Tacky Tourist

I am usually hyper aware of cultural sensitivities and the necessity of cultural immersion. But I succumbed to the tacky tourist title the last couple days as I took advantage of some free time in Hong Kong.

Attempting to beat jetlagged I crashed hard on my first night, sleeping a whopping 12 hours- after We Day deprivation and 48 hours of travelling I think my body needed it. But it meant I woke up recharged and ready to explore on Day 2.

We headed out for breakfast, finding the city is rather slow to “wake up” at 10 am as we strolled the streets businesses and restaurants were just creaking open their door. We search for a restaurant with English translation on their menu, we came across a small restaurant on a side street, I ordered what looked somewhat familiar- Egg, Sausage and Noodle. What it turned out to be was Mr. Noodles with a floating fried egg and hot dog disguised as breakfast sausage. Not my first choice but I am trying to adventurous.

We then hopped on the subway and headed for the “Big Buddha” – we expected it to be touristy, busy and a bit tacky what we didn't expect was for it to be so powerful.

After about an hour on a subway and another 40 minute bus ride up the mountain side we stepped off the bus and looked up to find the enormous Buddha atop a mountain ridge.

Although I don’t practice the religion or really have a true understanding of the significance, you could feel the energy shift as you climbed the 200 steps to the platform.

On our decent we found these little tags hanging from the tree and was told they were wishes that people had made and left behind in Buddha's presence. I loved this!

We toured a beautiful temple and found many people lighting incense- it is meant to purify the surroundings and remember ancestors or a deity.

We then participated in the Wisdom Path, a breathtaking depiction of a shared prayer of the Buddhist, Taoist and Shinto… the symbol of infinity.

These wooden planks have a Chinese prayer engraved and are laid out in the infinity pattern (figure 8). Pictures do not do it justice, it was breathtaking.

The prayer talks about the idea that everything is interconnected and in constant flux. A deep appreciation of this idea of emptiness thus saves us from suffering caused by our egos, our attachments, and our resistance to change or loss.

 

 

 

It was a beautiful day and I appreciated the opportunity to explore and understand a little bit more.

Hong Kong has proven to be BEAUTIFUL, such a stark contrast sometimes between the city where we are staying and the outlying mountains and ocean coast.

Today we started our facilitation at the Hong Kong International School, a beautiful campus- check it out… this is outside the window in the cafeteria….

 

That’s all for now! Stay tuned!