"Daddy, what's that guy wearing?" was her hushed comment to me.
The head shaved man looked to be in his 60's, although I am always such a terrible judge of age for Chinese faces. In my opinion, both the men and women seem to age so well, with the women always looking at least 15 years younger than they actually are.
The monk was in traditional dark yellow robes, and unique boot-like shoes that were just a step away from being overly thick socks. He greeted us with a wide smile.
I have always been very respectful to monks of any faith, but I have fond memories of Buddhist monks who befriended me when I was lost in the woods of South Korea ages ago while working there. They took me in to their monastery, and I spent the night there, no questions asked, and I left the next morning as they directed me to the path back to town. After that time, I took it upon myself to study the religion, particularly in the Asia region.
As a matter of respect, I made a small donation to the monk at the breakfast table, saying a small prayer for the children and the staff I was about to see. In return the monk handed me a small bracelet of prayer beads, and we bowed to each other, as I made sure my head went lower than his.
JieJie said, "what was that all about?". I explained it all to her, and gave her the prayer beads, and told her to keep the gifts from the holy man special, which she did.
Smile picked us up on a short trip to the orphanage, guided turn-by-turn on his Iphone navigation system. We joked about how quickly the navigation system drained the phone battery. I guess they are the same all over the world.
Soon we came to the gates of hallowed ground for so many families (GPS coordinates N 29 02.464 E 111 38.867).
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