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SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
TITLE: A VISIT TO ANSHAN
LOCATION: 2-1-9公园 (19TH FEBRUARY PARK)
MISSION: A PARK AND A TEMPLE
DATE: 2011-10-30
I spent the day in Anshan together with my colleague Zhang Rui (张睿), her husband and their little son Zhang Liang (张良). We had lunch at my favourite Japanese noodle place: Qianhe Hand-Pulled Noodles (千禾拉面)! I remember having the best beef noodles at this place in Suzhou and Beijing, but for some reason they have removed it from the menue! What a disappointment! Luckily, the other noodles they had were really good too. Afterwards we took little Liang to Anshans humongous 19/2 Park. The park comprises several sections (zoo, botanic garden, amusement park etc.) and a couple of lakes. It was built to commemorate the liberation of Anshan on the 19th February 1948. While Zhang Rui was running around chasing little Liang between elecric cars and bouncy castles, her husband took me to a Buddhist temple on the far end of the park. One of his friends are working with restoring a temple that is used by actual practitioners and is off-limits to the public. We had to go to the furthest end of the temple gardens, around at the back, to be let in. It was not forbidden per se to take pictures inside, but it is not something that you do. I thought it prudent to respect this humble request. I was given a casual lecture of their beliefs as we were shown the different Buddhas, libraries and prayer areas. I didn't understand everything, but I at least got the gist of it. The temple gardens (玉佛苑) house the worlds greatest jade Buddha, meade out of one huge piece of jade. Unfortunately that temple was not open today. Oh well, just another reason to come back once more!