Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

Take me back to Hainan Island…please!
I’ll do the dishes every night and eat all my vegetables!

It is cold here and I am so unprepared for this weather but I’m managing the best I can, also trying to cope with all the strange looks I get walking around in sandals but strangely my feet are not cold at all, it’s actually my hands, arms and my head. I grabbed a cheap beanie and pair of gloves from a street stall so today was much better than yesterday. This evening Aunty came knocking on my door and offered me a jacket to wear but my room is as warm as a cocoon so I thanked her and tried to convince her that I really wasn’t cold.

Batteries, I know they deplete yet sometimes I still manage to forget to charge my 'out and about’ charger and sadly today just had to be one of those days.

For some reason my phone didn’t fully charge last night and by the time I walked to and arrived at the Yellow Crane Tower Park only then did I realise my phone was less than half charged. No need to worry I thought, I have my trusty ‘out and about’ charger/battery and I can simply attached it to my phone and it will charge as I go but at the time I figured if I take only five hundred thousand photos and not one million I should have enough battery and I’ll attached it on the way to the Guiyuan Temple. After a wonderful few hours slowly walking around the park, chatting to university students and climbing both towers for stunning three hundred and sixty degree views (I can only imagine what they would be like on a sunny day) I began my journey across the bridge and across the mighty Yangzi.

During which I attached my ‘out and about’ charger.

Of course the light didn’t come on because I had forgotten to charge it and on the other side of the bridge after paying my two Yuan to take the lift down four flights I entered the riverside park and wallah, just as I took two shots of what I believe to be Hanyang’s East Gate my phone went dead. So the nights shots on this blog are actually from last night, but hey, same Jiefang Road (in Wuchang district) walk and same snackadelica evening and if JiangNi was here I’m sure I would have almost out-snacked even her.

For images of the Guiyuan Temple I’ve added a link to a Yahoo Image page.
Problem is they are all so straight and proper and not really Eddakathy at all.

For its size, I really do like Wuhan and I thought about staying one more day but decided against it as Hankou and its Walking Street, Ancient Street and ‘Concession Area’ really should be taken in on a humid day with a bright blue sky followed by a hot night sitting at a street BBQ stall eating meaty treats washed down by several too many cold beers. Tomorrow it will rain and my sandals have those crazy drain holes in the sole so this morning I grabbed a ticket and I’ll be busing it to Nanchang city for a day or two before heading back to Dexing town to begin teaching.

Here’s hoping Nanchang will be not only dryer but also much warmer!

Yellow Crane Tower

According to legend, Yellow Crane Tower was built by the family of an old pothouse owner living in Wuhan City named Old Xin. One day, a shabbily dressed Taoist priest came to the pothouse and asked for some wine. Old Xin paid no attention to him, but his son was very kind and gave the Taoist some wine without asking for money. The Taoist priest visited the pothouse regularly for half a year when one day the Taoist said to the son that in order to repay his kindness, he would like to draw a crane on the wall of the pothouse, which would dance at his request. When people in the city heard of this, they flocked to the pothouse to see the dancing crane. The Xin family soon became rich and they built the Yellow Crane Tower as a symbol of gratitude to the Taoist priest.

The Yellow Crane Tower has a very long and complicated history.

It was first built in 223, during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280). Due to the ideal location, it was built by Sun Quan (182 - 252, King of Wu) as a watchtower for his army. After hundreds of years, its military function was gradually forgotten and the tower was enjoyed mainly as a picturesque location. During the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), many popular poems were written in praise of the Tower. It was these poems that made the Tower so renowned and induced it to the rest of China.

During the following centuries, it was destroyed and rebuilt many times.

During the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) Dynasties alone the tower was destroyed and rebuilt seven times. In 1884, it was completely destroyed by fire and was not rebuilt until 1981. The tower had different architectural features during different dynasties; however the tower which stands today is based on the Qing Dynasty design. It stands just over fifty meters high and with five floors and its appearance is the same regardless of the direction it is viewed from. The roof is covered by ten thousand yellow glazed tiles with yellow upturned eaves.

Guiyuan Temple
Click Here For Yahoo Pictures of Guiyuan Temple

Guiyuan Buddhist Temple is the fourth largest Buddhist temple in China and ranks among Chinese Buddhism's most important places of worship. Originally built in the early part of the Qing (1644-1911) Dynasty and somehow its many Buddhist Sutras and other important Buddhist relics survived China's tumultuous Cultural Revolution. Even so much of the temple has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt throughout its three hundred year history.

The temple which derives its name from a Buddhist chant ‘Guided by Original Purity’ (the devotee can achieve anything) is not only renowned for its role in spreading Buddhism, but it is also renowned for its exquisite Han Chinese (Southern Chinese) Buddhist architecture and was 1983 the Chinese Government designated it as one of the key Buddhist temples representing the Han Chinese nationality.

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Anberlin
The album was ‘Never Take Friendship Personal’
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