Quian Ling Mountain Park...‏

Today, Richard took us to Quin Ling Mountain Park; it was really busy and interesting to see all of the people doing various dances, singing, tai chi, and exercises. It is a very peaceful place as there are trees and river waters surrounding the park. We then started to climb the mountain to the Hongfu Temple; it was a long climb, but well worth it! The temple was originally built in 1667 and is the largest temple of Zen Buddhism in Guizhou Province. It features majesty and sobriety. Hongfu means to develop Buddha's spirits and to benefit mankind. Today it is rated as one of the 142 National Key Temple Scenic Areas as well as the Key Cultural Relic Preservation in Guizhou Province.
When you visit the temple, upon entering the gate, you first see the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower on both sides. The bronze bell weighs more than 3,000 jin in Chinese measurement (equal to about 3,300 pounds), and was cast in 1469 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). On entering the first hall named Heavenly King Hall, you can see the carved statues of Maitreya Buddha and the four Heavenly Kings. On its walls there are also steles of sutra and huge paintings. The second main hall is the Bodhisattva Hall dedicated to Skanda Bodhisattva, and Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara with 32 arms. Inside the third hall named Mahavira Hall there are gilded statues of Sakyamuni, juuhachi rakan (or the 18 arhats), and others. There's also a jade Buddha statue that is from Rangoon, the capital of Burma. It is 1.5 meters (4.92 feet) high and weighs 900 kilograms (1984 pounds). The statue is made out of choice jade and looks beneficent but solemn, and it stands among more than 10 other jade statues of Bodhisattva and Maitreya.

During the climb up and down the mountain we had to be careful of the monkeys (Macaques) that roam free on the mountain. They will go after any food and water bottles that you show. One monkey climbed on the other couple that we were with and another monkey grabbed Jerry's juice bottle right out of his backpack! We watched him screw off the top of the bottle so it could pour on the steps and he drank it! We were happy to get past the monkeys at that point:)

We are now hanging out in our room and Richard will come by around 4 or 5 p.m. with our notary paperwork; tomorrow morning we will receive Jadyn's passport and then we checkout of the hotel at 4 p.m. tomorrow to head to the airport and depart for Guangzhou. The flight is about an hour and a half - it will be a good test to see how Jadyn does on the plane. We will have one short flight home from Guangzhou to Beijing and then the long flight from Beijing to Chicago - that is the one I am most worried about. Looking forward to coming home though; we miss the boys and everyone else dearly. We also are missing the comforts of home:)

Well, enjoy the pics from today!