How To Be a Buddhist Monk in 489 Steps

Rather than live like a monk when I was at the monastery, I lived like someone who was there to study Buddhism. The monks had their schedule and I had mine. Different groups of monks had different schedules. It was almost like working in an office building. Everyone was there at the same time, but not all doing the same things. My schedule was designed for students, but as far as I know, there were no other students there at the time.

05:00 Daban
At the crack of dawn, someone banged on the 起板 (qiban), which they called 打板 (daban), telling everyone it was time to wake up. There are no satisfying English translations for daban, anban or qiban. They are wooden boards that monks tap on to signal a specific time or event. As with anytime anyone rang a bell, there was a specific pattern that matched whatever was being announced. It was essentially a monastic alarm clock. Though there were computers and smartphones all over the place, they still followed the tradition of keeping time through chimes. Everyone knew what each pattern meant, and I knew that most of them had nothing to do with me. Daban meant it was time to wake up. Of course, people could and did wake up earlier. I always did. But tapping on the wooden board was the signal to all that the day had officially begun.

05:30 – 07:30 Morning meditation
Every morning, most of the monks went into the large Amitabha Chanting Hall to chant jing for two hours. Unlike meditation, chanting was done while standing. For two hours. Monks, in general, are not known as the most athletic people in the world. They spend a lot of time reading and meditating. I never saw any of them on an elliptical trainer. But every single one of them could stand still without straining and suffering. Or at least without showing it.

I was not unwelcome to participate, but told rather bluntly that this was a more advanced practice that I was simply not ready to learn. I was gradually taught some of the jing, but never expected to know any of them as well as the monks. Without knowing the jing, I would have simply stood there for two hours, which would have been pointless.

Instead, my morning meditation was scheduled during the morning chants. That meant Laoshi had to miss his chanting to teach me how to meditate, but he was happy to do it and I was glad he was there. I have been taught how to meditate by a few different people, and all of them taught me something different. The only real similarities were clearing the mind, controlling the breathing, and going full lotus. Different teachers will have different ideas about how to meditate, but everyone agrees that the lotus position is the only proper way to sit. Half lotus is only acceptable if you are just starting out or have joint issues, and no one approves of sitting criss-cross applesauce. Full lotus makes the most sense. If you can get yourself into position, it has to be one of the sturdiest ways to sit. You can knock over someone in a half lotus with a feather, but someone sitting full lotus could fall asleep during an earthquake and never fall down.

Fo Guang Shan practices Chan meditation, which has its own rules and regulations. You could fill a book with all the rules. In fact, people have. I read one of them. The main point is mostly about breathing and trying not to think about all of life's daily bullshit. I was given a personalized mantra, but my takeaway was that any mantra will do since repeatedly chanting pretty much anything will automatically shift your focus. But you don't want to chant jing because most of them are too long and you would find yourself concentrating on the jing rather than the meditation.

My morning meditation was not coincidentally scheduled during the sunrise, just as my evening meditation was during the sunset. On the first day, I wondered why we were doing it outdoors rather than in the giant Meditation Hall. I assumed it was because I was just learning while the monks in the hall were there for serious business. Teaching me would have been a distraction. But then the sun went down and I understood why Laoshi chose a spot uphill, facing west. It was one of those magical moments where you are relaxed and generally content and suddenly feel the sun's warmth on your face. I thought it was beautiful. Until Laoshi pointed out that if I was truly meditating, I would not have noticed the sun setting at all. The following morning was the same, except we were facing east instead of west. I felt the sun rise on my face, which is kind of hard not to notice, which only pointed out how much I was failing.

08:00 – 08:30 Breakfast
Breakfast was served in the dining hall; a large, open rectangle of a room with at least fifty long rows of folding tables placed end to end. All of the utilitarian seats faced in one direction so that no one sat with anyone facing them. Everyone sat side by side, in rows, facing the backs of the rows ahead. The reason immediately became clear. Meals were for eating, not talking. The oldest monks sat first, followed by the younger monks, then the novices, students, and miscellaneous laity. I was close enough to the end of the line where it never mattered what order anyone was in. After all the monks, it was first come, first served. Though there is a hierarchy at the monastery, seating was not about obedience to any chain of command. It was purely out of respect. In any situation where groups had to wait in a line, the oldest were always at the front.

For most of the monks, breakfast was the only meal of the day. They are strong believers in fasting throughout the day, but also recognize that people need to eat. In English, breakfast literally means break fast. That is exactly how the monks use it. But in Chinese, 早餐 simply means early meal. Some of the monks ate dinner, which was called the medicinal meal because it was for those who might have medical issues with only one meal a day. As a student, I was never expected to fast all day, and I am currently trying to gain weight, so fasting would not be ideal. In addition to breakfast and dinner, I was always free to eat at any time in any of the restaurants on or near campus. The museum down the hill has an entire food court. But I would have to pay for any unscheduled meals, and I wanted this experience to be as authentic as possible. Getting snacks from the 7-Eleven down the hill does not strike me as particularly monastic.

Breakfast was always rice porridge. Every single day. Just like dinner, for those who participated, it was quick. Everyone sat down, the monks did a quick chant, everyone ate without any conversation, there was another chant at the end of the meal, and everyone left the room in an orderly fashion. At the monastery, the purpose of a meal was to eat. Anything else was a distraction. Everyone had too many things to do.

They handed out a lot of wisdom nuggets in the monastery. Sometimes too many. It must take years just to remember all the aphorisms. But one that really stuck with me was the idea that food is medicine. You should only take what you need. In the monastery, no one lives to eat.

08:45 – 10:45 Reading
After breakfast, my reading time was pure independent study. Most of my day was spent with at least one other person, guiding me or watching to make sure I did not break anything, but when it was time to read, I was on my own. They gave me books and told me I could sit anywhere, indoors or outdoors. Sometimes I would find a quiet nook in one hall or another, but most of the time I read outdoors. A few of the gardens were on the side of a hill and not the worst place in the world to read.

11:00 – 13:00 Lecture
The daily lecture was exactly how it sounds. One laoshi or another spoke for two hours on subjects ranging from meditation to jing to Dharma to the difference between Humanistic Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism to the Buddha's life and a lot of what he said. The lesson plan was whatever that particular laoshi wanted to talk about on that particular day. I would have preferred to know what the lecture was going to be so I could read up on that subject beforehand, but that was not the way they wanted to do it. I was not arrogant enough to tell them that my way was better than what they had been doing for two thousand years. Even so, the lectures were highly educational and entirely too much to absorb in such a short period of time.

13:15 – 14:15 Gardening
Just after what would have been lunchtime, I worked in one of the gardens. I was there to study rather than work, but manual labor is a routine part of any monk's day. There are a few gardens throughout the monastery, mostly maintained by a combination of monks and civilian professionals. Somewhere on site was a vegetable garden that provided most of the food eaten in the monastery and the museum. I never saw that one, but I walked through several gardens and worked in an herb garden. I think they had me working with the herbs because they were easier and safer. Had I killed all the basil, meals would taste slightly different for a little while. Killing an entire crop of vegetables would be disastrous. I also doubt it was a coincidence that I was working around food at the same time my mind was supposed to be thinking about lunch. Buddhist monks are big fans of denying pleasure, and for a lot of people, eating is one of life's greatest joys. What the monks never knew was that I have no appetite and can easily go all day without eating.

