Chinese Funeral

The Funeral of Karen's Grandmother
Oct 28, 2008

One of my very favorite people in Hong Kong and maybe in the world is Karen Yiu. Karen is the secretary at the office in HK, but she is also my guardian angel in China.
Whenever I need anything, Karen is always there with her shining smile to help me out. So when I heard that her grandmother had died I wanted to do whatever I could to get to the funeral. Fortunately for me the flight I had back to Asia was through HK and the very nice people at JFK allowed me to do a layover for a week, so that I could make the funeral. It is so refreshing to know that there are still people out there who are willing to be helpful and accommodating when they can.

I arrived in HK Oct 23, having left Burlington, VT the day before whlie it was snowing! And, yes, my Mom & I did manage to get into the lake the day before I left. The paper said the lake temp was 55 and it felt it! But I made my challenge - got into the lake everyday that I was in NY! SO, here in HK the temp is in the low 90's, so quite an adjustment. It feels good to return to a place that I know. The company has an apartment in Kowloon, in a great area for exploring & eating. John arrived in HK Oct 25 & it sure was good to see him!

Last night (Oct 28) was the funeral. I had attended a funeral here before so was somewhat familiar with the process. Fortunately Karen was at the door where we got envelops for giving money to the family. It is very important to make sure you give an odd amount (even amounts are for happy occassions). The family then gives you an envelop that has a piece of candy (so you will have a sweet life), a HK$1 coin (for good luck), and a tisssue (for crying into). I remembered from the last funeral that you have to make sure to use all of these items before you get home or it will bring bad luck into your house.

When we entered the large hall, we were instructed by a man in a white robe to stand in front of the alter (where there are many flowers, incense, and a photo of Grandma) and bow 3 times, then we had to turn to the family who were gathered in one corner and bow to them 3 times, then they bowed to us 3 times. We then were introduced to Karen's family. The women were dressed in black or white robes with pointy hoods on them. The men wore white woven vests & a white headband with a red dot in the middle on the forehead. They were very appreciative that we had come.

Then Karen asked if we wanted to see her Grandmother. Of course we said yes - out of respect. We were taken behind the alter in a closed area & behind a glass wall there was Grandma with an embroidered silk blanket over her, just her head was showing. She looked very peaceful! We bowed to her too.

Next Karen showed us the paper items that had been collected to be burned with Grandma the next day. The belief is that if you send your loved ones off with these items it will make their life in the afterworld more comfortable & easier. The first thing she showed us was a full sized reclining lounge chair with massage remote control (all made of paper). There was also a small car, a few houses that were probably about 4 feet tall & maybe 2 feet by 4 feet. They were very elborately decorated & furnished. There was a full size majong table with only 3 people sitting at it, the other spot was left empty for Grandma. There were also several silver & gold stairways. These are to help the person climb from hell to heaven & be sure they have plenty of gold & silver with them.

We were then instructed by the "host" (the man who sort of runs the funeral) to have a seat to watch the ceremony. He explained that 5 Chinese "priests" would perform a ritual that is supposed to help the person break through from hell to heaven. The Chinese believe that everyone goes to hell first & depending on how they lived their life, they remain there until they're allowed to move on. There are many offerings made by the family to help the person move on more quickly. I do not know the significance of the parts of the ceremony & Karen said she didn't either & she didn't know what the priest were saying.

4 of the priests put on bright blue silk robes and one wore a red robe. They had square hats with flaps down the back. There was music supplied by a drum, 2 reed type instruments & 2 very loud symbol players. 2 of the priests had little drums & bells that they played during the ceremony. There was a small block of something (maybe a candle) placed in the middle of the floor & lit on fire. Then 8 tiles were placed around the fire & paper was placed on top of the tiles. The priests gathered in a circle & chanted, then they walked around the fire several times. They would stop & one would light the paper on top of one of the tiles. Then the 5 of them would dance very fast & weave in & out of each other & over the fire in the middle. While they were doing this the music got very loud. They stopped & the priest in red pulled a sword out of his sleeve, waved it around a few times & then hit the flaming tile & broke it. This was repeated until all of the tiles were broken (about 20 minutes). Then the head priest (the one in red) did more dancing with a lantern & some flowers. At one point he threw something on the fire & it went about 5 or 6 feet in the air, nearly hitting the ceiling. It was amazing that their robes didn't catch on fire as they were jumping & dancing around the flame. When they were done a woman came in & swept away all of the debrie.

