Tianmu Hot Spring Resort

On Tuesday January 14, six Shandong University teachers, a friend Kathy Gou, and 

her son Hansen went on an excursion to the Tianum Hot Spring Resort in Liaocheng. 

 Liaocheng is located about 70 miles west of Jinan and the resort is about 10 miles

 outside town in a rural farming area.  The resort is situated on a large pond and

has a hotel, restaurant, and indoor and outdoor hot springs.  There are also 

several large indoor swimming pools and indoor water slides.

The building on the right is the hotel and the

one on the left is the indoor hot springs area.

As soon as we got settled in our rooms we

headed for the hot springs

There are many small pools with water of 

different temperatures so you could choose

how fast you wanted to simmer.

The pool Libby had the most fun in was the one

that had hundreds of little fish that feasted on

your dead skin.  It tickled so much that I could 

not take it for more than a few seconds but Libby

 and the others spent a long time feeding the fish.

After soaking in the various pools or swimming

laps we could relax in a comfortable chair and 

have some snacks.  In order to visit this room

everyone was required to be properly dressed.

They provided these stylish unisex kumonos.

Stan and I even took a power nap before returning

to the spa area. 

Hansen, Stan, and I also took advantage 

of the water slide.  We spent the night and

then traveled back to Jinan the next day.  Everyone

 had a very interesting, unique and fun experience.

The Missing Buddhas

 There is a large park near where we live with a mountain in the center and it is called 

Thousand Buddha Mountain.  Well, I had hiked all over the mountain and around 

the park and had only seen about 50 Buddhas and I had always wondered where all 

the others were.  While on one of my walks back in December I decided to look

one more place.  There is a ticket booth next to a large Buddha along one of the 

main paths and I never wanted to pay 15 RMB ($2.50) just to get a closer look

at the Buddha.  This time I paid the money and soon realized that there is

 a path that goes past the Buddha to something else.  A CAVE.

This is Wanfo Cave.  I had read that there was a cave that contained 

28,000 Buddhas.  And now I had found it!  It goes 500 meters into the

mountain and is packed with Buddhas.  There are replicas of the most 

famous Buddhas from all over China.  Every square inch is covered with

Buddhas.  I really don't think there are quite that many but there are

far more than I would like to count. 

These guys greet you at the entrance.

And then it just goes on and on and on.  When I later came back 

with Libby, it was freezing outside but by the time we were 2/3 

of the way into the cave it seemed nice and toasty.

 Notice all the small Buddhas behind and above me on the wall.

 

 

 

At the end of the cave is this large Buddha in a much larger chamber.

On both sides are the two red cones made of small lighted Buddhas

 and of course there is incense burning on the alter.

 The cave is very impressive and well worth the admission fee.  I'm 

glad I took a chance and found the missing Buddhas.

Christmas in China

I was so focused on getting our Harbin trip on the blog that I forgot 

all about Christmas. The first sign of Christmas came shortly 

after Thanksgiving when this Christmas tree appeared in the 

lobby of the hotel where we go to attend church.

 

Soon stores and shopping malls started decorating and displaying 

merchandise.  We found decorations but no Christmas wrapping

 paper.  We eventually found some regular non-Christmas wrapping 

paper after looking for several weeks.

 

We were even able to buy a Santa suit for our English

 corner Christmas party - $3.50.  This next Christmas tree

at a big shopping mall is made of 2014 teddy bears!

 

Then other decorations began popping up outside malls and department stores.

We decorated a small tree in our apartment but really enjoyed the much nicer

ones all around us.  I especially liked going at night.

 

You could even visit Santa in his log cabin.  He was even there

 after Christmas until January 4th.

For our English corner Christmas party Libby made a bunch of

gingerbread houses and the students had a great time

decorating them.  You can see that they were very proud

of their creations.  Santa even made an appearance.

 

The girl on the right is Lulu, a medical student from South Africa

that is a member of our Branch. We really enjoy having her in 

our group at church.  

For Christmas Eve our BYU China Teachers

group was invited to sing at a local Protestant Church.  The other

choirs and groups looked much better than us us but we were

glad they invited us.  We even got to sing the Hallelujah  Chorus

with the choir and congregation.

 Even though we missed our family and

friends at home we still had a very nice Christmas celebration

with all our good friends in our Branch.  We had to teach on Christmas 

day but we were able to have a wonderful Christmas dinner after

church on the Sunday after Christmas.