Once Upon A Time In China
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Friday, September 11, 2009
Chongqing Winter 2009 Yaw from URL @ 3:07 AM Chongqing   Chongqing, the City of Double Jubilation, is a very unique city even in China. It is a city built on a hill with the buildings occupying different layers going all the way down to the Yangzi River. It is also the most populous city in China, mainly due to a huge wave of immigration during the war with Japan. The KMT made Chongqing it's Center of Operation with excellent natural defences from the hills. Chongqing gained its self governed municipality status in 1997. This makes it on par with Shanghai, Tianjin & Beijing as a city. Chongqing is also, along with Nanjing & Wuhan, one of the furnaces in China. With high temperatures in summer, according to the guide books, a good time to visit Chongqing is during winter. But, no one told us about the fog.  Chongqing is one of the major launching point for tours to the 3 Gorges Dam. That was our purpose for this winter PLA assault. This time the PLA trio of Faiz, the X Man (another story for another time) & me braved the cold on the THE FOGGY ASSAULT ON THE 3 GORGES Dazu Rock Carving (Day 1)   Dazu, a small county outside Chongqing has one of the most awe inspiring, breath taking grotto art in China. The main focus for the grotto art is in Baodingshan. This is the work of Zhao Zhifeng. Zhao Zhifeng supervised the grotto art from 1174 - 1252 over a period of 70 years. There are over 1000 carvings depicting Tantric Buddhism anfd the integration of Confucianism , Rationalism & Taoism into Buddhism. Following Zhao Zifeng's footsteps, latter day rock carvings were also made at 4 other sites : Shizhuan Shan, Shimen Shan, Beishan & Nanshan. Alas we only had time for Baodingshan due to the shorter winter days in February. The access to Baodingshan, after 2 hours of driving, is through the Saint Longevity Monastery. The Saint Longevity Monastery was rebuilt during the Ming dynasty. The must see here is of course the 1000 arms Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) or 1007 arms to be correct.  The bulk of the carvings are located in the U shaped valley Dafowan. There are carvings of cowherds with buffaloes, episodes of daily life, drunken father, brother, sister & husband, the nether world. The centrepiece is the 31 m long Image of Sakyamuni Entering Nirvana depicting Lord Buddha's last moment on Earth where half the lying body is in heaven & the other mortal half being mourned by his disciples. Look at it long enough & you can feel yourself drifting towards the Western Paradise.        3 Gorges - Zhang Fei Temple (Day 2)    The 3 Gorges is the stuff of poetry & Chinese paintings. Stretching more than 600km all the way from Chongqing to the 3 Gorges dam just before Yichang, it is a constant scenery of emerald gorges, rushing waters & in our case, fog. It is one of the classic Chinese boat trips. Historically, the 3 Gorges is also where several battles were staged in the Romance of The 3 Kingdoms. Further downstream was where the battle of the Red Cliff took place. Now, of course, immortalised in the John Woo movie of the same name. For followers of the novel, this brings an extra dimension to the trip : Brotherhood under the Peach Tree, Burning of the Connected Boats, Naming of Heir in the White City, the Empty City Strategy...With a little bit of imagination, you can imagine the river waters red with blood.  However, the arrangement for the trip was even to bring us back to earth as it became as messy as the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms. After a few days of negotiation, we believed we have arrived at the best package for the 3 Gorges tour. Although we felt that the price could go down some more, paying RMB 3,000 for a room for the 3 of us with full tour package thrown in seems reasonable. The double transfer from hotel to tour office to bus to "cruiser" at Wanzhou was an eye opener but it didn't prepare us for the cruise itself. In the bus on the way to Wanzhou, the guy sitting next to me on the aisle spst twice on the floor next to Faiz's foot on the seat in front. Welcome to China, my friend. The cruise is a 2 night 2 day package that will take us from Wanzhou to Yichang & back. We were advised to buy whatever we need to consume before boarding the boat. We loaded a crate of beer with lots of snacks like Chang Fei Beef (Chongqing beef jerky) onto the boat.  