Gap Guys' Farewell Dinner

It is the last week for the Gap Guys at Southwest Jiaotong University so we got together for a final dinner. At first, it was going to be on Thursday, May 21, but then it was changed to Wednesday. I had my teacher's class on Wednesday so we started the dinner at 5:30 with a promise that I could teach my class even if I may be a bit late.

Unfortunately, someone did not make it clear to Tom that the dinner had been changed from Thursday to Wednesday and he was no where to be found. Later, I found out that he was doing his normal Wednesday afternoon thing at the gym. We all felt bad that we could not find Tom.

This is the restaurant we held the Gap Guys Final Dinner. The ladies our front were friendly but a bit shy. Of course, I spoke to them in English as if they all understood every word I said. Got a feeling they all wanted to do a smack down on me so I immediately greeted them in Chinese. Smack downs hurt!

As we made our way up the stairs to our feasting room we saw two lion's heads stuck on the wall. These were the real things from those lion dances we see all the time. Obviously for good luck and good profit.

Our feasting room was cozy but what caught our eyes were the beautiful yellow and blue dragon place settings. I had seen some similar to these in the tea district in Chengdu and lusted after them. They were very stunning against the black of the table top. The table was a huge round "hot pot" style table with the outer area able to revolve around the stationary hot pot in the middle.

On the way to the restaurant, we asked Zoe about the type of food we were going to have. When she said "hot pot" we all showed the same kind of disappointment. None of us really liked hot pot that much.

During the course of Zoe's ordering, we found out the style would not really be the Sichuan hot pot we had come to . . . well, not like so much. The broth would be light with chicken and the most mushrooms anyone in the room had ever seen.

With the ordering done, Zoe clued us in on exactly what we would be eating and it did sound pretty good. No Sichuan hot pot this evening.

Along with the basic clear (sort of) soup came an interesting array of snacks or appetizers. On the far right just in the picture are some hot spicy peanuts. Next was some strange popcorn kinda things (more like cracked corn). Then we got some thinly sliced and very nice beef . Going around the table to the left were the typical Sichuan "kimchi-like" radishes and then a bunch of green onions for the soup. The stuff was very Tom delicious!

John, into his professional photographer mode, takes pictures of everything in sight. When he first arrived to Emei, he barely took a picture. Now he is Mr. Photo.

The chicken and the mushrooms are "dumped" into the heated broth and in a few minutes we start eating all the mushrooms in the world. They were very good and hearty.

Robert and Sophie share some interesting stories about the Gap Guys visit to our university. It was probably pretty rare for Gappers like Dave and John to get to spend time at a university since they were newly minted HS grads and not yet in college. I thought their time here was absolutely off the charts for us, our students and them. They were the same age as most of the students they interacted with so it was much more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Enliven (Eleven) does her normal helpful stuff to insure we all had a great time with plenty to eat. She helps Zoe take care of all us Lao Wai while we are at the university.

Lots of 'shrooms! Lots of food. Lots of fun!

These were some sweet sticky rice cakes that were so good we ordered another dish of them.

Here is our group outside the restaurant after having a great meal. We all got to say good bye to our Gap Guys. There plan was to travel to Xian on Friday via train and then on to Beijing. From Beijing they would fly to Kunming and then travel to Dali, Lijiang and maybe Shangri-la. They would then return to Emei to pick up their suitcases Sunee helped them buy and then it is off to Thailand and eventually England and their colleges. It was a real pleasure having them visit us, help us, party with us these last three months. Wish they could have stayed longer.

A Thursday Luncheon in Emei City

Today we invited the Gap Guys to go with us to visit our good friends in Emei City. We also planned to have a special noodle lunch at a restaurant not far from our friends Chinese medicine store.


This is Xiao Ling, a Chinese medicine pharmacist who owns and operates a medical store in downtown Emei City. We met her our first week in Emei when Zoe took us downtown to shop for some essentials for our apartment on campus. Sunee happened to as Ms. Xiao Ling where the closest toilet was and she took Sunee to show her. An hour later they came back with lots of equipment and stuff Sunee had been looking for. Xiao Ling had literally taken her to the stores where they had the stuff we needed. Zoe and I spent the time relaxing in the medicine store and wondering if Sunee had been abducted. From then on we have been close friends with Xiao Ling and her husband, visiting them two or three times a week.

Xiao Ling takes us to the restaurant that served the Yunnan-style noodles. It was she who had introduced us to the restaurant in the first place. Here, John looks at the ingredients with a bit of reluctance.

Boiling hot broth is the main starting point and then the spices, meats and egg are added followed by the noodles. The stuff actually gets cooked right in front of you.


John carefully follows our lead and empties the ingredients into the broth.


Dave, never a reluctant participant in all things new, rapidly completes the task and finds time to smile for my camera over his obvious success.






John, slow at trying new things, takes his time in following the directions. He finally finishes the task and we all have these wonderful noodles for lunch.

Back at the medicine shop we meet Xiao Ling's husband who is his normal friendly and jovial self.

Although none but the Gap Guys could speak English, it was obvious that all were pleased to bring the Gap Guys into our community of friends in downtown Emei City.

After a bit of shopping at the newest department store, we stop for the obligatory ice cream. Sunee holds my bitter coffee bar in her right hand while I take a picture of the ugliest ice cream bar on the planet. The color was primer gray and was absolutely untantalizing. It was also barely edible as it was made of black sesame seeds. Yuck. One would think that a little food coloring would have gone a long way to stop the ugliness.

Another adventure, another great day in China.

Da Fu Chai Yuan Is Officially Open

We return once more to Da Fu Chai Yuan (Big Buddha Complex) in Emei City. It officially opened but, as of yet, does not charge an entrance fee since it is not fully functional. Sunee wanted to get some more pictures of the huge ebony, many-headed Buddha that stood in one of the central buildings. She also wanted to take some movies for her family back in Thailand.

