After eating our group broke up to explore the various mountain trails. Kelly and I wandered through stone walkways on the mountains that turned into dirt paths and ultimately vanished into narrow footholds on the mountain’s edge. We worked our way up to the top of one peak and spotted the temple in the distance.
It took us a number of tries, following winding walkways and steep stone steps (a recurring theme for my excursions in China), but we finally reached the temple. I’ve been feeling a certain amount of energy and peace in places like this. This temple wasn’t especially intricate or grand, consisting of a single room with three figures inside, but standing in the doorway, just before entering, brought on a calm that helped me to put the past week behind me.
Another joy of this trip was the pleasant nature of the people I encountered. In my area of Beijing, where no locals speak English, I have begun to flat out ignore the people around me. In my invisible bubble, no one sees or hears me. Here, in this “touristy” village, there were many Chinese people who made it a point to say, “hello” or “good afternoon.” They even brightened up when they saw us, as if they’d been waiting their whole lives to drop these carefully memorized phrases.
Note: I toyed with the idea of calling this entry “Hiking to Buddha”, and then decided that I’m not in any place to be making such statements.
No comments:
Post a Comment