An Unplanned Weekend Getaway

Have you been to somewhere where you have never heard of?  Well, Lin and I had. I was telling a girlfriend, Rachel, about it some weeks ago and she was keen to hear more about it. So I decided to share the story. :)

This trip took place sometime in October 2008, but the memories are still so vivid. :))) My cousin, Steph, invited us to join her and her neighbour, Pris, on a weekend trip to Putuoshan, followed by Ningbo and Cixi. Putuoshan? Cixi? We had absolutely no idea where these places were. Ningbo...sounds familiar...Lin and I have been to Shanghai a number of times and so we thought we should venture to other places in China. For this posting, I will only talk about Putuoshan. ;)

To go to Putuoshan, we had to take an overnight ferry from Shanghai. The journey was about 8 hours. The first class cabins were fully booked and Steph's secretary got us the second class ones instead. Shocked shocked shocked.... :O The four of us were split into two cabins. Steph managed to get an uncle in boxers and singlet to change the room with us. Before he left, the uncle cleared his throat and spat onto the carpeted floor. : O Lin and I were stumped. There were two bunks beds with no mattresses other than straw mats...no idea if the mats were changed. :I Lin and I chose to sleep on the wooden chairs, Pris took to the desk. Steph was the only one who slept on the bed. :))))) Lin, Pris and I were 'watching over' Steph as she slept. There was a toilet in the room, but the stench...we didn't dare to use it....we didn't dare to drink from the water flask as well....

Lin was hit by motion sickness! Lol :))))

Let's rewind a tiny bit. While Lin and I were waiting for Steph and Pris at the jetty the night before, we noticed many passengers carrying bags of food. We did not prepare anything as we thought the ferry's F&B was going to be similiar to that on the trains. We were so wrong.... Fortunately we heeded another girlfriend, Mary's advice to shower at her place before we headed to the jetty...Steph went to the jetty straight from the office and did not manage to take a shower for two days until we reached Ningbo???

Our taste buds are spoilt! Other passengers seemed to enjoy the food served by the ferry's canteen, but we were.... we have learned from our umpteen trips to China, that when all food's not to our palatte, fried eggs/omelettes can't go wrong... We cannot say that for rice as Lin and I once ate sandy rice in Shanghai... :)))

As we boarded the ferry late at night and the lighting at the jetty was poor, we did not have an idea how the ferry was like till we arrived at Putuoshan at about 7am the next morning....

So what exactly is Putuoshan??? You get a clear picture when you step into the arrival hall.

Some facts which I had gotten from Wiki: It is famous in Chinese Buddhism, and is considered the bodhimanda of Avalokitesvara (Guan Yin), a revered Bodhisattva in many parts of East Asia. Mount Putuo is one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism, the others being Mount Wutai, Mount Jiuhua, and Mount Emei. Apparently one third of Putuoshan's population is monks.

The first thing we did when we arrived at the island was to leave our bulkier luggages at the baggage counter. The service was blah. : I The next thing we did was to get the earliest available ferry ticket to Ningbo. :))))

One of the many temples at Putuoshan.

The island appears very man-made.

Porridge and dough fritters （油条）to calm Lin's churning tummy. :)

Goddess of Mercy.

All temples are painted in mustard yellow.

The best time to visit China would be April/October. The weather's good. :)

Devotees and monks.

Praying earnestly.

We took a cable car up to the highest point on Putuoshan. The above is an aerial view of a house and its courtyard.

A pleasant trail. :)

We witnessed full body prostration for the first time!

Another popular temple.

Instead of returning to the foot of the mountain via the cable car, we decided to trek down instead. :) - A little ambitious considering Lin and I did not have proper shoes. LOL :))) She was in heels and I was wearing Steve Madden kitty heels. Ouch......

We came across a nunnery and decided to take a short cut by going through it discreetly...

We realized we could be kungfu masters too. Lol :))) It's possible to walk on roofs! Not sure about the flying though! :)))

As long as we continued walking, we would be able to reach the foot of the mountain...

Time for lunch. Again, eggs and cabbage were the most edible dishes. :)))

There was still some time before we could board the ferry to Ningbo. We decided to roam the place a little more and stumbled upon this temple. There was hardly anyone.

On the temple ground, you will find one of the oldest trees on the island.

We decided to wait for the ferry at the temple.

Putuoshan pier.

My feet... : O I have no idea why we were so unprepared for this Putuoshan trip....perhaps it was an impromtu decision. Nonetheless we enjoyed the mini trek. Lin and I would never have gone there on our own. :)