A trip to the Young Shop

Wed. Oct. 25, 2006
At work today, Sophia, asked if I wanted to join her for lunch, she was going to the Young Shop & then grab a sandwich. Sophia is one of the local folks who came on board about a month ago. She lived in the States for about 10 years & she is wonderful. She is in her early 30's & has the classic thin Asian figure. She dresses really really well, very stylish & hip. It is always fun to see what outfit she & Ruby are going to be wearing. I will start taking photos of them so you can appreciate what I'm saying. Both of them are really fun & nice.
I figured this must be some trendy clothes shop & there wouldn't be anything that I would be able to get, but it would be fun to go out with her & get a chance to talk. She is a great source of local cultural knowledge & answers all of my questions with great patience.
We walked along the same street Ashley & I had ventured down yesterday, but this time we went in a different direction. We passed some more clothes shops like the one I describe yesterday - long & narrow with tons of cloths at very cheap prices. I joked & said that I bet Sophia never shops at places like that. She said "Not true". She explained that these places get seconds of lots of name brand products like American Eagle & Abocrombie. She says you have to search, but you can get great deals & some fun stuff at these places. Another lunchtime activity for another day! Today we are headed for the Young Shop.
I wasn't really looking as we walked into the shop, so I didn't notice the sign. Of course I was expecting the most trendy clothes & shoes to be on the shelves. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw skeens of wool & knitting needles????? I said to Sophia "There is wool in here." She answered, "Oh course there is, it's a young shop!" Then it hit me - it isn't a young shop, it's a yarn shop. We both laughed & laughed. She said, I never can pronounce my R's, I am very lazy when I speak English. Sophia for all of her trendy styles loves to knit & she is a regular here. All of the clerks knew her & they treated her like a celebrity. She introduced me around & said that when I come again I must get the Sophia discount. I did buy some yarn & Sophia is going to give me some needles to make a scarf or a shawl. I love to knit, so this should be fun & easy to start with. Of course the instruction & pattern books are all in Chinese or Japanese, so I'm going to have to look online to see what I can find in the way of patterns. A scarf shouldn't be too tough. Sophia got a bunch of yarn. And the Sophia discount was very good - about 50% from what I could judge. It as really fun.
We went next door & got sandwiches at Pret A Manager (I thought a strange name for a sandwich shop). Sophia explained that it is French for food in a hurry or something like that. She said English speaking people always think it is a strange name for a fast food place. They had premade sandwiches that were very healthy. All whole wheat bread & lots of veggies.
I almost forgot to mention that on Monday when I was looking for the cable store, I passed a Hardee's restaurant. They didn't have biscuits though, so not very authentic, but same big sign & fried chicken. Really strange.

Tuesday 10/24/06 Shopping

Tuesday Oct. 24, 2006

Ashley & I ventured out to see what the new shopping area had in store for us. She is on a mission to buy a pair of boots while she is here. We found the area without difficulty. It is about a 10 minute walk from the office. The first little store we went into was a gold mine for me. There stores are very narrow & long. They are crammed with as much produce as possible with just enough room for one person to move along them sideways. You are not allowed to try stuff on (except coats & sweaters). There are no dressing rooms. They did say that you can return them for an exchange if you need a different size.
So the first exciting thing was that many of the clothes were market with US sizes & the next exciting thing was that there were sizes other than 2s & 4s & 6s or small & extra small. What I'm trying to say it that there were some larger sizes that I thought might actually fit me. I got 3 pairs of pants & 5 tops. The tops were about $6US each & the pants about $12US (you know I like a bargain). They had lots of name brand items from US stores which was encouraging as well.
I did my big buy & used up all my cash. We continued on down the road & came to a few more good clothing stores (none as good as the first one) & lots of shoe stores. Once I do my thing with some decent new clothes, I might just venture into some shoes. I'm seeing some really cute shoes. Who would have ever guessed that I would get into shopping. Strange things can happen in a strange land!!!
So the best part was that they stuff actually fit when I got it home & could try it on. I'm going to return one pair of pants because I'm just not good in stripes & 2 tops, they were too big!!! I'm sure I'll find some other things to take their place.
This might not seem very exciting to many of you, but there just isn't a Kohl's or Target here. You either spend a fortune at one of the name stores or you go to these markets & outlet stores & take your luck. Most of them have clothes that look like they would only fit a doll & most of the women here have tiny bodies. So this was a very exciting find. I'll probably be "returning" my clothes tomorrow, hopefully I'll find some substitutes.
I might even pose for some photos in my new outfits. We'll have to see how brave I am. I still hate the haircut, so not feeling much like modeling.

Happy Shopping

Monday Oct. 23, 2006
Today I tried to take care of some cable TV/DHL issues that we have. I located a store near work & ventured out there this morning. This was a new area that I had not been to before. I found the store I was looking for, but on the way I made a wonderful discovery. Some good looking inexpensive shops that are off the beaten path (not many tourist types). They were not street markets which can be very difficult to shop at because of the crowds. I hit one place that had low cut sock of all colors & designs (I love unusual socks) for $2HK (that is 25 cents US). We thought paying $5Hk was a good deal. I'm going to the new hero in the office (amoung the US women anyway). There were several shoe stores & clothing stores. I also bought a tea cup mug with lid in a nice Chinese design for $12HK ($1.50US).
When I got back to the office & told Ashley, well we started planning for a lunch excursion the next day!!

Cable Car, Giant Buddha, Pink Dolphins

Weekend of Oct. 21 & 22

I tried to put photos in here, but they don't seem to be working. You'll just have to check out the photo site (http://community.webshots.com/user/jbhubbell) John got some good ones of the pink dolphins - they are at the end of the album.

