Santorini bus tour in parts - Pyrgos monastery, a kitten and Kamari beach

The previous post on this series is here..

After our lunch, ocean fun and ice cream at Perissa, we were back in the bus climbing to the top of the hill on this side of Santorini to go to the Monastery.. a few hundred years old, this place had reclusive monks who did not want to contact outside world for some time. They even buried their dead inside is what our guide told us.

 They did open up and have a store near the outside chapel eventually. The whole place was interesting and quiet. Then it got pretty windy and we were told not to have high hopes for later in the evening, given rain clouds were rolling in. 

We saw everyone go kiss the same objects and pictures.. couldn't have been good during COVID times! The small chapel was really beautiful. 

While we were being told that, a kitten walked out of nowhere and decided to sit on my lap. I love animals. They seem to love me too.. however god has played a cruel trick. I am almost allergic to all cats. Initially the family panicked. They did not want me sick before the last stop. A few people tried to lure it away, but no! The kitten just sat on my lap for a good 10 minutes. Finally the little one grabbed it and placed it on the floor and we had to leave. Apparently six kittens were just born a few weeks back in the Monastery. This was one of those six. Did have watery eyes for a few minutes later in the night, but didn't get sick as everyone expected. 

We got amazing views of the Perissa beach from the Monastery.

The little one was still mesmerized by the cat...

Then we drove down to Kamari beach area. Guess this tour has a tie up with some wine makers in Santorini. So we stopped at a rest area near the black beach, and were offered three wines or Cherry juice. Skipped it and ate the crackers. For some strange reason we were hungry. We walked to the beach across the street and took pictures. This beach was full of pebbles but there were no people on this side as far as the eye could see! There were pistachio trees here other than olive trees in this area.. that was a change!

Caught the little one in one of her moments..

We did get to see a real donkey on the way to this place..Apparently there was a time when every house had a donkey to haul things up and down the hillsides of this island !!

A video clip of this leg of the bus tour! 

After this short break, we were off to to go up and around all the way to Oia.. the last stop and grand finale for the tour!

Jing'an Temple

This month marked my 50th business trip to Asia. Given I have gone there 50 times, it has always been airport to hotel to work to a lunch or dinner (mostly at Bolloywood India restaurant) followed by rides to Airport on the Maglev train.

One deviation from this would be a post lunch walking through AP Plaza that doubled up as an exercise as well as a bargainig practice in the local marketplace for knockoff and reject goods.

Other than this routine, never ventured out to see anything. Recently, thanks to over booking at the hotel in industrial area, got to stay in the riverfront at a nice hotel. That in itself was a nice experience. So I made up my mind that this time I would visit the Jing'an Temple and pray for success at work and home. 

Buddhist temples are interesting. They are sometimes an oxymoron given the message of the Buddha was to give up material posessions and let thoughts wash over you like waves, good or bad and just let the moment sink in. When you see a tower of pure gold and a statue that is 20 plus feet tall made of Jade and Camphor wood, you just realize that maybe Buddha was wrong.. again, it is not a good idea to have me go off the philosophical deep end as it takes more than a few paragraphs to get back on topic! 

This is by far the most magnificent temple for the Buddha I have seen. I am told there are a few in Thailand that will take my breath away. My lung capacity has increased after seeing the Jing'an temple, so that visit to Thailand will hopefully happen soon and we get to see how breathtaking that is. 

All that said, to find a temple that is so quiet and tranquil in the middle of bustling Shanghai in itself is pretty amazing. The contrast between a structure that is a few hundred years old against the glass palaces of today in the background is striking! It was a 35 mintue train ride from the hotel. Funny thing is that there is a train station right under the hotel and the other train station is right under the temple. It was a freaking direct line and it took me 50 trips to go there!

This temple was apparently at a different location. It was built in ~200AD and stayed in that location till ~1800 AD. Then it was moved to this location. It was also converted to some kind of factory when Chinese took down all religious stuff and thirty or so years ago this was renovated again. 

I was suprised that this thing survived the revolution. There was a Jade stone at the temple on display that must weight a few tons. It was 8 by 6 by 4 feet and quite a sight. That stone alone must be worth a jillion dollars. Buddha must be laughing from above!

Two slideshows (all iPhone photos edited on Photoshop) horizonal pics..

Here are some pictures of this amazing place! 

A slideshow of vertical pictures..

I said my prayers for my companies success and for some personal peace and tranquility. Happiness comes from within.. is half the story of Buddha's teaching (just read that in the book "Sapiens" by Yuval Hariri). 

As soon as my colleagues showed me that picture on the phone was instantly drawn to the bald spot.. well it is not a spot anymore as it has pretty much taken over the head. Told him "seriously?" and they went into a long discussion in Chinese. Turns out they were trying to imagine me completely bald and were guessing if I was going to look okay or not given the shape of my head. I thanked them for the detailed laugh filled discussion and asked the Buddha promptly for this to end gracefully. The sooner I go fully bald the better off I am.

willing to let it all go! 

Praying always help me because while praying, I clear out the clutter in my head. Does not matter what the god is. It is like doing toe stand in the yoga class and blanking out, except I am nicely balanced on both feet!

The Buddha answered my prayer instantly. Felt at peace walking around the temple!

Now that I know how to get there from the hotel, will go visit again soon. Made that a conditional promise to Mahavira!