14:30 – 15:45 Free time
The monks were encouraged to take a nap in the afternoon. The Meditation Hall had alcoves to sit and meditate or take a nap in between all that meditating. There was always someone in the Meditation Hall, and I'm pretty sure a few monks spent the entire day inside, napping in between meditating. There is a strong work ethic at the monastery. Everyone pulls their weight and everyone does some kind of labor that people in business suits would deem beneath them. But when you wake up at dawn and work all day, you need the occasional nap. The older monks generally stayed awake all day, doing all their monk business. At nap time, I could always find younger monks sleeping here and there.

I spent nap time jogging around the monastery, or last least the parts less frequented by the public. My exercise routine was neither encouraged nor discouraged. The monks believe in staying healthy, but prefer to do so through meditation. As long as my afternoon run did not get in anyone's way, no one had a problem with it. Nap time seemed like the perfect time since most of the monks were indoors for an hour or two. Afternoons are not the ideal time to exercise in the heat and humidity of Kaohsiung, but my mornings were pretty busy.

16:00 – 18:00 Evening meditation
Evening meditation was just like morning meditation, only facing west in an attempt to block out the sunset. It took a long time, but I could eventually reach the point where I never noticed the change of light and heat. I even had a time or two where everything around me just faded away. I think that is at least mildly impressive since I was surrounded by nature, which is often hard to ignore. Birds especially have a way of mocking your meditation. I could only get to that point with a teacher. Try as I might, it never happened on my own. I never learned how to levitate or do anything crazy, and I was nowhere near the on-ramp to the freeway that eventually leads to the neighborhood next to Nirvana. At best, I would say that what I experienced was piece of mind.

18:30 – 19:00 Medicinal meal
Dinner, the optional medicinal meal, was as organized as breakfast, but with a wider variety of food. There was a different dish each day, either at random or in a pattern that I never recognized. There was usually rice, but sometimes noodles, with vegetables and a variety of soy products. There was almost always soup. The evening tea was noticeably different from the morning tea, but no one told me what it was and I never bothered to ask. At this point in my life, tea is tea. As long as it has no caffeine.

19:30 – 21:30 Dharma lesson
The evening's Dharma lesson was just like a regular class. Rather than a private lesson, like my lecture time, it was a class full of monks taught by a senior shifu. Just like in school, we were all expected to take notes, and there were periodic tests. Oddly enough, it was the most informal time of the day. The monks were always serious when it came to meditating and chanting, but they smiled and laughed in the classroom, even though everyone was expected to learn every ounce of the lessons.

Afterward, I was free to do whatever I wanted for the rest of the night. Some of my favorite time at the monastery was walking around after dark. The tourist side closed at 17:00 and that was when the spirit of the place really came to life. After the sun went down, the grounds were lit up with lanterns and more than enough electric light. It is almost a shame that the monastery is not open at night, but the lack of tourists made it far more beautiful. Monasteries are not natural tourist attractions.

22:00 Anban
At ten o'clock on the dot, someone hit the anban, which was just like the daban, only a different pattern. All the monks knew what it meant, and I figured out the difference right away. Of course, it helped that one was in the morning and the other was at night. That made it a little obvious.

Once the day was officially over, the monastery fell silent. It was never a particularly loud place to begin with, but in the dead of night, even the crickets kept it down. I went for a few walks after anban, which were always interesting. If you want solitude in the city, early morning is always better than late at night. Taiwanese generally stay up late, and the only people out before dawn are going to work. It was the exact opposite in the monastery. While I always saw at least one other person out and about at night, the place was deserted compared to the mass of motion during the day.

This was a unique experience that I can always repeat, but probably never will. Getting the most out of it requires spending more time in the monastery. If I have the time, I am more likely to travel somewhere. Studying in the monastery is a great way to learn a great deal in a short amount of time, but it is far from a vacation. While my brain was flooded with all things Buddhist, I doubt I will retain most of it. Sooner or later, I will forget most of the jing. And as much as I think meditation is helpful, there are never enough hours in the day.

Seeing Buddha's Lightor At Least a Tiny Spark From a Great Distance

If you want to be generous, you could say that I am an expert on maybe one subject. At most. Buddhism is not it. If you want to learn about Buddhism, there are a few million people who can tell you more than I can. In fact, there are more than a few books on the subject, written by people who know what they are talking about. Some of them were written at Fo Guang Shan Monastery. They will happily give you a book or ten. Even the museum hands out free books. One of Fo Guang Shan's primary missions is to educate. They have founded and/or sponsored more than a few universities, high schools, and elementary schools. Something all schools have in common is books.

After a couple of weeks at Fo Guang Shan Monastery, I now know infinitely more about Buddhism than I did prior. Unfortunately, one of the things I inevitably learned was that I know almost nothing about Buddhism. The farther one travels, the less one knows. That is Tao, but the same concept.

Buddhist monasteries tend to be on top of mountains, when available. That is mostly for seclusion. 佛光山 (Fo Guang Shan) means Buddha's Light Mountain. It was built just off the Yushan mountain range, which cuts through south central Taiwan. While the unobstructed views are nice, it was built there to make it harder for most people to reach. But it was opened to the public over the years, with streets and ample bus access, and became a tourist attraction. More than a few monks told me that the large museum was built downhill to draw people away from the monastery while still providing a Buddhist day trip for civilians.

I know that there are different branches of Buddhism that believe different things, and more than a few disagreements within each branch. Mahayana Buddhism started in India and worked its way to China a couple thousand years ago, where it mixed with Taoism and got stirred around in a big pot until it was hard to tell where Buddhism began and Taoism ended. Fo Guang Shan practices Humanistic Buddhism, which comes from Chan, which is a school of Mahayana.

I know that Humanistic Buddhism is about living people. The temples, memorials, pagodas, and statues are for the living. The Buddha was a human who lived and died, as humans often do. Humanistic Buddhism tends to focus on improving the lives of people right now rather than killing in the name of gods and getting a trophy after death. Ironically, while the Buddha personally ordained the first female monks and Humanistic Buddhism advocates equality, education, and altruism, Fo Guang Shan's founder was a bit of an asshat and a lot of a misogynist. Fortunately, he is 90 something years old and retired. His successors are more enlightened and live in the 21st century. As with most religions, women were only subjugated in later years after some extra sensitive male egos took over. Today, just like 2500 years ago, women can be monks, be seen with the men, and even breathe without permission. That worked out better for me.

Unlike probably everyone at the monastery, I am not Buddhist and have no intention of ever becoming Buddhist. I have studied and/or am studying it for the cultural aspect rather than religious. I never mislead the monks or pretended to have any other motives. I told them upfront that since I am studying Chinese/Taiwanese culture, and specifically the differences between the two, I think I should be studying Buddhism as well. No one can ever understand China without at least a rudimentary grasp of Buddhism. That would be like studying the thousand years of war in Europe without knowing anything about Christianity.

One of the great things about Buddhism, as well as Taoism and Confucianism, is that everyone is welcome to learn as much as they want without any pressure to convert or sign a blood oath. Unlike the western religions, it is perfectly acceptable to mix and match in China. Most of the people who practice Confucianism are also Buddhist, Taoist or something else. Some insist that Confucianism is more of a philosophy than a religion, but all religions are philosophies, in one way or another. What I like is how different it all is from the Judeo-Christian philosophy of kill or be killed, us versus them. Chinese philosophy is more live and let live, we're all in this together.