Saturday: NP360, Giant Buddha (again), Fishing Village, Cuban Food
Ashley & I had tickets for the Ngong Ping 360 which is a cable car that just opened up last month. It originally opened back in June or July, but it got stuck & people got stranded up on it for a few hours, so they closed it to make repairs. It is on the island where the new airport is. The NP360 station is right next to the airport. The cable cars run up along the mountains & to the town where the Giant Buddha. I have already been to the Giant Buddha twice, but Ashley hadn’t been yet & going via the cable car was a new adventure. The views were spectacular & it was nice to be out of the city. There is a hiking path that runs underneath the cable car which has to be grueling. I had read about the hiking path in one of my books, they called it a “walk”. From way up above, it sure didn’t look like a very leisurely walk. Up or down, I’m sure it would be torture on these old knees. We were glad to be up in the cable car to say the least. The other people we were with were very nice. There was an Asian-American couple from California and a couple with their son who looked about 9. The son was terrified of the ride & held onto the pole in the middle of the car the entire ride. It took about 30 minutes to get to the top.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this. This cable car is very popular since it is so new & people here love to do stuff like this on the weekend. On a few previous weekends we would hear over the loud speaker at the MTR station that tickets to NP360 had been sold out for the day. I figured this meant that we could purchase them ahead of time & that it might be a good idea for a weekend day. I took a long lunch one day & went to the MTR station where they sell the tickets ahead of time (it was a nice little ferry ride from work). On Saturday when we arrived at the NP360 base station there was a huge line. Ashley had overslept, so we didn’t get as early a start as we had hoped. There was an attendant at the end of the line directing people & she saw our vouchers & told us to go into a different aisle. Well, we got to go right past the entire line & straight to the front & get on ahead of everyone. We felt like celebrities. There wasn’t anyone else in this buy ahead line. Sometimes planning ahead has it’s advantages. Ashley was very impressed!
The cable car goes over some water & over up into the mountains, like I mentioned before. You get a great look at the Buddha from afar. It is impressive. There is a little plaza at the top with lots of shops (need to be able to buy those souvenirs). We climbed the 260 steps up to the Buddha (I didn’t count them, I read it in the brochure). I did much better this time, only stopped to talk one photo. Last time I struggled much more, so I guess all the walking I’m doing is getting me in better shape. We took our photos & walked around the monastery below. From the Buddha you could see smoke coming up from below & it turned out to be all of the incense being burned. I took some photos of the incense sticks because they are so huge. There are some that are probably 5 or 6 inches in diameter. People will buy a few huge ones or several (30 or 40) small ones. There are racks & incense pots all over & they put a few sticks in each one & bow several times & say prayers. There is even a special oven with open flames for lighting the incense.
Around the monastery there are signs that say “No alcohol or meat allowed”. Buddhist monks are strict vegetarians. They joke that there are always lots of dogs & cats in monasteries because they know they are safe & won’t be eaten!! It was time for lunch so we purchased a variety of vegetarian goodies (?) from the monastery lunch line. I took photos because it looked so interesting. There are several items that were sort of pastry things with mystery stuff inside – most likely red beans. There were 3 types of hot food & the woman couldn’t tell us exactly what it was. It looked a lot like meat, but she said it was beans & wheat. Anyway, they didn’t taste like either & it was some of the worst tasting stuff I’ve ever eaten. I guess we didn’t order very well, because all of the people around us were eating noodles (don’t know how me missed them) & this tofu & honey soup dish. They looked much better than what we ended up with.
Along the sidewalk we saw a vendor who was selling fruit on a stick. There was a choice of strawberries or cherries. There were about 5 or 6 in a row & they were soaked in syrup of some sort. They kind of looked like candy apple coating. Before they give them to you, they wrap the entire thing in rice paper which is edible & prevents too much dripping. We didn’t get one, but maybe next time I’ll try one. Just thought the concept was interesting.
We took the bus to the fishing village, Tai O. Not much new there. Lots of dried fish & the shark skin was still there. It was around 5pm & the cable car stops running at 6:30, so we didn’t stay long in Tai O. There were no more buses directly back to the cable car, so this old man explained to us what bus we needed to take & where to get off & how much to pay. He was very helpful. I think he made it his mission to make sure everyone at the bus depot got to where they needed to go. He walked around asking everyone where they were going, not just Westerners. He didn’t work for the bus line or anything, just a nice old guy.
We buddied up with a Chinese family the old man pointed out to us, who were doing the same thing. They were also very nice. We all got off at the designated spot, where the 2 roads split. We walked to the other road & waited for the next bus. After about 20 minutes (it was starting to get dark & the mosquitoes were starting to bite) a taxi came by & asked if we needed a ride. They couldn’t take all of us (there were 4 in the other group) & before we could say that we weren’t all together the driver took off. The next one that came by (there were no other cars at all), the family told us to take. It was a hair raising ride up to the Buddha, lots of twists & turns & the guy drove like a maniac. Fortunately it wasn’t too far. We saw the family not too much after we arrived, so they made it up. We treated ourselves to some wonderful gelato (Italian ice cream) since we hadn’t had the best lunch. The ride down the cable car was good, but it was dark so you couldn’t see too much. We were pretty tired. We got back to Hong Kong around 7:30. We decided we needed to have some dinner & that we would try the Cuban restaurant we had intended on going to last weekend. It wasn’t anything very great. It just had tapas (appetizers) & even the local beer was around $5. Had Cuban spiced hummus (strange combo, but good) & mint pesto with breads & I can’t even recall the other dishes, they were just OK. Good, a restaurant we don’t want to go back to, finally!
Poor John had not planned to go into work, but he ended up getting an email or something about a problem, so he spent the entire day at work. I mean the entire day – he didn’t get home until about 11:15pm. Poor guy. I felt guilty, but not much we could do since the problem didn’t come up until we were on our way up the mountain.

