Shanghai'd

Putuo Mountain.

Last weekend, we took a trip to Putuo Shan, one of China's 4 famous Buddhist mountains. Putuo Shan is actually a tiny island off the Shanghai coast in the East China Sea, also know as the Pacific Ocean. The trip was organized by Tim's colleagues and we made a group of 23 people, including 3 Americans and one 5 year old boy. I have to give some props to the planning committee, it is not easy to settle the logistics for 23 people, and everything went very smoothly.

We left Friday night by ferry from the north dock on the Yangtze River. The overnight ferry departed at 7:30 pm and arrived at 6:30 the next morning at Putuo Shan. I cannot report anything about the trip, except that I had a bed and promptly fell asleep when I got on the boat. So I guess the trip over was not too bad. We stashed our luggage on arrival and set out on foot, first to the massive golden Guan-Yin statue - goddess of fertility. We then walked through some saffron colored buildings (assumed the housing for the saffron-clad monks) and onto some rocks near the sea. While the color of the buildings was beautiful, the color of the sea was not. The same cappuccino hue found off the coast of Shanghai. The largest temple, Puji temple was next then we hit the beach for some frisbee. The weather was beautiful and the island was well planned for tourists. There were wooden blanked walkways through lush roadside forests that lead over the whole island. The most interesting thing about the temples was to see so many Chinese openly burning incense, kneeling and praying. Its not something I associated with the culture before, and I was forced to open my mind a little more.

That night, we sadly left Putuo Shan for nearby Zhou Shan for cheaper accommodations. Tim and I were worried at first, we saw many things that were "typical China" when we wanted to soak up more of serene Putuo Shan. Fortunately, our fears were calmed by the home-cooked family style meal the hotel owners prepared and served us outdoors on plywood benches. Zhou shan is famous for crab (we could tell by the 6' tall crab statues all over the island) and the crab was magnificent. The next day we headed to a nearby beach for a barefoot soccer game. The beach was gorgeous, and reminded me of a small cove Tim and I hiked down to in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. The water even seemed a little better and Tim went for a swim.

We took a faster way home - bus, boat, and bus and got back to Shanghai Sunday night around 6. It was a wonderful weekend. We vowed to get out of Shanghai more often. I expect Tim will update our photo blog soon: www.flickr.com/photos/stelzert. Be sure to check it out.

UPDATE:
Photos are now up on Flickr.