I traveled to China in the Spring of 1986 while working for Digital Equipment Corporation. We were installing computer systems that would be used as part of their hydroelectric project on the Yangtze River.

Sunday was not a workday so I took the opportunity to visit a temple. I expected to find a quiet place with monks, burning incense and serenity. Instead I saw a throng of people gathered around an incense burner, I stood out like a sore thumb and was an object of interest. I couldn’t figure out what they were doing around the incense burner. It wasn’t what I expected. I moved in to see what was the ritual.

Coins

Some of the Chinese coins are made of aluminum. People were sticking them on the incense burner and floating them on a the water trough that surrounds it. I don’t think this had any religious significance, but I kept some of the ones that I had to impress my kids.

Surface tension is a wonderful thing. Note the visual distortion around the coins. I had one “sinker”.

I look for my #SilentSunday photo

There is a photo theme hashtag called #SilentSunday, The idea is to apply it to a photo without a caption. Words are seen as a distraction. My taken on this are photos that convey serenity and peacefulness. I thought I might see that at a temple, but that was not to be. Instead I found my photo near a hospital on a misty day. If it had a caption it would “Serenity Now”.