While waiting for our room to be ready. The XMan had a peek at the room & said I hope you guys have strong knees. The bunk is a 1 by 2 metres room with 2 double decker beds & a tv too. The toilet is a half meter by half meter contraption which includes an Asian style toilet, shower head & basin. All in one ! Looking back, it wasn't that bad. But having come from the comforts of a hotel room, it seems a little bit small & in need of facilities. The first stop for the night is the Zhang Fei Temple near Yunyang. We will "miss" the first of the 3 Gorges. the Qutang Gorge near the White King Town where Liu Bei from the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms died & passed his crown to his son. It was too late in the night to fully appreciate the Qutang Gorge anyway.  Zhang Fei is, of course, the youngest of the 3 sworn brothers from the Yu Kingdom. The temple is over 1700 years old but now lies submerged by the 3 Gorges dam. The major works of art (the temple is famous for its calligraphy) & the ornate front gate. The temple was built in Yunyang County as legend has it, after Zhang Fei was killed by his subordinates (because they cannot tahan his military training), his head was brought here. His head was fished out of the river with a bag of gold which is used to build the temple.  The poet, Du Fu spent 2 years here & other then his calligraphy, there is also a statue of him with that of Zhang Fei & his brothers : Liu Bei & Guan Yu. But seriously, why would some one want to visit a temple at night ? This I believe is to suit the schedule of the boats going downstream to Yichang 3 Gorges - Lesser 3 Gorges & Hanging Coffins (Day 3)  A major activity day for the trip. The day started with a transfer of boats so that we can enter the Lesser 3 Gorges. Scenery here is nicer as the river is smaller & the Gorges nearer. Our first stop is the Luo Village Temple. On the way there, we passed several Gorges with one looking like the Laughing Buddha & another that looks like a Guan Yin  The Luo Village Temple is a very small temple with a Buddha on  a small spring. It is said that whoever drinks from this spring will have scholastic achievements. Besides that, the temple also have an excellent view looking down on the Lesser 3 Gorges as well as grilled birds at the jetty.  From the Lesser 3 Gorges, we again transfer to a smaller sampan type boat to the Lesser Lesser 3 Gorges. These boats are are now rowed by ex-boat pullers. These are Tujia minority groups that used to depend on pulling boats up the stream for a living. However, since the flooding of the Yang Zi by the dam, they now only lead tour groups up river, singing a folk song or 2 along the way for tips from the tourist.    An intresting oddity in the Lesser Lesser 3 Gorges at Bellows Gorge is the Hanging Coffins. Despite the action, we were constantly reminded by the 5 - 10C foggy weather & the close That's how we spent the rest of the afternoon that day. Among the highlights of the afternoon cruise is the Goddess Peak (Shennu Feng) on the Wu Gorge (the 2nd of the 3 Gorges). This is the higest peak on the gorge & legend says that the goddess is a fairy by the name of Yaoji. With her 11 sisters, they helped Da Yu controlled the great flood more than 5,000 years ago. 3 Gorges - Qu Yuan's Birthplace & 3 Gorges Dam (Day 4)  We were all wo So we came to Qu Yuan's birthplace, which is some 100 meters below water level. We split up into smaller groups & all sat into dragon boats that we do not need to paddle because they are all equipped with motors. We stopped somewhere in Xiling Gorge, took a hike nearby before heading back to the mother ship. That was to be the last stop before we end up at the 3 Gorges Dam.