We arrived around 2 PM on 20 March and spent about three hours going through the complex. My goal was to find interesting and artistic pictures to take for this blog. Believe I was successful. Look forward to your comments concerning my photos.

This is a map of the overall building structure of the complex. As you can see it is very huge and landed over a large area. We have been told that it is the largest Buddhist construction in all of Asia. Seems there might be one bigger in Sri Lanka, or so we have heard.


These two pictures show the entrance to the complex and they face the main street. There are two of them in the huge entrance building.

Welcome to Da Fu Chai Yuan. This guy greets all visitors as they enter the main entrance. He is known as a Door Guard.



This is most definitely an art image. Loved the way the sweeper appears in the doorway framed in red. I called this image "The Sweeper." This gate is on one's immediate left as they enter the compound through the entrance building and past the huge Chinese characters directly in front.

This is the area immediately after the entrance hall. One heads to the left to get to the inner courtyard and the main structures.

Here Sunee is pictured under the first giant Chinese characters one encounters after the main entrance building. This is the character for "di" or the earth as opposed to "tian" the heavens.

This is an interesting view of an unusual shaped outer window with the traditional Chinese roof.


Great "Chinese Window" view of a small courtyard like area in one of the outer buildings of the complex. The red was almost overwhelming throughout the complex.

I loved the feel of this little courtyard area between two halls. The tree looked almost as if it belong there, yet did seem to be out of place at the same time.

This long hallway ran along the outer edge of the compound and connected the main entrance building to the inner courtyards.

Had to get a shot of Sunee against this totally red background. The wall was part of a long hallway that connected the outer buildings to the inner buildings as seen in the above picture.


This is a Buddha image that is common in Thailand. Sunee took some movies and had me take a few pictures. She was told in Thailand that this was a funeral Buddha and could not be put in an active Buddhist temple. Guess this guy proves them wrong since this is definitely an active Buddhist temple.

This is Wenshu, the Buddha of Wisdom and Protector of Learning. As is normal, he sits on a lion-dog and has a sword. Yeh, I had to look this up because Sunee was unsure of who exactly this guy was. This Buddha is not seen very much in Thailand.


Saw this girl giving prayers as we walked into the second building in the inner court. I liked the way the light from outside lit up the interior.

This is in one of the inner buildings in the complex. As Sunee prayed the monk struck the bell about every half a minute or so. Very exotic feel for this Westerner.

Chants, Mantras, Monks and Exotica

As we approached this building, we heard monks singing mantras. At first, I thought it was a recording but as we entered the building cautiously, we saw that it was real music and real mantras.

The monks were seated across from each other and were singing from mantras with a leader and everyone else following.





I was able to move around them for some really great shots of singing mantras. Very exotic feel and sounds as this Westerner was, once again, overcome with awe at Asian culture.

As we walked out of the building of the singing monks, I turned around to take a picture and saw one of the monks walking out of the door. This is always a good shot to take when visiting Buddhist temples especially when three Chinese tourists enter at about the same time.

Another good picture showing Buddhism at its "picture best."

Monks and Following


This monk had a following that walked around the various seats for about half an hour before settling down to do some meditation with the followings. I took several pictures of this process and have included the most interesting:












Sunee also followed along for about fifteen minutes and sat down with them during their meditations. I thought these pictures really came out well with some really unique looks at Buddhism as practiced in China.





These two pictures were taken at two different locations. They each were the insides of huge hanging lanterns that were hung from the top of the ceiling and nearly touched the ground. I was able to get inside and take the pictures of the ceiling above.


One of the inner courtyard which shows the architecture and the general layout of these inner buildings.

Ya gotta love these door knockers. I seem to be drawn to every door knocker I see. We will definitely get some for our own Chinese compound in Thailand when we build it.



This big statue was in the middle courtyard on the right as you entered it. They are the same as found on top of Emei Mountain and are known as Jinding if I am not mistaken.

Here, Mr. Elephant says hello. Elephants are exotic to the Chinese but pretty common place for Thais. This one seemed to be friendly in any case.

A view in front of one of the many inner buildings. This one had a huge incense burner which was yet to be used. This was the only gold one I saw in the compound.



A closer look at the entrance to the building above. The carvings on both sides of the door were very beautifully done.



On one of the huge bronze doors that most of the inner buildings had. Have no idea from which building this panel came.



A couple of buddhas from the inner courtyards. So many buddhas, so many buildings and so many courtyards, one easily gets confused. They are very beautiful, aren't they?


Another of the inner courtyards. Is this the first, second or third? I don't remember.

I loved this shot of the lonely tree located on the right in the first courtyard. It seemed out of place yet still had a feeling of belonging.

Here Sunee continues here film career with yet another buddha movie. Don't ask which buddha or which courtyard.

Fat Buddhas seemed to be tucked away in several different buildings. They came in all sizes.

Another very impressive Buddha set up. This one was in one of the side buidlings, I think, anyway.

Can't seem to "not" take pictures of Chinese bronze knockers. This one is stunning.

Nazis in China? Nope. This Buddha symbol was actually stolen by the Germans and reversed to make their evil swastica. This has nothing to do with what the Nazis did.


The Magnificent Ebony Four-Headed Buddha

The above pictures were taken in hopes of getting a good one we could print out and send to Thailand. Unfortunately, none fit the bill as the statue was entirely too massive to be photographed from the ground floor. We were not able to go to the second floor or the third floor to get the whole thing. These floors were being finished. Next time we will visit just to take the picture of this buddha for Thailand

And finally to close out this blog, I have included this beautifully carved panel from one of the inner buildings. Nice way to close out a blog, don't you think?