under the eyes of the twenty-seven gods
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So many days = so many nights = so many places to sleep.
Apart from all the different hotels and the Great Outdoors, there have also been private homes (dust), mines (azzurro), power plants (for what they are), and town halls (misled)…
So here’s another issue of TLW Cribs, and this time it’s entitled “the twenty-seven gods.”
…first I had to walk through some pretty hot and dry places to get there though:
…other places just looked like they were about to burst with fertility:
All in all, I didn’t see that many people on the way, though once there was this girl with a funny T-shirt:
O.G.
…and here’s another O.G., though he didn’t seem so happy to see me:
I guess I must look like some sort of Santa Claus gone bizarre by now.
Poor kids.
…there was something else on the way that caught my attention:
Burial mounds. Why were they walled in only on one side (NW)? Why was there only one headstone? And what exactly was the pattern for the rock decorations?
Having nobody to ask (since there were no living people around), the only thing I could do was take these questions and put them here. Maybe someone will know.
…then I arrived at Sishili Temple 四十里寺:
This structure originally dating from the Ming-dynasty includes both Buddhist and Taoist shrines on a mid-size temple ground.
There was a lady who was busy painting murals on the temple walls. She wouldn’t have her picture taken, but she was extremely friendly and seemed very happy to show me around:
It was very interesting to get to see her workplace:
We had tea and juangao 卷糕 – a local kind of the glutinous rice dumplings called zongzi 粽子 that should traditionally be eaten on this day.
Anyways it got pretty late, and at some point I painfully realized that there was no hotel around.
“No problem, you just stay here in the temple!” the friendly lady said and jumped up.
At first I was reluctant, but she wouldn’t have any of it, so I followed her to a place where she told me to put my stuff down.
It was right in front of the Buddhist shrine:
Then she left.
I took my shoes off.
Then a very old and very tiny Grandma appeared in the door and started talking to me in a very exclamatory voice that sounded like trouble. I couldn’t understand a word she was saying, but she began pointing at my stuff, then making a movement with her hand, as if to throw everything outside on the street.
WTF?
“Grandma, I can’t understand what you’re saying! Do you really want me to leave? Just where should I sleep then?”
Aren’t temples also there to help people?
Then luckily the friendly lady reappeared and helped clear things up: “This old Grandma is the temple keeper. She is trying to say that you can’t sleep here in the Buddhist part of the temple – but that’s no problem, we can just put you in the Taoist part!”
…
So there I was ten minutes later, with my stuff laid out right in front of the Taoist shrine:
So why is this okay and the other place wasn’t?
The tiny old Grandma just stood there, knowing that I wouldn’t understand. The friendly lady smiled: “Grandma here is apparently having some tough times with the head of the Buddhist department, so she doesn’t want to get into trouble by having you sleep in their temple. It’s cool with the Taoists though, they’re friends!”
Just a bit later a very old guy with a very long beard appeared: the master of the Tao.
He looked at my stuff on the floor, right there in front of his shrine: “you can’t sleep here like that!” he said, and then he smiled: “you might to get a cold!”
Then he went out, got some blankets and quickly improvised a bed for me.
A bed under the eyes of the twenty-seven gods.
Florian
Das ist doch mal eine nette Nächtigungsgeschichte! Und die Zusammenstellung wird sicher noch erweitert, wo Du letztenendes überall genächtigt haben wirst. Was kommt als nächstes?
John
twenty-seven gods? you are indeed a lucky guy!
Marc
hehe, ich musste doch sehr lachen grade. Super Story heute 🙂 herrlich 😀
Achso, noch zu deinen Bildern, hast du keinen FTP server, wo du sie hochladen kannst? Was ist wenn die DVDs verloren gehen, Gott möge es verhüten…
Guojie
Welldone, man, for finding a roof under the temple. BTW, the tomb you mentioned only has one wall and faces to south, which is good direction in Fengshui.
Barry
Herrlich. Es geht endlich weiter.
Zu Deiner Gute-Nacht-Geschichte: vielleicht hättest Du vor Buddha nicht die Schuhe ausziehen sollen 🙂
So habe ich auch mal in Ladakh übernachtet, allerdings dort wirklich buddhistisch. Haken an der Sache war, mein Reisekumpel hatte nach Benutzung der gereichten Decken, kleine juckende Mitreisende.
Hermann
versuch das mal in Rom….
Gisela
Hi, bin wieder zuhause in Portugal. Der Deutschlandbesuch war nett aber anstrengend. Jetzt kann ich wieder "mitgehen" (auf dem Sofa). Nette Geschichte heue. Twenty-seven gods als Bewacher des Schlafes – nicht schlecht.
Christoph
Florian: Freuen wir uns auf die nächste Folge von TLW Cribs! 😉
John: Sometimes, only sometimes.
Marc: FTP hab ich bis neulich gemacht, aber je weiter ich in den Westen komme, desto furchtbarer wird die Internet-Geschwindigkeit…
Guojie: …I think it was facing Northwest though?
Barry: Haha, wir hatten mal einen Mitreisenden und guten Freund, der hieß Reeko!
Hermann: Du meinst im Petersdom?
Gisela: Krass, hab heut nacht geträumt ich könnte Portugiesisch – ohne Witz!
Marc
hehe gut… sonst hätte ich dir einen organisiert…
Barry
???
Hilf mir mal auf die Sprünge, Bitte.
Becci
ach ja reeko, von dem müsstes doch noch ein bild geben oder?? 🙂
andy
…also bei mir hättest Du auch vor meinem buddhistischen Mini-Shrine pennen können…
(aber Barry hat vielleicht gar nicht so unrecht-> so'n Buddha ist halt auch nur'n Mensch mit 'ner empfindlichen Nase…hihi)
Aber 'ne herrliche Geschichte war das heute und wunderbar erzählt (v.a.die Pointe am Schluß mit dem master of the Tao: köstlich!)
-> Bild 12 (also das vorletzte) ist mein absoluter Favorit heute. Nee nich wegen Dir ;o) Aber genial fotografiert.
Christoph
Marc: Nett.
Barry: Ist noch von früher, hat damals auf dem Hund gelebt.
Becci: Ja, soll ich mal raussuchen?
andy: Ha, da hab ich eigentlich nichts für getan, so war der Lauf der Dinge.
王玮
Then luckily the friendly lady reappeared and helped clear things up: “This old Grandma is the temple keeper. She is trying to say that you can’t sleep here in the Buddhist part of the temple – but that’s no problem, we can just put you in the Taoist part!”
哈哈哈哈哈哈笑死我了
Joshua
Hmm wonder if Tengri is one of the 27…?
Hmmmm