Find guesthouse accomodations at Chinese Buddhist and Taoist temples.

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Request for Question Clarification by fons-ga on 26 Jun 2004 02:04 PDT

Hi Shellbeach,

In most temples in China it would be very hard to find accomodation
too, but there are some possibilities. What kind of number do you
expect?

Fons

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Clarification of Question by shellbeach-ga on 26 Jun 2004 09:49 PDT

1-5 possibilities would be great.
We are not interested in martial arts training but want a retreat-like atmosphere.
Thanks

Hi Shellbeach,

Thanks for your question. In China temples are at least formally run
by the government and in some cases even the monks themselves do not
live there. I have located a few where guests can negotiate their way
in. I have left out the famous Shaolin temple, where you can live for
two months and practise martial arts, since you do not seem to look
for that. There is not shortage of so-called temple tours, but they
would mostly put you up in hotels.

Emei Shan - one of the sacret montains

A guest reports: "I stayed at that temple for the night. The nun I had
to deal with to get a bed was a real stickler. On the surface, she
looked like such a cute little nun with her shaved head and glasses.
But she was a ruthless bargainer. She would not lower the price a
single kuai despite the fact that three quarters of the beds in the
place were empty. After 20 minutes of impotent flagellating, I finally
accepted her price. Come dinnertime, I could see why she was so cranky
and enjoyed taking it out on me. More flavorless veggie slop. I'm sure
that's all she's eaten for the past 20 years. Ha ha."

http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/01/cabrad/sum2.html

Chonggu temple

This temple is mentioned in some organized trips and it mostly part of
longer horsetrips:
http://www.abatour.com/teche-dy-en.htm
It does not mention the possibility of doing this by yourself, but
that might - depending on your experience - anyway not be a good idea.

The Xiahe temple seems to have some really rough guesthouses in the
area surrounding it, but do not seem to be part of the temple complex
itself.
http://www.passplanet.com/China/cw/xiahe.htm

I hope this helps,
Have a nice trip,

Fons

Searching strategy

I have first asked on my China-weblog whether people had done this and
got one solid reaction:
http://www.chinaherald.net/2004/06/travel-staying-in-buddhist-temples-is.html
(some more reactions might come in after I post this answer)

Search terms:
China temple stay overnight 
China temple guesthouse

Links:

http://www.shaolins.com/
http://www.21cep.com/scts/tlifep.htm
http://www.terragalleria.com/asia/china/emei-shan/emei-shan.html
http://www.chinats.com/travel/in_ts_pkty001.htm
http://www.chinadirect-travel.co.uk/tour%209