When the dam was built, an area larger than the size of Singapore was flooded by more than 100 So it was with mixed feeling that we appreciated this engineering marvel at the 3 Gorges Dam After the tour, we decided against taking the boat back to Chongqing as it will be filled to the brim with many local folks returning home for Chinese New Year. So we dropped ship at Yichang to fly back to Chongqing the next day. Yichang is a small city, albeit one of the fastest growing ones, that is quite forgettable except for cheap food & booze. Chongqing - Ciqi Kou (Day 5) Our flight back to Chongqing was delayed by heavy fog. With only the afternoon left, we decided to go to CiQiKou (Procelain Mouth). This area used to supply lots of chinaware to the capital during the Han dynasty (about 1000 years ago). Now it is like a conservation area with lots of local food & snacks as well as souvenir shops.  It is very busy & colourful. There was a guy dressed up like Zhang Fei selling Zhang Fei Beef. Lots of calligraphers to write your names on paper & on grains of rice. All kinds of local delicacies like candies, mutton satay, spicy intestines soup with pigs blood, etc. But nothing prepared us for the Indian Flying Pastry House. A roti prata shop in downtown Chongqing helmed by 2 mamas who speaks Hindi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, English, Malay & of c And of course, after the adventure down the 3 Gorges we have to reward ourselves with a 5 star seafood dinner on a boat restaurant serving fresh fish from the Yang Zi River. FengDu, The Ghost City (Day 6) Feng Du is more than 2 hours drive from Chongqing through small roads but it is a place that we have to visit. This place was built since the Tang Dynasty & has always been acknowledged to be the gateway to the nether world from ours. Again due to time constraints, we were not able to complete the whole place but we at least visited the temple, the descend to the nether world & a walk down the Ghost Street. The day was so foggy that the driver wasn't sure whether we could make the journey or not. Nevertheless we prevailed & when we reached Feng Du, it looks like we were the only tourist there. The place was very rustic with some areas in disrepair. Together with the heavy fog & the tour guide that materialised out of the fog, this was the perfect setting for a visit to the Ghost City. We first toured the temple after which the guide then brought us to a very ancient looking small Guan Yin Temple and then to the Zhong Kui Temple. Zhong Kui is the official Ghost Catcher in Chinese mythology. He was a scholar during the Tang Dynasty that was stripped of his Top Scholar title because he was born very ugly. He was so upset that he crashed his head on a pillar & died. Upon his death, the Jade Emperor made him an official in his after life. Our guide pointed to a pillar at the temple & said that that was the spot where Zhong Kui died. Having said that, she then led us to a long stairway going down & said that this is the border between our world & theirs. She cannot follow us down but gave us final instructions for our descent to hell. For example she said we have to cross with the right leg first across the bridge to the nether world & have to do it in 3 steps. We also cannot call each other's name & cannot leave anything behind like purchase anything. However, since the designated nether world has now been converted to a theme park, we all gave it a skip & moved to the Ghost Street. The Ghost Street actually resembles one of those old Chinese Street you see in the movies. Except that the vendors are selling to the ghost & the temples are for the Gods of Hell & Prosperity. Feng Du completes the trip & we took the ride back to Chongqing to catch the late flight back to Singapore. The Food Sichuan food especially Chongqing hotpot is famous the world over. Now we have the opportunity to try it at source. Sichuan food is different in spiciness from other food mainly due to its numbing effects. This is due to the Sichuan pepper or the "Little Bastards" as I called them. Bite into it accidentally & whiskey will have no taste. Most of the food we had are varieties of the hotpot using the peppers : like the fish head hotpot that we had, the water boiled fish which is whole fish cooked in Sichuan spicy stew, or chuan chuan guo : Chongqing hotpot luk luk style. It was so good we had 300 sticks of it in 1 seating. The best of all is to have it in open tentage or kopi tiam style in the middle of winter where the cold gives respite to the numbing spicy food in Chongqing. Decidedly this is a very rushed trip & there are more of Chongqing to be seen. We may return to Chongqing some day in the future. We know now that the Once Upon A Time in China Chronicles has really started sailing. Oh, and one last caution. If you go to Dazu, no matter how hungry you are, asked for the price of the noodles before ordering & don't tell the vendor where you are from. Otherwise you'll be paying 25 RMB a bowl of noodles. We were glad that The XMan offered to pay before asking the price.
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These are coffins stuffed into the sides of the cliff about 100 meters off the top. They have been around since the Han Dynasty (2,000 years ago) and are said to be the coffins of noble Tujia men. Scientific research said that the coffins were moved up the cliff using stakes for climbing from the foot. There were also evidence of female bodies which were forcibly killed to accompany their husbands in the after world. & why were they up there ? Maybe it is a prevention against grave robbers.
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