China Yangtze River 4-14-13 Afternoon Tour

While the rest of  our tour group (yes, all 15 of you) stayed on the boat and took knitting lessons, three of us brave ones opted for the optional afternoon tour of the White Emperor City.  Miguel, Pamela and I  and a bunch of the French Canadians took off on the bus to explore this ancient temple complex located on top a hill directly overlooking the Qutang Gorge.

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As the three brave explorers
started we found some interesting
“Keep Of The Grass” signs

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Our guide gave us a long story about the
Grass Boat but unfortunately it has slipped my mind.
Can anyone provide this information?

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This is the White Emperor

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 The White Emperor’s per white Dragon?  Note the ball
or pearl in its mouth.
There were many, many steps going up to this ancient temple complex directly overlooking the Qutang Gorge.

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And the White Emperor in a not so white mode.

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There was a life-size diorama of the Emperors Court with some sinister looking characters.

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There were also some cute ones and some benevolent looking ones. 
I have no idea as to the cookie monster character  in the background.

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Beautiful  archway leading to more steps?

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 Oh, Yes! Did I mention that there were a lot of steps leading up to this temple?

Interesting there was a display of one of the hanging coffins that we saw earlier here along with an explanation.  If you look inside you can see a pelvic bone.

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This bell tower has some interesting lines and colors.

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Another bell tower.  It must get noisy here around noon!
A view of Qutang Gorge over some of the temple buildings.
A view upriver from the temple.
And what’s a temple with out Koi?

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There were over 300 steps leading up to the main temple area.  In addition there were many more going to individual sites and to the top of the pagoda.

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And what goes up must come down.

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When we got to the bottom this strange looking thing greeted us.  These sedan chairs definitely were not there when we started up.  Obviously the French Canadians ahead of us scarfed them all up.

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Patricia convinced then to give her a “lift “in one (for a price of course) 

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Well maybe it wasn’t knitting lesson’s.  More like philosophical discussions
with out National Tour Guide and how to paint a bottle from the inside out.

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How many of you saw this family oriented guy near the elevators
in the boat?
Reminds me of the Navaho Storyteller  figures of New
Mexico.

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