Today we hopped into the back of a packed truck to go see a rock.
It slowly wound up a steep road into the deep fog.
At the end of the road we had to climb a staircase was guarded by scary lions with dead eyes.
Really dead eyes. Also people demanding that you remove your shoes.
At the top of the stairs was a ghost town of deserted tourist shops.
Past them you could glimpse the rock through the fog.
It is a very big rock that is precariously balanced on the side of the mountain. The legend claims it was pulled up from the bottom of the ocean and balanced on a single strand of the Buddha’s hair.
Those endowed with dangly bits are allowed to get right up and touch the rock.
For $1 they can rub on a scrap of gold leaf, because this rock just isn’t gold enough. This buys karma. Considerably more karma than buying $1 of food for starving people.
It is quite windy, which results in lots of scraps of gold flying off into the void.
Those whose bits do not dangle are kept far away from the rock by armed guards, lest the rock catch cooties. The closest they can get is to cower underneath the rock and hope it does not fall on them.
