..28.. pagoda

i went to the pagoda in hue. mist and bonsai trees were everywhere, and the campus of the pagoda was vast, allowing for a pleasant galavant through the drizzle.





as the rain came down harder, i took shelter in a doorway to put my rainjacket on over my backpack. a monk emerged from the dark room inside the doorway, holding a small cup of tea, curious about the rustling outside his door. he smiled at me struggling to get into my sticky rainjacket and helped me arrange it. a small girl in a navy blud polka-dot poncho looked shyly at me from around a corner, disappeared, and appeared again. i walked to the far end of the campus and stood centered in front of an incense pot, and felt....centered. all around me was bright green muted by friendly mist, giving an air of secrecy to this place. i wondered whether the pagoda felt like this because of the fervency of the people who built it, or because i knew it to be a religious place & was prepared for inspiration, or simply because it was misty and beautiful. and i felt compelled to leave, my moto driver waiting at the bottom, but longed to stay - to stand in the rain and feel happy, inspired, comfortable, pure. perhaps the fact that i left allows this place to remain magical to me. or perhaps i should have stayed on indefinitely....