Sunday: Pink Dolphins, Bowen Road & Lover’s Rock, The Peak
For Sunday, Ashley wanted to see the pink dolphins. You hear a lot about these in HK, but I haven’t met anyone yet who has actually seen them, so we were a bit skeptical. I had gotten the tickets ahead of time, so John HAD to come with us. We met the bus down by the pier at 8:30. You will see in the photos that while we were waiting there were some activities going on. There was a guy who had a huge toilet paper roll on his head. We had no idea why he had it on, but he seemed very happy to have his photo taken with people. You just never know what you are going to see around here. There was also a wedding party getting ready. We saw the men getting photos taken & the car decorated up. The guys seemed to be having a great time, clowning around for the photographer. We got to see the bride as well. She looked like a China doll (but of course). Beautiful dress.
We took the bus out to near the airport. It was just where we were the day before. We got onto a boat that was about 30 feet long & had an upper deck. It was very nice & comfortable. We headed out past the airport. There were lots of people fishing. I guess this is a popular pastime for the weekend, especially for the men. Not much different from the states. We passed some large commercial fishing boats that use the nets that endanger the dolphins.
Here is the story about the dolphins. They are actually called Chinese White Dolphins. Their habitat is in the China Sea at the outlet of the Pearl River, which is just outside of the coast of Hong Kong. Because the outlet of the River stirs up so much sediment, the water is very murky. Because of the murky water, the dolphins don’t get much sunlight, so over generations & generations their skin has turned white, they’ve lost their pigmentation because of the lack of sunlight. When they swim, it gets their circulation going & they become pink. Just like when we run, our faces turn red. So they really are very pink looking. When they are born they are steel gray & they get white as they mature. It is hard to appreciate the color in the photos, but I think John got some good ones. They didn’t stay above the surface for very long & you need to have a very fast camera to get them. We saw lots & lots of them, it was wonderful. Of course they are endangered. I’m not sure how long ago, but not very long there were over 1,000 of them, now they believe there are less than 100 left. Their habitat is being swallowed up by the airport & other projects that are reclaiming parts to the harbor for construction. The pollution is also killing them. I guess the build up of DDT & other chemicals gets into the mother’s milk & many babies don’t survive because they get poisoned by their own mother’s milk. There is also a lot of untreated sewerage going into the water. They only have 3 to 4 babies in a lifetime, so their future is a bit grim. The group that sponsors the trip we went on is an environmental group working to try to protect the dolphins & their habitat. I fear it is a losing battle, so I’m glad we got to see them.
We got back to HK around 1:30 & went out for brunch. Brunch is very popular here (I guess eating out in general is popular). John headed back to the apartment for a relaxing afternoon & Ashley & I ventured on. This was her 2nd to last weekend so we needed to make the most of it. She had read about a walk that went past many shires & a place called Lover’s Rock. We decided to try one of the street trams because all of the guide books say you HAVE to try them. They run on electricity & tracks in the street. They are only on HK Island & only go east & west along the base of the island. We got on & it was very crowded. We only lasted 2 stops & got off because they are not air conditioned & is smelled terrible. We are spoiled I guess. We hopped a bus #15 & got off at the right stop (that is sometimes a huge accomplishment in itself, but Ashley’s guide book had pretty good directions). The walk was along Bowen Road which turns out to be a walking path, no cars. It is really nice & very level (not a common thing in HK). There were many people out walking & running, very relaxing. There was a great view down the hill to the race track below & many apartment buildings. This road was about halfway up to The Peak (Victoria Peak). There were indeed some very small shrines along the road. When we got the some steps where there were several small shrines all set together & a set of steps. We walked up the steps to Lover’s Rock which just juts up into the air. Nothing very romantic about it. Nobody could tell us why it has that name, but I guess you light incense up there & it brings your love relationship good luck.
We walked until we came to another “road”, just for walking, that took us down to the next regular road where we could catch the bus again to go up to the Peak. It was pretty hot so we got a good work out. I know being hot sounds good to all of you people in the states who are complaining about the cold, but I have to tell you that I’m ready for some cooler weather. This 80’s & humid is getting tiring.
The bus ride up the Peak is really amazing. What a ride for $1.25 (US). The road runs right along the edge of the hillside & you are on the 2nd floor of the bus & if is exciting to say the least. We were in the front seat, so got a great view.
The Peak is tourist central, so there is always something fun going on up there. Tonight there was a ball room dancing competition taking place for charity. It was outside & the participants were dressed to the hilt. There were kids competing as well. It was very entertaining. There was also this guy walking around in an Elvis outfit that was a blow up thing that made him about 10 feet tall & about 4 feet wide. He had Elvis music playing & was posing for photos with people. We had a great bowl of noodles for dinner, really my first bowl of noodles since I’ve been here. It was loaded with veggies & was just what we wanted.
We stayed up on the Peak to watch the nightly light show from up there. It was crowded & really not too impressive. You could only see the backs of the buildings & some of them just have lights on the harborside. Much better the see the light show from the water front. Took the bus back down & grabbed a cab back home. John had been to the gym & gotten a massage, so he was very happy. I think Sunday is his massage day.
That is it for this weekend. Back to work tomorrow…….and plan what to do next weekend!!!!

