shenzhen weekend

good people, good food, and good conversations. those three area about all you really need for a good time, much to my surprise and luck this weekend was full of all three. when mike asked me if i wanted to go to shenzhen this weekend i didnt even hesitate and jumped at the possibility of traveling. Little did i know what this weekend would be an amazing experience that I feel truly honored to have experienced. there is so much that happened this weekend that i could write for a day on it, but im sorry but i dont have the energy or means to put some of my experiences into words. when Mike's friend Pass (our connection to shenzhen) told him that she had a Buddhist family friend in town little did we know that her friend was in fact her "teacher" a Buddhist monk. during this i was able to share the company of three Buddhist monks, Pass' wonderful parents, and of course Mike and Pass. This weekend was filled with many good conversations that ranged from awareness of the world around us to advice from the monks on our energy and how to improve it to religious fundamentalism. I was also given the honor to shoot some photos of the "teacher". i will post them up when I am finished working on them. It was a great pleasure to get to shoot a monk in a very unusual space such as a living room rather than the typical temple. I also drank a lot of amazing tea this weekend and i really think that i need to start drinking it more and when i get back to America. This weekend has really opened my eyes to Buddhism and it vast difference from any other religion I have known. I feel like I really experienced something spiritual and special this weekend, and that is all I can say without typing for days.

and now for what you really want, photos:

ominous clouds as we got to the city
"metro ticket"
i actually didnt realize how perfect this photo was until about 2 hours later. they have this cool thing called window to the world in shenzhen hence the mini eiffel tower, columns, etc
lovely translation

the crew
under the "wave"




fire exit to the wave


and thus my fear of heights develops a little more

on the way down
the fruits of the climb, inside the wave (i have a panorama that i need to stitch as well)


Pass
Pass' parents and the "teacher". this would turn out to be the one of the last photos of her parents before they went off to become monks themselves.

all the family
mike busting out the buddhist skillz


chinese chess
somehow these got a little out of order, im probably just tired and messed up. bottom line: amazingly fulfilling weekend.

more photos of the monk to come.