The not very creatively named Main Shrine
Fo Guang Shan Monastery

Flower and Stone Garden
My favorite place to read

Tathagata Building, Jade Buddha Building

Golden Buddha Building
Golden Buddha Shrine

Dharma classroom

Main dining hall
Cloud Dwelling Building

Meditation Hall
Tathagata Building

Amitabha Chanting Hall
Jade Buddha Building

Dharma Square

Sutra Repository

Lots of Buddhas

Even more Buddhas
Overlooking the Gaoping River

Great Buddha Land
“The highest standing Buddha in southeast Asia”

Dharma Hall

A Brief History of the Buddha

The Buddha thanking his mother for giving birth to him

Fo Guang Shan Museum
Just a quick hike down the hill
Or an elevator ride for those in need

Great Path to Buddhahood
and the Eight Pagodas

Bodhi Wisdom Concourse
Home of the Eighteen Arhats

Sutra Repository Stupa
with one million Heart Sutras

Stupa of Vow

Stupa of Wisdom

Sutra Repository Stupa, Fo Guang Buddha, Stupa of Wisdom

Fo Guang Buddha
I had to pump up the contrast because I was facing the sun
But I think it worked out OK

Meditating On Buddha's Light Mountain

Main Shrine
Fo Guang Shan Monastery


I live about 30km from Fo Guang Shan Monastery, the leading center for Mahayana Buddhism in the country, according to them. I never asked around. The monastery is pretty big, though no self-respecting Buddhist would ever brag about size. Just down the hill is the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum, which is one of the most popular tourist sites in Kaohsiung, even though it is practically in Pingtung and at least 35km from downtown. The museum is pretty enormous. Someone told me it was the largest Buddhist museum in the world. I never checked. But it does house the tallest seated bronze Buddha statue in the world. That is easy enough to verify, but one should keep in mind that there are a million superlative Buddha statues. Most of the tallest or biggest will mention indoor, outdoor, standing, seated, reclining, bronze, wood, gold, left handed, right handed or facing east. But again, no self-respecting Buddhist would ever brag about size.

I spent some time at the Fo Guang Shan Monastery, but not as a tourist. You can certainly visit the monastery, but most people go to the much larger museum. I have been to the museum a time or two, but I went to the monastery for a completely different reason.

Fo Guang Shan has a program specifically for foreigners who want to play Buddhist for the weekend. The “volunteer group” lets people sleep in dorms, do a few arts and crafts, and mostly wash dishes and do laundry. It is probably beneficial for the monastery. They have people come in and do some chores, while the volunteers get a brief introduction to Buddhism. I did not want that.

It should be noted that both the monastery and museum have full time volunteers who are mostly walking information booths for visitors. They are all locals who work at Fo Guang Shan for years and wear civilian clothes with colored vests, depending on location and specialization. If you enter the Sutra Repository, you will be greeted by a monk in brown or gray robes who might not know much English beyond a few words and a volunteer in a red vest who might be able to explain the room in two or three languages. At the Great Buddha Land, you will be greeted by a volunteer or two in yellow or orange vests who may or may not speak any English. The museum has far more English and Japanese speaking volunteers than the monastery. These volunteers, though called volunteers, are nothing like the foreigners in the weekend volunteer group.

Like a lot of temples and monasteries, Fo Guang Shan Monastery has a temple retreat for foreigners. The difference from the volunteer group is that people pay to sleep in the dorms, wear gray pajamas, learn the basics of meditation and chanting, pretend to learn calligraphy, do some light chores, eat three meals a day, watch a tea ceremony, and always stay in their group of however many people are booked that weekend.

Before I went, I did a little research. Most of the information I found was on the volunteer group and the paid retreat, so I initially thought I might pay to stay the weekend. But the more I looked into it, the more it sounded like a waste of time. The volunteers spend little to no time with the monks. They are supervised by a public relations employee of the monastery who is not ordained. They eat in a separate room away from the main dining hall. Almost all socializing is with other volunteers. They sleep in shared dorm rooms, wear whatever clothes they brought with them, and live in their own volunteer bubble. There is no schedule, aside from meal times. Their only obligation is to do assigned chores, which is mostly cleaning things outdoors, washing things indoors, and doing laundry. The paid retreat is more educational than the volunteer group, but far too short and superficial. It is like reading only the first paragraph of a long book. And you have to pay to get in.

Eventually, I figured out that I could stay at the monastery as a student. Student is not really the correct word. In Chinese, I was 學習者 (xuexizhe) rather than 學生 (xuesheng). The easiest translation is learner vs student. Fo Guang Shan welcomes locals who want to learn as much about Humanistic Buddhism as they can cram into their brains. There is no time limit. Some people stay for years before eventually joining the monastery. We all knew I was never going to do that, but I could probably stick around for a week or two. I'm not technically a local, but since I moved here from China, they treated me as if I was Chinese. Being from China or Taiwan is not required, but only the tourist weekends are in English. If you want to study for any length of time, everything is in Chinese.

While I was Xuexizhe, my teachers were mostly 老師 (Laoshi) or 師父 (Shifu), and rarely 法師 (Fashi). While every shifu and fashi is also a laoshi, laoshi and fashi are only called shifu by people further down the ladder. I was at the bottom, so I could call everyone shifu or laoshi. Fashi, of course, is only reserved for specific laoshi. Or shifu. To every fashi and shifu, I was Xuexizhe, but the occasional laoshi called me Xuesheng. I think maybe five people on the entire campus knew my Chinese name, and I only told one laoshi my English name, because he asked and he enjoyed practicing his English with me.

All the monks had names, of course, but they also had Dharma names and courtesy names. This is pretty common in Chinese. Sun Yat Sen was born Sun Deming, called Sun Wen as a child, called Sun Yat Sen in Hong Kong, called Sun Zhongshan in Taiwan, and given the courtesy name Zaizhi. I still call him Sun Yat Sen, the rare time he comes up in conversation, but no one around here knows who I am talking about until I mention Zhongshan. Ironically, the National Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei is not called Sun Zhongshan Memorial Hall. Not that it matters since that is the English name. In Chinese, it is the National Father of the Country Memorial Hall. To avoid confusion, I was encouraged to address the monks by title rather than name. Pretty much everyone I met was either Laoshi, Fashi or Shifu.

I spent most of my days with one monk or another, usually Laoshi. I ate with monks and novices in the dining hall. I met plenty of other people at the monastery. It is almost impossible not to. But I did not see a single foreigner or another xuexizhe. All of the volunteers I met were full time locals who knew what they were talking about, and not part of the foreigner volunteer group. I don't know how often they host weekend retreats, but I doubt any were going on while I was there.

I slept in a tiny, private room, which was more decorated than I expected. It was all Buddhist decor, but I thought it would just be bare walls and a bed. It was more like a small hotel room with a larger than average bathroom, which is not much of a surprise since Fo Guang Shan often hosts monks, scholars, and dignitaries from all around the world. They gave me student robes to wear, which were a different color and style from what the monks or novices wore. The hierarchy of robes was fairly complicated and took a while to figure out. No one was ever going to mistake me for a monk, especially since I had hair, but the clothes announced to everyone exactly who I was, which was convenient. Since part of the monastery is open to the public, tourists sometimes wander into areas not intended for tourists. Had I been in civilian clothes, I would have spent too much time trying to explain why I was there. The robes were an all-access pass, or more like a low-access pass.

