West Meets East©

By Caroline Patrick

China Delight, Week 3

A trip to China was never on my top ten places to visit, since I had heard varying stories from friends who had gone to this ancient country; but when the Master of Black Sect Feng Shui, Professor Lin Yun, is leading a group of Feng Shui practitioners on a three-week tour of "His China," I quickly altered my schedule to accommodate the trip of a lifetime. Imagine learning about more about Feng Shui from the expert of experts, in the country where the wisdom of this concept was born.

The plane trip was uneventful, as I was able to sleep a few hours after our long, eight-hour delay at the departing airport had "eaten up" our one extra day to recuperate upon arriving in Beijing. Surprises began immediately as our Chinese-speaking friend began to bargain loudly for a low-rate taxi fare, while the taxi driver raced against traffic, on a one-way street - going the wrong way, may I add - at 2 a.m. Beijing time. Not usually a fearful person, I braced myself for a car collision by throwing my carry-on luggage in front of my head and body as to deflect some of the injuries which were most likely to occur at any second.

Suddenly my body was jolted forward by a quick stop. I looked into the dark streets lined by Gingko trees for a clue to our demise. Dim street lights peeked through the air pollution, creating a beautiful pink aura of light which cast itself upon our Chinese friend and the driver, continuing to loudly debate the fee! To my left sat another friend who was translating the intense conversation about the direction of the hotel and the cost of the transportation. After what seemed like 20 minutes, the driver and the front-seat friend began laughing. I stared at the two wondering what was I in for now. They had come to agreement, I learned from the translation to my left.

The tired driver stared for a long while at the strong woman in the front seat. "You're good. Who are you anyway?" he puzzled. "I'm THE representative from the Lun Lin Temple group of San Francisco, California, USA," she informed. Looking defeated, he promptly pulled out onto the wrong-way traffic again, with car and truck horns blaring loudly in the night.

"Was I still asleep and dreaming?" I asked myself. "I'm in another world. Loosen up, Caroline, and join the culture differences," I muttered. I decided my United States swap-meet experience would now become quite valuable. As the days went by, I became a very good shopper, as one shopkeeper informed me after a lengthy session of price debate landed in my favor. A weary look came over her face as she held her thumb skyward in a winning gesture. "You good!" she sighed. I smiled brightly as I packed away my Chinese souvenir into the shopping bag, looking as proud as a peacock.

Meeting my roommate for the tour was a delight, as I had met her during another workshop a couple of years previous. She is from the Seattle area, and as I feel there are no accidents, we soon got the okay from Professor Lin and Crystal Chu to get a Seattle workshop going for 2005.

Always keeping an open mind when traveling for the person setting next to you could change your life for the better. Stay open to new ideas as the energy of change is always nearby. Add notes to your Helpful People and Travel section, called Heaven, allowing the Chi of Heaven to assist you with known and unknown spirits of good will, during the life journey. Place these written "prayers" and intentions in a silver bucket or teapot to employ the Metal Element to help you with plans of the present and future.

I opened the itinerary to see where the next three weeks would be taking me. Beijing Xian/ Kunming, Lijiang/Kunming, Hangzhou/Suzhou, Suzhou/Shanghai, Shangai/Putuoshan, Putuo/Shan, Putuoshan/Shanghai, Shanghai/home. Touring by bus, plane, ferry, cable cars, pedi-cab, taxi, and walking and walking and walking was awaiting us as we begin our Feng Shui journey.

Career profile for Caroline Patrick, author of THE POWER OF FENG SHUI ARTWORK IN THE HOME AND BUSINESS

Caroline Patrick has conducted over 2500 Feng Shui consultations and has documented many of these experiences in her weekly newspaper column titled WEST MEETS EAST, which has been a highly popular addition to the Benicia Herald’s newspaper each Wednesday for the last six years. Teaching is her passion and for the last 35 years Caroline’s range of subjects has included art, herbs and Feng Shui. Her classes and workshops fill with eager students learning ancient ideas in a modern format.

Her past and present teaching experiences include Cochise, Pima, Arizona Central, Solano and Skagit Valley Colleges in Arizona and California and Washington State. Santa Clara County Teachers Council Conventions, AMA Continental Congress Convention of Surgeons, and Medical Research Facilities have asked her educate their employees and spouses, and Feng Shui their facilities. She has appeared on television and radio.

Business owner of Caroline’s Arts and Feng Shui Shoppe in the San Francisco Bay Area for eight years, Feng Shui Practitioner, speaker, teacher, writer and author, Caroline has recently relocated to the Northwestern U.S. and lives on an island in the San Juans. Her current consultation business is called Caroline’s Feng Shui Concepts.