A cruise on the lake, the Crazy Monk who snatched the bride and a long road trip
It is said that the rice harvest of Hangzhou and Suzhou could feed the entire country. Not sure who said it but it apparently is true. Founded 2,200 years ago during the Qin Dynasty, it is listed as one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China, but the city wall was not constructed until the Sui Dynasty in the 7th century AD. It currently covers over 3000sqKm and has a population of over 6 million. It is in the center of what is referred as the rice bowl and does produce enough rice to feed the whole country.
What does this have to do with the West Lake… not much but Illy needed to get that factoid in.
Our day starts with Lai Lan and Li collecting us @ 8AM as we need to get across the lake area ahead of the rush hour traffic for a 930AM boat ride. As we learned yesterday, West Lake is a manmade lake and was dredged in 1089 by Su Dong Po, who was honored with the naming of the locale pork dish. The earth dredged from the lake was used to form all the man made islands in the lake including the Causeway that stretches across the length of the lake from north to south separating West Lake from West Middle Lake.Our boat arrives and we find seats outside on the stern to take loads of pics so whoever dares to sit through one of the many slide show Chucky plans, you can ride the lake with us. Fortunately one of the larger groups onboard has a guide with a portable PA system and she enlightens us to all the sights as we circle the lake. Lots of folklore about this monk doing that to some unsuspecting creature and burying someone under some pagoda…. They all seem to end up like this… and we are snapping away with the digital and 35mm.
The day is perfect with a mild breeze chilling the air ever so slightly and we exchange factoids with the American group on board to fill the void in the guides monologue. Have I told you that Hangzhou is the lushest city we’ve ever been to? ...well I don’t hesitate to repeat it… it is absolutely beautiful. Were I to ever think of retiring in China… it would be to Hangzhou. Truly…”In Heaven there is paradise, on earth there is Hangzhou and Suzhou.
We dock and head straight for Tiger Springs where we walk a lovely winding path climbing
ever slightly to the spot where a monk was searching for water… [Where have we heard this before?] Only this one lied down to rest and dreamed of Tigers. When he awoke, there were two tigers scratching the earth and magically [is there any other way?!?!?] water began to spring up from the claw marks. The spot was memorialized with a giant carving over the pond created by the swelling waters of the dreaming monk and the two tigers… hence the name, Tiger Springs. Great pics of the actual spot.Now no story of monks and tigers would be complete without a Crazy Monk story… and we actually witnessed the best. On the way up to the head of the Tiger Springs, we stopped at a temple dedicated to a fellow called the Crazy Monk. The legend goes that the crazy monk, a lover of the grape [or was it rice wine], was known for some wacky predictions. One day while in napping or in a stupor [you chose] he dreamt of a flying mountain or peak as it’s referred to and awoke to relate the story to the elders of the village. They laughed and dismissed him as a drunken crazy fool but he had to get their attention and seeing there was a wedding in progress, he ran in, snatched up the bride and ran out of town. [Hence the saga of “The Crazy Monk Snatches Bride”] The irate townspeople began to chase him till they were all out of town, where the monk stopped and turned just in time to see a real mountain flying through the air and landing right on top of the now empty village. At first the people were sad that they lost everything, but the monk pointed out that they now didn't owe the landlord any rent since there were no houses to pay rent for. Rejoicing at this news and realizing the monk had also saved their lives the asked the Crazy monk what they could do to repay him. He asked that they make 500 carvings of Sakyamony Buddha, the original Buddha from Nepal for which the religion was named. The agreed to do so and he finished each sculpture by scratching eyes and eyebrows on each one of the finished sculptures with the nail of his little finger. Now… Hold on for as Al Jolson once said…”you ain't heard nuthin’ yet.
After we finished viewing the temple and taking pics with the statue of the Crazy Monk near the fresco of his snatching the bride etc., we were about to leave when we spot what appears to be a reenactment of some ceremony fronted by the fellow dressed just like the crazy monk, complete with the broken fan, gourd of wine etc, and a group of followers bearing all sorts of baskets of sacrifices. The Monk makes a prayer at the massive incense burner outside the temple and then 
uses the coal to start a fire in some form of scriptures which the followers present the baskets to the monk who blesses them, and they step over the fire and proceed up the steps to the temple…. I kid you not!!!! And then the monk comes stumbling up the steps into the temple and begins to worship his own likeness and hold court with the followers…Now the really weird part… we think this is just a reenactment, but find out from one of the handlers… that this guy is supposed to actually be the reincarnation of the Crazy Monk and these groupies actually believe it and are following him around like he is the real mccoy. Seriously!!!! Chucky has pics and short Video of this whole deal…We leave the Crazy Monk to his lecturing of the faithful and
head back down the long and winding road [hmmmm why do the Beatles come to mind now?] past the spot where all the true believers of the Tiger Spring legend come to fill bottles of water to take home for its medicinal and curative powers… got pics of this deal too.Onward to “Lingyin Temple for Immortal Souls Retreat” [ya just gotta love these names] first built by a Buddhist monk in 326AD for Hui Li as he found the site to be desirable for a monastery. It saw its heyday in the 10th century when there were 72 halls in 9 buildings and 18 pavilions containing 1000 rooms housing over 3000 monks. It was later converted to a park which houses the supposed Flying Peak of the Crazy Monk legend with the 500 carvings which were done from the early 10th century to the early 14th century. Pics all around of the flying peak and select Buddha’s, as we head to the first temple preceding the main pagoda that houses the largest Buddha cut from a
single piece of Camphor. The front hall also houses the 4 heavenly kings.Wei Tou chief guardian of the Buddha was the carver. Next is the main temple with, standing 24.8meters high [82 feet tall] is the a largest sitting Sakyamony Buddha in all of china, constructed of 24 blocks of camphor wood, Sakyamony, as we previously learned, lived from 565-485BC and was ENLIGHTENED after fasting 49 days & nights under a Bhodi tree thus founding the Buddhist movement in Nepal which in turn spread through the middle and far east.
Its time for lunch and we stop at the Shangdu restaurant in the Marco Polo Hotel, [no not the condo hotel on Sunny Isles Beach in Florida] which by the way is the 3rd restaurant with real napkins...all of which seem to be in south. We start with country side soup which has good flavors and as sweet silky tomato’y texture, sorta like eating V-8 with Bok Choy greens. First course is fried fish bits which were excellent… no dip needed. Next came the beef & onions minus the usual peppers, also excellent. All accompanied by the obligatory rice and some interesting sautéed lettuce. The meal was rounded out with fresh pineapple. Beer not good… it was GREAT! West lake beer is the 1st Chinese beer that holds a head… a joint venture with Japan.
After lunch, its farewell to Lai Lan who leaves us here as our boy Li will take us on to Suzhou [a 2 hour drive]. She had spoken to her mother about my condition who gave her the names of some special Chinese herbs that she used on her Father who also had a head and neck Cancer and she passed this info on to Illy who is our resident emissary to the Holistic Healing Sect and who vows to find the stuff before we leave China.
Hugs and promises to communicate on our return home all around and we were off on our long trek to Suzhou where I penned another NOWAT on the way.
Tomorrow… the Road to Suzhou and a really neat Hotel.
再见朋友
Zài Jiàn Péng-You
Chuck and the still limping but still the trooper I truly love, witch doctor herbs and al
Dragon Lady.
