Today we went to "The Mountain Park" and "The Pavilion." The Mountain Park is a place outside the city where retired people exercise during the week by playing badminton, by spinning huge tops with whips, or by doing tai-chi. It is also poplar for people to hike up the mountain to get spring water. It was a beautiful setting. There was a lake, lots of trees, and paved walkways. We watched people for a while, and then headed up the mountain to a Buddhist temple. Our guide, "Jerry," warned us that we would encounter wild monkeys along the path and not to have any food or water bottles out because they would take them. Of course our kids had bought ice cream bars at the lake. We okayed this because we thought they would have time to finish them, but our bus driver drove us partway up the hill, so the monkeys got a couple of half eaten ice cream treats. There were hundreds of monkeys!, Kai loves to run, so we ran hand-in-hand up the hill together. I loved having this connection with him.
We had already had several spiritual conversations with Jerry, our guide, but being at the temple prompted more conversation.he was very open to discussion about Christianity. He brought up the topic every time we were together.
Next, we traveled back to the city to visit "The Pavilion," which was an ancient building where people used to worship their ancestors. It is now a place where scholars meet to discuss and debate ideas and drink tea. We bought a couple of ink drawings from an artist there. The coolest part was that the artist volunteered that he was a believer.
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