When we left we again bowed 3 times to the alter with Grandma's photo & then 3 times again to the family. I'm very glad that we got to experience this, but mostly I'm glad we could be there to show our support for Karen.

They Really DO Eat Everything in China

Just returned from 7 days in Mainland China. Traveled with John’s sister, Ellen, and we had a great time. Many stories to tell, but I’ll start with the food.

For the most part the food was fine. We actually laughed because some meals were exactly the same. These meals were mostly at hotel restaurants, which I guess are considered “safe” for Westerners. We had guides taking care of us each place we went. They took care of hotels & meals, so not a lot of exploration on our own. I’ve learned that exploration on you own in a very foreign country can not always be a good thing. So although we had for the most part fairly “tame” meals, we were not upset about this.

Our guide in Beijing was Lily, whom I met last year & she is wonderful. Our 2nd night in Beijing Lily took us out to a local restaurant for Peking Duck. While we were waiting for the meal Lily asked us how we wanted to have the bones, in soup or fried. I asked if she meant the duck bones & she said of course, you know we eat everything in China! I had no idea that meant the bones too. Having never had fried bones, we had to try this. Next she said that she had to run next door to get the rest of the duck. This place does the bones & body, but next door they do the neck, wings & feet. She wanted to bring some home to her family as her parents love the feet & necks. Of course she brought them back & insisted we try them. I have to say the feet were better than the chicken feet I’ve tried, guess there is something to be said for webbing! The neck & wings were OK, but I definitely prefer US style Buffalo wings. We enjoyed the Peking duck. If you've never had it you should know that you wrap slices of duck meat up with thinly sliced cucumber & scallions & hoison sauce in a thin pancake. The fried bones turned out to be pretty good as well. Naturally it is all in the coating, which was very yummy & the bones get soft enough to eat. Wouldn’t want to make a meal out of it, but a few pieces were good. I think the coating had caraway seeds in it & some other spices that made it good. (1st photo is the fried bones, 2nd is the duck feet)

On our last day we were in Guilin. The guide did not plan for us to be staying long enough for dinner, but since the only flight out is at 8:30pm, we had time for one more meal. She agreed to take us to a local restaurant that she likes to go to. When we got out of the van I noticed a cage near the front door with some furry animals in it with long front teeth, like beavers. We naturally went over to take a look. There were about 5 of them in the cage. They were not attractive animals, but furry & lively. I asked Michelle, our guide, what kind of animals these were & why they were out there. She said they are river rats (which I remembered having seen in an aquarium I’d visited in Bangkok) & they were not pets, but were there for people to pick out for their meal (OH MY GOD!!). I have a pretty strong stomach, but RIVER RATS! I somehow think I could eat cat or dog before I could eat these things. I thought Ellen was going to lose it! Then Michelle said, you can also pick out a turtle from this box here. Next to the rats were several turtles. And moving on down there were 2 cages filled with snakes, several fish tanks & 2 long cages with ducks in them all to ensure a very fresh meal. We pretty much lost our appetite for any type of meat. We ended up ordering fish, but sent Michelle out to choose it for us, Ellen didn’t want to see any of her meal before it hit the table. The fish was local fish from the Li River that runs through the town. The way they cook it, they call it beer fish & it was excellent. We also ordered some shrimp that arrived with shells, legs & heads still attached. I couldn’t figure out how to get any meat out of them. Michelle just ate the entire shrimp shell & all. Guess I'm not as adventuresome as I thought

Realizing that we were a bit put off by the food display in the cages, Michelle explained that most people in China are just too poor to waste anything. She said she was from a rural farming village & explained that many poor people in China make the equivalent of $150 per year, so they can’t afford to be very picky. Point well taken!

