9/12/06 ~ Old City

On the Rio: Big Maceo ~ I Got the Blues

It is officially autumn here, according to the lunar calendar. The temperature has dropped to the mid 70s, and it's been raining. It was actually pleasant to be outside this weekend.

I returned to the Old City. I took the roundabout way of getting there, but saw some sites I hadn't planned on. First I came across the Dajing Pavilion.

It's a 3-storey tower that originally served as a battlement from which archers could fire on marauding Japanese pirates in the 16th century.

It adjoins the only surviving section of the Ming Dynasty city wall.

Subsequently it was converted into the Guangong Temple and today houses a rather primitive exhibition dedicated to the native city. A small model fo the old town and a short series of Chinese annotated visuals chronicling the area's history can be found on the second floor.

It neighbors the White Cloud Taoist Temple.

It looks like it has seen a bit of history, but actually was only completed in 2004. The temple serves as a stage for the daily rituals of Taoist monks, and supposedly possesses seven unique Ming Dynasty bronze statues, although I didn't see any of this.

I did not venture down the alley way to Dajing Lu Market, one of the city's biggest food markets, said to be packed with sellers of unfathomable varieties of vegetables, fish and assorted aquatic creatures. I wasn't feeling very brave; maybe another weekend.

Here is the entrance to Shanghai Old Street.

Here is one of many pearl and jewelry markets.

Walking home I came across this abacus statue in a park.

I've been in several shops that used an abacus rather than a calculator or computer to tally my bill.

An avid reader recently asked me about visiting so many temples on this adventure. I have found that in most of my travels, places of worship are usually a focal point, mostly due to the incredible architecture devoted to them, as well as the artwork (whether paintings or sculptures or carvings or caligraphy), or some bit of history that it belongs too. During my travels in Eastern Europe I visited a lot of monestaries (some of my van-mates may say too many), Catholic Churches and Cathedrals in Poland and Italy, Lutheran Churches in Germany, Mosques in Turkey, Orthodox churches in Greece, Russia and the Ukraine, Islamic Madrasas in Uzbekistan, and now I get to experience the Eastern Religion temples.

I believe that my exposure to these places of worship has offered me some insight into the religions that they represent and has often peaked my curiousity to learn more about them, and offered a perspective that cannot be achieved only via book learning. I truly hope I am a more tolerant person for this.

And couldn't the world use a lot more of that these days?