The good stuff: courtesy alibaba.com
I buy it at my neighborhood store, it's really cheap, Photo #1 is .35c. Photo #2 is $30. Your choice. Inside my neighborhood store they have an Buddhist alter with 3 large statues: a White Tara, a Green Tara and another male figure. I needed votive candles, and in my bad Chinese pointed to the ones they had burning and askedthe son (who speaks a little English) if they had any.
This is not my neighborhood shop, but it is common to see pre-school age kids spending the day with their mothers in the family shop.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2010/05/images-of-daily-life.html
The following is very Chinese.
Mom and son have a discussion after they realize I indeed want votive candles, and that I have statues, too, and the candles are for the same purpose they are using them for. They go into a back room (these small shops the owners always live on the premises) and I hear an old man speaking softly. I see through an opening in the curtain that divides the house from store, and saw another full container of the yellow candles being brought out, but obviously the old man said no. Don’t sell them.
The son came out, and took down his own container of coconut scented votive candles and gave me six, no charge. That is very unusual in China, but I realized these must be special temple candles, candles they had purchased specifically at a temple, and it would be bad luck to sell them, so they gave me some. They understood I wanted them for the exact same reason. For my statues (and the baijiu).
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All is well with the world now. I bought Mahakala a better brew of baijiu and lit the new candles, brought the girls over (the White and Green Tara) and my big soapstone Buddha from Angor Wat that Kat gave me. I have a large vase of lilies in the middle, which the Taras like to smell (me too) and Mahakala has a new big bottle of baijiu, so everyone is happy. They are partying down right now. Inhaling the ambrosia of the human world, flowers, booze and candles. Even the God's party on Valentine's Day.
And this is not a dude to be kept waiting....
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Comments
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:-) / r
I wouldn;t screw with Mahakala either!
rated with love
You have the most interesting and -if i may say so- weird stories, Kate! Weird because they are all depict such a different life style with which I'm terribly unfamiliar. Thanks for sharing.
♥
If it's true that Chinese Society commenced 5000 years ago I bet the internet must have vied with Deer Penis for the top slot hobby?
Such diverse and complicated people too.
We ignored China at our peril and shit happened.
RAted with an Ug.
In the Dude photo he has a dagger against his penis. Is this normal or is he a blog and email hacker awaiting his 'therapy'???
Mahakala is the defender of the dharma (sacred books) but for a teacher, he's got our back.
Torritto: No, that's why I always give him a little drink every night (my dad always had a vodka martini when he came home from work)
Jonathon: Oh, yes. I have had baijiu go in and not too much later come right back out. Yes, at a KTV and that's about all I remember about that night (going away party for a teacher, we all did shots) Maybe if we put it in jello it would go down a little easier.
RP: Yes, the ladies sometimes sit by my computer, but they sit on either side of him at night to keep him company.
Mary: spirits keeps the bad spirits away!
FunSuna: Sometimes things just strike me as strange (especially if kind) and it's worth a note (instead of journaling, we blog now)
DH: Thanks for reading!
UK: I have a photo of a "donkey meat" restaraunt, but it didn't fit the theme so I am saving that one. And they do serve sides of "penis" on a stick. If I have to choose, I still prefer human, tasty but yet not exactly consumed. And Mahakala has very low tolerance for evil doers, he is also the destroyer of men.
No sippy cause if you do, you'll die!! :D
Rated!
THANK YOU! I am lucky I have not died in a fire the way I smoke, but I seriously had not thought about that! The votives are inside glass holders so the flame doesn't rise above it, but the stuff really is vaporous.
Even with Beijing's dirty air, I always leave a window open 24/7,