My China Trip Day #11

March 31st 2010: Today my uncle's friend was taking us to 灵隐寺 and 西湖. Everyone woke up at 8:00 am.We changed into our normal clothes, brushed our teeth, and ate a great breakfast. At 9:30 am, we went in tomy uncle's friend's car. He drove us to 灵隐寺. When we were there, we went out of the taxi and bought ticketsfor the outside of 灵隐寺. Once we bought our tickets, a tour guide came to us and asked if we wanted a tour. We said yes and followedthe tour guide. Unfortunately, my mom's friend's foot was aching so he couldn't come with us. Then, there was atour guide who wanted to give a tour, we accepted. First, the tour guide took us to a place where there were 2holes that led to a cave. The tour guide said that the children had to enter the small hole, and the adults had togo through the larger one. We entered the dark cave and saw many stone carvings. We got to see a big handcarving and a dog face carving. The tour guide let us touch the stone carvings. Men had to feel them with theirleft hand, and women have to touch them with their right hand. The carvings felt very smooth because it wasraining very hard last night. Soon, the cave ended and we climbed a mountain. Along the way, we saw manydifferent kinds of buddhas. The tour guide told us to pray to each of them and make a wish. When we were atthe top of the mountain, we went back down. But we had to be very careful because the rocks were very slippery.For example, while we were walking down a careless person slipped and fell. Soon, we were at the bottom ofthe mountain and the tour ended. Then, we bought tickets for the praying place. Once we bought our tickets, we went to the praying place. Thisis where you would have to pray to 5 special buddhas. They were the Peace Buddha, the Money Buddha, theLearning Buddha, the Medicine Buddha, and the Future Buddha. But you had to use incenses to pray in all 4directions. First, we prayed to the Peace Buddha. We had to use a red incense to pray. When we were prayingwe had to wish to have a peaceful life. Second, we prayed to the Money Buddha. We had to use a yellow incenseto pray. When we were praying we had to wish that you would earn money very quickly. Then, we prayed to theLearning Buddha. We had to use a green incense to pray. When we were praying we had to wish to have goodeducation. Next, we prayed to the Medicine Buddha. We had to use another green incense to pray. When wewere praying we had to wish that your family doesn't need to use medicine when we are sick. Finally, weprayed to the Future Buddha. We had to use a pink incense to pray. When we were praying we had to wish tohave a good future. Once we were done praying, we went back in the car. Then, my mom's friend drove us to a restaurant that wasbeside 西湖. When we were there, we went out of the car and walked inside the restaurant. But when we founda table on the 2nd floor, we realized that the tables were outside! But we had a great view of 西湖. We had agreat lunch of chicken, duck tongue, cabbage, rice, and 龙井 tea. When everyone was done, we walked to 西湖which was right beside us! We were going to ride a boat around 西湖. Unfortunately, we couldn't take a big boatso we chose a little one instead. Then, we went inside a boat and a rower rowed us around. First, we were rowedpast 跆拳道. After, we were rowed to 三坛道. But this time the rower said that we could explore aroundd 三坛道.While we were exploring, we saw 3 cauldrons floating on 西湖. My uncle's friend knew about them so he explainedthem. There were 5 holes in each cauldron. On full moon day, people would light the candle inn the cauldron. Thenthere would be 5 moons in the reflection of the water. Finally we were back where we started and we went back inthe boat. Then, the rower rowed us back to the restaurant. Once we were there, we went out of the boat and went back in the car. My uncle's friend drove us to a restaurantthat was close to his hometown. It took 2 hours to get there! When we were there, we went out of the car and walkedinside the restaurant. We were lucky enough to get a private room because it was so noisy. But soon people startedgiving us food when we didn't even order yet! Then we figured out that my uncle's friend was already ordering foodfor us downstairs. We helped ourselves to a great dinner of 锅巴, lettuce, beef, noodles, fish, and tea. Wheneverybody was done, we went back in the car and my mom's friend drove us to our 4-star hotel, the 红楼 InternationalHotel. Once we were there, we went out of the car and walked inside the hotel. We checked in and went in our rooms.Then, we slept from the long day.