Dazu is another city in Chongqing. Chongqing is a province, and we spent the day in Chongqing City yesterday, and that's also where our hostel is. I wasn't about to complain about the long bus ride though, it was the perfect time to sleep! Well, after freaking out over the video they showed, which was real footage of busses crashing and people flying through the windows. It was shown to get us all to buckle up, and to really freak out the third of us whose seatbelts didn't work.
Let me just tell you how helpful the typical Chinese person is. If they know any English at all, they will be at your side trying to help you. Or if they are driving a bus that includes 8 white people, they will stop that bus and jump in front of another bus to make sure your transfer bus can't leave you. We seriously couldn't have made it through the day without several bus drivers who somehow knew exactly where we wanted to go! Which was Dazu - home of the Baodingshan Rock Carvings.
The entrance was grand, so it took us a while to get through. Our whole group is very sure to get pictures of everything, so we move a little bit slow but I think it is worth it. We admired the view, rang a very large and loud bell, and got this picture of Bailey with his favorite animal.
Another spot to see was a temple that we couldn't get in.
No problem though, we were more interested in the loud fireworks right next to it. Of course Bailey and Mitch had to be in on it, and got some killer prices on firecrackers and incense. A whole bunch of old men were there to make sure everything was lit properly, I'm kind of thinking it was some religious thing going on. One old man was pulling out money and showing us, we don't know if he wanted our money to keep or to burn. Apparently burning money is a thing, but we escaped that one.
We finally made it over to the ancient carvings and my breath was instantly taken away. I so wish I had taken an Asian art history class, because I'm not super familiar with this kind of stuff but it is incredible! I just had to sit and stare at it. There was so much going on! It is crazy to imagine the work that went into each carving. And crazy to imagine them in their prime, all painted and covered in pure gold!
One of the carvings was refurbished and protected by a building built probably just last century. If it was my decision, I probably wouldn't have refurbished it, but I do have to say that it was amazing. I wish I could have seen it before the building was there, it would have been blinding in the sun!
The largest sleeping Buddha in the world (according to one of Bailey's students) was in the area where we were at. You know, right behind a screen. Apparently they were having some water issues around it last year, so it is closed for repair! We were so sad! but we peered through the holes in the screen (it was also kind of see-through) and admired the print of it instead.
One thing that I love about ancient art is that so much of it tends to be religious, so it is not too hard to find out what's going on in each work of art if you are familiar with the culture. And in my Renaissance classes there are very obvious relations between Catholicism and Mormonism considering they are both Christian faiths. But like I said, I'm not very familiar with Asian art or Buddhism in general, so a lot of this was a guessing game with the help of some plaques. What was interesting to find, though, was that in a lot of the depictions I saw parts of my faith. Some of the scenes even reminded me of things that happen in our temples. One theme that was very reoccurring was the number 15. There were, in many depictions, three large buddhas in the middle with 6 smaller ones on each side. Everyone in my group instantly thought of the Godhead and 12 apostles! At one point we walked into a cave, and I didn't get a good picture of this, but there were 3 big buddhas in the front, 6 on each side of the cave, and a man kneeling in the middle. It was kind of intense, and we all thought of the judgement. I really do believe that there is truth in every religion, but I'm grateful to be a part of the religion that I believe has the full truth.
Anyway, that's all for that section of the carvings. At the end of seeing all that and eating cold noodles that are typical of the area (I loved them!), we found a van that would take us to another part of the city that has rock carvings. We bargained with the lady, agreed on a price, and to drive us she called over a kid who I swear was 15! All 8 of us squished into the van and went on a crazy ride. Seriously crazy - the driver was sweating by the time he dropped us off!
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