Not Able to Perceive All the Views at Xuzhou's Zhulin Temple

This past weekend after reaching the top of the hill where Xuzhou's Zhulin Temple* (竹林寺) sits, I immediately sought out the Avalokitesvara Pavilion (观音阁). It isn't hard to spot.

This is the same pavilion which appears in front of a setting sun in a photo I earlier shared. I hoped to go to the top floor of the pavilion and take a photo in the direction of where I had taken the earlier photo to provide both symmetry and contrast.

However, my plans were thwarted.

Without being able to reach the pavilion's upper levels, it wasn't possible to see over the trees and bamboo in the direction I wanted to photograph.

Oh well.

At least I was able to see the large statue of Avalokitesvara inside the pavilion.

Normally I would have used the name Guanyin instead of Avalokitesvara in English, since that seems to be more commonly used when referring to this bodhisattva in China. But a few signs at the temple used the name Avalokitesvara for the pavilion's English name, so I will go with that. The Dunhuang Foundation helps explain the naming issue:

It is generally agreed among Chinese Buddhists and scholars of Buddhist studies that the figure Guanyin is the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. . . .

Avalokitesvara is the bodhisattva who represents compassion. . . .

Guanyin in Chinese means "Perceiver of all Sounds," which refers to the way in which Guanyin is able to hear all prayers and cries for help.

In India, bodhisattvas are genderless or are referred to as male. The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, or Guanyin, is often depicted as female in China.

One reason for this gender fluidity is due to the way the Bodhisattva has the ability to manifest on earth in many different forms.

I don't know why the pavilion's upper floors were closed. It reminded of several other pavilions and pagodas I have recently visited in China only to discover they were in similar states. Maybe Guanyin knows why.

Anyway, I don't have a photo to provide some symmetry with the earlier one, but at least I was able to capture the Avalokitesvara Pavilion with some pretty decent cloudage.






* Sometimes the literal translation "Bamboo Forest Temple" is used in English.

More Clouds Above Shanghai

I suspect some readers are far less excited about clouds than I am, but China has helped me better appreciate them. So please forgive me as I perseverate on this theme. On that note, here is a photo recently taken looking eastward down Yan'an Middle Road (延安中路) in Shanghai while standing on a pedestrian bridge at the intersection with Ruijin No. 1 Road (瑞金一路) and Shimen No. 1 Road (石门一路):

If you look closely at the left side of the photo, you may be able to spot some buildings which appear prominently in a more iconic Shanghai scene I shared, of course also with clouds.

I promise that posts sans clouds are on the way. But more clouds just might happen as well.

Some Hongkou Clouds in Shanghai

Since I shared a photo of clouds above a famous skyline in Shanghai, the wonderfully pleasant weather and relatively good air quality has continued — a welcomed change from the many smoggy days I have experienced here in the past. This has significantly helped me not regret having not yet moved on to my next destination. To continue the cloud theme, I will share a few photos taken today in Shanghai's Hongkou district of scenes not as famous as Shanghai's towering buildings in Lujiazui.

Two photos taken in front of Hongkou Plaza that include the elevated tracks for Line 3 of the Shanghai Metro:

Two photos taken under rather different lighting conditions at nearby Lu Xun Park:

And finally, a sign at Sida Road of how Shanghai's light pollution makes it easy to spot clouds even at night:

Not sure how long the current weather and air quality here will last, but I recommend making the most of it if you can.

Clouds Above an Iconic China Scene

I saw some nice clouds today, so I took a photo.

Oddly enough, a lot of other people seemed to be taking photos of the clouds as well. So it might not be hard to find photos similar to the one above. Who would have guessed?

On a slightly more serious note, I hadn't planned to share a photo of such an iconic and familiar scene to announce my arrival in this city. But I really do like clouds. And the weather was wonderful today. I am not even going to bother with the "guess the city" game. Too easy. Yes, my two days of travel and multiple cities ultimately ended with me arriving in Shanghai — the city in China where I have spent the most time, though it has been a while since I was last here. More about that and other topics, including returning to some things I have left hanging, soon.

