What kind of Mystery its all about...

The Mysteries spoken about in this page are the thoughts i see and i feel. We live in a world which we have never seen or we have never experienced and hence aptly titles every moment is a mystery. These mysteries mainly about life i see and venture , about a movie fanatics journey of watching cinema and their reviews , a fanatic of Music and sound, a photo enthusiast and a travel bug. Peep in , you can take atleast a smile when you move out !!!

As said , its an innocent world which we are peeping in daily !!!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Hangzhou Dusted...

Travel not of road but once own self existence was my thought and write in my previous posts , but for a change I decided to travel on road forcefully self-failing to think beyond reality , beyond the last page of my novel, just reality to love and pleasure the beauty of mother earth . I did that , did that in my maiden travel beyond the place of work, This Friday evening I was set for a travel to Hangzhou.

There is a Chinese proverb which says “
生在苏州,活在杭州,吃在广州,死在柳州
” meaning "Be born in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, eat in Guangzhou, die in Liuzhou”. Neither I was born here , death is not a planned task its always unplanned, hence the rest two are in our hands and I decided to go with one of them keeping the other for later adventures. “Live in Hangzhou” can also be sophistically translated to “Travel to Hangzhou” as for me like many of us meaning of Life is Travel, isn’t?

Friday evening , my last status mail for the week , Time sheet submission, Packed my Rucksack , charged not mobile of course , my Nikon and left for a journey initially thought as a stay-away from work but eventually it was more knowledgeable and pleasure ride.

Brief Description about the city and the need I planned for this trip and my initial expectations and places to visit : Hangzhou a 200 KM away city from Shanghai , South west of it , Has Infosys Office (DC) from the people I came to know the city is of Mussorie range, a lake , couple of temples is famous . My initial expectations was , nice breezy drizzling climate , lake boating , Temples, Food for self and lens , Overnight pubbing and snooker. The city is bisected by Qiantang River before flowing to East China sea.

Saturday morning with Friday night LOL in shanghai with non-intermittent game of 8-Ball Pool , travelled to the city by Road. It was heavily down pouring and visibility was not even for 15 m. After a quick fire brunch may be at the time when you all would have got up , we checked in the Sheraton . One hour later we were in Lingyin Temple.


Lingyin is a Buddhist temple of the Chan sect located north-west of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China. The temple's name is commonly literally translated as Temple of the Soul's Retreat. It is one of the largest and wealthiest Buddhist temples in China, and contains numerous pagodas and Budddhist grottoes.

It is basically a five hall structure created to dedicated by Dynastical rulers to the Buddhist ages. One is welcomed by Maitreya or Milefo what you call as ‘laughing Budha’. My Favorite was Guanyin, a manifestation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, with relief screen, at the back of the Grand Hall of the Great Sage. The initial pathway leads as if entering caves of Feilai grottoes stone carved sculptures caves leading to great halls. Kwan-yin Statues was very uniquely designed and it perched my eye sight. ‘Mahavira Hall’. In front of Every hall there is a minaret style tombs which can be called as “pagoda” varying around 15 ft. There is also a 500 Arhats Hall which is lined display of Sculptures of ancient Monks.
**Pictures to be FB’ed.

Midafternoon , a temple to start and it was time for entertainment. We decided to move to lake side. “West Lake” it’s a big lake , big as a 40 min drive around its circumference in a radio car(Golf Cart) (I did it , later in the day). Reached for a place where I can have a nice Nai Cha (Tea) , the place was full of tea plantations and in house display. Post that I decided to take a boat ride alone. It was battery operated boat and runs in a decent speed. Behind the wheel , driving for more than half an hour without sun being seen , a breezy lake drive was like eating Butter scotch ice-cream with a Jack Daniel topping. Some pictures here and there I had some profile shots mostly OOF by locals there (it was very hard to explain what I want to them in my broken Chinese) .

The complete lake was paved perfectly for pedestrians , scenic beauty and most importantly it was like Ruskin Bond’s Mussorie. The Shore had Metal park-like chairs where one can sit with perfect magnetic view of the Leifeng Pagoda on one side , the commercialized sky scrapers on other side , a Hill on one side , Never ending lake on the other. Some time I even felt I was reading the white nights by Fodor Dostoevsky. Perfectly romantic and I could just dream of Sajda next to me. Just Dream , make a note.

With a king sized breath , I travelled lake side , completed a walk , reached a Mexican joint to have some Baritos and continued my walk for another half an hour when Lamborghini to Ferrari outlets passed by (I was seeing these first time , even a Rolls Royse ) SEXY .

I retired in my Hotel room in Sheraton after shaking legs for tunes , playing 8-Ball with a French lady (meaning of the word Gorgeous) couple of Daniels.

Next day got up with Ghost Rider and a cup of tea , finished the movie , checked out the hotel to Leifeng Pagoda

It is a five story tall tower with eight sides, located south West. History takes back thousand years ago. Some say there was a mausoleum below but later I got to know about this in internet that officially excavation resulted in a gold and silver coated hair of the Buddha was found. More importantly there was a superstition that the bricks from the tower could repel illness or prevent miscarriage, many people stole bricks from the tower to grind into powder. PRC made a point to conserve this and now it’s a Heritage center. The Pagoda resides as a tomb of these bricks (sacred) .The view of entire city , lake from each of third fourth and fifth floor looks quixotic. Each of these floors consists of display of carvings , pictures sculptures depicting the culture and history of this place. I was imaging Crouching Tiger and Hidden dragging when there was carvings of a war sequence. Have anyone been to Santhome basilica tomb in Chennai (In tomb, there is a molded sculpture of Thomas),these are of similar type.

A lunch in Indian restaurant , stared my journey way back.

Vintage Classic Happening: I was driving in the lake the other day and some body from other running boat called me . The boat was like typical "Dal lake" (remember Rajesh khanna with voice of Rafi sahab). Indu-dua (something) meaning are you from India ? and i nodded my head . He suddenly started singing a song in Chinese. Just to be later realized that the song is Main Awara Hoon (RAJ Kapoor Clasic). The fact that he is young max of my age making me realize that this song has transcended generations. RK take a bow.

Hangzhou is a place where you can spend a weekend enjoying the weather food and a pleasant travel , just a hour or two travel from Shanghai makes a perfect Holiday destination. More to come in Travelogue series : Revenge of Chinese : Food , Travel and Photography