incense wheel

This is an incense wheel (attached). Specifically the wheel me and
another western crew member burned on behave of the production. You
write what ever you like on a piece of paper that is attached to the
top of the wheel. It is then presented to Kwan Yin (Iron goddess of
mercy/compassion) see also, my tatoo) and then it is hung on the
outside of the shrine/temple.

Kirk, the DP on the shoot had been talking about this buddhist temple
he had seen while driving to and from work. So on, Sunday last he and
I went to the temple. We didnt even know what it was called, just knew
that it was some sort of temple. Once we got there 6 busses dropped of
a large crowd of people and the entrance was packed. Instead of
following a crowd around we decided to follow the path less traveled.
So we went around to a water fall that led to a path straight up the
mountain. We sat at the top shooting pictures of the landscape and it
begin to rain. Tropical weather dictates a short rain, so we waited
under a shelter with a chinese army guy... dressed in fatigues. Not
sure why he was up there, but with the olympics going on in the same
country, things I have been told are about strange right now. So we
gave the man a smoke and waited out the rain.

We found the temple when we walked down the mountain. Saw the locals
performing the ceremony and decided to join in the experience. It was
nice.

I made a joke to Jennifer, regarding my tattoo. "You have to wonder if
I got something in Portugese on my arm, if I would be in Brazil right
now." If you knew where I was right now you would really wonder. When
we are out and about and someone reads my tattoo, and catches my eye,
they tend to point in the direction of the temple. Not knowing where
we were or what the temple was called. I looked to google... Hello?
Surprise... the Kwan Yin Temple. Oh well, it was nice to discover that
fact in a truly organic fashion.

I was told I would be in Guangzhou, but I am in fact in Nan Hai in the
Guangdong provence, which is about 40 minutes from Guangzhou. An area
that is famous for to particular shrines/temples of Kwan Yin. My
apartment is on the actual lot. Something I don't care for. The rest
of the crew is split between Guangzhou and apartments about two miles
away Nan hai. My roommate is the director and we just dont get to go
shopping or anything where we are. The producer just wants us to order
everything we need and stay put, but I just don't work that way. I
would rather be lost trying to make my way through a conversation
about beer or beef than have someone drive and pick up a carry out
meal from me. I never know what I want anyway so.

In other news, we are on day four of the shoot. Things are going about
the way you would hope they would. The crew was tight in the
beginning, but once they caught wind of how things worked, they
loosened up. You can really see the love in their eyes. They are
hooked, I remember that feeling, for the first time and it is
something else. It is fun to work. We are also teaching them not to
take everything so seriously. Everyone makes mistakes, something the
industry knows happens and is always very forgiven. They are also
starting to get that we spend a lot of time making jokes and each
other laugh and have started chiming in, when the understand.

This weekend will be the crews first days off in about 14 days, so we
are having a nice two day weekends. We typically will shoot six day
weeks, but want to give everyone a break before we really get down to
the nitty gritty.

Kirk, Ryan (one of the actors) and the gaffer, Erik, are headed to
Hong Kong. That will be great. Henry the producer is setting it up so
that we can hit some key points, but for the most part, we will just
drift and be somewhere else. More about that later.