There was a schedule for practically every waking moment of every day. It was far from hectic, but I was expected to follow it religiously. I was free to leave at any time, of course, but as long as I was there, they wanted me to be fully there. Being in the moment is kind of a big thing to Buddhists. Best of all, I was not part of any group. I was in a group of one, getting individual attention, except when I was surrounded by monks. My schedule might not have been tailor made for me specifically, but I was the only person on it. Sharing the experience with a group of tourists would have diminished it.

Since Humanistic Buddhism is more about helping the living than mourning the dead, the monks at Fo Guang Shan are not cloistered in a cave somewhere. They operate a wide variety of social and educational programs around the country. They work in village clinics, volunteer in city hospitals, operate rehabilitation services in prisons, run orphanages and senior centers, and do all the usual monk jobs of feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, and officiating at weddings and funerals. They go to conferences around the country and other parts of the world. They publish articles, hold seminars, and write books. A lot of books. Every shifu wrote at least one book and the laoshi were handing me books left and right.

I never witnessed any of their outside activities. As a xuexizhe, I was not at all qualified to do anything even remotely close to monk work. From what I saw, even the novices mostly stayed on site. Unlike the monks, I was cloistered, but in a monastery too large and populated to feel claustrophobic. There are usually two to three hundred monks at the monastery, with ample room to hold a few thousand during conferences and major holiday festivals. There was an ordination ceremony while I was there. New monks from around the country came to Kaohsiung to get sworn in. It was wall to wall monks for a few days. I have no idea how many people came to the monastery, but it could have easily been in the thousands.

Something I saw all the time was how much they embraced modern technology. Fo Guang Shan is known for its use of modern technology. They have websites and apps, a couple of podcasts, a public relations and marketing department, and like a lot of other Buddhist groups in Taiwan, they have TV shows. Not shows about monks who go from town to town solving crimes, but single camera lectures where a monk talks to the audience. Sometimes they chant. It is not riveting television. There was no TV in my tiny room, but the entire monastery is a wifi hotspot. Not only was my phone not taken away, I was encouraged to bring a laptop to do online research. Seeing monks with smartphones and other i-devices is common in Taiwan, but for some reason, I did not expect it in the monastery. I had to remind myself that these people were Buddhist, not Amish.

Dharma Square

Jerusalem Hotel 2230

I went to Palestine today. No one really knows where Palestine is or where the borders are, or even if it exists, but I was definitely in it. Almost everyone agrees that Jericho is in the chunk of land that most people currently call Palestine.

Between Jerusalem and Jericho, you pretty much have to stop at a few interesting spots. Along the way are the nature reserve at Wadi Qelt and the historical St George's Monastery, which are probably in Israel; the Mount of Temptation, which is in the West Bank and may or may not be in Palestine; Qasr al Yahoud, which is probably in Palestine, but the main river site is protected and operated by Israel.

Getting into Palestine required crossing the infamous Israeli checkpoints. That was nothing like what I expected. On the news, a checkpoint is the worst form of human torture known to man. What I experienced was like crossing the border from the United States into Mexico. Maybe because I am white and have an American passport. I doubt that hurts. Maybe some people are just looking for trouble to further their agenda. Maybe everything is not as black and white as Americans think.

My guide was Muslim Arab. He did a great job and I would not trade him for anyone, but your guide pretty much has to be Arab. It is illegal for Jews to enter Jericho. Christians are allowed in because they make up 99% of the tourists.

St George's Monastery is a 1,500-year-old Christian church built into the side of a cliff. It is supposed to be home to Elijah's cave, but a lot of people disagree with that. The Mount of Temptation is also built into a cliff, supposedly around the cave where Jesus was tempted. Today, they are both working Greek Orthodox churches open to the public. Whether the caves are authentic or not, the skill required to build large churches into the sides of cliffs so long ago is pretty impressive.

Qasr al Yahoud is the point at the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. Maybe. It is a major Christian pilgrimage site, and even though it is well beyond the current Israeli borders, Israel controls the area. According to my Arab guide, Jordan asked Israel to control that side of the river. The last thing Jordan wants is a wave of immigrants/refugees crossing their border. Israel pretty much guarantees that will not happen. Anyone who has ever been to Qasr al Yahoud knows how easy it would be for any adult or large child to cross that point in the river. It is more like a calm stream. The way it is all set up now, everyone at the river is a foreigner with either a visa for Israel or a visa for Jordan, and not much reason to cross illegally from one to the other.

I asked a few pilgrims whether they thought it should be controlled by Israel or Palestine. Most were either glad it was Israel or did not care either way. One guy told me none of us would be allowed in if it was under Palestine control. I can neither confirm nor deny that since I was easily allowed into Jericho and kept my head, but Israeli sites do feel more welcoming to a wider variety of people. If you are a Christian, this is an important place to go. If it were under Palestine control, I think Christians would still be allowed in. Religious dogma rarely pays the bills. Jews are not exactly the biggest Jesus fans, so I doubt forbidding their entry would make much of a difference to ticket sales.

Getting into Jericho required passing through another checkpoint. There were plenty of people in front of us, but the line moved quickly. Maybe it is all a matter of perspective. I am accustomed to how slowly lines move in China, so any time I can creep forward, I see progress.

After the Israeli checkpoint, we had to pass a Palestinian checkpoint. I was not expecting that. You hear about Israeli checkpoints all the time and how they violate human rights. You never hear about Palestinian checkpoints. It was just as violating as the Israeli checkpoint, which was not at all, but less newsworthy for some reason. Airport security is more intrusive than any of these checkpoints.

Jericho and Jerusalem are less than 20 miles apart, but they could be in different worlds. Both are exceptionally old cities, but Jericho shows it age. Jerusalem is modern and ancient at the same time. They have found a nice balance. Jericho looks old and run down with graffiti on the walls and trash in the streets.

The streets of Jerusalem have Jews, Muslims, Christians, Baha'i and miscellaneous all going somewhere. It almost looks like New York in that everyone is always on the go. Jerusalem is not what you would call laid back, but it is a rainbow city with every race on the planet.

Jericho is 99% Muslim, 1% Christian and entirely Arab. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get anywhere. I saw a lot of men standing around and smoking in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the week. I also saw far fewer women and children.

Economic differences aside, the people in Jericho were just as friendly as the people in Jerusalem. Everyone was happy to see me, or at least my tourist money. That might sound cynical, but the difference between someone genuinely smiling and someone smiling for money is pretty obvious.

More than a few people wanted to practice their English with me. Any English speaker who lives in China gets used to that. But in China, a lot of teenage girls and young women approach me. In Jericho, it was only older men. Most of the girls were hidden away somewhere and the younger men only looked at me the way a dog looks at bacon. The older men were more than happy to talk to me, mostly after my guide introduced me. I think I spent more time in Jericho talking to people than seeing the sights.

It was a fascinating and educational trip, but not really the kind of place to take a relaxing vacation. When I left, I had a feeling that I would probably never go back there again.