Chinese Pizza

Chinese Pizza

Today at the grocery store I decided to be adventuresome & try what they call at the bakery section “Chinese Pizza”. Now that we are in a new location, the search is on for essentials like, where can we get good pizza?

The crust was OK, not thin & chewy like good US pizza, but OK. The toppings that I could positively identify included pineapple, ham, corn, chicken, a strip of imitation crabmeat, cheese (but I’m not to sure what kind, I don’t think it was mozzarella), onion and a swirl of yellow cheese on top. There was no tomato sauce, but I think there might have been a very thin layer of mayonnaise instead. There were a few other things that I couldn’t really identify – mystery topping.

It actually tasted alright, but I probably will not get it again as my stomach was upset the rest of the day!

Longest Escalator

HK Escalator

So I thought I’d done all the major touristy things in HK, but last night I got to experience yet another extreme of HK. I rode the longest escalator in HK. “The Escalator”, which is the longest escalator in the world, which is near where we used to live, is actually 17 escalators going up the hillside. Last night was the single longest escalator in HK, not the world. It was in a mall (what a surprise – not) in Kowloon (Langham Place for anyone who knows HK) & went down 9 floors. I went to the movies with a HK friend & the theater was on the 13th floor. In true HK fashion the exit from the theater takes you through a mall. So to get out you have to pass 4 floors of stores, circling around so you pass every store in the place. I asked why they have the escalator to skip all the lower floors & Karen said “because no shopping there, just hotel & offices.” Got to love the consumer minded people here! Keep this economies roaring!

The photo isn't too good, it was dark. The escalator is on the right & then there are some New Year's decorations - a light up plum blossom tree. I think I've explained that the plum blossom is a huge symbol for New Year's & represents romance in the coming year. If you are single & walk around the tree 3 times then you will have romance in the coming year.

The movie we saw “Enchanted”. It’s Disney – what can I say, I liked it. Very funny & of course a happy ending! I think I was the only Western person in the theater, but everyone got all the jokes, so either the subtitles were good or as I expect everyone’s English is good enough to understand.

Before the movie we had dinner at a small noodle place that serves up “healthy homemade noodles” according to Karen. You can choose green (spinach), red (tomato) or white noodles. I had a green & white combo with some pork & lots of nice Chinese broccoli (it mostly leaves & stem, not much flower at all, it’s wonderful).

I spent yesterday afternoon wandering around Tsuen Wan (20 minutes away by bus, but the closest town with a train station) with a new friend from the next building over. I met she & her husband on the bus this weekend. They’re from AZ, but have lived all over (Alaska, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, India, Vietnam, Beijing, & another smaller city in China). We are both nurses & have 2 sons, so we had plenty to talk about. As far as Tsuen Wan goes, it’s got a few, you guessed it, MALLS!! There is an Outback, KFC and ever ubiquitous, McDonald’s. So we will not go hungry!

New freinds & a new language

New friends & a new language

I realized today that living over here I am going to learn a new language, well maybe not really new but different. No, it isn’t a variation of Chinese.

I attended a Corona Club meeting (not the beer, but the crown, as in the queen, as in Britain). This is the British women’s group that has branches all over the world. I have attended a few meetings in the past, but today I bit the bullet & actually joined. They are a really friendly & down to earth group of women. They meet once a week & usually have a speaker. Today one of the women who has lived here 38 years & is married to a Chinese man spoke about the traditions of the Chinese New Year.

