Monday, May
18, 2009
LAST FULL DAY
Hi
everyone. Well unbelievably, it’s our last full day in China .
Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since we left Florida , and now 671
photos later, tomorrow we head to Hong Kong for one more night
before getting our flight home on Wednesday. Today is our last
post from China , and I’m actually sad about that. We’ve had
such a fantastic experience here, and while on the one hand, I’m
ready to get us home, it is still sad to say good-bye.
Today we went to both the Chen Family Compound and the Temple of
the Banyan Trees. As we got to the compound some women asked
Emma to play hacky sack with them – and she did pretty ok too.
The Chen Family Compound is described as a clan building, where
members of the clan would go and pray. While many of the older,
more traditional buildings in Guangzhou were destroyed during
the Cultural Revolution, this courtyard network of buildings
survived as a print house. Now it is maintained by a combination
of the government, admission fees and donations. Inside it had
beautiful carvings from all different materials, including wood,
ivory, brick and other things, but by far the most spectacular
things they had were these embroideries. Now, I thought I knew
embroidery – but this was on a whole other level. There were
sceneries and portraits, including reflections either in mirrors
or in lakes, all done with embroidered silk! As sketches or
paintings, they would be absolutely lovely, but as embroidered
silk, they are by far, the most breathtaking pieces of art I’ve
ever seen – they beat anything I’ve seen in any museum (and I’ve
been to some pretty famous museums including the Louvre, Prado,
Florence….you get the point). Sadly, I cannot adequately
describe them here. I tried to take photos, but you’re not
allowed. I snuck in one, but it’s the least impressive (sorry).
Afterwards, we went to the Temple of the Banyan Trees with the
1000 Buddha Pagoda. Unfortunately, coming from all the
phenomenal sites in Beijing , its hard to be impressed by much
now, but the best part of this visit was when the 4 families
were given a special blessing by a monk in the Temple with the
three Buddhas. Kneeling at the middle Buddha, Ethan, Emma and I
alternated between bowing our heads to the floor (cow-towing)
and staring up at this huge gold smiling face, while we were
sprinkled with water and the monk chanted a blessing. Despite my
weak description, it was very moving.
Afterwards, we had lunch, went into a few stores, and then came
home for a much needed bath and naptime while mom packed. And
now we head to dinner. Tomorrow everything gets finalized, and I
think we actually take an oath at a ceremony at the consulate
before catching our train to Hong Kong . We’ll stay overnight in
Hong Kong and then our long trip home begins…..
I want to thank all of you for your beautiful and supportive
posts and emails these past weeks. It’s meant so much to share
this entire journey with all of you. I’ll post an update again
as soon as I can – and this time, it will be from home – with
Ethan in his new room in his new house.
Wish us luck on the train, in Hong Kong and then the flight (oy,
the flight). Once I make it through the next 3 days, I’ll be a
seasoned traveler with 2 kids, and NOTHING will seem that
difficult again!
All the very best, and with lots of love, Dawn |
Emma playing hacky
sack with some local women
Chen Compound courtyard
Silk embroidery at Chen Compound
Dragons in park outside compound
Temple where we were blessed |
