Emily's Escapades

(photo by Jon)

(photo by Jon)
Lots of people waving burning incense all around. Very safe.

Why do people have to touch everything? We all know that the oils from our skin ruins old things. So, they’ve put up a fence to stop people from touching the very old carvings of Buddha. This doesn’t stop them though… they just use it to stand on to lean over and touch him!

Too many people!!! Everyone seems to need to get a photo in front of everything, so people are just constantly standing everywhere.

We decided to take Flat Stanley out for sushi. There aren’t many places in South Dakota where he can have Japanese food.

He thought it was cool how a conveyor belt brought many kinds of sushi around in front of the customers.

Stanley also visited Jing’An Temple.

Before Minna’s wedding, Mr. Huang took Ning, Jon and I to see a temple in Changzhou.

This is now thought to be the tallest pagoda in the world.

The character for “happiness”

These are four gods that were in a Buddhist temple we visited in Changzhou. Due to the lack of information in English around, I don’t have any other information to share. I do think the gods in the temples always look quite scary though.

Jing’an Temple is just a subway stop away from our house. Jon and I have never been inside the temple, but I thought it would be a good time to go and take Holly! It wasn’t anything too special, but I do like some of the photos I took.

An ad for crazy expensive jewelery is just above the temple. Ironic, don’t you think?

Incense sticks burning

Throwing money into the…. thingy…..

Mid-throw!

A couple weeks ago Yvonne, Perk, Ryan and I went to Suzhou to meet with a potential Keyframe client. Suzhou is about an hour away by train from Shanghai. After the meeting, we went to lunch and had a Shanghai special – hairy crab. They say people come from all over the world to eat hairy crab, and the season just started.

It’s really a pain to get all of the meat out.

First, you rip all of the legs off, and the stomach shell off.

Next, the back shell and the sides. Then you suck out the yellow stuff and take out things like the lungs. After getting all of the meat from the body, you crack all of the legs open and suck out that meat too. It’s really a long, messy process.

As we were going to the bus station, we walked down the main shopping street and by the temple. Yvonne explained that someone had died and they were burning things to send to them in the afterlife. They believe that if you burn it, it will cross over (or something like that.) In the above photo they are burning money (not real money, which makes me wonder why they can use fake money in the afterlife?) Yvonne said they will burn furniture, clothes, food, etc.

Yvonne trying to throw coins for good luck.

These signs on the temple are totally Chinglish. I thought maybe they were verses with a deep meaning – but Yvonne translated and they aren’t. The risk of fire is more dangerous than an actual fire, prevent fire instead of having to put it out, etc.

The second stop in Hangzhou was a Buddist temple. Before going in, there were a bunch of caves with Buddas carved into the walls.

Cool lighting on the steps in a cave.

Buddas outside carved in the rock.

Maggie tries to light incense – the fire was really hot and blowing around. Minna and Maggie lit incense at all five temples, prayed to each Budda, and did some other ritual things.

Inside one of the temples, monks were gathered and were singing and chanting. I really wish that I had a photo, but there is no way I’d be so disrespectful as to take photos during a religious ceremony.