Today we will tour Mt. Jiu Hua. I found it to be interesting that the buses were painted saffron and that is the official color of the local monk's clothing. Coincidence?? I don't think so!
Mt. Jiu Hua is one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains. Due to it's importance in the Buddhist religion, it has attracted many pilgrims and a large number of temples have been built in this vicinity. We visited the 200 year old Zhan Chan Lin Temple with it's gold plated and wooden statues
and Qiyuan Temple, the largest of the sacred Jiu Hua temples. 
There are 86 temples here, 6800 Buddhist statues and 700 Buddhist monks and nuns on this one mountain. 
The incense burners were both large and are also very elaborate and magnificent. 
In their religion they burn incense to offer their prayers to Buddha.
In the Anglican liturgy, we also use incense at a high mass. When it's used at one of our services, we jokingly call it Holy Smoke.
Mt. Jiu Hua is one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains. Due to it's importance in the Buddhist religion, it has attracted many pilgrims and a large number of temples have been built in this vicinity. We visited the 200 year old Zhan Chan Lin Temple with it's gold plated and wooden statues and Qiyuan Temple, the largest of the sacred Jiu Hua temples. There are 86 temples here, 6800 Buddhist statues and 700 Buddhist monks and nuns on this one mountain. The incense burners were both large and are also very elaborate and magnificent. In their religion they burn incense to offer their prayers to Buddha. In the Anglican liturgy, we also use incense at a high mass. When it's used at one of our services, we jokingly call it Holy Smoke. This old monk had a perpetual smile on his face as he was collecting the money for purchases of incense, and they sold a lot!
One Chinese phrase that we learned a little late was Bu Yao. This means "I don't want it" or "I don't need it". We didn't use this with the monks, but it would have come in very handy with the "Hello, Hello" people. If you say this to them they will leave you alone.
We had a Chinese farewell dinner tonight and it was lovely. We also had music with dinner and it was a very grand affair.
We were served all sorts of Chinese specialties and it was a real challenge to try some of them, but for the most part they were delicious. 
Since I am already packed for an early departure tomorrow, I won't be wearing my new Chinese clothes that I had made. It's much easier this way. Besides, I think I'll save the black outfit for our show at the Fort Worth Petroleum Club where the members of my painting group, Canvas by Canvas, were invited to show our paintings in a few weeks.
We were served all sorts of Chinese specialties and it was a real challenge to try some of them, but for the most part they were delicious. Since I am already packed for an early departure tomorrow, I won't be wearing my new Chinese clothes that I had made. It's much easier this way. Besides, I think I'll save the black outfit for our show at the Fort Worth Petroleum Club where the members of my painting group, Canvas by Canvas, were invited to show our paintings in a few weeks.We plan on passing out extra gratuities tonight to the people who gave us special attention on this cruise. They include Elaine, Randy and Shelly, our servers in the dining room.
You don't have assigned seating on this cruise, but these young people were so nice to us that we sat at their table most every meal on board.
You don't have assigned seating on this cruise, but these young people were so nice to us that we sat at their table most every meal on board. Then there were the three young men in the bar who took very good care of us. I have photos of two of them, but somehow never took a shot of the third one. Here is Frank with the bar manager, Colin,
and this is Ben. He's the one that said that I reminded him of his grandmother.
And of course there's Helen, our precious tour guide. She worked SO hard to make sure that everyone was comfortable and happy. She went those extra miles to take care of us, so everyone took extra good care of her. 
Speaking of Helen, I forgot to mention that a little something extra special that she did for us was to sign our books that we bought at the Great Wall with our names in Chinese. It makes a wonderful remembrance of that day that seems like it happened SOOO long ago.
and this is Ben. He's the one that said that I reminded him of his grandmother. And of course there's Helen, our precious tour guide. She worked SO hard to make sure that everyone was comfortable and happy. She went those extra miles to take care of us, so everyone took extra good care of her. Speaking of Helen, I forgot to mention that a little something extra special that she did for us was to sign our books that we bought at the Great Wall with our names in Chinese. It makes a wonderful remembrance of that day that seems like it happened SOOO long ago.She will be with us for the rest of the trip so we won't have to say goodbye to her until we get to Hong Kong.
We'll be off of the boat for good tomorrow and on our way to Shanghai. Whenever I hear the name of this city, I think of the movie "Thoroughly Modern Millie". If you remember Beatrice Lillie who played the role of Mrs. Meers who ran the boarding house for women, you'll remember that she sold the girls into "white slavery" and they were taken to Shanghai. Unfortunately I'm too old for anyone to want to buy me, so I'll be safe. I might add that I never got pinched on any of our trips to Italy either :-(
Since we'll be off of the river now for the rest of the trip, be sure to keep reading to find out what happened to us on the land. Things just keep getting better and better.
Pcasso
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