Rainy walk to a Chinese Cemetery

Are you scared of cemeteries? Not me. Whenever I visit one of my dead buddies at a military cemetery, I imagine there may be some lonely soldier ghosts with a dull existence hanging around so I'll invite them to join me. Maybe ghosts aren't real and nothing happens, but perhaps I'm right and I have a gang of dead soldiers haunting me. Either way, I'm not scared of ghosts because I feel that it's the ghosts who are scared of us the living.

I've had almost a dozen dogs during my life and I've learned something new from all of them. I've had Rapper since he was two months old so I've seen him go from an adorable baby scared of the world to the alpha male he is today. He's had at least seven girlfriends with who he's gotten pregnant so I can't remember how many puppies he's fathered, but I would guess around fifty so far and they always seem to look like him. Unless I have an appointment or someone to meet I'll let Rapper take the lead on our walks and today he decided to visit this Chinese/Vietnamese graveyard on the edge of town here in Luang Prabang. Most people are Buddhist in Laos and they prefer to cremate their dead rather than bury them so cemeteries are rare. I don't feel I really served my country because I never saw combat so I'd prefer not to have a military funeral and burial, but I don't really care if they burn me or bury me when I'm gone just as long as I see my dogs on the other side.

What do the Chinse characters say? Some of them are damaged so the AI couldn't properly translate it into English. I only know a few characters and none of these are them so I have no idea. Maybe it says: "If any dumb Americans come walking in here with their ugly dog then they will both be turned into soup."

I don't walk Rapper with a leash and I of course don't want him to get hit by a car so I put bright flashy lights on him when he was small and taught him to always stay off the street and on the sidewalk. Even when I'm walking alone I find myself taking the most concealed safest path out of habit.

I think it's funny and a bit egotistical that religious statues like Buddha and Jesus tend to look like the artists who made them. If you visit South America, you'll see that Mary and Jesus have become Hispanic. I've never seen a black Jesus at a white church, but there are lots of white Jesus at black churches. Have you seen Korean Jesus? Google it for a good laugh if you haven't seen how strong he is. I think Buddha being all kinds of shapes and appearances is fine because his appearance is insignificant if you can find him in yourself.

Thanks for going along with us on our walk today to the cemetery. Do you think dogs can see ghosts? There was literally no one or dogs there and Rapper seemed to see something but I scolded him for being afraid and told him not to fear the ghosts for it's them who fear us.

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