Catching Kapoks

As the stars dance around, little children come out to catch kapok flowers.  One of my favorite nights in China was when we went to a restaurant named Lucy's.  Since it was a nice evening, we sat outside on a patio.  When we got there, there were children looking up at the big kapok trees and rushing to grab blossoms when they fell down.  We asked Jordon why so many people collected kapok flowers, and he said that they were dried and made into tea to help your sore throat. 

After dinner, one of my friends and I went out and tried to gather the flowers as they fell.  Even though it was dark, twinkle lights were stringing from the trees and on the roof of the restaurant.  It felt peaceful.

Once I was looking up at the sky and all of a sudden a kapok just landed right behind me.  It seemed like if I stepped back, it would have landed right on top of me!

 The kapok flower is a very large flower.  We don't have any that are so big here.  You can tell how big they are by comparing it to the fork.

Whenever I found a kapok flower, I put it on the table to see what a big stack I could make.

As the night went on, my stack grew bigger by the minute.  Soon I had a large pile on the table.

When it was time to walk back to our hotel, I gathered up all my flowers and gave them to a lady who was gathering them to make tea.  She was really happy because she didn't have to wait for them to fall, and I had a whole armful for her.

Catching kapoks felt magical that night because it's almost like catching falling stars!