My Month Long Travels Part 7

Continuing my journey . . .
  After Luoyang I headed to Qingdao which is a coastal city. I picked this city because of the sea and the fact that western architecture influenced certain areas. In Qingdao's past, as a port city, many westerns made it their home, they wanted to live in houses that resembled those in their homeland so certain areas of the city, specifically an area called named Badaguan contains western influenced homes. Some of these homes were designed by Chinese architects using Western buildings as inspiration. This area actually represents architecture from more then 20 countries. After the modern China was created following WWII, Badaguan became home to many Communist Party Members and foreign friends. Today it is used as a tourist attraction (which worked on me : )) and a place many couple take their wedding pictures. Many of my pictures are not the best but that is because of this thing called a wall. Now before you look at the pictures of Badaguan I want you to take a look at the empty train car. By the time it arrived in Qingdao I had it nearly completely to myself. Yay for me, I could lay on the seat and sleep!!!

  There was a Catholic Church near my hostel. On a side note the pipes to the third floor showers had conveniently frozen leaving me with a wonderfully refreshing cold shower (please note that if spoken this would be said in a sarcastic voice). I was given second floor access to a shower the next day so all was good. Below is the church, I did not go inside because I was running late for my train. Yes, I was late again.

  I found the fact that there was a bar right near the church to be quite humorous . . . not sure why though. 

   Of course I also took pictures of the Beach, I also saw a wild crab; it was dangerous . . .

This is me pointing and what I am pointing at is a women wearing a one piece swimsuit. Look at me . . . then look at her.

  Not sure what this was but it was on the list of cool things to see. I actually found it when I missed my stop and had to ride to the next one. I noticed it out the window and was actually happy that I did not get off at the right stop. I also found a Subway (the food establishment), which made my day. See, not all things that appear like mistakes actually are.

Courtship in a Park

  I would first like to say that I have been taking a small break from my blog, I am going to finish my travel adventures soon (still have the most exciting parts to come). I would also like to note that blogs about new places become more difficult to keep up once that new place feels like your home. Which I would hope it would feel like after spending almost six and a half months there. However, the great thing about a different culture is that there are still those moments when something happens and you are surprised and once again look at the world around you with new eyes.

  I recently had my best friend from the states visit me and it was nice to have someone around that I have known and has known me for more then six months. I could make references clear back to high school and she would completely grasp what I was meaning. It was great. It was also nice to see China from her eyes. She would comment on things that I had become use to or forgot about. Also, I just liked saying "Welcome to China" whenever she asked or commented about something that I couldn't explain or was a general occurrence in China. She probably got tired of me saying it. She also reminded me of home and the foods that I have been denied since arriving here. About a week before she returned home, she, who had only been here three weeks, started naming off foods she already missed, such as tacos. Whenever she would, I would of course tell her to stop making me sad since I would not be able to taste the deliciousness for another five months at least. It was great having her visit.

  So the title of this blog is about Courtship and the park. I write this because one of those 'moments' happened in Shanghai when I was there. I had gone with some friends to see a museum and a bookstore and we happened across a main park in China that looked so interesting we checked out what was happening inside. There were a bunch of older people with umbrellas opened on the ground in front of them with paper attached. I asked my Chinese friend what was going on and he told me it was grandparents looking for a spouse for their child. This was held every Sunday. A Matchmaking Event.

  There are reasons for this, one being that the actually people wanting to get married are too busy to look for a spouse themselves. Another is that grandparents are usually the ones with time free to do the looking. In China parents and grandparents still have a larger role in choosing spouses for their children then in America. It is not an arranged marriage and the young people have every right to refuse the person. It is more like the grandparents do the searching then bring home the information to lay it out for their child to look at. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles introduce their children to prospective spouses through their friends or acquaintances. A grandmother comes into contact with an aunt who has a 'good' nephew so they introduce them to see how things go. Marriage has also been compared to more of a business contract and a family marriage by some of my Chinese friends. Not sure to the exact extent this is still practiced.
  I will tell you some things that I have realized. If you are between the ages of 23 to 24 to 26 or 27 you should be looking for  a partner. If you pass this age and are a women then you will have a more difficult time finding a 'good' guy because all the good guys are taken. Guys get married later in life then women, around 26 to 28 or 29. They are also responsible for providing a house. Chinese singles also have family pressure to marry since parents and grandparents will be relying on him/her for their futures, they also want grandchildren and in a society where a one child policy was enforced there is only one path to grandchildren.
  The pictures below were of the park. You can see the umbrellas with the white paper telling the general information about each person. You usually found their birth date, their height, and their occupation. I realized this would not be a good way for me to find a spouse because I would decided which ones to read based on the color and style of the umbrella. Which I am sure would be an excellent way to pick a husband. That is probably why the grandparents do the searching. Would you be up to let your grandparents go spouse hunting for you?