Symphony of Lights

Wednesday night Ashley & I finally went to see the great Hong Kong light show. It occurs every night at 8pm & involves buildings on both sides of the harbor. The buildings are all lit up & they have a light & laser show to music. From what I've read about it, they say that on Monday, Wednesday & Friday nights the show is in English, so we wanted to go on one of those nights. WELL, it didn't really make any difference. The only speaking is at the beginning when they tell you what companies & buildings participate in the show. The rest is just sound & lights. It lasted about 15 minutes. We were on the Kowloon side of the harbor since most of the best lit buildings are on the Hong Kong Island side. They do a good job with it, but it isn't fireworks. Next time we are going to view if from the other side of the harbor, so we'll have seen both sides. The real place to see it is from the harbor on a boat. I'm sure we'll do that some evening when we have some out of town visitors. There are lots of boats that take special tours at that time of night. Now I can check that off my list of tourist things I've done........

We have a fun filled weekend planned. Saturday Ashley & I are going to take the new cable car up to the big Budda. This just opened in July & then it wasn't working, I guess people got stranded. They reopened it about a month ago. The weather is supposed to be clear & cooler this weekend!! Sunday we have tickets for a dolphin watch trip. There are famous pink dolphins just outside of the harbor. They say 97% of the time you see them. If you don't, then give you a free ticket for another ride.

My first HK haircut

This one is for you Kelly:

I haven't had my haircut since I've been here & with the heat & humidity, my thick head of hair has been starting to bother me. As you know I have very thick hair & it tends to get very curly when it is humid. So Monday I decided I HAD to get a haircut. The other Americans at Cadmus have gone to a place that is near our house & have been happy with it. They like that when they wash your hair, you get a head massage for about 10 minutes. Kristin did decide to go for a new look & asked them to do something new for her. I liked what they did, but she was very upset as she claimed it was a mullet. Who would have guessed that they did mullets in HK too!!

The place they had gone to was closed on Mondays (figures). I was just ready for a cut, so I went to another place that I had seen that wasn't too far away. It was pretty busy, but he said if I didn't mind waiting 15 minutes he could get to me. So I got a color & cut. He decided I needed to go darker, so although it isn't black, it is definitely darker than what I had before. OK, big change #1. He said my hair was too thick & curly & that he could fix that for me. So he & his Napalese assistant colored & cut & washed & dried. In the end he took off a lot of hair & did lots of thinning. So when he was done - you guessed it - I am now a mullet head also. It was really horrible when he finished. He left lots of hair long & wispy & cut off all of the curls. I was just too shocked to say anything, so I paid & got out of there. John was sweet & didn't say much. The next night he admitted that it looked pretty bad when I got home. Once I washed it & did my own "styling", it was better, but still not too good. You know it's bad when nobody says they like your new hairstyle. Ashley offered to cut off the mullet for me. I may take her up on it. Someone else said that I should have told him that curls are not a bad thing. So with comments like that, you know it isn't good. I'm not even going to share a photo with you all. At least it grows & I will not be going back to Desmond.

Gold Fish, Flower & Bird Market

Oct. 14, 2006

Today being Saturday, we went into work of course. John got back from a week long trip to India & Bangkok last night. He always comes home with interesting stories from India. I'll have to ask him to do a blog sometime about India. Sounds like a country of contradictions, something not to be missed, but can't say it is really a place that Westerners enjoy. Hopefully I'll go with him on his next journey. I'm excited but apprehensive as I've heard so much about it, much of it negative. Have to judge for myself.

On his return, John had over 120 emails to wade through and was tired from his traveling, so opted out of our Saturday afternoon adventure. Can't say as I'd blame him. A few times at these markets is really enough unless you have something specific you are looking for. Ashley (one of the American Cadmus people, Steve & Kristin have returned to the States for a 2 week vacation - mostly for doctor's appointments & such, they've been here over 3 months, so were good & ready for a trip Stateside) and I ventured off to the market in Mong Kok. Mong Kok contains several markets, the gold fish market, sports goods market, ladies market, electronic goods market & just a general market with a little bit of everything. These markets are down regular streets that contain regular stores all along them, then at some point (not sure when), the streets are closed off to vehicles & vendors set up stalls all along the street. So really you have 3 lanes to shop from - each sideway & then down the middle. Most people go down the middle which is only about 5 feet wide. The stalls are probably 10 to 12 feet high & very narrow - room for one or maybe 2 thin people to move along the goods. It results in a very crowded feel, but kind of exciting.

The gold fish market is different as there were no stalls set up along this street. This street consisted of about 2 or 3 city blocks with almost nothing but pet shops. Most were aquarium shops, but others had cats & dogs & rabbits (and NO there were no restaurants next door to them)!!! The fish stores had fish, reptiles & lots & lots of turtles. They were mostly very small turtles & several varieties. I'd never seen so many varieties.

The gold fish were in many colors and sizes. They were beautiful. The most fastinating thing about the fish stores was how some of them displayed their wares. Many stores had entire walls covered with different size plastic bags containing water & fish swimming around. I've seen this with small fish when you buy them in the States & they bag them for you to take home, but these were on display in bags, hanging from the wall. There were some fish in these bags that had to be at least a foot long - some big fish. We even saw an eel - probably over a foot long - in a bag. It was just the strangest looking thing. Sorry I didn't have my camera with me, big mistake. I'll be going back for another visit I'm sure. People were buying like crazy. I guess with the small living quarters most people have, aquariums are good if you want some easy pets that don't take up too much space.

