Site icon Vicki Constantine Croke

Ghost Temple

Vicki Croke

Nearly seventy years ago, young Ruth Harkness went to remotest China in search of wild pandas and found a lost culture --and her own spiritual self. Tracing her footsteps to this still mysterious land is its own reward.

Gourmet Magazine

Ghost Temple

By Vicki Croke

Our caravan of three dusty Jeep Cherokees pulled over to the sidewalk in front of an open-air meat shop, and our guide, Leon Liu, held out our precious map and some old photographs.

A butcher approached the car, wiping his hands on his spattered apron. Taking the material from Leon’s hands, he studied it. Three men, all in tattered jackets, and a woman in a bright pink quilted coat joined him, peering unabashedly into the car and then craning to see the papers. There was a great deal of discussion and then, almost synchronously, they stretched out their right arms to point down the busy road.

Apparently, we were just a few miles from the treasure we had traveled all the way to China to find… READ MORE

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