Coney Island or Taoist Temple?

Yesterday I walked over to the Dongyue Temple, which is not far from where I am currently living. I was intrigued because Lonely Planet said "Dongyue Temple is an unsettling, albeit fascinating experience . . . get spooked at the Department for Wandering Ghosts or the Department for Implementing 15 Kinds of Violent Death." So ofcourse I was interested in checking this out. I did not realize though until I got there how much it would remind me of Coney Island. I guess it should be the other way around, but I saw Coney Island first. I took loads of photos that you can see online. Ofcourse I went for the creepy looking ones, which there was no shortage of. It was really interesting to go through and read about each department and see each ones' depictions. I must say I was a bit disappointed in the "Department for Implementing 15 Kinds of Violent Death." With a title like that, you would expect something crazy and violent, but they looked fairly normal (in comparison to some of the other departments). The worst of them was a guy with blood coming out of his eyes and one that was headless. Sounds bad, but when you compare it to a guy holding his entrails in the "Punishment Department" it is peas.

Today was nothing too exciting. I had class and then borrowed Alex's card to go to the gym because I guess the Chinese think white people all look the same (I guess we think that about them sometimes too). The gym was pretty crazy today interms of the kind of people I saw there. For some reason I can't get over how amusing it is to see massive bulging muscles on really short Chinese guys. This one guy was probably a good foot shorter than me, was wearing tiny little spandex and one of those horrible shirts that is loose and has the huuuuuge arm holes so you can see right through it to what you assume is his six pack. Oy, it was pretty gross. Then I saw this couple walking up the stairs. The girl looked like she was probably some Chinese model or actress or something and the guy looked like he was trying to be Ali G. I did not really get to look closely but I don't think he was Chinese. He did however have a white do-rag and a necklace with three ivory looking tiger teeth. Oh and the girls . . . sheeze! They are ridiculously thin! I do not lie or overexaggerate when I say one of them is about the size of one of my thighs. Sadness. They are nearly non-existent.

Ok, super sleepy . . .