A Changing Gambling View at a Wetland in Macau

More than seven years ago in a post about Macau's gambling world I shared a photo of several of Macau's casinos as seen from the other side of the Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança Wetland Ecological Viewing Zone. Here is another photo I took at the same time from a slightly different vantage point:

2012

I chose the above photo because it captures almost exactly the same perspective as a photo I took last week while walking in Avenida da Praia, Taipa, where I also saw some colorful artwork on display.

2019

The photos were taken at different times of the day under different lighting conditions and with different cameras and lenses. The more recent photo includes more greenery and Macanese clouds as well. But perhaps the most remarkable difference is the additional buildings in the second photo. Most notably, the architecturally intriguing Morpheus Hotel on the far left now blocks the view of another building of the City of Dreams resort and casino.

There are many other similar significant additions to this part of Macau, including the boxy MGM Cotai, the Wynn Palace with its gondola lift, and The Parisian Macau. If you know what to look for, you can find slivers of each of those three casinos resorts as well in the second photo. I'm not sure what this view will look like in another seven years, but the casino resort construction in this region of Macau certainly continues — just not in the wetland.

West Into the Clouds on Sun Wen West Road in Zhongshan

During the past two years I have shared night scenes here and here from Zhongshan's Sun Wen West Road Pedestrian Street — a historic street without the signs which can be found nearby warning of dangerous buildings. Below are two scenes as night was falling there two days ago. The lighting and clouds added a special effect.

A Taller Tower in Guangzhou's Clouds

The previous post, "The Two Towers of Guangzhou", featured a photo of two skyscrapers reaching into the clouds at night. The building on the left is the Guangzhou Chao Tai Fook (CTF) Finance Centre and the building on the right is the Guangzhou International Finance Center (IFC). They are sometimes referred to the East Tower and West Tower, respectively. The CTF Finance Centre is the taller of the two and is currently the third-tallest building in China and seventh-tallest in the world.

But the title for most iconic tower in Guangzhou probably wouldn't be awarded to either of these buildings and instead go to the Canton Tower. It isn't counted as a building, but it is even taller than CTF Finance Centre and is the fourth-tallest freestanding structure in the world.

I took the photo below of the Canton Tower shortly after the previously shared photo from a location just feet away. The scene was especially remarkable to me because the view was unusually clear thanks to genuinely good air quality.

I would say the big story related to these towers isn't their heights but closer to ground-level, including below it. A story of urban planning for another day . . . 

A Passing Day in Qingyuan

Clouds Over Zhongshan

Yesterday's clouds in Zhongshan caught my eye. Today for the same reason more did. So on this second day of the National Day Holiday period in China, below are eight photos of clouds which also capture a bit of life in Zhongshan and the variety of architecture there.

A National Day Moon and Soccer Show in Zhongshan

The last post of September included a photo of the moon. I happened to have a good view of the moon today, so I will start October in a similar fashion.

The clear view of the billowing clouds also caught my eye.

Today is National Day in China and the beginning of a long holiday period. Once again, I find myself spending the holiday in Zhongshan – a city bordered by Foshan, Guangzhou, Jiangmen, and Zhuhai in Guangdong province. Two years ago, I shared photos of people in Zhongshan spending National Day with patriotic flags and without flags. I didn't arrive in Zhongshan until the late afternoon today, so I won't be doing the same this time. Instead, here is a photo from tonight of the west end of the Sun Wen West Road Pedestrian Street:

And yes, already things nearby were getting wild and crazy as usual.

I assume those are wigs. And that's all for today.

A Moment of Blue Skies and Good Air in Beijing

When I see people excitedly mention blue skies in Beijing, I typically have conflicting feelings. On one hand, I feel happy they are enjoying a beautiful sky. On the other hand, I find it regrettable that the moment is so special in part due to air pollution.

But I felt only amazement after existing Beijing's Dongsi Shitiao metro station a couple of weeks ago and seeing a blue sky with clouds that look normal to me though not to everybody in China. Blue skies don't always equal good air quality, but in this case the pollution levels were good according to U.S. standards for both short term and long term exposure. The sky and air were quite a change of pace from the heavy pollution on the day I arrived from Hong Kong and many other days I have experienced in Beijing.

So here are a few photos from a moment which shouldn't have been so remarkable but was.

A Sight to Capture in China

Blue skies with clouds have caught my attention in China before. On a bridge in Shaoguan, I saw them catch somebody else's attention.