After the meeting a few of us went out for lunch. It was funny because they wanted to go to Outback. They all thought it was an Australian restaurant (guess the marketing worked), but I told them I thought it was a US company as they’ve been in the US for years. They were all surprised. They like to go for the fish & chips. Who would have thought you’d go to Outback for fish? In listening to these ladies talk I realized that I only understood about 80% of what they were saying & it wasn’t just their accent. They were using words & expressions that I didn’t understand. One said something about kids going off to uni. (university) & getting legless (drunk). And one asked “did you need to use the wee?” (toilet). I thought they called it a loo. So I think I’m going to learn a new English being involved with this group, so forgive me if I come home speaking like a Brit instead of a Chinawoman!

I also met a couple on the shuttle bus who live 2 buildings down who are from Arizona. They seem very nice & she was wearing an LL Bean jacket & practical shoes, so I know we’ll get along. They moved here from Vietnam & also mentioned living in Beijing, India and Saudi Arabia, so I think I can get lots of travel info from them. I commented that my 2 friends in HK had just moved away, so I was feeling a bit lost. The husband said that Kathy (his wife) would be happy because she didn’t really know anyone here either, at least not out here. So we are having lunch together tomorrow.

So I’m feeling much better about living out here & being back in HK. John returns on Wednesday after 1.5 weeks in India. He was supposed to visit a printer in Sri Lanka, but the printer called him & said not to come, it wasn’t safe! That doesn’t sound good. It’ll be good to have him home!

New Year's Opera & Puppets

New Year’s Opera & Puppets

9 February 2008 - Saturday

The Chinese New Year celebrations last for about 14 days after New Year’s Day (Feb 7), so there are lots of things going on around the city. Now that we live so far away from the main venues, I have not been as good at enjoying the celebrations as I was last year. But today I decided I needed to get out.

I had read in the paper about a performance by The Sichuan Opera & Huge Puppet Troupe of China. The location was on the southwest side of HK Island, so just getting there took some effort. I studied the map & got onto the bus web site & mapped my way over. I had planned to take one of the Red Minibuses, which I don’t normally take. The regular bus companies do not run them & they don’t really have a regular route, they are basically very confusing. BUT the reason I wanted to try it was because the past few days as I stood waiting for the bus for 20 minutes, about 10 red minibuses went by, so I was very curious where they were going. But of course today, the bus to HK Island came before a red minibus, so I hoped on. I had to change buses to get to where I wanted, but I had my trusty map book & it all went very smoothly.

The performance took place in the atrium of a mall. It consisted of several short performances. The first was called fighting the eye of Buddha (that’s the 3rd eye in the middle of the forehead). This was part of the opera group, but fortunately no singing was involved, just music. A man dressed in very elaborate costume was the main character & he did a very stylized dance. Two younger men who did a lot of acrobatics were also involved. The costume was great, down to the curly tipped, flat-bottomed shoes & the hat that had huge long extensions that ended in red fuzzy balls.

The next performance was the lady in red. It was one of the huge puppets. The puppet is a life-sized figure set onto a long pole that the puppeteer holds, so that the puppet is over his head. There are 2 more poles at the puppet’s wrists & the puppeteer holds these in one hand and works the arms with them. The puppet’s costume has long flowing sleeves that are probably 20 feet long & as the puppeteer moves the puppets arms, the sleeves flow in long circles. It is amazing how he could get the sleeves twirling using just the one hand controlling the arms while he moved the puppet around above his head holding it up with his other hand. As the puppet danced so did the puppeteer, sort of acting as an extension to the puppet, almost like it’s legs.

The next act was a man who had upset his wife for doing something wrong, so he was being punished by having to do stunts with a bowl on his head that contained a burning wick. The wife & husband bantered back & forth & had great expressions. Everyone was laughing at them. The guy went under 2 benches, then stood on top of them while lifting one leg over his head (all with the lit lamp). A very amusing, but skillful act.

