Magical places and gifts from the heart

Going to Lantao Island
We got up at a reasonable hour (which was a bit earlier than what I’d been doing) and left the house around 9:30. Grabbed some food (I got a Japanese tuna roll from the bakery- very typical breakfast) and jumped on the bus to Jordan’s subway station. Because we were going to Lantao Island, the subway went under the ocean water and back up onto a beautifully less populated island full of green flora. Once we got to the station, because the sky cable ride was down for maintenance, we took the bus ride up the mountain (the bus really struggled up the slopes). It was absolutely beautiful. You had beautiful mountains on one side of you and ocean with scattered islands and boats on the other side of you, with that perfect humid haze to make it look like a dream or some sort of mystical land. The guide book said it wasn’t jaw droppingly huge, but the statue of the Buddha made my jaw drop, it was so big and beautiful and peaceful feeling and many more “and’s”. I was happy. Walking up the stairs to the statue, it looks like he is looking down at you in his meditative gaze. And all around the statue there were dragon flies, nearly swarming. Like a nest of faeries. Magical. I really loved going there. Even if it was made into such a touristy destination, it was still great. And I somewhat enjoyed the small tourist village built next to it. There was a cool tea shop that had Chinese tea ceremony demonstrations for free and I ended up buying some really special flower tea’s. Also, they had a promotion where if you buy $88 worth of stuff in the shopping area (that is about $11 USD) then you get a free subway pass back you where you are going.
The next day was also a lot of fun. I went with my new friend, Lantai, to her grandmother’s birthday banquet. First she took me to a temple that had a big and beautiful garden, then we stopped by her grandmother’s house and she gave me these cute Chinese paper folded animals. One was a bunny and the other was a swan. She said she would make me a boat too, if I wanted (wish I would have said yes) but I told her it might be hard to take home on the plane (I already had 2 that will have to be taken on carry-on). She had a ton of them all over her house. Made me think of my crafty grandma! One of the funny things that Lantai's grandma would do several times would be to turn to me and say, "do you understand what i'm saying," in cantonese and pointing at her chest, then i would look down, grab my necklace and go, "hugh? this?" and she would laugh (she was really cute).
Dinner was a lot of fun; Lantai’s family is very expressive and fun. I enjoyed talking to her cousin and her dad was definitely the funny guy of the family. I found myself wanting to stare at Lantai’s Grandma’s Maid, Milla from Indonesia. She had such a friendly, beautiful smile that I couldn’t help thinking that Indonesia must miss her.
I ate a lot of new foods that day; I was feeling quite brave. I had octopus, jelly fish, shark fin soup, snale? (she said it was a creature with a spiral shell?), some mystery shell fish that comes in a hinged shell, Lantai says, sort of like an oyster or a clam, but neither of them really. I’m sure there was something else, but I can assure you that on no occasion do I ever imagine myself eating sea cucumber. Looks way too jiggly and jelly and like fat really. I already know I don’t like eating chunks of fat, so no need.
It was really a special event and I had a lot of fun. I can tell now that I’m gunna need a decent job eventually, so that I can come back and bring presents! They have all given me so much! I’ve always felt a little uncomfortable about receiving gifts from people when I don’t feel like I can pay them back, but I think on this trip, the big life lesson I am learning is how to receive. Soooo, for everyone now and in the past and in the future who has given me so many gifts in life, I thank you and hope that I can someday return those gifts, to you or to someone else.