We dock about 11:30, go through the Chinese formalities, and start to congregate in the theater about 12:15 and the shore excursions meet, exchange our tickets for bus numbers and then we're off the ship about 12:45 for an exciting afternoon of the "Treasures of Tong'an. Don't forget your room key and the photocopy of your passport! Simply the drive is fascinating; lots and lots of motor bikes and scooters, fewer cars. The foliage is very tropical, Chinese law requires that builders provide about 3x green space in ratios footprint of any buildings, and the parks & gardens allow all citizens to enjoy the local greenery.
There were any number of plants I recognized from Florida; split leaf philodendrons, powder-puff plants, royal poincianas, jacarandas, and orchid trees. Felt like home and the warmest we've been on the trip, about 75. Warm!
The Treasures of Tong'an are the Fan Tian Temple, the oldest temple in Fujian Province, at more that 1400 years old. Although most of what is there now was built in the 18th century, there are some glimpses of the past in the bell tower (the bell actually), some of the carved stones. I'm starting to get the hang of the Buddhist Temples; the 4 guardians - North, East, South & West two very genial and two quite terrifying, dragons on the roofs to ward off evil, and incense everywhere carrying the prayers to heaven. Still celebrating the New Year, there were many of the Chinese following once a year traditions and for the first time we saw an incinerator with people throwing in huge amount of printed yellow paper about the size of a newspaper. Our guide explained that the printed yellow paper represented money in this life, and the faithful were burning it for their next life. A visit to the Confucius Temple followed. It was a very different experience - first of all it wasn't crowded; very few people, it was a center for learning, a museum, no incense. Built in the 10th century it was rebuilt 900 years later; the gardens are beautiful and the grounds are filled with a collection of carved stone artifacts that span over 2000 years. John sat with a lovely British couple while I wandered. Found magnificent 2000 year old carved horses, lions and emperors.
Time for the drive back to the ship and champagne! Ohh, a lovely bottle of Veuve Clicquot waiting for me!
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