"Temple" Trip

On Wednesday, January 28th, I got up at noon. I later went to the grocery store and the bakery to buy some food. When I came back, I didn't do too much except for surf the internet and relax. Around 4 or 5 pm, I joined Marit, Magnus, Bjoernar and Jason (a former USAC student who is currently doing an independent study at a Chinese university here in Chengdu). They were planning on going to a temple in Chengdu and I thought it would be cool to go. We met Jason at the school and headed to the temple.

A store on our way to school (This picture is for my grandparents, Omi und Opi, and my mom because it kind of looks like their last name, Horn)


The street was empty and many of the stores were closed (which is extremely rare in Chengdu)


A store on the Tibetan street that was open


Once we arrived, we bought our tickets and decided to eat dinner before we went inside. We were in a Tibetan neighborhood, there were a lot of Tibetan restaurants, but we went to one that was only somewhat Tibetan. It had yak food (which is very Tibetan) but it also had Sichuan dishes. While we were eating, Jared joined us.

There was a man with a monkey walking in front of the restaurant as were walking in


The restaurant







Our waitress


Once we were done eating, we went inside the temple.

One of the entrances of the temple (We realized once we got in that this was not an ordinary temple)


Right after we entered







Really colorful lanterns




Kung Fu show




Videos of Kung Fu fighters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReS7UTR8T6Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEu1bg1wwDQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAr1PovZ8S0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa1KPD_is2w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKCl-F8gQOo


Massive dogs (I don't remember where they are from or what they're called)


Scarecrows that people shot arrows at


We were able to do it for free because we're "waiguoren" or foreigners (Jason and Marit in a lovely pose)



Just walking around








Shops

















This shop had rocks in the ground


Caricatures




























African Performers






Dancers



Video of the dancers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_3X_Qvn94w


What some of the buidlings actually look like


An auction







Video of the auction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbBF_aG9cwM


Food stand




Messing around with the dummy



Bjoernar had to shoot the crossbow (He's pretty good)





We just wandered into some place that we thought was about to do a performance and instead got free hot pot. :)



I bought several souvenirs and we left the temple around 10 pm. I went home, talked to Kevin about the plans for the next day, packed, and went to sleep.