During my two trips to the PRC, Taiwan, and Thailand, each country had its own effect on me, each city I visited taught me different lessons. It has been nearly four years since my travels there, but these lessons have since defined my life as a student of Chinese culture and as a Buddhist.

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I remember standing at the Bund, looking over the Huangpu River at a skyline coming to life as the sun set, cropped on its highest floors by thick tendrils of fog. I remember feeling infinitesimally small compared to those glowing giants and the undulating masses of tourists and Shanghai-ers, but I was not at all worried. A similar experience happened to me in Hong Kong while on my way to a street market. It started raining particularly hard that day, and I was caught outside during the torrent. As I stood under one building’s outcropping, I noticed the awesome amount of neon lights overhead, shining and reflecting on the drenched street, while literally thousands of people came and went, unaware of each other, almost unaware of the rain. Again I had the feeling of being infinitesimally, comfortably small. I realized that this is what I wanted for myself in the future, to live in a city the size of Shanghai, Hong Kong, or Beijing, to be a part of the masses coming and going, all working in unison to bring the city to life.

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            The few moments I spent in the PRC gave me an impression of a country at the vanguard of globalized modernity. Taiwan shared in this pursuit of modernity, but I noticed a deep pride and retainment of traditionality in the country, as well. For example, the tallest building in Taiwan, the Taipei 101, acts as the island’s symbol of modernity, and yet it is styled on the eaves of a pagoda, unlike the twisting Shanghai Tower or “bottle-opener” Shanghai World Financial Center, for example. In mainland cities I perceived full commitment to modernity in its current conceptualization, while in Taiwan I experienced a city life that pursues this same modernity to a certain degree yet still keeps one foot in the past.

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My brief time in Thailand was spent in a very different way. Bangkok city is beautiful, of course, but what makes this city truly vibrant are its people. Bangkok lacked the rushing about ubiquitous in Shanghai and Honk Kong: though there were thousands of people on the streets around me, the pace of the city seemed slower, more at ease. People greeted each other in street, and were so friendly in helping me get around when I was utterly lost. On the banks of the Chao Phraya one woman even explained a local tradition in Bangkok to feed the fish in the river as a gesture of compassion, and sat with me as we threw bread into the water. At Wat Pho, another very kind woman took us around the temple and explained the temple’s significance for traditional Thai medicine and the Reclining Buddha’s symbol for Gautama Buddha’s parinirvana.

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At the time I didn’t realize how important my study abroad in China and Thailand would become. Since then, the teachings of compassion I learned in Thailand have influenced my career. It is directly because of the teachings of Buddhist compassion that I decided to take up the work of international development. Thanks to my time in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, I have also realized that I want to work in the city, specifically in Asia.