中国西藏日喀则市的扎什伦布寺 Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse City, Tibet, China.

*WS 124：中国西藏日喀则市的扎什伦布寺 Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse City, Tibet, China.*

扎什伦布寺位于西藏自治区日喀则市的尼色日山下，是该地区最大的寺庙。扎什伦布藏语是“吉祥须弥”的意思，它创建于明朝，公元十五世纪中叶。创建者是后来被追溯为一世达赖喇嘛的根敦朱巴。它是藏传佛教格鲁派(黄教)的“四大寺”之一，也是历世班禅喇嘛的驻锡地。鼎盛期在十七世纪中叶，那时是第四世班禅喇嘛驻锡，僧人多达四、五千人。文革时建筑和文物都受到严重破坏。 

扎什伦布寺占地面积15万平方米，周围筑有宫墙，周长三公里。我2010年曾到此一游。

第一张照片所示是寺门，第二张是僧侣住所，第四張是一位老喇嘛和一位年輕團友的合照。 第五张是藏着经文的三座白塔。第六张是措钦大殿， 即大经堂，是整个寺院中最大的建筑物，殿前有一个500平方米的讲经场，中间竖立着一根擎天的经幡柱。

第七、八张照片所示的是强巴佛殿外貌，建于1914年，是座五层大殿，高三十米，是寺里最宏伟的建筑。供奉的是强巴佛，即是汉族佛教的弥勒佛，佛教中的未来佛。据说强巴佛像高26米，是世界上最高大的铜塑佛像，可惜我准备工作没做好，不知有此佛像，没有进去佛殿，走宝了。第九张是强巴佛殿和措钦大殿之间的一线天布局。 

第十张照片所示的是强巴佛殿的一角，我用来讲解藏式建筑的特殊点。窗边的黑色边框是上小下大，寓意为“牛角”，吉祥之物。在视觉上加大了门窗的尺度，增强了建筑造型的稳重。门框也是如此。在门窗上部悬挂的打褶短布帘，称为“香布”，也是藏式建筑的特色。藏人崇尚白色、红色、黄色，所以他们的建筑大多以这三种颜色来配搭。 

Tashilhunpo Monastery, located in Shigatse City, Tibet, China was founded by the First Dalai Lama in the Ming Dynasty in the mid-15th century. It is the largest temple in the region and one of the "Four Great Temples" of the Gelug Sect (Yellow Sect) of Tibetan Buddhism and the residence of the Panchen Lamas.  Its heyday was in the middle of the seventeenth century, when there were as many as four to five thousand monks. 

Tashilhunpo Temple covers an area of 150,000 sq m, surrounded by a wall 3 km long. I was here in 2010. The 4th photo shows an old monk with a young member of our group. The 6th photo shows the Great Scripture Hall, the largest building in the complex. The 7th and 8th photos show the 5-story main temple hall built in 1914 housing several famous big statues of the Buddha. 

The 10th photo shows a corner of a temple building which I would use to highlight some unique features of Tibetan architecture. The window frame is not truly rectangular, but always smaller at the upper part and bigger at the lower part, to enhance stability visually. Door frames are often designed that way. The short pleated curtains hung on the doors and windows, are called "fragrant cloth". And the favourite colours of the Tibetans are white, red, and yellow, so most of their buildings are matched with these three colours.

Celebrating the “Day of the Dead” in Mexico and Guatemala

*Prelude to my WS 123 on All Saints' Day*

Today is 1st November, All Saints’ Day, which is a special day for the Christians to remember the love ones who have departed. It is like the traditional 清明节 for the Chinese. The practice varies widely among the many Christian denominations. Some Protestant groups do celebrate this festival but some don’t. For many it is time for the families to visit the cemeteries to lay flowers and candles on the graves of the deceased. 

Some denominations, like the Catholics, continue the celebration to the 2nd of November as well, calling the day All Souls’ Day. The “official” day for Malaysian Catholics to visit cemeteries and pray for the dead is on this All Souls’ Day. Official in the sense that the priest will be there. 

The Americans and Canadians celebrate Halloween on the evening of 31st October, an extension of All Saints’ Day. The celebration involves costume parties, carving of pumpkins, trick-or-treating, etc, but is more secular than religious. 

The Mexicans and Guatemalans are mostly Catholics and their form of celebration is called “Day of the Dead”, stretching from 31st October to 2nd November. And this is the topic of the segment of my travel story today.

*WS 123: celebrating the “Day of the Dead” in Mexico and Guatemala*

The Mexicans and Guatemalans in Central America are mostly Catholics. They celebrate the “Day of the Dead” from 31st October to 2nd November each year to remember the relatives and friends who have passed away. 

On 31st October to 2nd November 2013 we were in a very poor neighbourhood of San Jorge la Laguna at Lake Atitlan in the Guatemala Highlands in Guatemala and did not see any elaborate celebration like flying of giant kites famous in bigger Guatemalan cities. What we did see were the newly dressed graves, 1st and 2nd photos, and a decorated home altar, 3rd photo. 

On this same trip we were in Mexico too, starting on 3rd November. The main activities of the festival were over but there were still many decorations left in public places. In Mexico skull masks and papier mache painted with skeletons are the most common decorations. The 4th and 5th photos show the papier mache "skeleton family" and paper-cut laces at the lobby of our hotel in San Cristobal de las Casas. The 6th is a sea of special laces at a church, the Templo de la Merced in the same city. The 7th is a pair of “girls” found at the Zapotec ruins at Mitla. 

