Buddhas, Blossoms, and Bomb Shelters

I'm hoping the internet gods will be smiling down on me now because I really want to make a photo-heavy post here. We just spent most of the day out of the city in an area of the municipality of Chongqing called Dazu. It is an area of lush, verdant mountains, and for once it wasn't hot and soupy. We first went to the Dazu Rock Carvings, which is an area where Buddhists carved their stories into the rocks on the sides of the hills. I have to admit, I stopped listening to the tour guide because we had to wear these ear pieces to listen to her, and I was having audio-filtering problems. Also, I am not very good at remembering numbers, but I think they were made around 1200 A.D. Basically, they're old and intricate and interesting to contemplate.

After that, we drove over to a lotus farm. I had never considered that there would be such a thing as a lotus farm, but there you have it. It actually seemed more like a garden-restaurant. Regardless, I think it was the most beautiful place I've been in China. There's the Great Wall, but that is more awesome, in the literal sense of the word, than beautiful. So for now, the lotus farm is the most beautiful. It was refreshing to be out of the city, and for a lot of different reasons, I just needed to have some relaxing time in a beautiful and peaceful space.

Tonight we're going to eat a hot pot dinner in a tunnel that served as a bomb shelter during WW2. Careful readers of this blog will remember that I wrote about how the Japanese hit Chongqing hard during the war because it served as the wartime capital of China. Now many of the bomb shelters in the city have been repurposed into shops and restaurants. I happened to take a photo of the place where we will eat yesterday, so I'll post it here.

Tomorrow we leave for Shanghai. I can't wait! I think Shanghai and Hong Kong are going to be the best cities of the trip.

Yay! OK, time for the photos:

Reclining Buddha and the panorama bulge

Dazu rock carvings 

More rock carvings

Finally some GREEN after all the cement-colored cities!

Moss covered path at the Dazu rock carvings

The character on the right means "west," and the one on the far left means, "one," but I don't know the center one.

A Buddha foot

Lots of Buddhas here

Loved the GREEN!

Lotus farm panorama. All the rest of the photos are also from the lotus farm except the last. I don't think they need captions

And this is the hot pot bomb shelter where we're eating dinner!