We ventured off the gold fish market street & got some sweets that looked interesting at a vendor. I hadn't eaten lunch & it was close to 3pm. We got a small roll & large roll with sesame seeds on top. They were very puffy & looked like they might have some filling, but they didn't. The large one was very tasty, like a cross between a roll & a donut - deep fried I think with sesame seeds. It had a sesame flavor. The smaller one was made from rice flour I think. It was kind of like fried paste, gummy & chewy. Not to our liking. Ashley got one that looked like a long cruller donut & tasted like one, but deep fried & we think most of the grease remained on the donut - could feel the grease coming out of your skin after a bite.

We found some fun shops with Hello Kitty type products. If you don't know what Hello Kitty is, well come to Hong Kong & you will not be able to escape it. Hello Kitty & many many similar products are little animal & plant characters that are Japanese animated things. You know Pokey Mon? Well just imagine hundreds of Pokey Mon offspring. You actually get to like them. Here everyone of all ages has these little characters everywhere. They make charms of them (for good luck, everything here is for good luck) that people of all ages hang from their cell phones, purses, wrists, you name it. We saw one character (actually they had the entire family of them) that was a white carrot guy with wife & son. The woman said "he is the good luck carrot!" You could get him as a key chain or charm. They had him praying, running, smiling. You just become so overwhelmed with these little items that you either have to love them or you won't be very happy here (bad luck not to get some good luck charms). So of course we gave in. I went for a lemon Kitty & Ashley got the good luck carrot man.

Then we found some plastic card holders (like for credit cards). You have lots of cards here, called smart cards. They get you into buildings generally. I have one for the office & one for the apartment. Then there is the octopus card, have I talked about that? It is the greatest thing. You use it for transportation. Every mode of transportation takes them except the taxis. You just swipe it as you get on the bus or enter the MTR. You can also use it at most stores, it's wonderful. When you use it the amount gets deducted & the little machine displays your balance. To add money to it you can do it at any 7Eleven, which are on about every corner. I regressed a bit there, sorry. So I got a card holder for my Octopus. It has 3 characters on it & says Bad Badtz-Maru. The Characters are a penguin with a spiked mohawk, a panda with a red tutu skirt & a white seal type guy.

We ventured on down this other street with lots of fruit, veggie, & meat vendors. The smells are interesting to say the least. A popular vendor was cutting holes in coconuts & putting in straws for a refreshing drink of coconut milk. I'm not a big fan, so we passed. The place was packed & you had to fight your way through. People here don't mind body contact at all, it doesn't phase them in the least to bang into you, never say a word & just keep walking. I think it is the culture of a city & Asia, but it really bothers the Westerners. I'm getting used to it. They are fairly small people, so it doesn't hurt when you get run into. Everyone is in a hurry to get to nowhere. It's just the culture of a large city I think.

I tried another bakery & got some gluey pancake looking things with something inside I thought was going to be blueberry, but it wasn't. It was most likely black sesame seed paste (black sesame seeds are very popular here). It wasn't very good. Also got an egg tart (little custard like tart) which are very popular & that was good.

Ashley & I managed to find some items to buy. I got a purse that has black & white Asian women on it with very colorful fruit & veggie characters over it. It's interesting to say the least. I took a photo of it, so you can see it on the photo site if you're really interested. It is frustrating trying to buy clothes here as everyone is so thin. They don't let you try anything on, so you just have to take your chances. Mostly the stuff is tiny. I did get some copy Croc shoes & are they ever comfortable. Might just spring for a real pair if these give out. Feels like walking on a hard nerfball. We stopped for some food at a noodle restaurant. You take you chances as everything is in Chinese at most of these places. Ashley isn't very adventuresome, so we just got fried rice, which is generally safe & usually very good. It was. We walked several blocks through the market. It is amazing how big it is. Just seems to go on & on with mostly the same stuff on every block. A good mix of tourists & locals.

Pretty tired by the time we got home. John had waded through his emails & was off getting a massage. There are lots of massage places here, it's very popular. So John is trying them out to support the local businesses.

Oct 15 Sunday

The weather wasn't very good Sunday morning, so we just stayed in & did some cleanup. By the afternoon the rain had stopped so we ventured out. Our plan for today was to visit a temple that is near our apartment & then Ashley & I wanted to go to the flower market & bird garden. We were very close yesterday, but didn't realize it. I had heard that are wonderful. John, Ashley & I went to the Man Mo temple which was not too impressive. It was great if you like incense. This was the first temple I've seen that has coiled cone bands of incense hanging from the ceiling. There were hundreds of them. It gave the place the look of a honey comb sort of. I didn't take any photos because there were a lot of people there praying & lighting incense, so I didn't want to be rude. It is interesting about the sticks of incense. You can buy it as you enter & people have huge hands full of them. They must have 30 or 50 sticks that they light & then put a small bunch in each of several alters. I'll have to find out what the significance of this is. Need to learn more about the religion.

We walked along Hollywood Road which is well known for its antique shops. Some interesting items, but we didn't go in. John headed back home at this point because it was so hot & humid out, he looked like he was going to melt. Ashley & I ventured down the escalator & onto the MTR over to Kowloon and the Mong Kok area again. We did pretty well finding our way. I always carry my trusty little map with me & don't mind taking it out. I don't really care if I look like a tourist, at least I don't get lost.

The flower market was just incredible. Words can't really describe it. You need to see the photos. I've never seen so many orchids & cut flowers in my life. It went on for several blocks. I have decided that I'm going to try my hand at growing some orchids. They are very inexpensive, some of the smaller ones are only $1.25US. I figure if I'm not successful I won't have put too much out. There is a good sized ledge outside our windows that I figure I can use for growing them. I'm sure they wouldn't survive in the apartment as we have it too cold.

