Going to Cheung Chau

I took Nouwen's Genesee Diary, a pen and a notebook with me to Cheung Chau, in the hope that I would have a quiet time reading and writing. But the summer heat proved unrelenting despite the after-rain coolness. I only read a couple of pages during lunch. The rest of my Cheung Chau trip was dedicated to nothing but walking and sightseeing.

My trip was delayed but pleasantly so. I met a visitor from Danmark at TFS in the Friday Morning Eucharist and took him to Shatin after breakfast. We then went to coffee and had a good time chatting.

Reading Nouwen's book was like looking at the mirror and seeing what you didn't like seeing. I felt an urge to be on my own so that there was no longer any need to pretend to be more cheerful, humourous or happy. There was also no need to hide my sulkiness or disappointment towards life in general. The feeling of having failed dominated my heart and there was no longer any space for others.

I didn't walk far because of the heat. The beach under the glaring sun wasn't welcoming. There weren't any swimmers except for a man with his dogs swimming outside of the assigned areas. They probably had to stay at the margin as dogs were not allowed on the beach. Since there wasn't any real shade to protect me, I could but only stay for a very short while, listening to the sea while fanning myself with a fan from the Philippines.

Pak Tai Temple

At the entrance of Pak Tai Temple

Walking aimlessly, I found Pak Tai Temple and walked in. It looked colourful, much more colourful than its 200 plus years of history would suggest. The woman who sold incense there told me it had been renovated. She tried to get me buy some and seeing that I wasn't interested, ceased to answer my questions. A few minutes later, two tourists came. She asked them for donation. Interesting.

Pak Tai Temple was the coolest area I could find on Cheung Chau. A pity that I couldn't get a seat and meditate there. It seemed such a nice place to have a quiet time. And since not much incense was burned, there wasn't any problem with the air there.

I felt that I was trying to run away from something. But it's impossible to run away from myself. If I wanted to stop my shadow from following me, I had to go somewhere where there's no light. But did I really want to be in complete darkness? I longed to get out and yet the summer heat put me in such a difficult position. Should I continue to walk on or should I return?