Jerusalem Hotel 2230

Today was another long, eventful day. The dance scene went well. The director was happy with my performance. The acting looked good because I was with a great actress. Playing off better performers always improves your game.

The dancing looked good because I exceeded the director's expectations. I did not do anything any trained dancer could not do with a little practice, but since the director is not a dancer, he was impressed.

Despite spending the morning dancing in front of a movie camera, dinner was the most unusual part of the day for me. I had Shabbat dinner with a Muslim family. It was not technically Shabbat since Muslims don't do Shabbat, but it was essentially the same thing. It was Friday dinner, which is more important to them than it sounds.

We all went to the family mosque, which was quite educational. For me, at least. The service was unlike anything I have ever seen. A synagogue or Christian church service is pretty much the same. They read from different books, but half of the Christian book comes from the Jewish book. People sit in pews and listen to the preacher. There might be a song or two, depending on denomination.

The mosque was unlike either. Everyone stood and sat on the floor and several different people spoke. Their book, of course, is very different. At the synagogue, I sat with everyone as if I was one of them. I was invited to participate, but not expected to do or understand anything since it was all in Hebrew. At the mosque, I had to stand in the back. I could watch, but I had to stay out of the way. Everyone knew I was not one of them.

The synagogue service was happy. There were bursts of laughter here and there, and everyone seemed to have a good time. The mosque service felt angry to me. I could not understand a word since everything was in Arabic, but my impression was that the speakers were yelling at the congregation. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Hebrew sounds happy to my ears and Arabic sounds angry. I don't know. German always sounds angry to me while Italian sounds pretty, no matter what anyone is actually saying.

No one anywhere in that mosque did anything to make me feel unwelcome. It might have all been psychological conditioning from only hearing negative stories on the news. But I only hear negative stories about Israel, and so far, this has been an amazingly positive trip.

Then again, it could have been a case of authority. The main speaker at any Jewish or Christian service is a trained professional who was hired specifically to speak in front of that congregation. The speakers in the mosque were ordinary men who had something to say. They had no particular training to address any flock.

After the mosque, it was dinner time. This was similar to Shabbat dinner and completely different at the same time. Both houses smelled like herbs and spices as soon as I walked in the door. Both had tables full of exceptionally fresh vegetables prepared a million different ways. Both had hummus, made from completely different recipes, each of which was infinitely better than what I make at home. If there is one thing all Israelis can agree on, whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, liberal, conservative, light brown or dark brown, it is that their hummus is better than mine.

Jerusalem Hotel 2045

I saw pretty much most of the Old City today. It really helps to go with someone who knows their way around.

We went to the Western Wall, where my guide explained what everyone was doing. I already knew the praying part, but the history is far longer and more complicated than I realized.

We walked the Via Dolorosa and he showed me around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is a lot bigger and more intricate than what I saw the first time. The church is a maze within the maze.

My guide explained the Stone of Anointing, Catholicon and Aedicule, and took me up the narrow steps to Calvary and down to the chapels, including Mary Magdalene, St Helena and the Armenian chapel.

The line to get into the Aedicule was pretty short, so we went inside. If you were raised a Christian, that is something you really have to do, no matter how you feel about it all today. Even if you are not a Christian, it is the tomb of Jesus Christ, arguably the most influential figure in the history of the world. There is no real reason not to go in and take a peek.

The best part about exploring the Old City with a local was going to the Temple Mount. Getting in is more complicated than going to the other big holy sites. Every religion controls their own sites in Jerusalem and the Muslims are far more strict. We just walked right up to Christian and Jewish sites, no questions asked. The Temple Mount requires a security check and is only open at certain times.

It was worth it. Only Muslims are allowed inside any of the buildings, but we could walk around and get the closest possible view of the Dome of the Rock. It is an amazing looking building up close. The attention to detail with all of the hand painted tiles is incredible. The history is far shorter than the Western Wall, but no less complicated.

Jerusalem Hotel 2200

I met most of the cast today. We had a quick table read and then everyone left to get ready for their big Shabbat dinner. Most of the dialogue is in Hebrew, so I could not understand a word of it, but it felt like I was in a room with some really good actors.

I had Shabbat dinner with a local family. They graciously invited me into their home to share their holiday. I learned a lot about their customs. Now instead of knowing almost nothing, I know slightly more than nothing. It was an amazing experience. And the food was outstanding. Easily the best meal I have had in Jerusalem so far.

Shabbat is the day of rest, but it is a lot more than that. It is a spiritual holiday and one of the Ten Commandments. I went to a family synagogue where I watched a surprisingly short service, all in Hebrew. It was all Greek to me, but they could not have been friendlier.

Paris Recommendations

Obviously I'm not the world's foremost authority on Paris. I was only there for a month. I barely saw anything.

But I saw something, and this is what I would recommend to anyone who goes there. Others might disagree.


Museums
(in no particular order)

Musée du Louvre
1st arrondissement
Featuring Rembrandt van Rijn, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raphael Sanzio, Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian Vecellio, Francisco Goya, Tintoretto and ancient artifacts out the wazoo.
Métro stops: Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre, Louvre – Rivoli, Tuileries, Pont Neuf, Châtelet, Pyramides, Assemblée Nationale
RER stops: Châtelet – Les Halles, Musée d'Orsay

Musée d'Orsay
7th arrondissement
Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Georges Seurat, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Across the river from the Louvre.
Métro stops: Solférino, Assemblée Nationale, Varenne, Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre
RER stop: Musée d'Orsay

Holocaust Memorial
4th arrondissement
This is a terribly depressing place, but worth remembering what happens when hatred and intolerance become politically correct. A block from Église Saint-Gervais.
Métro stops: Pont Marie, Saint-Paul, Hôtel de Ville, Sully – Morland, Cité, Châtelet

Musée Rodin
7th arrondissement
Auguste Rodin, Vincent van Gogh, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet. Next to les Invalides.
Métro stops: Varenne, Saint-François-Xavier, La Tour-Maubourg, École Militaire, Rue du Bac, Solférino

Musée National d'Art Moderne
4th arrondissement
Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Willem de Kooning, René Magritte, Paul Klee, Balthus, Jackson Pollock, Joan Miró. In the Pompidou Center.
Métro stops: Rambuteau, Châtelet, Hôtel de Ville, Les Halles, Étienne Marcel, Arts et Métiers, Pont Neuf, Cité
RER stop: Châtelet – Les Halles

Musée Picasso
3rd arrondissement
Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Henri Rousseau. Next to the National Archives.
Métro stops: Saint-Sébastien – Froissart, Chemin Vert, Filles du Calvaire, Saint-Paul, Rambuteau, Hôtel de Ville, Bastille, Arts et Métiers

Musée Carnavalet
3rd arrondissement
A history museum dedicated to Paris. It has a great model of Île de la Cité, plus a lot of personal knick knacks from historic French figures. Between Musée Picasso and Place des Vosges.
Métro stops: Saint-Paul, Bastille, Chemin Vert, Saint-Sébastien – Froissart, Filles du Calvaire, Rambuteau, Hôtel de Ville, Arts et Métiers

Musée de la Musique
19th arrondissement
This place had the largest collection of mostly antique and obscure instruments I've ever seen. At Parc de la Villette.
Métro stops: Porte de Pantin, Corentin Cariou, Porte de la Villette

Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie
19th arrondissement
The largest science museum in all of Europe. Also at Parc de la Villette.
Métro stops: Porte de la Villette, Corentin Cariou, Porte de Pantin

Arènes de Lutèce
5th arrondissement
An ancient Roman ruin in the middle of Quartier latin. Small by Roman standards, but interesting in that it is surrounded by 19th and 21st century Paris. Between Jardin des Plantes and the Panthéon.
Métro stops: Jussieu, Place Monge, Cardinal Lemoine

Château de Versailles
Not actually in Paris, but close and very easy to get to.
RER stop: Versailles-Château-Rive-Gauche


Churches

Notre Dame de Paris
Île de la Cité
The best looking church I have ever seen. The tower is a bit of a climb, but the view is fantastic. The rest of the church is not too shabby either.
Métro stops: Cité, Saint-Michel, Châtelet, Pont Neuf, Hôtel de Ville, Pont Marie, Saint-Paul, Sully – Morland
RER stop: Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame

Église Saint-Eustache
Les Halles
A beautiful church in the heart of Paris. It is almost impossible not to walk around or past this place. As long as you are there, you might as well go inside. The architecture is amazing and there are some wonderful paintings and stained glass windows.
Métro stops: Les Halles, Étienne Marcel, Sentier, Louvre – Rivoli, Châtelet, Hôtel de Ville, Rambuteau, Arts et Métiers, Pont Neuf
RER stop: Châtelet – Les Halles

Basilique du Sacré Coeur
Montmartre
Another long climb to get to the great views, especially after climbing uphill just to get to the church, but a nice little church nonetheless. Photography is not allowed inside, and unlike a lot of places, they enforce this rule politely but firmly.
Métro stops: Abbesses, Pigalle, Anvers, Barbès – Rochechouart, Château Rouge, Marcadet – Poissonniers, Jules Joffrin

Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis
le Marais
A beautiful Jesuit church built in the early 1600s.
Métro stops: Saint-Paul, Pont Marie, Sully – Morland, Bastille, Chemin Vert

Église Saint-Augustin
Malesherbes
Not the most famous church in Paris, but very impressive. You can't help but see the dome from most of the towers and hills around the city.
Métro stops: Saint-Augustin, Miromesnil, Saint-Lazare, Europe, Villiers, Monceau
RER stop: Haussmann – Saint-Lazare


Restaurants

Sixieme Sens
Rue de la Roquette, Bastille
Hole in the wall restaurant on the street that connects the Voltaire metro stop and the Bastille, pretty much right in between the two. It is hard to find until you know it's across the street from a Monoprix. The owner/chef is incredibly friendly and knows how to cook.
Métro stops: Bastille, Voltaire

L'Orangerie
Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, Île Saint-Louis
A nice little cinema themed bistro in the middle of the island. Less than a block away from Chez nos ancêtres les gaulois.
Métro stops: Pont Marie, Sully – Morland, Saint-Paul

L'As du Fallafel
Rue des Rosiers/Rue des Ecouffes, le Marais
Israeli restaurant with the best hummus in Paris. Between Place des Vosges and Hôtel de Ville.
Métro stops: Saint-Paul, Chemin Vert

Nick's Pizza
Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, Opéra-Haussmann
A slice and a pop. What more do you need? People can debate all day whether it can be authentic New York without the water, but the owner/chef is from New York, for what it's worth. Between the Folies Bergère and Hard Rock Cafe.
Métro stops: Grands Boulevards, Richelieu – Drouot, Le Peletier

Pur' at the Park Hyatt
Rue de la Paix, Opéra
Fancy Michelin star restaurant with good food despite the pretentious hype. Near Place Vendôme and Madeleine.
Métro stops: Opéra, Madeleine

Harmony Café
Boulevard de Port-Royal/Rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Montparnasse
Another friendly owner/chef and some of the best frites in Paris. Near the Montparnasse Cemetery.
Métro stop: Raspail
RER stop: Port-Royal

Pizza Julia
Rue de Charenton, Place de la Bastille
Nothing fancy on the outside, but great pizza inside. Some of the toppings are questionable, though fresh, but the dough is pretty close to perfect. Around the corner from Opéra Bastille.
Métro stop: Bastille

Chez nos ancêtres les gaulois
Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, Île Saint-Louis
The strangest little restaurant in Paris. It is supposed to look like a tavern in medieval Gaul. This is not the best food in Paris, but the atmosphere is unique, with people singing and a resident troubadour wandering around. Less than a block away from l'Orangerie.
Métro stops: Pont Marie, Sully – Morland, Saint-Paul

Mancini
Rue Bachelet/Rue Custine, Montmartre
Italian restaurant owned by actual Italians, this tiny place is dangerously close to the tourist food that litters Montmartre, but is on one of the tourist-free streets where you never see anyone selling t-shirts. It is easy to find once you get away from the madding crowd, with large Italian flags hanging out front. Two or three blocks northeast of Sacré Coeur.
Métro stops: Château Rouge, Marcadet – Poissonniers, Jules Joffrin, Lamarck – Caulaincourt

American Corner
Rue Saint Jacques/Rue Cujas, Latin Quarter
“New York” style bagel shop with hot dogs and American desserts. Nothing about this place reminded me of New York, but they had great cookies and better bagels than anything in Hong Kong. Between the Panthéon and Jardin du Luxembourg.
Métro stops: Cluny – La Sorbonne, Cardinal Lemoine
RER stop: Luxembourg

La Maison du Chou
Rue de Furstenberg, Saint Germain
Chouquettes and other pastries at a small shop on the tiny street where the final scene of Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence was filmed, across the street from Countess Olenska's apartment. Very close to Église de Saint-Germain des Prés.
Métro stops: Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Mabillon

Le Jamoncito
Rue Quincampoix, Les Halles
Spanish restaurant on a dead little street wedged between the Pompidou Center and Les Halles, two blocks west of Place Stravinsky and three blocks north of Tour Saint-Jacques.
Métro stops: Châtelet, Hôtel de Ville

Berthillon
Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, Île Saint-Louis
Considered by more than a few people to be the best ice cream in Paris, I went there mostly because it was on our island. Food snobs will explode when I say that I prefer Ben & Jerry's, but this place was pretty good, too. Between l'Orangerie and Chez nos ancêtres les gaulois.
Métro stops: Pont Marie, Sully – Morland, Saint-Paul

Twinkie Breakfasts
Rue Saint-Denis/Rue Greneta, Les Halles
Most people dreaming about sitting at a sidewalk café will never go to this place, but if you are an American living in Asia, this is a nice change of pace. They have a large selection of American and English foods that are not common in Paris, including a full breakfast menu and all kinds of American condiments that some of us don't see all that often. Across the street from the Love Shop.
Métro stops: Réaumur – Sébastopol, Étienne Marcel

Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger
Rue du Bac/Rue de Verneuil, Pont Royal
This is a chain, so they have a few locations and you are not going to get the personal touch of a family business, but they opened a shop in Hong Kong in one of the old Starbucks locations, so I wanted to compare the Paris version with the Hong Kong version. They both look remarkably similar, which is not standard practice when companies bring their food to China, but what they make in Paris is much better.
Métro stop: Rue du Bac
RER stop: Musée d'Orsay


