August 1, 2008
Last full day in China!?!?! I can not speak for anyone else but I am having a lot of mixed feelings right now. I will visit this topic this a little later.
Woke up and grabbed some breakfast this morning. There were plenty of western options so many of us loaded up. I enjoyed and omelet, toast, and juice. You could tell the place was frequented by lots of Germans because they had some good rolls, meat, and cheese. I pulled an old youth hostel traveling Europe special. During those halcyon days of youth I would finfish up the breakfast, which consisted of meat and cheese, and pack a couple of sandwiches for the lunch and dinner. Not American style sammies here. You cut the roll in two, spread butter, and place a layer of cheese and meat on each side, put the two sides together, wrap the food in a napkin, and shove it into your pack and go. This is a cheap and efficient way to get your meals. I enjoyed my snack around mid morning. It made me wax nostalgic for my wistful days of youth.
As usual, I digress. After our breakfast we enjoyed the sights of our last temple in China. This one was Buddhist. The place was packed to rafter with fans and worshippers of the Buddha. I asked our guide if this temple was more sacred than others we had seen, and his response was it was not. He stated that this temple was located in convenient and strategic area and therefore enjoyed the same crowd levels as more sacred temples elsewhere in the country. The name of our visiting place is the Lingyin Temple.
Lingyin Temple intrigued me for two reasons. Initially it was the throngs of worshippers. Everywhere you turned you saw the faithful lighting incense, the place smelled wonderful, and bowing in every direction. There did not appear to be a standard form or practice for praying beyond the lighting of a great deal of incense. When I asked Snow, he said that some people had more training in the methodology of worship than other which accounts for the seemingly chaotic worship plan.
Let me stress there is NOTHING to do with the Nazi's
The second thing that intrigued me was the presence of swastikas on the center of the chests of numerous statues. I also know that Buddhism’s roots are in India and that the swastika in very prominent in ancient Indian culture. I never realized how integral the swastika was to Buddhism. How ironic that one symbol could have such divergent meanings. 
After our morning temple visit we went to visit a green tea plantation. Green tea is everywhere you look around China. I have come to really enjoy it myself. We walked around one of the fields near the main building. We even “picked” a few leaves ourselves. We were then directed to a room for an information session and demonstration about all things, green tea. 
Grace in showing some diiferent types of green tea
A young girl named Grace was our tutor and she made wonderful presentation. She had some informative and hilarious anecdotes; we were all eating out of the palm of her hand. My favorite a Grace’s pertained to the medicinal value of tea. She was explaining how drinking green tea is good for one’s skin and then she panned, “I am eighty years old.” She looks about fifteen years old, tops. All I will say is this, Grace had us all falling out of out seats to buy green tea in various quantities. Even though many of us had never drank tea before. She could have sold ice to Eskimos, she was that good.
Gor tea the water should be hot but not boiling
Check out the awesome pour
After the tea plantation we hopped on the nap machine, I mean bus and hit the road to Shanghai. Our guide, Snow had a Q and A for about an hour on the bus for those of us with lingering questions about China. It made the three hour bus ride go much more quickly.
We arrived in Shanghai to blue skies and mild temperatures. We ate our dinner very quickly so many of our group could make it out for “The Hunt”.
They wanted to do some shopping on the famous Nanjing Road. They armed and ready to stimulate the Chinese economy. There preparations and game planning reminded of the scene from Braveheart when Mel Gibson was rallying his clan for the battle. God have mercy on the souls of the shop keepers on Nanjing Road tonight for they know not what to expect. My guess is the Mongol invasion will seem tame compared to this oncoming onslaught. (Okay, I am exaggerating a little)
The view of the Bund in Shanhai, last night in China
Floating adverstisement
Paul and I wandered from our hotel to the Bund for some people watching and night time photo opportunities. The walk was nice to shake off the lingering effects of the bus ride. One of the funny things about Shanghai and China is that at 10pm, I mean on the dot, they turn off the lights on the big buildings. There is still tons of stuff going on but the light show, which is quite impressive, is over. After the Bund shut down we walked around the neighborhood surrounding our hotel then called it a night.
You never what you'll see in streets of Shanghai
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