CNY: Xiamen Part II

On our last day in Xiamen, Jennifer and I spent some time at Nanputuo Temple (南普陀寺). One of the things I found interesting about this particular temple is they had lots of plaques stating the "hows" and "whys" of some of the Buddhist traditions. Since it was Chinese New Year, one of the things we saw were people lining up to burn red & gold paper. Some looked like money, some had pictures of past Chinese leaders. It was very interesting to watch. I found a little article about CNY traditions here if you'd like to read about it for yourself. 

 Here you can see the table with the umbrellas is where you can buy the paper to burn, then you take turns rolling it up and burning it in the incinerator. I thought about buying a piece for my scrapbook, but they only sold it as like 50 sheets and it was a little expensive, so I passed.

 You can see the red and gold paper in the man's hand (with the child on his shoulders). 

 Here's a shot of the side of the temple. I like the intricate scrolls on the rooftop.

 This is a giant carving in a rock, and the symbol stands for "Buddha".

 I'm not sure this is open to tourists, but we stumbled upon this room that had tons of Buddha idols. Pretty cool, right?

 One of the Buddha alters inside the temple.

 As you can see, the temple grounds start on the side of a mountain. It was a bit of a hike to get around to the various sites! 

For the rest of the afternoon, we met up with Ashley for lunch. We found a great Turkish restaurant, Troy, next to Xiamen University. On our way back to the hostel, we found a side alley that had tons of adorable shops. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them. Think small, Anthropology-like shops. So fun! Later that night, Ashley and I went to an amazing Italian restaurant, Tutto Bene. Ashley had the "best pesto I've ever had in my entire life". I had Parmesan Chicken Risotto. It was to die for :) Good thing it was our last night or we would have been back there for lunch and dinner the next day!