what the world is coming to?
Weekends and state-accredited holidays have more and more become a much-awaited rare commodity for mostly bustling town commuters. When the holiday draws near, question arises as to how to spend it. Far-away excursion is a good option to allay pressure and get rid of nuisance at least pro tempore. There are with two ways of going excursion: one being self-catered, self-sustaining backpacker way, the other being signing-up-for-travel-agency way to go with a cohort of people. The unpleasant part about the first choice is reportedly safety mishaps as well as troubles in finding accommodation and economical itinerary, yet travel by agency is not as a common knowledge problem-free because the tourist agency may inflict you with some unsolicited service item. Anyway some may weigh the pros and cons and finally choose travel by agency bearing in mind the averse service is something to be expected. In order to avoid those possible unpleasing experience, I opt for religious sites where you are expected to find no trace of merchants but breathtaking natural and humanistic beauty and misanthropist cloisters. Did it really panned out as I expected?The following is what happen to me when I stepped into the gate of a lama temple somewhere in the northern part of China. Came into sight is such a boisterous place that makes me take it for a bazaar market. The wing-rooms on each side had been renovated into western-style cafes. Discarded stuffs were littered here and there. Having seen this, I instinctively poked my way out of the congested crowd and eventually arrive at the main hall where a legendary gilded statue of Buddha of enormous size was honored. In the midst of permeating smell of incenses, I got down on my knee and kowtow on all fours to show my homage as is required of a veteran Buddhist. No sooner had I risen than the guide asked me to draw lots which according to her could tell veraciously fortune. I declined this seemingly kind-hearted offer for I was somehow repugnant to fortune-telling guised in name of divine religion because religion, as I understand it, was not an instrument for pursuing self-interest so much as a faith to do goodness and reach self-fulfillment.
Others irresistible to temptations lot only to find mostly the results were quite auspicious (you may wonder why). While they were taking pleasure, they were told by the monk to pay 5000 apiece in order to buy a holy lamp needed to hold on to the good luck, failing which gook luck would go across them. Knowing that they were swindled out of their money, everyone was abashed to overtly refuse look luck to be blessed upon them. In the end, everyone (me excluded) paid as requested.
On our way back, an air of moroseness seemed to hang above us all for a good-intentioned and ingenuous outdoorsy trip could beget such a vexing fallout. Even the temple which we hold dearly sacred can be tainted with vulgar and ignoble demeanor. I wonder where we can find an appropriate place to let ourselves go. Maybe it only exists in the nirvana in the afterlife.
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