Hairy Crab
The weather was great, so we took the oppotunity to explore YangCheng Lake as well as tasting the famouse hairy crab.Water taxi to the Lotus Flower Island, then walked around and along the water front track. Finally we went to Ba Cheng for some hairy crabs.Zen trip in Wuxi
Last chance for an out-of-town trip before PL heads back. We both saw this great "Zen" style hotel in a travel magzine and thought to give a try. It was wonderful even though weather wasn't the best.Day 1:
Arrived around lunch time and unintentionally found a local eating place to try different local cuisine. Unfortunately many things were sold out.
Hotel was a little difficult to find, many roads were either under-construction or too new to be on the GPS. Finally found the hotel which is actually off a major road and next to the famous Lingshan Giant Buddha tourist site.
无锡灵山精舍座落于灵山梵宫东畔，古朴、精致、淡雅、山水丛林中，一抹粉墙黛瓦，带给您别具一格的禅意体验。精舍拥有特色客房近百间及接待大厅，多功能厅、餐厅、茶室、静坐室等高品位休闲空间。令疲于都市生活的您与自然静谧间，舒展身心，体验自在而充满智慧的休闲度假方式，静享心灵的自由时光。
一览太湖水，澄清天地心。欢迎您放下尘世的喧嚣，来到禅文化主题会所灵山精舍，体验安详、喜悦的禅意生活，给身心一段宁静、健康的时光。瞻视绵延的远山，抚摸青青翠竹，感受大佛的慈悲包容，您会变得柔和安详，就以这种愉快和轻松的心情入住灵山精舍。
Settled in the room and enjoyed some new olong tea in the 茶室 while kids played video games back in the room.
After some vegetarian noodle in Fan Gong (Brahmā Palace), I roamed around the place with the kids while others went to see the multi-media show in their theater. The place is so magnificently decorated that I can hardly associate it with Zen or Buddhist. The local govnt must be really rich....
After the show, three of us tried the meditation session back at the hotel. My leg fell asleep after ~20mins and I couldn't really focus afterward, but LG really enjoyed the whole "enlightening" experience.
Day 2 Weather wasn't the greatest, drizzle continued on. We visited the Ling Shan Giant Buddha and walked around the park a bit. Had lunch at "毛毛雨" (what an appropriate name for this weather) which was on the way back to Shanghai.