China Segment

Putuoshan 普陀山 is a fantastic place to go outside Shanghai if you have about 3 days to spare. Despite the name, Putuo Mountain is actually an island with several mountains on it, off the coast of Ningbo. It is known as one of Chinese Buddhism’s four holy mountains (四大佛教名山 - see here), along with Wutaishan 五台山, Jiuhuashan 九华山, and Emeishan 峨眉山.

My wife and I went to Putuo at the end of the National Day holidays. Since most people already had to be back in Shanghai and other cities for work on the Friday and Saturday, the island wasn’t busy at all. There were a fair number of tour groups full of retirees, mostly women, but not many others besides that. We even found ourselves alone at a pagoda that was about 99% completed nearby Huiji Temple. Peace at last in China - a difficult find.

The main sites on Putuo are Puji, Fayu and Huji Temples, and the massive statue of Guanyin at the south of the island, all of which are very nice. Puji has a wonderful lotus pond in front and some peaceful gardens around it. Fayu has more impressive buildings and Buddha statues, plus a place to eat with the monks. Huji is on the far side of the island from the harbor and is a little longer to get to, but the gondola ride gives nice views and the temple itself is nice. Behind it is a species of tree imported from Burma many years ago, but which is now extinct except for this one tree. Unfortunately we didn’t read about that tidbit until we’d already been there and missed it. Ugh. But the best place we found was the cliffs nearby the Purple Bamboo forest, inside the grounds of a small temple. When the winds and tides are right, the waves battering the cliffs are magnificent. Small wonder it was a place of many suicides by distraught monks in the past. Currently a sign orders people not to jump to their deaths, surely to great effect for those who even notice it on the way to offing themselves on the rocks below.

No self killing

The main sites of Putuo are not all there is to the island. The beaches are great, though it was too cool for us to do anything beyond walking along the water’s edge. More interesting were the small nunneries and monasteries spread about along the hikes criss-crossing Putuoshan. We actually ate with the monks at Fayu temple, vegetarian fare of course, for 5 RMB. It wasn’t glamorous, but tasty, simple food. A lot of tourists spend time taking pictures of rocks around the island that have words carved into them and painted bright red. A little kitchy, I’d say, but not too touristy.

That brings me to another feature of Putuoshan: the half-assed Buddhists everywhere. There were certainly a lot of devout, pious people. Yet most of what I saw was people doing various things for good luck, not out of any idea of karma, dharma or attaining nirvana. One example was tossing coins into large incense burners that sit in front of the temples. They have several levels, and supposedly the higher the level that your coin lands into, the better your luck will be. Imagine wild scenes of religio-tourists tossing coins up from all angles at these burners, and coins falling everywhere. People came to pray, burn incense, then chuck garbage from ice creams or plastic bottles all over the place. There was also a lot of superstitious touching of specific idols and statues. But then where is the line between superstition and religion? I’m really not sure, but at tourist sites like Putuoshan, there’s going to be observers like me, the devout praying in front of Buddha and Guanyin and actually focusing on it, and those paying lip service; a kind of mix of tourist and pilgrim. At least there weren’t any nude sunbathers. One neat thing was a sort of Buddhist version of tourist T-shirts. Some pilgrims brought or took cream colored cloth to the temples and got them stamped, with really cool looking seals of the temples. Status? Something to show off on judgment day? A little weird, but very cook looking stuff. I asked for a tattoo of the same design, but was politely (of course, they’re monks) turned down.

One odd feature of Putuoshan was the night life. There was none. Absolutely. Rachel and I ate at 6 one night at a great vegetarian restaurant near Puji Temple. When we got out of the restaurant at around 7:15, everything was dark. There were just a few lights around the temple grounds, but all the shops were shut except for one quickie mart. When we got out onto the road back to our hotel, we discovered that not only had the minibuses that cruise around the island - very conveniently picking people up and dropping them off at various points - shut down for the night, there weren’t even any street lights on the main road down to the coast! Total, complete, 100% darkness along the road, except every one or two minutes when a car would pass by. Despite the fact that we were going the right way, the wife was scared and wanted to go via the shortcut we’d taken several times before already down the hill, rather than take the road, which I viewed was safer. We turned back, but when we got to the stairs cut into the hill, despite restaurants and homes all the way down, there were no lights there as well. What is with this place? It’s not like it was 2am. And don’t they want people safe? We had to feel our way down the steps, which was kinda fun in a way, but totally not part of the 160 RMB that we had to pay to get on to the island. What did that pay for? At least we weren’t drunk - the restaurant was true to the Buddhist-veggie-dry spirit. Spirit. Get it? Lame.

One more slightly odd feature was in our hotel room. Despite being on the beach and fairly clean, the room felt like it should be for escorts and hookers. The bathroom was separated from the bedroom by a glass wall, with just an open doorway. The counter prevented one from being watched while answering nature, but as we discovered, the mirrors of the closet let one see in from the right angle. Showering was pretty much in full view until the steam interfered. So it was good and bad at the same time. The hotel is new, so maybe they haven’t figured out the whole fall from grace, human shame thing, but it really is pushing the no-privacy-in-China stereotype too far.

One of the best things in Putuoshan is the seafood. Mussels, clams, oysters, snails of all sizes, shrimp, squid, scallops and fish were everywhere, along with a few other things whose names I don’t know. Restaurants put tables outside, so when the weather is good, this is the place to be. Careful about the restaurants you choose. Some hotels have good ones, while others are way overpriced. One place on the ‘hill of no lights’ actually wanted us to choose seafood first before they’d tell us prices for vegetables. They wouldn’t give us menues and we had to negotiate on the price. Fuck that. We walked. Lunches are tough, there aren’t exactly any KFCs or coffee shops. There’s nothing even close to Western, which is good in a way, but makes lunch a slow, sit-down kind of meal unless you just eat stuff from the convenience stores. Oh yeah, there is A LOT of dried seafood. The dried squid is fantastic, and I’m speaking as a guy who doesn’t exactly stand in line for dried fish. It’s really fresh, and makes for a good, healthy snack. Oh God, I feel so Chinese.

One thing that reminded me of what a good place Shanghai is: spitting. There were a lot of people from different places in China and there was a tremendous amount of horking and spitting. I realized Shanghai has improved a lot in that department over the last few years. I also live in Xuhui district now, so that helps too. Putuo Island is a peaceful place, but for those hideous sounds emitting from people. Be forewarned, but do go; it’s a nice break from the city.

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