Day 827

This will probably be my last day at this beautiful 478-acre sculpture garden/necropolis. You can see the previous two days here and here.

Pictured above is the Tranquility Garden columbarium, with the sky obelisk (which we've been inside of) at right.

Today happened to be Qingming, a Chinese festival that involves tending family graves and honoring the deceased. Around the columbarium, there are little raised altars with flames where I saw Chinese people burning paper offerings — apparently a way of sending gifts to departed ancestors. A young woman who was there with her parents told me that sometimes the offerings are actually shaped like the objects they're supposed to represent. She specifically mentioned the example of people burning paper iPhones.