Landmarks

Eiffel Tower
7th arrondissement
You have to go here when you go to Paris. It's the law.
Métro stops: Trocadéro, Passy, Bir-Hakeim, La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle, École Militaire
RER stop: Champ de Mars – Tour Eiffel

Palais Garnier
9th arrondissement
Even if you never go to the ballet or opera, it's worth going into this building for the grandeur.
Métro stops: Opéra, Chaussée d'Antin – La Fayette, Havre – Caumartin
RER stop: Auber

Arc de Triomphe
8th arrondissement
You don't have to climb the stairs or take the tiny elevator to fully appreciate the history, but the view from the top is nice.
Métro & RER stop: Charles-de-Gaulle – Étoile

Panthéon
5th arrondissement
Burial site to a lot of famous French people. It has not been a church in a long time, but the interior still looks like a grand cathedral.
Métro stops: Cluny – La Sorbonne, Maubert – Mutualité, Cardinal Lemoine
RER stop: Luxembourg

Tour Montparnasse
15th arrondissement
People complain that it's ugly, but from the top, you can see all over Paris. And you can go on the roof. A lot of tall buildings only let you go to an indoor observation deck. Here, you can get a 360 degree view and feel all that wind in your face.
Métro stops: Montparnasse – Bienvenüe, Edgar Quinet


Parks

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
19th arrondissement
My personal favorite park in Paris. It has a nice little lake with a nice little island connected by two bridges, one of which was designed by Gustave Eiffel. There is a waterfall near the lake and sloping green lawns with patches of bright flowers. Simply beautiful in the spring, I would love to see it covered in snow.
Métro stops: Buttes-Chaumont, Botzaris

Bois de Vincennes
12th arrondissement
The largest park in Paris, with a few lakes, a zoo, a concert stadium, sports stadium, French gardens, lots of flowers and Château de Vincennes. Mata Hari was executed here.
Métro stops: Château de Vincennes, Bérault, Saint-Mandé, Porte Dorée, Liberté, Charenton – Écoles
RER stops: Vincennes, Joinville-le-Pont, Nogent-sur-Marne, Fontenay-sous-Bois

Bois de Boulogne
16th arrondissement
The second largest park in Paris, with a few lakes, a zoo, a concert stadium, sports stadium, English gardens, and Château de Bagatelle. The first manned balloon flight was here.
Métro stops: Porte Maillot, Porte Dauphine, La Muette, Ranelagh, Porte d'Auteuil, Michel-Ange – Molitor, Pont de Neuilly, Les Sablons
RER stops: Neuilly – Porte Maillot, Avenue Foch, Avenue Henri Martin

Parc de la Villette
19th arrondissement
A large park on the canals that were built to bring drinking water to Paris. This is a cultural park rather than a garden park, though there are gardens, with the Musée de la Musique, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, a concert stadium, symphony hall, live theaters, movie theaters and a large array of modern architecture.
Métro stops: Porte de la Villette, Corentin Cariou, Porte de Pantin

Jardin du Luxembourg
6th arrondissement
A pleasant, if crowded, public space that borders Quartier latin and Montparnasse. Lots of statues and fountains.
Métro stops: Odéon, Saint-Sulpice, Rennes, Notre-Dame des Champs
RER stops: Luxembourg, Port-Royal

Parc de Belleville
20th arrondissement
A small park on top of a hill, it has great views of Tour Jussieu, the Panthéon, Notre Dame, Tour Montparnasse, Église Saint-Sulpice, the Pompidou Center, les Invalides and of course, the Eiffel Tower. Running through the park is a series of fountains that flow downhill.
Métro stops: Couronnes, Belleville, Pyrénées

Jardin des Plantes
5th arrondissement
The botanical garden, with thousands of plants and hundreds of different roses.
Métro stops: Jussieu, Place Monge, Censier – Daubenton, Saint-Marcel, Gare d'Austerlitz
RER stop: Gare d'Austerlitz

Jardin des Tuileries
1st arrondissement
This used to be several grand French gardens that inspired painters and poets, but those days are over. It is still an excellent walkway sans voitures between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde with a few sculptures by Rodin.
Métro stops: Concorde, Tuileries, Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre, Louvre – Rivoli
RER stop: Musée d'Orsay


Neighborhoods

Le Marais
A great little historic neighborhood for a walk. Home of the Musée Picasso, Place des Vosges, Musée Carnavalet, Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, Hôtel de Ville and National Archives. Just north of the river at the islands.
Métro stops: Hôtel de Ville, Saint-Paul, Bastille, République, Arts et Métiers

Bassin de la Villette
An interesting residential neighborhood with walking, jogging and biking paths along the canal. Between Parc de la Villette, Canal Saint-Martin and Parc des Buttes-Chaumont.
Métro stops: Stalingrad, Jaurès, Riquet, Laumière

Montmartre
Home of Sacré Coeur, Théâtre Trianon, Moulin Rouge, and former home of some great artists. It is mostly a tourist trap today with the red light district and that little train for children, but there are some nice winding little streets with authentic food. You just have to avoid any place with postcards and t-shirts nearby. Between Gare du Nord and Gare Saint-Lazare.
Métro stops: Blanche, Pigalle, Anvers, Château Rouge, Lamarck – Caulaincourt, La Fourche

Île de la Cité
The most famous island in Paris, mostly because of a big church and a couple of popular bridges.
Métro stops: Saint-Michel, Cité, Pont Neuf, Châtelet, Pont Marie
RER stop: Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame

Île Saint-Louis
My favorite island in Paris. Mostly because our apartment was here. For most people, there is not much to see. But it's still a good place to walk around.
Métro stops: Pont Marie, Sully – Morland, Cité, Saint-Michel
RER stop: Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame

Latin Quarter
Mostly touristy, but there is good food if you are willing to look around and go to places without English menus. Home of the Panthéon and Sorbonne. Just south of Île de la Cité.
Métro stops: Saint-Michel, Cluny – La Sorbonne, Odéon
RER stops: Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame, Luxembourg

Île aux Cygnes
A thin island between Pont de Grenelle and Pont de Bir-Hakeim that is little more than a nice place for a walk. It also has a 22 meter Statue de la Liberté. The one in New York is 93 meters. Tokyo's is a little over 12 meters.
Métro stops: Bir-Hakeim, Passy
RER stops: Avenue du Président Kennedy, Champ de Mars – Tour Eiffel

Disneyland Paris
Not actually in Paris, and probably not everyone's first stop on a visit to France, but it is Disneyland. Home of Phantom Manor, Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains and Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant. In Marne-la-Vallée, about 20 minutes from Île de la Cité.
RER stop: Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy

Paris Diary part 23

Day 28
15°, partly cloudy.

This was our last full day off in Paris and I wanted to make the most of it. We did not work every day we were there, but sometimes it seemed like it. I wanted to experience the city as much as I could while I could.

I went for a morning run along the Seine on what was looking like a gloomy day. Our first few days in Paris were cold and wet, but the weather cleared up for most of the month. By the end, we were back to cold and wet. There might be better times of the year to spend a month in Paris, but April is not a bad choice.

Lily & I went to Normandy because it was one of the places to see on both of our lists. It was not on the top of the list, so it had to wait until the last minute. Had we not gone on this day, we never would have.

We took the train up to Caen, which was easy, and then rented a car, which was more complicated. June is the big tourist season, for obvious reasons, but April is not exactly empty. We wanted to take a guided bus tour, but since we decided to go at the last minute, nothing was available. The tours also tend to go to one beach or another, and we wanted to see Omaha and Juno.