A coffin was on display at a park called Centro de San Angel in Mexico City, so was a giant skeleton, 8th and 9th photos. The last is a very popular skull called “La Calavera Catrina” based on the itched image by the famous engraver Jose Guadalupe Posada made in 1910/1913. Could be found everywhere.

The new red rooftops of re-born Dubrovnik, Croatia

*WS 122: The new red rooftops of re-born Dubrovnik, Croatia*

Dubrovnik is a port city in southern Croatia, a prominent tourist destination in the Mediterranean Sea. The prosperity of the city was historically tied to maritime trade. During Yugoslavia’s Civil War (1992-95), the city was shelled by Serbian artilleries damaging many buildings. Within a few years after the war, most of the damaged buildings were restored, with a sea of new red rooftops which became the new tourist attraction. The phoenix has duly re-emerged from the ashes. The walled old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were here for a day in 2012. 

The 1st photo shows part of the old city viewed from an adjacent hill, called Srdj Hill. The 2nd photo shows the sea of new red rooftops, as viewed on the top of the city wall. The 2-km city wall is well-maintained, 4 to 6 m thick and up to 3-storey high, 4th photo. 

The 5th photo shows the main attraction: the Large Onofrio Fountain named after the engineer who built the 1st aqueduct in the city in 1438. The 6th shows the pedestal of the Small Onofrio Mountain. The 7th is the Sponza Palace, built in 1522, now the City Archives. The 8th is a modern painting, as one of the 14 Stations of the Cross, in the Catholic Cathedral and the 9th shows the traditional iconostas in the Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church. And lastly a beautiful window display to draw the attention of tourists.

Enjoying nature at Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada

*WS 121: enjoying nature at Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada*

Stanley Park is Vancouver’s largest park, a top tourist attraction and a designated national historic site. The park covers 400 hectares with rainforest, mountains, coastlines and the park’s seawall. Most of it is still heavily forested. We were here on 2 occasions in 2019, first by foot over a part of the park and the other time cycling along the seawall route, about 10 km. 

The park has a group of 9 totem poles to honour the original natives living here. The long pole in the 3rd photo is the Rose Cole Yelton Memorial Pole to honour Yelton who lived here until 1935, the last resident to do so. Then the Skedams Mortuay Pole to honour the chief. Other interesting features include the rock pillar called "Siwah Rock", the sculptured diver "girl in a wetsuit", tulips in the Ted and Marry Creig Garden, and children on group outing.

Getting cold at the Dobšinská Ice Cave, Slovakia

*WS 120: getting cold at the Dobšinská Ice Cave, Slovakia*

The cave is some 30 km south of Poprad, at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains in northern Slovakia. It is the biggest one within a group of ice caves in Slovakia recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The cave is a giant cavity up to 70 m depth from the entrance. Most part of it is filled with glacier, in some places up to the ceiling. In other areas the ice occurs as columns, ground ice, stalagmites, etc. 

The cave floor descends downwards from the entrance which faces north, this means the cave is rapidly cooled during winter from the cold air from the north. The average year round temperature is just below zero degree, about 0 in summer and -4 in winter. The total length of the cave is near to 1.5 km, about a third open to the public.  

We were here in 2015. The main attraction is called the Great Hall where the depth of the ice is about 27 m. The 1st photo shows the access into the main hall. Others show the ice in many forms.

中国陕西省西安市的西安大清真寺 The Great Mosque of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, China.

WS 119: 中国陕西省西安市的西安大清真寺 The Great Mosque of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, China.

西安大清真寺，位于西安市化觉巷内，占地一万三千多平方米，建筑面积六千多平方米。此寺始建年代不详，该是明朝开国年间，有六百多年的历史。寺院呈长方形，共分四进院落，它将中国传统建筑风格与伊斯兰教建筑风格融合一体，在建筑样式上呈现浓郁的中国传统建筑风格，而寺院内的布置又严格遵循伊斯兰教义。我们曾两次到这，第二次在2017年。

第一张照片拍的是清真寺化觉巷的入口大门，第二张是大影壁内壁的阿拉伯文图案，第三张是贴在门口的祈祷时间表，第四张是第二进院落中央竖立的石牌坊， 第五和第六张是第三进院落的建筑，第七张是祈祷大殿，面积达一千三百平方米，可容千余人祈祷，非伊斯兰教教徒不可进入。殿前有多副对联，都是道德教化的警句，其中一对是“清真不二本中庸，古教无双超宇宙”。

The Great Mosque of Xi’an is the largest mosque in China in terms of land area. The exact date of its founding is not accurately recorded but is generally believed to be the initial years of the Ming Dynasty, or more than 600 years old. It has a land area of 13,000 sq m and a building area of 6,000 sq m. 

The mosque is rectangular in shape and divided into four courtyards. It combines traditional Chinese architectural style with Islamic functionality. We have been here twice, the 2nd time in 2017.

The 3rd photo shows the prayer timetable posted on the door, and the 7th photo shows the prayer hall which can accommodate a thousand people. There are many couplets written in Chinese hung in front of the prayer hall, all of which are aphorisms for moral education. One of them is shown in the 8th photo.