It turns out that I was still sleeping in Shaanxi last night in the one-horse town of 宝鸡 (Baoji) which is on the border between Shaanxi and Gansu. As you will see from the photos, I stayed at the very international "Vancouver International Hotel". Ha! The best hotel in town, I assure you serving a typical Shaanxi breakfast - "polenta" congee....
There is nothing of any interest in Baoji except that it is more or less midway in between two interesting sites - the (1) 法门寺 (Famen Temple) and 乾陵 Qian Mausoleums in Shaanxi province where China's first and only female emperor (武则天 Wu Ze Tian) is buried and (2) Maiji Mountain Grottoes in Gansu province. So I packed up and left Baoji bright and early at 7:30am (way earlier than setting off for work!)
More about Gansu in the next blog. A few final words about Shaanxi and the Qian Mausoleums - another lesson learnt: it pays to shut up! Buried in the vast Qian Mausoleum complex is the tomb of Princess Yongtai who was beaten to death when she was 17 on the orders of the Empress Wu because young Yongtai dared to gossip about the Empress' young and handsome courtiers. And then to cover it all up, her family was forced to say to the world that the Princess died at childbirth. Another unpleasant lesson of life.
A surprisingly interesting site near the Qian Mausoleums is the Famen Temple. This is the place where one of the few sarira (舍利）of the Buddha is kept. Originally, it lay under the ground beneath a tower which was destroyed during an earthquake in the 1980s, which revealed the hidden chamber. Now, the entire area has been rebuilt into a Buddhist "Disneyland" with the help of funds from devout Taiwan buddhists. and you can definitely identify the Taiwan buddhist influence (lots of gold and white and large and loud). Not being a buddhist, it was still interesting to learn of the mysticism behind a sarira. But what really struck me were the amazing Tang dynasty treasures kept in the hidden chamber to honor the sarira - take a look at the delicate glass tea cup and the gold and silver turtle - a Tang dynasty tea caddy where one twists the tail and the right amount of tea comes out of the mouth! Cool!