At the end of the flower market you reach a small park that is called the bird garden. From what I read, this is a place where older men like to go with their caged birds and show them off and talk and hang out. It seemed to be a very social event for them. There were also plenty of birds & bird supplies for sale. Most of the cages are wooden and have wonderful engravings on them. The water & food bowls are tiny little china (of course) bowls. There are precious. Again you need to look at the photos. The birds are of all sizes & colors & shapes. This market is extremely noisy. The birds are chirping & squawking & singing. It is an interesting array of sounds. Some even talk to you. I'm thinking I might have to get a bird also, but we'll see about that. I need to find out how much care they require.

The bird market was closing up around 5 as it was starting to rain a little. Ashley & I decided to go back to the gold fish market so that I could take photos. We were not interested in any more shopping. I got photos of the fish, as you can see on the webshots site. It was very crowded & I didn't see any of the huge gold fish I'd seen the day before, I think they were on the other side of the street.

We headed home & decided we would get some dinner near home at a Cuban restaurant we'd seen earlier. The street before the Cuban place we stopped & both noticed a restaurant called Nepal. Yes, Nepalese food. We both looked at each other & said who would have thought Nepal would have special foods. We decided this sounded more interesting than Cuban, so had a Nepalese dinner. It was delicious. Of course I had to try the native beer, none other than Everest Premium Lager!! It was very good. I had bean soup in a tomato base with many types of beans (very good). Ashley had pumpkin soup (also very good). They served Naan bread which is very thin & cooked on the side of the brick oven. We got a lamb & spinach dish and a chick pea & potato dish. Both were in a spiced tomato sauce with very interesting spices. The dishes were spice hot, but not too spicy. Just enough. We both ordered dessert. I got Nepalese ice cream which was very crystalline & hard - more like very hard sorbet & I"m not sure what flavor it was. Ashley got yogurt that was seasoned with honey & some spices - we think nutmeg & cardamom maybe. It was pretty good. I'd skip the ice cream. All in all we were very excited about our Nepalese meal. Several items passed our table that we thought looked wonderful. So I'm sure we'll be returning there soon.

So that was the weekend. Pretty fun & definitely places I'd go back to. Hope everyone had a good weekend too.

Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden

Kadoorie Farm
Oct. 10, 2006
(took lots of photos, you'll get sick of seeing flowers, but I couldn't get any to post to the blog. Check them out at http://commuity.webshots.com/user/jbhubbell)

Today, in honor of my brother, Geoff/Hubs, I went to an organic farm & gardens. It is called Kadoorie Farms & Botanic Gardens. If you want to check it out they have a web site: www.kfbg.org.hk. I took way too many photos & am in the process of posting them on the webshots site. I still haven’t titled the ones from last week, but you’ll just have to use your imagination.

I didn’t have to go into the office today, so I took advantage of my day off. John is in India, so he couldn’t be here to give me any new projects. I left home about 9am & took the bus to the MTR (subway) station. Go onto the MTR & went one stop to the train station (KCR). Went 8 stops out into the district called the New Territories. There are 4 main districts in Hong Kong (HK Island – where we live, Kowloon – the tip of the peninsula coming off the mainland, Outlaying Islands, and the New Territories – the inner part of the peninsula coming off the mainland). The New Territories is more suburban & rural than the others. I learned today that HK is actually only 20% urban, the rest is farmland, parks & undeveloped land. At the Tai Po Market station I boarded a bus. I was kind of worried that I wouldn’t know where to get off. The web site said “ride the bus for about 20-25 minutes & at the last, extremely steep hill, get off at the Kadoorie Farm stop.” So my concern was how the heck will I know if it is the last hill since I’ve never taken it before? I was relieved to note that there is a digital display at the front of the bus that shows what the next stop is. The reason you need to know the stops, is so you can ring the bell to let the driver know you want to get off. If nobody rings the bell & there is nobody waiting to get picked up the bus doesn’t stop. So you can easily miss you stop if you don’t know where you are stopping ahead of time. I had no trouble & got off at the proper stop. The entire trip took about 1.5 hours & cost less than $3.00US. Transportation is a bargain here.

It cost all of $1.25US ($10HK) to get into the farm. I got a map & a complementary ticket to ride the shuttle bus to the top (I had no idea how valuable that ticket was going to be). I had about 30 minutes to wander before the bus left. This farm is spread out across the side of a huge mountain. It is the tallest mountain in the New Territories. The map shows one spot that we stopped as being 1975ft elevation & this was not the highest point. You can see by the photos that there are mountains all around. At the lower farm there are greenhouses with tropical plants, orchids, and every kind of flower & plant I’d ever seen & more. I took lots of flower photos. There was also lots of vegetable gardening going on. There were people working all over with hand tools. There were stone paths & steps meandering around every part of the gardens. On the way to the bus stop I passed an area where they keep large reptiles (alligators). There were none there today as they have been moved to the wetlands park that just opened, but I guess this area is for rescued animals that need medical attention or that can’t be released into the wild. There is a lot of this at this farm.

I got on the little 19 seater bus & we took off for the top. On the way we made a couple of stops. A gentleman who was there with some friends invited me to join them on the stops as he took his friends around. He is a volunteer at the farm & does tours. This was his day off & he was taking 4 friends around. His English was excellent & he explained a lot about the farm to me. Valuable free bus ticket!!

