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 Saturday Chinese Wedding Luncheon

We were invited to attend our apartment's managers who live downstairs on the first floor. Their job is to insure our apartment is in good order and maintain the utilities and repairs. Their daughter was getting married. Robert volunteered to take us to the hotel where the reception was being held. We also were accompanied by Gap Guy Ivan of Leshan Vocational and Technology College fame. The party started at around 1100 so off we went.


Here is the hotel where the reception was held. It is a famous Emei Mountain Hot Springs hotel and very nice. It is located only a few minutes from our apartment but we had to wait on the main road for Ivan to arrive via taxi from the bus station. He arrived, we stuffed him in the car and we went to the reception. The reception started at around 1100 and we arrived just in time.

Robert, Sunee and Ivan (along with me the photographer) arrive ready for a good time.


Here we have the bride and groom along with the brides mother and father, our apartment managers. We were greeted with candy and other goodies including cigarettes.

Bride and Groom greeting all their guests.

I had as many people as I could get in the picture as we were about to enter the main part of the hotel.

Cigarettes anyone? A very Chinese tradition.

We sat out in the garden area for a while having tea and then went to the dining area for the official reception. This lady, a friend of Robert, visited with us as we waited for the reception to begin in the dining area. She was lovely and very hospitable.

Ivan was hungry. Ivan is always hungry as you can tell from his looks as we were waiting for things to start.

Sunee checks out the candies we were given as gifts as we arrived to the hotel. They were cute.

The three of us (Ivan, Sunee and I) build a pyramid with our candy packages. Cute! We obviously had a few minutes to entertain ourselves while we waited for the party to begin.

The party begins with fireworks. As the bride and groom walked toward the stage, all kinds of fireworks went off along the way. This one was the last just before they reached the stage to begin the ceremony. This wedding appeared to be almost entirely Western in dress and style. Obviously the fireworks was a Chinese twist.

Strange situation here where this little girl recited the vows and the couple repeated them. Never saw that in Western Culture. The little girl was definitely cute, though.

Another shot of the little girl reading the vows and the couple repeating them. Notice the picture of the couple in the background. Matches well, huh?

The lighting of the candles.

The pouring of the champaign and then the toast. Very Western, indeed.

More fireworks go off as the couple finishes the vows and celebrate their wedding. This was a Western-style wedding with only a few Chinese things thrown in. The food was fairly good and the company was fun. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon at Emei. We wish the couple happiness and a long profitable relationship. We just have too much fun here at Emei Mountain!

Trip To Baogua Temple To Meet The Abbot (May 14)

We set up our first visit with the monk from Baogua Temple we had met at Xiao Lin's pharmacy last weekend. We went to meet him at 1000 along with the Gap Guys. As we started to walk to the temple, we decided to take a van instead since it was nearing 1000. Good thing we did as the usual way we walk to the temple was completely blocked with new construction. The van driver tried to go that way but had to turn around and take the long way. We arrived to the Temple right at 1000. We called Monk Sin and he came to get us.

Here we are waiting for Monk Sin to come get us. The place was medium busy so we had no problem going.

Visiting the Supreme Abbot of Emeishan

As we walked into the front courtyard of the Temple, Monk Sin led us to a small building on the right hand side. There we had the great privilege of meeting Abbot Tongyang, the Supreme Abbot of Emei Mountain. According to Monk Sin, he is 98. According to the monk who was his assistant, the Supreme Abbot is over 110. The internet had him as 102 years old. No question that he is old.

Another group shot with Monk Sin and the Supreme Abbot.

Sunee presents the Supreme Abbot with a gift from Thailand. They are coasters for tea. He seemed to really appreciate the gift.

Sunee explains what the gift is and about the Thai elephants on each one. Dave, of course, is busy recording the event.

The Supreme Abbot presents Dave with prayer beads and shows him how to use them.

I even get prayer beads from the Supreme Abbot. I kept trying to put them on my wrists but he insisted that I use them right away as in NOW.

John gets his prayer beads.

The Supreme Abbot demonstrates how to correctly use the prayer beads.

The Supreme Abbot of Emei Mountain is reported to be well over 100 years old.

When the Supreme Abbot was talking with Sunee, he wanted to know if I beat her. She said no but that she beats me. At over 100 years old, the Abbot still had a great sense of humor.

Visiting Baogua Temple

With our exciting visit with the Supreme Abbot over, we were invited to have lunch at the temple. It was served at 1130 so we had a little over an hour to visit other parts of the temple. The hour was well spent.

In the back of the room where we had visited with the Abbot were three Buddha images. They all great for photo ops. Here is an up-close head view of one of them.

Another close-up of one of the images.

A full frontal view of the Buddha image on the far left.

This image with the Buddha on an elephant stood on the far right.

After we left the Abbot, we checked out the dining area which was just around the corner. Here I find a bunch of chopsticks ready to use in the upcoming lunch.

One of two doorways leading into the giant dining hall where we would be having our lunch.

First courtyard upon entering Baogua Temple.

This was taken in the second courtyard where I found these giant candles burning brightly.

Incense sticks in the second courtyard incense burner. These were actually taken by John.

The giant fish in the second courtyard. Sunee thought it would be a good idea to drum it like she had seen a monk do. She was immediately reprimanded for her actions. Guess only monks can do the drumming. Here John and Dave check out the coloring of the fish.

This is a great shot from John in the second courtyard.

Guard dogs. Guard dogs. They are everywhere around the Temple.

Last time I was here, I saw all the paper mache figures over on the left courtyard of the temple. Sunee would not let me take pictures because they are for dead people. John got this one and it turned out really well.

Dave asked Sunee several questions about the area and things in the courtyards. Sunee relates her experiences of Buddhism and points out common things between Thailand and China.

John takes another great picture of the discussion in the third courtyard area between Sunee and Dave.


This doorway, tourist forbidden, off to the right in the back of the first major building. The reds were very brilliant.

I have taken several pictures of the fences at the top of the stairs leading to the middle building. These fences are obviously very old. Song Dynasty maybe?

Sunee at the back of the first major building. A beautiful table and huge mural add to the interest of the area.

John took this picture inside the commercial area of the temple. This Buddha is for sale if anyone is interested.

A Vegetarian Lunch

At 1130 we walked back over to the dining area and with around 50 or 60 other pilgrims had a great vegetarian lunch. The organization was well established so there was no waiting to get our vittles. They were well worth the wait.

Sunee starts things off by getting us all some rice to eat.

Our vegetarian lunch served by the Temple. Plenty of vegetables and plenty of rice.

Dave tries some of the vegetables we were served. The tofu was especially "Tom delicious."

After lunch, we had to clean up our dishes so they could be placed in the modern dish water in the kitchen. The water was very hot on the side Sunee and the Gap Guys were using.


A huge ceramic mural of Emei Mountain showing all the temples and the various geological points. This thing was in the dining room area and was really big. With this we come to the end of our wonderful visit to Baogua Temple. This is the headquarters for all the monks on Emeishan and usually the first temple to be visited when one comes to Emei Mountain.