Thursday in Hangzhou-The amazing Garden and Lin Ying temple

On Thursday we visited Linying temple- we had to go in through a garden first, but the garden was really a wonderful surprise for us! I had expected it would be a basic kind of garden that we've seen so far in China, but were surprised to see cliff walls carved with beautiful buddha images! Of course like every other place in Hangzhou, it was completely crowded with tourists, but we really enjoyed looking at the beautiful carvings surrounded by lush vegetation.  There was a small brook running along the path that we walked to get to the temple, and it really just made the scene perfect!

The Temple itself was one of the larger ones I've been in in my life- multiple levels, an active temple with many monks living there and working there.  There were still lots of tourists, but we could also find some quiet courtyards off to the sides and we picked one to let Violet out of her Ergo carrier prison to run around. She was very happy for the break!  After we'd been there  short time several monks started coming into the courtyard to go into the main building there, so we left after a short time so they could have quiet for their prayer! Did I mention Violet has some serious lungs on her? She can screech with joy at an incredible decible. it's wonderful to see her happy and doing so well, but sometimes we feel sorry for the other people around us who are more than likely not very accustomed to the sudden outbursts of shreiking joy!