NYC Jan 29/30 2006-Buddhist Temple / HK midget

---jan 29----
broome street
looking for dollar dumpling
it is all closed
pass by the 2 temples facing each other -
it is chinese new year
the year of the dog
on august fifteenth i went to light an incense stick in the temple with the female buddhist monks with their head shaved.
I needed to light a candle but all the churches were closed already-
this time
I walk in the other one -
there is a hidden room and a guy that does not speak english,
he offers me a mandarin juice and some dried olives -
2 kids - a bit overweight for being asian - with orange hoodies translate -
I ask if i can take some pictures and they let me -
I want to take photos of the older guy with the mystic face -
I am not sure if he said yes or no -
he goes to the other room and changes garments and he lets me direct him where I want to photograph him.
I like the eyes of the little golden statues.
before leaving he wants me to touch the statue of the smiling buddha.
we communicate - in silence.
---jan30---
thru chinatown
I went to the oldest chinese bakery
the best roast pork buns
baked or steamed
filled with chunks of meat and a tasty chinese barbecue sauce,
nothing like the ghetto fake chinese places with bulletproof windows that you can find everywhere in
brooklyn.
some strange old humanity
a celtic looking guy dressed like a sailor that speaks chinese with an american accent
buying dinner to the midget he is sitting with.
he talks to me a lot and I understand half of what he says.
he tells me how modern and rich hong kong is
he has 2 wooden stick he decorates with carved words and drawings .
i ask him what are those for -
he does not really give me an answer
and then i just feel stupid
cuz he is so short
and i guess he needs them to turn
light switches on - open close windows and so on.