The repeating mantra seems to weave through the incense-infused air, enveloping everything in a cloak of meditative tranquillity. I take a seat on a stone bench at the entrance to the cave that forms the temple’s main focus of worship. I am momentarily overcome by a wave of helplessness and disorientation and burst into tears. The combination of the heat, the difficulty communicating, the distance from home, and my sheer disbelief that I am actually China again, juxtaposed with the calmness and tranquillity of the temple is overwhelming. But it is only a passing phase: I am too hot and too thirsty to cry. Continue reading On Gulangyu Island 鼓浪屿