Hong Luo Si

This weekend, we took an IUP field trip to Hong Luo Si, or Red Snail Temple. The temple was a 2.5 hour bus ride from Tsinghua, and we got there just in time for lunch (mmm lunch). After eating, we were allowed to explore all that the park (I'm going to call it a park because that's the best comparison I can make) had to offer. 

Some pre-temple adventure happiness

One of the first things we visited was the garden of zodiac statues. Throughout the park, there were many different carvings of zodiac animals, and everyone was very keen on finding the ones that represented his or her own birth year.

Unfortunately, none of us were born in the year of the horse. Which is why we all decided to get into this photo. 

Aside from cool animal carvings, there were also cool human carvings! Hong Luo Si is home to the "Forest of 500 Monks", which is a vast hillside covered with you guessed it! 500 monk statues. I didn't quite have the time to go around and verify, but from what we discerned, each statue was unique and had its own personality. 

Such as this sassy angry guy. 

After making friends with the monk statues, we took the Alpine Coaster up the mountain and climbed what seemed to be a gazillion stairs to get to the GATE OF HEAVEN. 

Look at these excited fresh faces! 

We walked around for a bit, taking in the awesomeness of being surrounded by green (green!). Then, it was time to Alpine Coaster down the mountain.

WAHOO!

Shortly afterwards, it was time to meet up with everyone at the entrance of the temple, but before we left, we spotted a fruit market nearby and bought some snacks.

Photo courtesy of an IUP friend

Aaaand shortly after, it was time to get back on our air-conditioned bus and head back home, where the tired out little IUP students went to bed, dreaming of sugarplums and monk statues. 

What a great looking bunch of friends!