A Visit to the Black Mountain
July 15, 2015
By Rachel
Today started with an American breakfast - which tasted
amazing. I’ve decided that I have never thoroughly appreciated cereal enough
before. Or milk for that matter. When we went to the Wal-mart the other day, we
found cereal and milk to enjoy. Our cafeteria doesn’t have that. Actually, they
do have milk. It is just warm soy milk served in a bowl. In fact, cow milk is
just about nonexistent in China. The milk we had this morning was in a box and not
kept cold. I miss fresh milk very much. I enjoy most of the food here, but
sometimes I miss regular food.
After our breakfast, we left for a tour. We hired a guide
and driver to take us to visit the Black Mountain.
The Black Mountain is gorgeous with an amazing view of
Dalian. Giant rocks stick out of beautiful green hills, creating a breathtaking
view.
Here I am at the top of the Black Mountain
At the top, there were also many Daoist and Buddhist
temples. In Turkey, we got to see a lot of Muslim mosques, so it is interesting
to see another worshipping place for a different religion. The Buddhist temples
were beautiful with many elaborate decorations, and giant golden Buddhist
statues. The color red was everywhere because red is supposed to be able to
ward off devils. The Daoist temples were pretty similar to the Buddhist
temples. The area of the temples was outdoors with pavilions covering different
statues. Often times, there was a place to put incense burners next to each
statue. Different statues represented different things. At one Daoist temple, there was a cave that
we got to go inside of. Inside the cave was a small spring. The trickling of
the water is supposed to sound like the music of a lady playing the Chinese
violin.
Here we are in front of a Buddhist temple
Near one of the Daoist temples, there was a pond with a lot
of turtles and fish. A man had taken a turtle out of the water, so we all got
to hold the turtle. There was a place nearby where you could buy a turtle to
release back into the wild (a.k.a. the pond). It is supposed to be good luck to
release a turtle into the wild.
Here I am holding a turtle. Turtles mean long life.
A Daoist temple
For lunch we stopped at a place that had very interesting
food. The food on display included what looked like eels, fried bugs, and a
whole chicken body with no feathers. We opted to eat a scrambled egg dish
instead of weird bugs.
It was overall a very fun trip. (Besides the fact that we
saw the world’s grossest bathroom.) I enjoyed seeing the different temples and
the beautiful view. Our guide also told us many interesting facts.
After this summer you will know more about China than most Americans ever learn in their lifetime. It sounds like a beautiful country with a unique and fascinating culture. But as Sarah Ann noted in her earlier post, A New Meaning of Luxury, you have also learned to appreciate many conveniences (i.e., toilet paper) that we just take for granted.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that about turtles -- I have seen more of them this summer than I have in my entire life. So good luck, all around!
ReplyDeleteTrevor loves the color red. He would have loved to see those temples (but hated the food!).
ReplyDeleteWhy they probably don't have much cows milk in China? Because many Chinese and Asians are lactose intolerant as adults, which means dairy products cause problems with their digestive tracts.
ReplyDelete