Asia
a place in the cliff face
There are many a-times when we travel that we have seen things that make our jaws drop. There are other times where we’ve been disappointed because something is an anti-climax! And then there are times where we are so utterly speechless after seeing something that is simply mind-blowing, so much so that we are overcome with emotion that brings tears to our eyes. The moment where we pinch ourselves and say to each other, “Oh-mi-gosh! We are really here. And seeing this in real life and not just in pictures!” So what the heck are we raving about?
Imagine a temple built 1500 years ago with elements from Buddhism, Taoism and Confucian. A very picturesque temple, narrow and sparse on internal space, but picturesque all the same. Now imagine that same temple elevated 75 metres above ground, not a high-rise, not sitting on top of a mountain but built into the cliff face of the mountain and held in place with some wooden logs. This is the Hanging Monastery (nearest city is Datong). The Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Warriors gets a lot of tourist attention but worthy of nudging those two aside is definitely the Hanging Monastery.
To be fair, it could have been that due to the few tourists there that made the experience all the more gratifying! To think about, if there were a lot of tourists swarming the place, we probably would’ve thought twice about climbing through it – would that structure hold us??! So fortunately the low numbers gave us confidence to climb and climb…. although a little unnerving as the winds were fierce and blowing a-gale and step too close to the ledge and that would’ve been the quickest route back to the coach! Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought that we would be here and done that! After that experience, it definitely has rocketed up to number one as our most favourite historical site EVER (yep, a pretty big call).
A few other highlights of this region were:
- Yungang Buddhist Grottoes (UNESCO Heritage-listed), walking along and viewing the temples and thousands of buddhas carved in the grottoes. We saw a Buddha that was 17 metres tall and ones that were as small as our palms
- Catching glimpses of the original Great Wall of China which are still intact but have not been restored
- Visiting the first Buddhist temple in China.
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a city where 20+ million live
Keeping an eye on the temperature on our iPhones before we left showed that China was going to be cold. And because we were doing more “off the beaten” track – we would be in the mountains which meant it would be even colder! We were on the 18-day Helen Wong: Ancient Panorama tour. The great thing about this tour was that the price we paid was inclusive of all meals, accommodation, transport and flights.
Flying with Cathay Pacific to get to Beijing was a very uncomfortable experience. The seats instead of dropping back, slide out from where your bum is. Very unusual design as we don’t know anyone’s back who actually can be angled that way. But anyway, we made it to China and found out that on our tour we had 8 people. That’s right…. ONLY 8 people: a wonderful couple from Townsville who we are still friends with today (thanks to Facebook) and 2 other couples from NSW and us from Sydney. Again we were the youngest in the group but that doesn’t faze us.
The weirdest thing to date that we have experienced was looking up at the sky and seeing only fog and pollution. The sun literally looked like a “lightbulb” in the sky or was it the moon, actually we will never know.
Driving through a city that houses almost the Australian population, you can imagine – there are cars and people everywhere all the time.
It was quite a surreal feeling to be walking around Tiananmen Square, around the Forbidden City and around the Temple of Heaven. The architecture and artwork on the buildings are intricate and carefully constructed. When we visit places like this, our minds try to imagine what life would’ve been like back in time. In this instance, it was trying to conjure up imageries of emperors and advisors and carriages and ceremonies. But the only “reference” we have to really do this though is to think of movies or paintings depicting such scenes.
As fascinating as all this history was, we were more keen on doing a few other things in this city:
1) The Great Wall of China
2) Eating Peking duck in Beijing (or formally known as Peking).
And both we did do!
Now nobody told us that to walk on the actual wall that you needed to climb up a gazillion steps first. Not that it would have made a difference because we were going no matter what. Starting off, we were as keen as beans but by about midway, the calf muscles start to tighten, the thigh muscles start to ache, the beanie comes off and then the puffy down jackets are stripped off… we had to get to the top – nothing was stopping us!
And when we did, all the aching and panting dissipated! Peacefully quiet facing a pathway that goes on forever…. well for approximately 21, 000 km at least. Another wake up call reminding us how great this world is and how amazing the people can be!
View more photos of our trips at Photo Gallery.
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seeking the calm within
We drove up Mount Hiei to visit the renowned monastery and temple, it was a trip to find inner peace. Entering the Buddhist Sanctuary, there is a sense of calm and serenity, the air is fresh and crisp! The Sanctuary is surrounded by lush green trees, and there is not a sound in the air except the voices of the monks during prayer time.
We underwent brief training with one of the monks before we meditated. We were taught breathing techniques and the meditation stance. With each breath in, we were to count and if along the way we lost count or our brain wandered, we were to start back at one. Obviously the aim was to focus on our breathing and nothing else! And whilst we were meditating, the monk came round and hit us on our back with a stick. Not sure what the purpose was but definitely part of the ritual of meditating.
Away from meditating, we saw the eternal flame which has been burning for approximately 1200 years. There is a monk dedicated to keep the flame alight. We also were able to ring the bell of good fortune before enjoying a vegetarian feast overlooking Lake Bewa which is the largest lake in Japan.
Visiting Mount Hiei was a soulful experience that we will never forget. The meditation taught us to be mindful, especially in this fast paced society where we forget to take timeout for ourselves and be aware of what is around us.
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udons and geishas
You guessed it- we are now in Kyoto. There is a lot to see here but mainly does revolve around temples and shrines. We spent loads of time just walking, visiting the Imperial Palace, the Silver Pavilion and the Philosopher’s path. The main streets of Kyoto are busy but when you get to the temples and shrines, although teeming with tourists, there is still a very calming and spiritual atmosphere.
- There are two stand-out moments for us in Kyoto:
- Eating udon in Japan
Finally got to eat udons – Sydney is a culinary haven (or at least we think so), in the fact that there are so many different options available for different countries. Pretty much there are a large variety of countries represented in some shape or form. Hence, our love affair with eating different cuisines but more specifically eating our favourite country’s dishes in THE actual country. So being in Japan for almost 2 weeks and not eating udon seemed like a rort until we stumbled across a noodle shop in Kyoto. We hit the jackpot!
- And more notable than eating udons: coming face to face with a geisha in the streets of Gion – we were in Gion one evening, strolling the streets and admiring the area, when we reached the end of a block, a geisha was turning the corner and we literally would have collided with her had we were walking any faster. She had her face down scurrying towards a doorway. Her face beautifully white, her make-up immaculate and her outfit was exquisite, it was so surreal and truly beyond our wildest dream to ever encounter a geisha so close up. Within moments of seeing the first geisha, we saw another one, trying to cover herself with a Japanese oil-paper umbrella as she too scurried onwards to another doorway. The only thing that spoiled the experience was witnessing hordes of tourists chasing the geishas down the road to take photographs.
wise monkeys abroad 