank earlier before bed.

The three of us packed at night so that we would not have to rush the next day.

Barf! Barf! Barf!

I woke up this morning at 3:45am in pain and rushed to the toilet to throw up. I continued to do so for the next 11 hours. I kept track of the number of times I threw up until the 15th time then I lost track after that. It was all very gross and a terrible thing to have to go through. It really takes so much energy to throw up, I would just crawled back into bed. I was sweating hard without a fever. My back burned as my kundalini kicked in to help with the healing process.

When I first threw up I thought about the people who do this regularly to stay thin on purpose. I just can’t imagine anyone wanting to do this on purpose. I was sad that Princess Di lived this way for years on a daily basis.

In the afternoon toward the end of my endless barfing sessions, something was ripped out of my chest. Whatever it was, it was very old, and it clung onto me for lifetimes. I think all this barfing had to do with that. It was purging all the toxic poison that was buried so deep and long in my chest. It was a good thing. My digestive track did not agree it was a good thing though.

I can’t believe what had just happened in the last 24 hours. I can only recall two times in my life that I threw up. Once was when I was 4 or 5 and I was on the verge of exploding with Chicken Pox. The other was in 5th grade when I had a fever of 103 plus.

The guys did West Lake together on bikes. I had done my West Lake tour yesterday. They checked in to see how I was doing. I was feeling better in the evening and we went on a cheap internet café search. We came across one that was right next to a fruit shop. I bought fruit to replenish the many losses of the past 20 hours.

Strolling Around West Lake

It didn’t rain this morning. I got up late to recite and meditate. I didn’t officially roll off bed till 11am. I went for food at the Historical Street and checked it out in day light. It was Sunday and all the locals showed up as well. It was quite a fair and fun to watch people.

I really like the steamed pastry with red beans in the middle. I also liked up for hand pulled Silky Candied Caramel. I took photo of the workers making it. One of them assumed I was a journalist. The candy when eaten fresh was crispy, flaky, and fun.

I went to walk West Lake. It was overcastted and grey on the verge of rain again. While walking I slipped on mud. Something I normally don’t do especially with the camera on me. When I fell, the camera on my neck hit the ground too. I think that hurt more than my body. The odd thing was, earlier I even had trouble with the camera itself.

I walked the West Lake, all around. I think this is not the season to see it. I hear spring is really gorgeous. Most people who do the whole circle do it on bikes. I decided I could see more on foot. It’s really easy to miss things when going on wheels. There is a very relaxing quality to the whole feel of the place. I can see why people of the past wrote infinite poems on West Lake or while they were hanging out here not wanting to return to their home land. I walked around looking for a good spot for tea but I didn’t locate anything to my liking with a proper view so I passed.

After returning from my walk, I met my new bunk mate Hiyohe who is from Tokyo. He went to Canada for college. He is traveling searching for inspiration. Hiyohe wants to write philosophy books and change the world that way. His is a Leo and says he can’t live without having rice in every meal. His thing in China, is stir-fry rice with an egg. The other new bunk mate was Joe from Hong Kong. He is on vacation for a weekend. He works at a copier center. The two guys are from different islands but they are similar in manner, tone, and in general all over. The three of us hit it off alright. We all have similar bed time habits, which was to read and write before we rolled in to sleep.