Legends of the Feilai Temple

In the morning we were told that we could no longer stay at the hotel. Lisa our over the phone translator said it had to do with the fact that we were foreigners, although I have a suspicion it might have had something to do with the fact that Dan crawled out of the taxi cab last night and that we spotted our first black dude of the trip at our hotel.  Today we planned to do some sort of Chinese white water rafting ecotourism experience that we has seen advertised on billboards all over Qingyuan. Dan arranged plans for the day via his friend Lisa. We took a taxi to a travel agency that sold rafting tickets and to our surprised we were told again via our over the phone translator that the rafting only occurs between 1:30 and 2:30 meaning what she had told us previously was incorrect and their would be no rafting I store for us today. Desi and I decided to get tickets for tomorrow while Dan and Mike decided to use this as an opportunity to head back to Shenzhen a little early the following day. Instead, using wikitravel as a destination guide, we located an attraction that sounded interesting : the Feilai Temple (飞来寺; fēi​lái​sì​), (In Qingyuan Valley 23km from the city center, can be reached by private or public boat from Qingyuan). 1,400 years old temple beautifully situated at the bank of Beijiang River.

Sounded reasonable from the description and the taxi driver would take us there. It was far outside the city, Desi's phone battery was running low, Dan and Mike had nothing on them except the bathing suits and some cash they were expecting to take rafting, I was the only one with a bag of essentials. When we passed some shacks of rural residents and windy windy roads to a small checkpoint in the road I knew we were in store for an experience. We saw signs that listed operational hours but for what we weren't sure. All of us assumed that it was likely that the temple grounds would not be open long, we just didn't know for how long and what the likelihood of becoming stranded. Desi tried to coordinate answers to some sort of basic travel questions, where are we, how do we get back home and when is the last ferry ride meanwhile Dan impatient at the while process left with a ticket, boarded the ferry and crossed the river without us. Mike did too.  This was the final straw. Dan has a tendency to run ahead of us in the city and remove himself from certain situations he views as overwhelming, but seriously, you are gonna get on the ferry when we are attempting to coordinate a way out of this place and you don't have a phone. This from is a guy who is obsessed with preparation, carries a knife, zip ties and identification documents in a zip-lock baggy and readily speaks of the dangers and hazards of china. Desi and I board the next ferry and  arrive to some man who points us in a direction, towards our friends, the temple, we don't know. The site was beautiful, legendary, authentic. It was hard for me to relax and enjoy the sites uncertain that Dan and Mike would be found. We were beckoned onto an old minibus from which I spotted our 2 missing friends. We ordered him in that directions and then jumped off the bus and proceeded in the direction back towards the ferry where it appeared they were getting ready to recross. I let out a scream, Daaaaaaaaaan! in front of an organized tour group that easily drew all there attention. He new I was pissed and I had every right to be. "Get over here," I pointed to where I was standing. 

Now he walks over slowly. A man from the tour group looks me in the eyes with a look of disgust, "this is a temple, how dare you, you must pay 50 dollars, 50 dollars, I sulked in shame at being a loud American and he walked away. Dan tried to be diplomatic and did too but I was pissed at him and Mike for passively following him when they could have easily waited for us. At that point nothing he had to say seemed relevant. In hind site I shouldn't have cared. Desi and I could have got home ourselves. I was acting emotionally but the scenario was scary especially after Dan gave us the "we might be sleeping here with the Mosquitoes" pep talk. Once we got back on the bus things settled down, everyone wanted to enjoy this ancient masterpiece. I never saw anything like this before, a beauty that is crafted only from the ruins of faded architectural mastery and unfamiliar religious imagery. As it for dark we ferried back collectively and Desi used her phone to have Christy phone a taxi. We walked up the windy road as the sky grew dark and we grew tired and thirsty. All we needed was this taxi. This was the test I was waiting for. How reliable is China? How modern is this country I am traveling in? If the taxi comes I can answer this with resounding admiration. If not, I am in a third world country. Right on time, as we should have expected, stopped our air conditioned taxi suited for 4 tired foreigners.