We went to one of the many car rental places near the train station where we met an American couple who also never bothered to reserve anything in advance. We solved all of our problems by renting a car together. They also wanted to see Omaha, but did not mind going to Juno. With the other couple, we could all save money and we would have more drivers. The area around Caen, Bayeux and the beaches is not especially large, but Lily can't drive a manual transmission and does not have an international permit even if the rental company had automatics.

We drove from Caen through the country roads to Courseulles-sur-Mer, which looked like a great little village. I wanted to look around more, but we had places to go.

From Courseulles-sur-Mer, we followed the coast to Vierville-sur-Mer. It was not the fastest way to get there, but the scenery was beautiful and it took us to Gold Beach on the way. We went to most of the monuments, but spent most of the day on the beaches. West of the American Cemetery was an enormous stretch of beach with cute French cottages behind rustic wooden fences.

We picked a great day to go to Normandy. It was cloudy, but there was no threat of rain as there was in Paris, and it was cool enough to walk along the beaches and coastal paths.

From the beaches, we went to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. No one in any of our families was buried there, but we had to go anyway. After looking at so many battle sites, it seemed only appropriate. From the cemetery, we drove down to Bayeux.

Bayeux was a nice little town with more monuments and cemeteries. We also checked out Bayeux Cathedral.

After Bayeux, we headed back to Caen. I had done all of the driving at this point, so I offered to let our new American friends drive. One of them could not drive a stick shift and the other was too intimidated by the French freeway system. It seemed pretty basic to me, so I stayed behind the wheel.

We spent more time in Caen than we had in Bayeux. There were more D-Day monuments, but Caen took us further back in time than the 1940s. William the Conqueror was everywhere. He built several of the older buildings, including Château de Caen, Église Saint-Etienne and Église de la Sainte-Trinité.

Château de Caen is right in the middle of the city and a good place from which to branch out. It was attacked a few times during the Hundred Years' War, vandalized during the French Revolution and bombed before D-Day. William would never recognize it today, especially with its ample parking.

Église Saint-Pierre is an ornate but small Gothic church across the street from Château de Caen, but has nothing to do with William. It was built and rebuilt a few hundred years after he died.

Église Saint-Etienne and Église de la Sainte-Trinité were built at the same time by William to make the Pope happy. St-Etienne is larger and more elaborate than Ste-Trinité, with museums and grounds rather than simply sitting on a street in the middle of town.

When we were all done for the day, we returned the rental car, exchanged contact information with our new friends and hopped on separate trains. They were headed for London and we went back to Paris.

Back in our Paris apartment, Lily & I decided to eat in rather than go out. We spent the entire day eating snacks in various seaside villages. We were ready for a home cooked meal. I also wanted to use that kitchen while I still could. We have a nice apartment in Hong Kong, but we don't have access to the fresh ingredients we had in Paris. I miss that apartment kitchen with its morning sunlight and the smell of the flowered courtyard outside the window, but more than that, I miss what I could find in local markets and bring back to the kitchen.

Paris Diary part 21

Day 26
16°, light rain off & on all day.

On our last Sunday in Paris, Lily & I went to Notre Dame. We had already been inside the cathedral, and we walked past it a million times, but we had never gone up the tower since it was always closed. We figured everything would be open on a Sunday. A lot of things are closed on Sundays in Paris, but this is a church. We could tell that the tower was open as soon as we crossed Pont Saint-Louis onto Île de la Cité and saw the long line of people along Rue du Cloître Notre Dame.

The climb up the tower was torture. I'm in pretty good shape, as is Lily, but those 387 spiral steps took their toll. A straight staircase would have been easier, but spirals force you to constantly adjust your balance. Instead of simply walking up, you are walking up and to the left.

It was a cloudy day, but the view was worth the climb. Paris is a pretty low city, so the high clouds never covered much of anything, and only made the view more dramatic. We could clearly see the Eiffel Tower, les Invalides and Sacré Coeur. Since we knew the city a lot better than we did the first time the tower was closed, we also noticed our roommate's hospital, Saint Sulpice, one of our grocery stores and more than a few restaurants.

After we climbed down all of the steps, we went down even further into the crypt. That is probably more interesting to archeologists, but still worth a look.

From Notre Dame, we went to Bois de Boulogne. We had already been to Bois de Vincennes, so we figured we might as well go to the other giant park that bookends the city. Bois de Boulogne is smaller than Bois de Vincennes, but not enough to notice. Bois de Vincennes has the Château de Vincennes, a small medieval castle, while Bois de Boulogne has the Château de Bagatelle, a neoclassical mansion.

Both parks have lakes and streams, but Lily & I agreed that Lac Daumesnil at Vincennes was the best of the bunch.

We spent the evening on the apartment's roof terrace. It had just stopped raining and was about to start up again at any moment, but we both decided that we liked our Paris apartment more than the big Antibes house. The Antibes house was much bigger and had a swimming pool, hot tub and all kinds of gardens and grounds to walk around, but it never felt like a home. The Paris apartment was more comfortable. Paris has plenty of gardens and grounds to walk around anyway.

Tokyo Trip part 8

The neighborhood we were in could not have been better. We stayed in Shibuya, which is famous for shopping and food, but our apartment was on a quiet street away from all the excitement. We were only a few blocks away from everything, but once you turned onto our street, life immediately moved slower. It was like being in a quiet residential neighborhood right next to all the downtown action.

We were an easy walk to the Shibuya JR station, but we were also pretty close to the Harajuku station. I think our apartment might have been right in the middle of the two, but we mostly used Shibuya because it was a bigger station that went to more places.

I'm not really sure what is south of Shibuya, but just north of our apartment was Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Shrine. The first time we went there, we took the JR from Shibuya to Harajuku, but then we quickly found out that we could easily walk to the park. The front entrance to the park was about the same walking distance as the Shibuya station.

The Meiji Shrine was very interesting. Ryan thought it looked like a Chinese temple, but I thought it was completely different. Chinese temples seem louder. Not only in the noise made by all the people, but in the design. This shrine was calm and relaxing. Chinese temples are rough and jagged. The Japanese people at the Meiji Shrine were far more reverential than I have ever seen anyone at a Chinese temple. You can easily walk around a Chinese temple without being the loud American because Chinese people are, by and large, far noisier. At the Meiji Shrine, we were effortlessly the loud Americans, even though half of us were Canadian.

It's interesting that Canadian's have no bad reputation anywhere when most of the world probably looks at Canadians and assumes they are American. I wonder how many obnoxious Canadians have wandered around, letting everyone assume they were American.

Xiamen part 2

The highest peak on Gulangyu, which is not at all easy to get to
Even from the bottom you can see all the people struggling to be the first to the top



Nanputuo Temple



Hubin North Road, Just north of Bailuzhou Park
This was close to the American grocery store
What's exceptional is how few cars there are on this road



The temple at the base of the mountain on Gulangyu

Bangkok part 2

The Grand Palace
Definitely not closed that day



On the Skytrain
Less crowded than usual



Lumphini Park
A great place for a morning jog or tai chi



Some of the many Buddhas at Wat Pho
Everyone goes to see the big famous Buddha
But there are plenty of other Buddhas all over the place