An insight into the Wandering Dao work/study program from one of our students…
When my partner and I first came to Yangshuo it was to escape to paradise. To sip on coconut milk in the shade of a bamboo forest, dangle off the limestone karst and hang out with the ducks in the winding rivers. For nine months we did just that… working just enough to keep the dragon from the bamboo gate.
Like all naturally beautiful places many people come to Yangshuo in search of a little magic to spice up their lives. As a general rule of thumb, where there’s magic there’s money to be made… this is perhaps true nowhere more so than in China. So in true unflinching modern Chinese fashion the town of Yangshuo and its tourism industry has literally exploded. Driving through the centre of town feels more like being stuck in traffic in Beijing than being a brush stroke in a Zhang Quanzong landscape painting. Luckily for us though we did stumble across a little jewel amongst the madness… “Mood Food Energy Café” – the current place of residence for “Wandering Dao”.
After our first encounters with the ‘Emerald Reviver’ and the ‘Power Smoothie’ Mood Food quickly became a regular pit stop for us. Each visit not only satisfied our bellies but also sparked our curiosity … an interesting film here, the odd meditative brain balm there, a new branch to perch on … or perhaps a new way to sit on the old one.
Since our first step through the unassuming blue gates of Mood Food life has taken some curious twists… we’re now working and studying full-time here with Wandering Dao, the universe has inwardly & outwardly opened up and Daoism has firmly planted its seeds in our lives.
Life is spicy and these new shoes fit rather nicely!