Chongqing and the Dazu Stones
Day Trip to Dazu
Signed up for the wrong tour. I thought I was going to some park with a gorge and waterfalls. Turned out to be to the UNESCO World Heritage site (two sites, actually) in Dazu.
Some carbonated milk for the bus ride.
We stopped in some small tourist setup, Some “antique” old-town style buildings.
It was pretty much a ghost town
Some interesting art on the walls
Mount Beishan Rock Carvings
The stone carvings consist of 5 major sites about 52 miles northwest of Chongqing. Overall, there are 5,000 plus statues spread out over 41,000 acres. The earliest carvings are 1,200 years old.
The first site the tour hit was just over a mile northwest of Dazu. The carvings started in the late Tang Dynasty and finished in the Song Dynasty, spanning several hundred years.
In the covered cliff-face in the countryside, dozens of carved alcoved depict scenes of Chinese history, Confucius principles, and Buddhist/Taoist mythology. There was an audio tour, but all in Chinese, so I have no clue on the specifics.
Here you can see how the alcoves are partitioned.
These were all colorized at some point. The direction location here did receive significant weathering over the years, probably prompting the creators to shift to another location.
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (Oriental Venus)
Really old writing on a stone
This is carved out of the cliff-face.
Dazu Lotus Plantation
Not knowing what the tour includes, they shuffle us from the first site to this large estate surrounded by lotus ponds. It looks old, but it was reconstructed from a series of traditional buildings in 1992 as a holiday resort.
The place is beautiful, but it’s private – I’m not exactly sure where I can go. There are staff all over, none speaking English.
It’s extremely hot and sunny too. Not very comfortable.
Lunch is served – family style with the tour group.
Actually pretty good meal.
This building serves as a shrine and a meeting house of the local governance.
Off to Boadingshan Mountain
I didn’t expect this… a major site… huge.. it took almost an hour just to walk from the entrance to the sculptures in the gorge.
The Chinese know how to make impressive and scenic gateways.
In the map above, you can see the parking loop to the west, surrounded by buildings set up for tourism-related businesses. The light-colored pathway leads past the national park buildings, and then forks north to the gorge. To the north of that is a long strip of tourist vendors outside of the exit (that forms and S-shape). The stone carvings are just southwest of this strip.
This is my first glimpse of the sculptures as I enter the gorge….
No more small alcoves, these are multiple stories, each panel as big as a house or two.
This is a tight crop of the first outcropping… the detail is astounding. Click this image to load the full size.
This section, my favorite depicts heaven at the top and two layers of hell at the bottom.
Some torture going on in hell.
One series of sculptures is cut into a cave and even had a series of waterfalls and rivers cut into the scene, which carried the cliff’s natural springs through. (way too dark and crowded to get decent photos).
It just goes on and on… thousands of these. Even if you don’t understand each scene, the variety and scale is mind-blowing.
1000 Hands, 1000 eyes Golden Queen
Thousand Hand Guanyin was recently restored. It’s huge— it’s amazing this was carved into a remote cliff face and painted. It’s now enclosed in a structure to protect it from the elements.
Each hand has an eye
The sculptures here are along an oxbow gorge, so as you wind around the site, you can see across the gorge.
Buddhist wheel of life.
Back to Chongqing and a night visit to Hongya Cave
Had to get back and shower/change clothes- it was a hot day. So I ended up getting out to Hongya Cave late. This is an old waterfall and overhang on the cliff-side overlooking the Jialing River. It’s a tourist trap but pretty beautiful at night.
This is the “cave” — of which it’s not much of. I hear the waterfall that pours over it can get pretty heavy in spring. The paths that wind in and out of this garden and into the adjacent shopping center are very nice, at least at night.
Behind the waterfall
And then down to the waterfront a few blocks away…
This night club near the waterfront was pretty cool. The exterior is a pirate ship.
The Qiansimen bridge is beautiful!
Click this to open the full version
Amazing Chongqing Hot Pot
Yelp led to this first class hot pot house and some eye-watering spicy hot pot. Well worth the price and tears. A must when in Chongqing.
Cold Beer is a must with hot pot.
And back to the Hotel, which despite how late it is, it still lit up and lively.
A few more…
Vending machine that squeezes oranges into fresh juice for you.
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