My Month Long Travels Part 6

  The next day I went to the Longmen Grottoes. A grotto, for those who have not come into contact with one, is just a small cave that usually has something inside, like carvings, drawings, etc. The school I attended in the United States has the Lourdes Grotto in a wooded area that is for those in the Catholic Faith for inside it has a statues of someone important to the church (Mary the Mother of Christ I think, I do not really know because I have not actually looked). Grottoes are not reserved for one religion and can have nothing to do with religions. The Grottoes in Luoyang are Buddhist grottoes so they do serve a religious purpose. Buddhist monk started to carve caves into the side of a hill and put carvings of those important to the buddhist belief inside. Others would be able to come to the grottoes and show their respect and faith. The Longmen Grottoes are special for their age and the amount of them carved into the side of the hill.
  I arrived early that morning and headed into the Grottoes. Unfortunately since it was the off season the entrance that I was planning on entering was closed. I got off the bus and started looking at the map on my phone for another entrance. A lady came up to me pointing and speaking in Mandarin. I did not know what she was saying but was pretty sure she was trying to get me to pay something to take me to another entrance. I do not like when people try to get money from me so I completely ignoring her. She left me alone and another man that spoke English approached me. I was ready to ignore him as well however he proceed to tell me that the Grottos provided a free service via electric bus to another ticket location and entrance.
  The Grottoes are located in a large hill beside a river, which you can see below.

  The gate.

  Here is a picture of the actual grottoes. Each dark hole that you see is a grotto, inside you will find a statue (if time has not destroyed it) and decorated walls. The can be carved a few inches or several yards into the stone, most were several inches. In the following pictures you can see the detail that was put into the carvings. Paints were also added but have washed away with time. 

  The many little sitting men in the picture above impressed me. Someone sat, or stood, there to carve exactly the same image again and again over the wall. That takes patience.

  This was inside a grottoes that was about the side of a small bedroom (enough for a bed, nightstand and wardrobe). You can see the painting on the walls. If you look closely on either wall you can see what looks like horizontal lines. Those are the tiny sitting men from the previous picture. Below you can see the decoration of the ceiling.

  More small sitting men.

  Below is a huge Buddha. His head is about as tall as my entire body, maybe taller.

  Me in comparison.

  The river from the grottoes side.

  This is what the grottoes look like from across the river, they are high up into the hill so stairs were added for climbing which you can see below. 

  On the other side were a few more grottoes, not nearly as impressive as the first but still interesting.

  There was a Palace on this side of the river that I checked out. It belonged to an important man who was against the Communist Party back in the day. Below are small wooden red blocks that people have hung around the temple in the Palace. While I was there I had an interesting experience. During my entire grotto experience I went through it at about the same pace as a group of older men. We happened to go to the palace at the same time. Throughout I noticed that they glanced at me, but no more then the normal 'oh look there is a white person' stares that I normally get. When I was exiting a building in the palace one of the older men approached me and held up his phone, he could not speak English but I understood that he wanted a picture with me. I am use to people wanting to take a picture with me but not usually old men, which can be viewed with some strangeness. However, I understood it was harmless and agreed to let him take a picture with me. He handed his phone to his buddy and I got a picture with an old man (actually he got a picture with a young lady since I did not ask for the picture). His buddy then wanted a picture so they traded placed and I got another picture taken of myself. They then wanted to ask me a few questions which they did with the assistance of a younger man who know passable English. I do not know if that young man and his friend were with them or not. It was a bit of a weird experience. If that would have happened in America I would have been a little freaked out.

 After the grottoes I had enough time to go check out a temple so I hopped on a bus.

  The person you see in the picture above is a little girl. She got on the bus with her mother holding a giant stuffed animal and proceed to sing the alphabet. It was super cute and put me in a happy mood. After a few minute she fell asleep and had trouble waking up when it was their stop. 

  Below is a rather large tourist shopping area. A benefit of traveling during the off season is that many are closed so you are not bombarded with people wanting to sell you things. What people mostly bought were incense sticks which they would light in the temple as a sign of respect.

This is the entrance to White Horse Temple compound area.

  Here is the actual entrance to the White HorseTemple.

  

  Inside this door is a buddha statues but it is disrespectful to take pictures. In many temples the have people standing there telling you not to take pictures. In the metal pot you can see an incense stick still burning.

 Outside of the actual temple they have built temples modeled off other countries versions of Buddhist Temples as a show of peace and good well between themselves and the nation. They had a Thai Temple, Indian Temple, and a few others.

  In this picture I am waiting in line at the train station and I only took this picture because I almost missed my train and wanted to celebrate the fact that I did not. I was heading to Qingdao located along the coast.