"Following a tip from 从无声开始, an emotional book loaded with fonts and personal experiences derived from encounters with old buildings, I went to find Samadhi Temple right outside the Old Town's south border. The temple is said to be first built in 1766 and rebuilt in 1867. It is now used as a storage facility, which has not helped its preservation. The space was divided into bunkers with concrete ramps and partitions, and the original wooden structure has been drowned in cement. I went in unnoticed, but later chatted up the guard. Together we took apart a huge mountain of water bottles in the corner and he showed me carved pillars and egg-shaped rocks with lotus motifs piled underneath." more ›