Left the city for the first time ever - our driver took a vanload of us south out of town in search of a Buddhist temple up in the hills. It was interesting to see the housing get progressively more dilapidated as we got out into the farm country. It seems to support the basis for everyone in China flocking to the cities, and once in the cities, trying to climb the economic ladder to bigger and better cities.
The temple(s) were fascinating. Within the same little valley there was a recently constructed (2005) temple monument, as well as the historic temple with the monks a little further up the road. The first batch of shots is from the monument...our driver described the statue as similar to the Virgin Mary, but another in our party hypothesized that it was a goddess of prosperity. Regardless, it was impressively huge, and lots of interesting stone sculptures and carvings all around
Apparently this particular monument was a tribute not just to prosperity...but an omage to the gods of Rock and Roll. Check out the dudes below, looking like they turned to stone during Jimmy Page's 45 minute solo in Dazed and Confused....either that or Jason Kelly's famed guitar hero performances have already been heard and immortalized 6000 miles away. Rock On!
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