Our first stop was at the Orchid Haven. The guide explained that there are about 250 varieties of orchids in the world & over 120 of them exist in HK. There are 23 that are endemic to HK. There are 3 types of orchids: ones that live on just air so grow off walls & other trees, ones that live in soil & require sunlight, and ones that live in rotted matter & are smaller & lighter in color because they don’t require photosynthesis (I think that is what he said). Anyway, it was way more then I ever need to know about orchids. There was a beautiful waterfall. The farm is feed solely by natural waters coming out of the mountains, it does not hook up to the HK reservoir system at all.

The next stop was near the top at a memorial pagoda built for the 2 British brothers who founded the farm back in the early 1950’s (Lord Leonard & Sir Harold Kadoorie). This was a very peaceful & lovely spot with a hobbit-like entrance. The view was incredible. It was a hazy day, so the photos of the surrounding landscape doesn’t do it justice. The ride was a bit hairy as the road up just twisted & turned & was rather narrow. We met a cement mixer (of all things) coming the other way & it was a tight squeeze. They are doing some construction so the 3rd stop had to be cancelled. We could see where it was from the 2nd stop & I think I’m just as glad we didn’t go. I’m pretty unflappable, but this ride made me a tad nervous. We passes loads of signs for gardens & pagodas on the way up, so I knew I’d have to do some wandering when the bus ride was over.

I got a sandwich & some organic snacks to try – they were pretty good. My favorite was the brown rice wafer. I got some roasted chestnut kernels (OK), oat wheat crackers (OK) and organic yoghurt fruit snacks (a bit too sweet). There were eggs & veggies to buy, but I didn’t dare get any as I’m sure they would have made a mess getting home. I ate my lunch next to the pig sty (made me feel great about myself). Used the toilet, check out the photo. How environmentally cool is that? Sink right on top of the toilet tank! Their were hole toilets also, but they didn't have sinks. Then it was time to explore. I took out my map & realized just how huge this place is. I thought I might be able to make it back up to the butterfly garden & this would allow me to see several other things along the way up. I’m just going to list off the map what there is here: eco-garden, greenhouses, wild boars, Kwun Yum garden (I didn’t get to this), raptor flight aviary, native mammal display, amphibian & reptile house (this was closed for renovation), streamlife display, Walter Kerr memorial garden, insect house, parrot sanctuary, peafowl sanctuary, waterfowl walkthrough, wildlife pond, deer haven (barking HK deer – I got up close & personal with this guy – he seemed very nice, but then there was a cage between us), organic vegetable terraces, chicken display (closed to public related to avian flu dangers to the birds), another raptor sanctuary, orchards, helicopter pad, great falls & rainbow pavilion, apiary (also closed), convent gardens, fern walk, butterfly garden, owl sanctuary. OK this was just on the lower & middle farm. On the top farm which I didn’t get to except for where the bus stopped wasa: post office pillars (I think some natural rock formation), medicinal herb garden & tea garden, golden pavilion, signpost corner (we passed this & they have distance to all the major cities in the world), orchid haven, orchid greenhouses, agroforestry test site, Kerr’s Bridge, dragon pavilion, little falls, Kadoorie Bro.s memorial pavilion, TS Woo memorial pavilion, enkianthus walk (I have no idea what that is), ancient alters & hot pots, Kwun Yum Shan Summit (I think the top of the mountain).

So after completing lunch, I started to wander. I visited most of the places in the lower farm (birds, raptors, ponds, barking deer). I came upon a sign that said Nature Walk, so decided to follow it. I was going up hill (ouch). So this nature walk as a stone path with lots & lots & lots of stone steps. I can’t even imagine how many miles of trails & steps there are in this place. Every where you look there is a little path wandering off into the woods. I took a few & one ended up at a water fall & a lovely pavilion. Every inch of the mountain side is planted with something. It looks very natural, but there are people working all over planting & tending to nature. I felt like I was in a fairyland or Disney movie & some dwarfs were going to come singing out of the forest. It was actually very spiritual for me to be so surrounded by nature & the manmade walkways & steps blended so well with the natural beauty. I think living in the concrete city has made me more appreciative of nature. So up I climbed & was totally soaked in sweat, but it felt good. Those of you complaining about the cool autumn weather should think twice about it, I’d like some cooler weather!! So I made it to the butterfly garden & then started down (oh my poor knees). I saw more butterflies in other places & hardly any in the butterfly garden, but I did see a humming bird there. The butterflies were most impressive – many I’d never seen before. Many that were mainly black, with royal glowing blue stripes on their wings. I tried to get photos, but they wouldn’t cooperate. I have to go back with the better camera! I saw dragon flies that were bright orange & red. There were also many wild birds & as long as you weren’t near the chicken coop with the roosters crowing constantly, the only sound was the water flowing down the mountain & the birds.

I left the farm around 3:30pm & was home by 5:30. Stopped at the Great grocery store & got some sushi for dinner. I knew once I got home my legs were going to refuse to go anywhere else. I was going to head to the gym, but I think I’ve had my workout for the day.

I found this on the Kadoorie Farm web site & I thought it was worth sharing. Some will appreciate it & others may not. Kind of my beliefs also.
The name of the mountain that the farm is on is Kwun Yum.

The Earth, like any other body, has a lifespan. Kwun Yum, however, stands for something which is eternal. From a spiritual point of view, the purpose of conservation work is not so much to save the planet as to bring us back into balance with nature, in order to reveal what is eternal. This is the pure awareness that permeates and contains the entire Universe. It is none other than one’s very own self when free from all identification. To experience this is the ultimate goal of all spiritual paths and traditions, but it cannot be put into words; words may point you in the right direction but it is in the silence of the Heart that every human being intuitively and intimately know Kwun Yum.
The mission statement of the farm: “to increase the awareness of our relationship with the environment”. Contemplation which leads to inner contentment and an ever deepening perspective on life.

