Grendel’s Kitchen

 The Tengwang Pavilion (Tengwang ge) is situated near the mouth of the Fu River (Fu he) where it joins with the larger Ganjiang River (Ganjiang he). It is isolated by a square of flat, grey paving stone and a monumental stone base and is recognized as one of the four famous Chinese superstructures, along with the Yellow Crane Tower, the Penglai Pavilion in Shandong, and the Yueyang Tower in Hunan. The pavilion was built in 653 AD by a younger brother of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) Emperor Taizong.The building has been ruined and rebuilt nearly 30 times. The latest reconstruction was completed on October 8th, 1989, and the current pavilion is a granite structure of monstrous proportions, primarily Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) in style. The pavilion has nine stories and is 57.5 meters high. The building features green tiles and double eaves lifting upwards.In a small theater, we watched what initially seemed to be a traditional Chinese opera, with musicians in lovely kimonos, dancing girls in harem-like outfits, and zithers galore. But then mom recognized the music as La Traviata, and they soon shifted to doing a bit of Shakira, with a lead dancer in jeans and a turtle neck dancing among the kimono-clad singers.Our regional guide, YuanYuan, explained a key difference between pavilion and pagoda: a pagoda has tiers above ground and tiers below, while a pavilion is completely above ground. Or the other way around. What really matters is that Li-Li enjoyed being lugged to the top and back again. And at 17 pounds, that was a lot of lugging.Click for more photos taken at the Tengwang Pavilion