Two More Blue Sky Scenes in a Zhongshan Village

More blue sky & clouds scenes, these from today in Shimen Village, Zhongshan:

Sharing these and other photos of blue skies in Zhongshan (here and here) was partly inspired by my recent experience viewing some photos shared by friends elsewhere in the world. I doubt the deep blue skies had been intended to be the primary area of focus in their photos, and I found it striking my eyes were so drawn to them.

I will move on to other topics shortly. For more thoughts on how blue skies and "normal" clouds can seem unusual to me and others in China, see an earlier post with photos from Macau here.

More Blue Skies In Hengyang

Blue skies in Hengyang have not been frequent during my time here, but fortunately today was another exception.

More about blue skies (or lack thereof) elsewhere in China, mobile phone sales, and other topics soon . . .

Photos That Nearly Made Here it in 2013

When I upload a photo to Picasa it usually means I plan to use it soon in a blog post. But sometimes things don't go as planned. So to start off 2014 here, I will share a mishmash of photos from 2013 that were uploaded but for one reason or another never made their way into a published post. In addition to any descriptions, I'll share links to earlier related posts--all except two from 2013. Together they provide reminders of a tiny bit of what was covered here during the previous year and a hint of some of what else I had hoped to share and write about.

So in chronological order...

2013 for me began celebrating in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After Kuala Lumpur, I went to Penang, where I listened to a woman describe her challenges visiting her son in the US, and later Melaka, where not far from the Melaka River I saw this shop in a mall:

Some of the flip-flops (sandals) for sale caught my attention:

What do all of the brands on these flip-flops have in common? They are all global online services created and based in the US. I didn't see any Baidu, WeChat, or Tencent flip-flops...

Later in Melaka, I think not to far from where I met a young woman seeking forgiveness, I looked up and saw this:

For more about why my time in China has given me a deeper appreciation of blue skies with "normal" clouds, see the 2012 post "Skies and Clouds in China" with scenes from Macau.

After Malaysia, I headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where I documented many examples of people riding pedal-powered vehicles, motorbikes, and motorized-vehicles which were pulling or pushing something. However, there was one example, like one of a coffin being delivered on a motorbike, that I had hoped to share in its own post. I never got around to the post, so here is the photo:

Street vehicles weren't the only thing on my mind in Phnom Penh. For example, at one shop I noticed this screen for a cash register at a small convenience store:

In Cambodia, both US and Cambodian currency are regularly used, and transactions can include both. The above screen is presumably an attempt to make life easier and reduce the number of errors.

While in Cambodia I also went to the riverside town of Kampot. In the countryside I walked to Fish Isle, ate a mysterious sea creature, surprised a little girl by answering her phone call, and explored the area to the north by bike. I didn't share many scenes from central Kampot, but here's one at a large market:

After Cambodia, I went to Vietnam, Taiwan, and the US. No unused uploaded photos from those places, but there's one from my next stop: Seoul, South Korea:

This was one of several MLB (Major League Baseball) stores I saw in Seoul. In the window the logo for the Los Angeles Dodgers can be seen--the same team some men were watching at Seoul's Namdaemun Market.

After returning to China, I had the opportunity to revisit Cheung Chau--one of Hong Kong's outlying islands. While there, I saw this monkey:

I had considered posting the photo without any comment except a title something like "Orange Ennui in Cheung Chau".

Fortunately, ennui wasn't an issue for me on Cheung Chau. Nor was it during my visits to nearby Macau where I saw beer speeding through the streets on the peninsula and these three young women in Cotai:

Almost 2 years ago I shared my experience taking a random bus ride in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. Several months ago I took another random bus ride in Zhuhai. Maybe someday I will share more of what I saw, but for now I will just say I was particularly surprised to hear, and then see, goats:

Also while in Zhuhai, I shared some scenes from a late-night outdoor dining establishment. For a contrast, here's an outdoor dining scene at a pricier establishment:

Usually I enjoy the local Chinese-style seafood in Zhuhai, but this is my favorite place for a smoked salmon sandwich.

Finally, more recently I shared a scene from a restaurant in Changsha--a city where I've seen a lot of change. This is the spicy chicken dish I ate for lunch at the restaurant:

And that brings this unplanned set of photos to a close. Undoubtedly, more photos, experiences, and thoughts from previous years will appear here in the future--as will new ones.