A Successful Day of Pagoda Hunting

I didn't have a coffee all day yesterday.  Instead I started out the day with a green tea (actually 2) so I thought there might be a chance I could kick my coffee habit for the rest of my China holiday.  Well guess again.  I went for a walk around Dengfeng this morning, and what did I happen to run across?

"Coffee Talk" - now what was I to do?  Someone went to all the trouble to setup a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere (essentially) and I happen to stumble across it.  Well of course I went in (I think I gave the barrista a shock that she had an actual customer) and ordered a "na tie".  It was "feichang hao he!" and even came with a small plate of strawberries.

So much for kicking my habit.  Oh well I AM on holiday.

I have more pics of Dengfeng but I'll save them for later, when I've done a more complete inventory of the town.  Suffice to say it's a "thumbs up" place to visit.  (Except for the life of me I can't find anyone who sells post cards!  You post card people may have to wait until I get to Xi'An next week.)

In the afternoon I went pagoda hunting.  I paid another 50 RMB and set off in search of the elusive Songyue Pagoda (actually 嵩岳寺塔 - "song yue si ta" - Songyue Temple and Pagoda).  This time I let a cabbie take me up to the temple for "shi kuai" (yes I know it's a rip off).  I took a look at the temple (法王寺 - "fa wang si") and then set out on the trail the cabbie pointed me at:

What's this?  I never saw a pagoda in the temple!  Maybe the trail leads to it ...

No such luck!  The trail just lead to another summit.  I didn't bother climbing all the way (plus I ran out of water) so I returned to the temple to see if I could track down the pagoda!

Going through the temple was like peeling back the layers of an onion.  Every time I thought I'd reached the end I'd peek around a corner and find another set of stairs, another temple, another Buddha.  Until I got to the end, and found a large reclining Buddha, "in the position he was in when he expired."

Up the stairs to the first temple ...

Behind it another one ...

... and another ...

The famous reclining Buddha seems to be in the final temple.  Still no pagoda.  But wait, I found a trail out back of the last temple, leading to a set of stairs along the rear temple wall.  By this time I was starting to feel like a bit of a sneak, and was starting to prepare my excuses if someone caught me nosing around.

Found it!  Tucked away in the woods, with several smaller pagodas, it feels good to be at the end of my quest.

But wait!  Now the driver is telling me that for another "shi kuai" (yes I know it's a rip off) he can take me to the Sonyue Pagoda.  Didn't I just see it?  No, apparently what I just saw was some kind of "lesser pagoda".  Songyue Si Ta actually turned out to be a bit of a let down once I found it.

All in all a successful day.  Coffee (I will definitely be back to Coffee Talk) and many pagodas.

Tomorrow I'll continue my inventory of Dengfeng, and hopefully find the elusive "Duck King Beer City" restaurant.  It's on Google teasing me, but I haven't yet been able to find it!