Then there were 4 huge puppets that were supposed to be butterflies. Again long flowing wings attached to the arms that the puppeteers maneuvered with one hand. There were smaller puppets, but still with the poles that were a father & daughter on their first trip to Tibet. She carried flowers & he a pipe that he twirled around. Then was a long haired guitar player & flower child puppets that played a sort of Chinese rock & roll song. The flower child puppet did some great chest shaking & shimmying. There were 3 hula dancing puppets who did a good deal of hip gyrating & shimmying as well. These were all the same huge puppets on the poles. Very clever.

Another opera act was a woman who was supposed to be a mermaid discovering the wonders of being outside of the ocean. There was that squeaky high pitched Chinese opera singing in this performance, so I was glad when it was over. The final act was a combination of 3 huge puppets & 2 of the opera actors. It was the famous face-changing act (I’d never heard of it, but from the reaction of the crowd, it was very popular). The puppets & actors all had very dramatic looking masks on their faces. They danced around & they would stomp there foot & suddenly the mask on their face would change to a completely different mask. I couldn’t figure out how the did it. There obviously were several layers of different masks as each character changed masks many times, but it was instantaneous & they didn’t even turn away, it just flashed into a new mask. At one point the actors went to their real faces, only to change to another mask at the end. It was pretty impressive I must say.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to catch a Lion & Dragon Dance performance. These are the traditional New Year’s performances & take place all over for the 2 weeks following New Year’s Day. They usually have very loud drums accompanying them. I must have missed one this morning on the beach, because I could hear the drumming from the apartment. When I went out for my walk they were packing up the drums. I think they were accompanying a swimming event on the beach. When I got to the beach for my walk there were lots of people getting out of the water, kids & adults. Lucky for them it was a sunny day today. There was a table covered with trophies, so obviously a competition. They are brave souls, it’s still been in the 50, so I guess the water might feel warm in comparison, maybe I’ll have to give it a try!

Chinese New Year's Eve

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI !!

Happy Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year

This is the year of the Golden Rat.

The tradition for New Year’s Eve is to spend it with family and have a big dinner and eat all evening. It is much like Christmas or Thanksgiving in the US. I was lucky enough to have been invited to my friend, Sophia’s home for this event. John is away in India right now. Sophia used to work in John’s office, but she left with plans to go to the US, but in the end she decided to stay in Hong Kong. I’m sure I’ve talked about Sophia before; she is a good friend.

Sophia met me at the train station near her family’s apartment building and we went to the market to buy some drinks. I wanted to bring something to the meal, but Sophia assured me that her Mom had more than enough. The tradition is to bring sweets when you visit to ensure a sweet new year. I’ve observed people at the stores this week buying boxes of cookies, chocolates and many other sweet delights. Sophia decided that I could bring fruit, as that was sweet, but would also be healthier for them all.

Sophia pointed out the apartment from the ground, it was pretty obvious, the only one with a crystal chandelier in the window! Sophia and her brother both have apartments in the same complex, but in different buildings. The Chinese like to stay close to their family if possible.

The apartment was small, but every bit of space was used well. Her Mom had a wonderful collection of glass vases; fancy stemmed drinking glasses, and many other glass objects. They had 2 chandeliers, one in the dinning area & the other in the living area. These were from their house in Toronto & her Mom just couldn’t stand to part with them.

I offered to help her Mom with the cooking, but when I got a look at the kitchen, well it just wasn’t possible. The kitchen was about 4 feet wide & about 6 feet long & really only one person could fit in it. I’m going to stop complaining about our apartment!

The rest of us sat down at the table (brother, boyfriend, dad, Sophia & I). I was offered some wonderful fried wonton type snack with black sesame seeds in it (very yummy) and some sweet sesame cookies (these were store bought & sold only at new year’s time). Then the homemade food came out. First was chicken broth with slices of meat from a shell fish they said was like abalone. Next were sea cucumbers, 3 kinds of sliced sausage with peapods & other greens, and fried meatballs (pork) with spicy dipping sauce. All were excellent, well except for the sea cucumber, which were a strange consistency.

