The Pagoda Forest, near Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China

The pagoda forest

After another exhausting walk, by now the heat was beginning to take its toll on everyone, we arrived at the pagoda forest.

A little history first:

The pagoda forest is located west of the Shaolin Temple and the foot of a hill.  As the largest pagoda forest in China, it covers approximately 20,000 square meters and has about 230 pagodas build from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Each pagoda is the tomb of an eminent monk from the Shaolin Temple.  Graceful and exquisite, they belong to different eras and constructed in different styles.  The first pagoda was thought to be built in 791.

It is now a world heritage site.

No, it's not a forest with trees it's a collection of over 200 pagodas, each a tribute to a head monk at the temple and it goes back a long time.  The tribute can have one, three, five, or a maximum of seven layers.  The ashes of the individual are buried under the base of the pagoda.

The size, height, and story of the pagoda indicate its accomplishments, prestige, merits, and virtues. Each pagoda was carved with the exact date of construction and brief inscriptions and has its own style with various shapes such as a polygonal, cylindrical, vase, conical and monolithic.



This is one of the more recently constructed pagodas

                                    

There are pagodas for eminent foreign monks also in the forest.

From there we get a ride back on the back of a large electric wagon



to the front entrance courtyard where drinks and ice creams can be bought, and a visit to the all-important happy place.



Then it's back to the hotel.

A trip to China - Day 10 - A day in Shanghai, sort of - The Yu Gardens

The Yu Gardens



These gardens house a lot of buildings that seemed to be a perfect blend of the old and the new, and if it was up to me, I’d keep the old.  Both the building and the gardens they are set in are like an oasis in the middle of an industrial complex, and perhaps impractical for the number of people living in Shanghai.



All of the ponds had a lot of fish in them

 

It was a pleasant afternoon, for both a stroll through the gardens



In and out of the rockery on narrow pathways



And to look inside the buildings that were sparsely furnished

 


There was even an area set aside for entertainment.




 

A trip to China - Day 6 - The Pagoda Forest

The pagoda forest

After another exhausting walk, by now the heat was beginning to take its toll on everyone, we arrived at the pagoda forest.



No, it's not a forest with trees it's a collection of over 100 pagodas, each a tribute to a head monk at the temple and it goes back a long time.  The tribute can have one, three, five, or the maximum seven layers the significance of which I don't remember.



This is one of the more recently constructed pagodas

                                    

From there we get a ride back on the back of a large electric wagon



to the front entrance courtyard where drinks and ice creams can be bought, and a visit to the all-important happy place.



Then it's back to the hotel.