What a Long Strange Trip It's Been, pt 3
2005-08-10,

Hong Kong

Like I said, we got into HK late, so we didn't get around until the morning. First thing after breakfast and checkout was to meet up with the rest of the families in our adopting travel group. Most of the rest of the folks looked pretty haggard from flying, and we could certainly sympathize. There, we met our guides for HK, Mathew and Joanne (not their real names, as they were obviously from the area-- I guess that they thought we had enough to worry about without having to try and remember Chinese names. Stupid Americans!), who began the shepherding process that would be a good portion of our existence in China (not that we minded-- we had better things to worry about that which way we were going at any given time. Stupid Americans!)

From the airport, we headed to the hotel we'd be staying at fo the majority of our time in HK, the Kowloon Shangri-La. Assuming you've clicked and looked at some pictures, not a shabby place, eh? (And if you haven't clicked and looked, then why the heck am I bothering with these stupid links, anyway? Sheesh!) And here's the terrible part-- since we were already basically acclimated to the time zone, we let everyone else get their rooms ahead of us so they could get situated. We went off to explore (see below), and by the time we got back to register, they'd run out of regular rooms and we were forced into a free upgrade to a deluxe suite. Oh, the horror! This place was so fancy that they changed the floor mats in the elevators every day, because it had written on it what day it was. Fancy!

Po-Lin Monastery

So as I said, we went on an excursion in lieu of immediate housing. First taking a ferry for a short trip across the water from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island, then hopping on another ferry west, we made our way to Lantau Island. Once there, we gave our lives over to a bus driver. Winding through narrow, not-well-maintained roads in a bus that had seen better days and sounded worse than it looked, about 45 minutes later we were at the upper reaches of the island and arriving at Po-Lin Monastery.

As I'd hoped, it was much cooler in the upper reaches, and the humidity did not much else other than obscure some of the scenery for a while. We wandered about the main grounds for a while, marveling at the architecture and the marvelous Buddhas within the many buildings. After visiting one temple of to the side from the others, a sign hung in the room, saying, "Visitors are requested to pay respect to the Ksitigrabha Bodhisattva on the second floor," which, naturally, we did. The door leading to the stairs was kind of stuck, so we imagined that not too many visitors actually went through. Upstairs (after passing - and paying respect to - a nun doing dishes in an old sink) was a beautiful shrine (as seen in above link - we felt like we'd be disrespectful snapping pictures, but luckily that guy felt a little more liberated about it), with a looped tape of someone sounding of importance pontificating on something that I'm sure would be of great significance, had we been able to understand any of it.

We started getting hungry, so we went to one of the two vegetarian restaurants on the grounds. We opted for eating in the more communal area (rather than the 'deluxe' area, where it's more private with booths and all), sitting at a round table in a big open area full of visitors, 95% of which were Asian (there was at least one American group there - you can always tell them - and a couple of European groups - I caught some German, I think, and something Nordic), and were quickly served up the first of a number of courses, some mushroom-based soup broth. This was followed up by a couple of tofu-and-veggie dishes, some spring roll-y things, and a plate of mushrooms and Bock Choy (oh, so many kinds of mushrooms in China). Accoutrements included a pot of rice (one of the few times we'd actually get rice with a meal - apparently, rice is so common in China that people there don't normally want it with their meals when they eat out. And it's a common breakfast food as well - it'd be like going out to eat here and getting a bowl of Cheerios with your meal. Which wouldn't so be bad, if you have a tot with you...hmm).

Anyway, tasty (yes-mouth) meal done, we got back to exploring. We headed into a less-frequented area (by visitors, at least) of the grounds, up behind the living spaces and through an old, lush (with the humidity, I think all the plants there are lush), overgrown-but-somewhat-maintained gardens. At the top of the garden (which merged with the woods there) was a small shrine to someone who didn't seem very Buddha-like - I suspected it was the man who founded the monastery there. There were a few offerings laid out, but not nearly with the display-like care that one would see at the main shrines. It seemed more practical and lived-in, which made me feel like we were encroaching somehow, even though there were no 'keep out' signs or locked gates. Thus, we treated the place with respect and tread carefully.

Moving up the hill further, we came upon a pair of what seemed like small stone water collection towers, to feed the monastery (or maybe they used to - they both seemed under-maintained). Up the path, further into the woods, we came upon a clearing that lent us a rather spectacular view of the grounds, with the towering Buddha in the distance, which seemed almost one with the surrounding hills, as if it really belonged there. It was very quiet there, just the sound of the sea breeze and the occasional gonging from the grounds below. Very peaceful.

We looked up the hill further and saw some sort of monument that we weren't sure we could get to - and weren't sure there was time, judging by the unpredictable weather. Luckily we managed to find a path that led to the place, which turned out to have some sort of small, circular court (not for sports), a small enclosed shrine, and a monolith of sorts covered in Chinese and, somewhat to our surprise, Sanskrit. Heather reminded me that, since Buddhism originated in India, Sanskrit had its place there. We're hoping, since we have a decent picture of it, to get it translated, so we can find out what/who it's for.

After admiring the structures and the view (we were at about the same height as the head of the Big Buddha at this point) - and getting a nice gash in my leg from the local flora, we moved up and on along the newfound path, to what looked like it may have been one of the original buildings from the inception of the monastery, a shrine and living quarters that looked like it had about the same amount to floor space as a small apartment, as well as an outdoor area about as big, with life's daily stuff here and there (a water hose, a bucket, a table, etc.). It looked old but lived-in, though no one seemed to be home and the door was locked. Inside we could see the shrine, lit by a bare bulb and lightly shrouded in incense smoke. Some recorded traditional-sounding music played softly in the background. We could tell that we were in a Spiritual Place; somewhere that's seen a lot of daily ritual. We could just feel it. Since our journey upward seemed done, we stayed there for a little while, meditating on the experience, soaking in the place, and wondering at the view. We were now higher up than the Buddha himself, and even he seemed a little smaller at that distance.

After what felt like an appropriate amount of time, we moved on and back toward the masses below.

I'll get to the fiasco that was the way back down the hill in the next installment.

-- End Transmission --