We had a long discussion about the sea cucumber & finally they said that it is an animal, not a plant. But then they didn’t think it had any internal organs, so maybe it was a sort of plant, but not really. Anyway, they said you buy it dried & have to reconstitute it, which is not an easy task. Sophia explained that her mother’s was very good because the consistency was smooth. It takes cooking it for several hours & changing the water often to get it like this. She said if you get it at a street vendor it would often be lumpy and too chewy.

Next up were scallops with celery & lily bulbs (like small onions, but very different taste, almost a nutty flavor), sweet & sour jumbo prawns with yellow & green peppers (this was my favorite & was not like we have sweet & sour), and abalone with boiled lettuce.

Dessert was ginger soup with mochi (rice flour) dumplings filled with peanut or black sesame paste. This also was delicious, a nice light ending to the meal. Sophia brought out some cherries & logan fruit. The logan fruit are about the size of a cherry, but have a hard light brown shell on them. You squeeze them just a bit & the shell splits & you peel it off. The fruit is white & tastes sort of like a ripe soft pear. There is a large brown seed in the middle. Her dad & I ate the whole platefull of them.

I made a comment during the meal that I can't figure out why most Chinese are so thin, because they eat so much. Sophia said she thought it was more about portion size. Even though there were many dishes, there was not a lot of any one dish. Each person had enough for a healthy sampling, but not the huge portions that we would serve in the States. I also think it has something to do with genetics.

Afterwards we sat around & chatted about their time in living in Canada. Dad told me about his antennae factory in Mainland China where she spends part of his time. It’s about 2 hours from HK, so he has another apartment there. Her Mom talked about living in NYC with her younger daughter who works on Wall Street. I guess the daughter is a workaholic, so the Mom lives with her to help her manage. She talked about taking the subway to Chinatown, which naturally she likes very much. Her brother is studying for a master’s in marketing. Her boy friend was raised in HK also & he works at a printing factory that John’s company does business with. They asked me about my family & traditions for holidays. Her mom got out a photo album to show me some family photos.

Sophia & Ivan & were going to go to the flower market after dinner, this is also a tradition. Flowers are a very important part of the Chinese New Year. There are very specific plants & flowers that are supposed to bring luck & good fortune. If you go to the flower market on New Year’s Eve, then you can get really good deals, because they just want to get rid of them. It was raining & cold, so we decided to skip the flower market. I took the subway to the bus stop near work. I had to wait in the rain for about 20 minutes (seems to be my standard wait time these days), but the bus was warm & at that hour (11:00pm), there were plenty of seats.

It certainly was nice to enjoy a family celebration!

Happy Lunar New Year to All !!!

Hong Kong T-shirts

If you've spent any amount of time in Asia, you realize that they must get all the reject T-shirts that couldn't be sold in an English speaking country. It is really funny to read them & I've started writing down what they say. So here are some samples:

#1 - on the front of the shirt:
CRUSTY DEMONS (written in a gothic lettering)
inside label: "Made in China by the tallest people we could find"
it was the label that I really liked.

#2 -
VOICE (in large letters) HEARI (in small letters)
AYRO (large letters)

#3 -
"It you nsicn carefully to the voice of HER your God and do what is righr ia his eyes, if you'pay attention to his com mands and heep all his decrees,t will not hrhr on you any of the diseases and heals co B005"
(the typos are not mine - you think maybe they need a proof reader? I actually bought this one)

#4 -
Function and Fullness
(picture of a Native American Indian with headdress)
The TOP "STRAIN"

#5-
(picture of a cow)
The Happiest Moment!
you got the real different of JUICE from the World?

#6-
"Bribe exist and the power which is for the opposite side is excluded"

#7-
front of shirt
DIRECTLY
NOISE
All the Right
Make Encouraging the Noise

back of shirt - written in italics
Photography