Day two ended with catch me if you can before I went to sleep. I really need to sleep more. For day three, just like before, I did not plan anything until i woke up in the morning except for the last temple I was going to visit, the jade buddha temple. I do not have any preference towards which temple I go to. I always happen to be where I needed to be or I meditate and ask for guidance from the universe if there are tooo many choices.
I was a little late today. I meditated a little the day before and sometimes when I am more connected to the source I could feel a good sense of calmness which would allow me to reallllly stay calm and be tranquil even when my mind is screaming at me trying to hurry my ass. When this happen usually I d listen to my feelings rather than my mind. I have accumulated enough experience in weighing how to pay attention to my mind and my “heart” aka my feelings. I wanted to be thee before 10 but I ended up being there at like 12. Well I was just following my heart so it has to be right, right?
Here is what happened. I felt no hurry to rush myself at all even if I wanted to be there early to go through more places in Shanghai. I let myself go with the pace of my feelings and I walked towards the subway station. Suddenly a couple caught up with me and asked if I could give them around two US dollars in cash and they d transfer the money to my wechat app or through other digital means. Wow isn’t this what people talked about?How people just scam others for money in the street? Well of course I was a bit preoccupied but I tried my best to maintain my own reality of positivity and believe everything about this encounter was all good. It was only two bucks and I did not have wechat or other electronic banking systems my phone here so I just gave them the money and said happy new year. They were just kids in their early twenties at most. But they refused to let me go and insisted on getting my number. So I gave them it and I marched on. Immediately after that at the cross walk, another person asked for my help. He asked where the Zhongshan park was. I would not know so I asked the lady next to me for help and reminded the old gentleman not to cross the road before it was ready.
Finally I was at the subway station and got on the train. Then the couple of kids showed up again! And I talked to them for the ride before I got off. We got to chat and build a reasonably friendly relationship before I left. It felt like it was meant to be. How I helped them and how they ran into me again to strike a conversation. Remember the mild hostility I felt before towards the people’s actions and reputation? I felt like after my reflection day three was a day for me to help and make up with the energy of this country. I ended up missing my station, taking the wrong train and going back to the station I started at to restart my journey and that was why I was much later than I should have been. But honestly, I was slow and then I met two people I helped and then I missed my station and got on the wrong train. How many more coincidences do I need that morning for me to feel it was how things should have been? I tried my best to make due with what happened and reclaim my happiness. Speaking of that I kept getting signs too yesterday. Here was a picture I saw in the station before I got on the wrong train. It says happiness needs my concern. Temples are sacred places and I believe I was reminded that because I wasn’t at peace at that time due to my lateness. So I fixed my feelings by tapping into what I have experienced as the oneness, the energy that we all are.
Then I arrived.
Jade Buddha temple was bigger than I thought considering how much it charged for admission. It was only half the price of the second temple I went to but at least twice as big. There were so many different gods and goddesses for various aspects of life and a lot of them were in gold paint. You can imagine how “bling bling” they all were. I tried to finish my business with all gods and goddesses who were necessary for me to pay a visit to and I felt as if I heard “You are finally here” when I approached them.
Afterwards, I tried my best to enjoy the scenery of how the locals carried out their worship rituals. They would light a lot of incenses and bow at different directions inside the temple to address “everyone” (all spiritual beings worshipped) and then plant the incenses into a big metal incense pot decorated with beautiful metal sculptures. They would also try to throw coins into a tall metal structure to pray for luck much like westerners throw coins into a fountain for fortune. After looking through like a hundred different statues, finally I arrived at the small temple room holding the famous jade Buddha. I could feel some really good energy from the Buddha and occasionally at different Buddhas I could feel I was stalling too long and felt like I was told by their energy to move along. The good energy would prompt me to be polite and respectful. And some would make me feel like I should bow. I was there for around three hours and I had to leave. Otherwise I would not have enough time to see more.
WaiTan was my second destination. It is like a harbour with the newer and older side of Shanghai on each side. To get there I first went to the older side first with buildings from the 1800s when people of different nations resided in that part of China for business. There are so many European style buildings you could literally take a picture there and said you just went to Europe. On the other side, there are skyscrapers and a futuristic looking tower that could have appeared in Futurama which is called the Oriental Pearl Tower. I did not think there was so much to see but when I did get there, I had a nice walk despite a huge flow of people around the area.
Following this was the Nanjing Pedestrian Walk which is full of huge shopping malls and shops. There were also European style and gothic style structures in that area so even if you do not like shopping you can still have a look at the architectures. It looks better when it’s night time because the buildings are lighted up which gives an even stronger European feel to them. The night ended with me going back to Green and Save, the green shop and restaurant which saved my life in Shanghai. For my fellow vegan and vegetarian readers, I have taken couple pictures of the menu so you can decide if you would like to stay there for a relaxing afternoon if you ever visit Shanghai! There are plenty of choices for vegetarians and vegans but during the Chinese New Year this is the place to go to for sure. It is open til midnight! Oh yea since I wanted to make sure you guys would get a post everyday from me I actually ended up missing the last train writing the last post and had to take a taxi back to the hotel so you are very welcome! XD
I hope you get something positive and nice out of this post! I will post my hotel room pictures as promised together with more pictures of Shanghai from day 3 on my instagram by the end of today: truehappiness1111. Hope to see you guys there! Wave at me! 😀
My Journey back to Love 