Getting to know JiaXian

Our second day at Jiaxian was the visit to the communities. JiaXian was mountainous, and the weather in the villages is cold.   

In the early morning and on our way to the communities, we dropped by a Daoist temple.  It was a nice one on top of a hill.  We brought some dried dates, one of the main products of Jiaxian.

The Daoist temple from afar...

We visited communities, talked to our partners, teachers, parents and the children. The people in the community were in awe when they saw Shanta, our colleague from Nepal because of her Nepali costume, and South Asian feature.  I, on the other hand, was again mistaken to be Chinese (but of course :-) ).

There is one reality in China , which I did not see in other countries I have visited.  In this part of the world, there is a  huge number of "left-behind" children.  These are children who had to stay school dormitories because their parents work in another place and there is nobody home to take care of them.  The school teachers or caretakers become their second parent.  And I believe, our organization's programs there is a good response to this situation.  We train the caretakers  and children about proper child care, nutrition, hygiene and about children's rights. This will enable the caretakers to take good care of the children, and knowing their rights, the children would also be able to take care of themselves.  And I commend our China colleagues for coming up with these programs- and also the school authorities and teachers for taking on the additional responsibility of being the caretakers of these children.

Children live and are cared for in these school dormitory

After the visit, we did a short debriefing about our findings together with our field office colleagues and our partners.  In the late afternoon, we traveled back to Yulin where we spent the night before we fly back to Xian. 

 

Ta Phrom, the Jungle Temple

Now more associated with Angelina Jolie (Lara Croft) and Tomb Raider (which was shoot there), Ta Phrom is the temple which would give visitors an out-of-this world feeling. 

Giant trees co-exist with the ancient temple of Ta Phrom. The temple and the trees merged to form one beautiful jungle temple, as if the roots are hugging the crumbling temple to keep it up. With the trees and temple as one, it is hard to imagine one without the other. It left me speechless.The temple, surrounded by a jungle, was built in honour of the King's mother- now, the 300 year old trees, a fitting tribute to her. It left me speechless.

I could not stop clicking my iphone camera.   I wish  brother and my photography friends were with me- we would hve spent the whole day shooting all the nooks and cranny of the temple. Or maybe,if my high school friends were with me, we would have spent a lot of time playing Lara Croft. :)

The "tomb raiders" taking their selfies

I wish i dressed up as Lara Croft!

Me and my travel buddies-- happily concluding our Angkor Wat adventure

Bayon: Ancient Temple in an Ancient City

Angkor used to be the capital of Cambodia, during the Khmer time from the 9th to 15th century. It is hard for me to believe that this forest, with several ruins, was where around a million people, with great culture, lived. It was said that in the 15th century the Khmer Kings abandoned Angkor. Angkor Thom lost its power and people abandoned the city for hundreds of years. (Read about the story of Angkor in bbc.com) Only the local monks and villagers know of this ancient city within the jungle until it was found in the 1860s and archaeologists came to uncover it.  And the great temple complex was revealed to the world. To date, around 2 million tourists come to see this enchanting place. 

Bayon temple ruins

Tourists..tons of them...and there's Carlos and Dracuse 

Angkor Thom was then the center of power, and is surrounded and protected by a wall. The Bayon temple, which is the temple of the King, is right in the middle of the Angkor Thom. The Bayon (or Prasat Bayon) is one of the must-visit temple ruins in Angkor Wat. Even in its current state, it is a beauty. 

The temple has galleries in the lower ground and several standing towers (it is said to have 37 remaining towers to date) . We first explored the galleries in the lower ground. Our guide showed us the different sculptures (or they refer to it as bas-reliefs) in the wall. Through the bas reliefs, we were taken back to the Khmer time.  It reveals everyday life scenes of the Khmer during the 1200s and 1300s. This includes processions, market scenes and cockfighting. The bas reliefs also show historical scenes, which are mostly about battles: marching armies, horsemen, naval battle, and war machines.  Legends and mythology are also etched in the gallery walls. We were amazed at the details. I was wondering how many years it took them to carve everything , by hand. 

The upper terrace of the temple has towers. Each of the tower has three or four gigantic stone faces.  It is said that the upper terrace has more than 200 stone faces, each is around 13 feet tall. If only for these 800+ years old stone faces, Bayon is one of the most spectacular temples I have ever seen.

Bayon is a bucket-list worthy destination.  

The Wat Ho Phra Keo, the Visiting Monks and Selfies

The second wat or temple I have visited in Vientiane is the Wat Ho Phra Keo or Haw Phra Kaew. I have seen quite a number of Buddhist wats during my visit in Bangkok and Ayutthaya in Thailand, and in Cambodia. By now, they tend to look the same to me- which I think is more due to the fact that I lack knowledge of Buddhism ,which make me miss the details.

But what is special about the Wat Ho Phra Keow is that it was built in the 1500s to be the temple for the Laotian royals and it also housed the Emerald Buddha.   It is said that the Emerald Buddha was seized by the Thais when Siam raided Vientiane in 1700s.  The Emerald Buddha is now displayed in the temple in the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Now, visitors of Thailand always include a visit to the Emerald Buddha in their itineraries. What a loss to Vientiane! 

The congregation hall

A lady getting ready to welcome the visitors

The Ho Phra Keo is a small wat with a small beautiful garden. The temple is adorned with bronze Buddha statues.  The wood carvings are likewise impressive. The temple or the congregation hall is now a museum.  

Situated just across the Wat Sisaket and right beside the Palais Presidentiel, Wat Ho Phra Keo gets a lot of visitors. Among these visitors are several bus loads of monks which I chanced upon during my visit. It's interesting to see these men, wearing bright orange clad robes, all lined up to visit the temple. But what's more interesting is that most of them have their ipads with them, taking their selfies. Too bad I was not able to take a picture of their selfie moments because by then they were already giving me that warning look. 

The Wat Ho Phra Keo is is open everyday, and admission fee is 5,000 kip.  It is located along Setthathirath Road, beside the Palais Presidentiel and across the Wat Sisaket.