Kwun Yum

Take a look around
What do you see?
Everything changes
But what remains the same
From one moment to the next?
Awareness itself,
A constant presence,
Indescribable yet real
And full of joy.

Who is hiding
In the forms of this world,
Behind your thoughts,
In the silence of the heart?
Will you explore the mystery,
The love and compassion
Of Kwun Yum, your own Self
That is a mirror
For the entire Universe?

Well, there is some food for thought………

So, Thursday is my sister’s birthday & she being a massage therapist, I thought I should honor her by getting a nice long massage!!!!

Happy Birthday Hubs & Pat & Kathleen & Chip & Eddie & Elise & Caroline (hope I didn’t forget anyone)…………. Love you all!!!!

Ramblings from Oct. 1 through Oct 8, 2006

See all photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/jbhubbell

Oct. 8 Sunday
We really didn't go into work!! We went to pick up the dry cleaning, but the store wasn't open yet, so we went to Starbucks & had a coffee & read the paper. It was a very Sunday morning thing to do & felt like we were home in Davidson at our favorite coffee place, Summit (but no familiar faces). Then we went to the escalator & found a restaurant serving breakfast. I had riccotta pancakes with bananas & some special butter. John had eggs benidict (he said they weren't as good as mine - how sweet. Very tasty breakfast. Picked up our dry cleaning & by the time we came back up the hill to home we were drenched with sweat. It's still in the upper 80's here, so feel like summer. We were going to try another hike today, but Kristin & Steve are returning to the states next weekend for a vacation & they had some shopping to do before leaving Saturday morning. I've had enough shopping for a while, so I bowed out. John found another massage place he wanted to try & I've been having some trouble with my ears. So I went to the place John tired last week for massage & had my ears candled. It was wonderful. While the candle (it is a hollow wax cylinder that is lit at the top & it creates a vacum to suck stuff out of your ear & just feels good) is in your ear the man massaged my neck & area around my ear. As he finished each ear he would massage the ear itself. When both ears were done he had me get onto my back & he massaged my head, neck & upper back. Took about 30 minutes & cost only $15. It was heavenly. I'll be going back to that place. Might have to try the foot massage next time!! John said his massage ended up being 90 minutes & was very good also. Massage & reflexology (foot massage) are very popular here. There seems to be a store on every corner. I guess these people work so hard, they need to do something to relax. I can get used to that!

Tonight John is out for dinner for business & I have finally taken time to update my photos & blog. Hopefully it won't be so long between entries in the future. By the time I get home from work I'm usually too tired to make any sense of what I'm thinking. John heads out for India tomorrow & Thailand at the end of the week. I should have time to do some more blogging. I have taken some photos of the walled trees & need to tell you all more details about the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is so interesting learning about the different customs & holidays & stories. It is fastinating how we can look at the same thing & have such different stories associated with it. I'm talking about the moon. I'll fill you in on this later in the week after I've learned the whole story. Our new employees, Sophia & Ruby, are really great & fun & entertaining. They both used to work for the main printer that we use here, so they are good friends. Their English is excellent & they both lived in the US. I think they are going to be good friends. I also think they are going to be a HUGE help in the office & make John's job easier. Already they have proven valuable in getting things done & solving some major problems. It helps to know who to go to when you need something done & they have the connections & know the system.

Oct. 7 Saturday
We had planed NOT to go into work today, but of course there was a crisis, so we all ended up going in & staying until 5. John almost hopped a plan for Pakistan to deliver a shipment that the printer didn't get off in time. Fortunately Ruby, who used to work for the printer, went there & got the shipment & delivered it to the airport after doing some calling to find out when a plan was leaving for Pakistan. It was very touch & go, but I think Ruby has been a great addition. She knows how to get things done & who to talk to. Helps to have some locals on your side!!
On the way home from work Kristin, Steve & I decided to check out a new grocery store we were told about. It is in the basement of the mall that I got lost in after the dinner a few weeks ago - when I couldn't find the exit!! It turns out this mall is several buildings & the grocery store, called GREAT, is in a different building than the one I couldn't escape from.
So I've been on a search for hummus lately & I was not disappointed. They had several varieties. Great is definitely GREAT! This looks at least as big as CitySuper, although it doesn't have the stationary & stuff like the big CitySuper (which is more like a Super Taget without clothes). Great has a gelato (Italian icecream) booth, along with a tea booth, meats, pastries, and all of the other usual stuff. I don't know if it was because it was a Saturday, but they had tons of samples they were giving out. I really enjoyed getting to taste all of the items. It just so happens that Great is closer to our house then the others AND is on the bus route home. I think it will become a frequent stop!

Saturday night we all decided we needed a reward for working so hard all week, so we went to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Osaka (the one John & I discovered when we were here in April). I think I described it before because we went the first week I was here. They do the giant prawns on the hibatch grill & you eat the heads, brains & body. The head is very dramatic because some of the legs are still attached. They cook it a long time & put lots of butter & garlic on it, so it is like crunchy garlic better chips. They have excellent sushi & we had some beef dishes that were delicious.

One reason John likes to take people to Osaka is because early on he discovered a watch & purse salesman down one of the alleys. So John keeps bringing people back. I'm not sure he gets any better deals, but they've developed a relationship & it is a fun experience. You go down this alleyway, past some souvenier shops & a strip joint & a luggage vendor, into a little room with a card table & a bunch of stools. It is very movie-like & clandestine. You look through a catolog of watches & tell him what you want. He goes out & tells someone else & they go get watches from somewhere. You look them over & haggle & haggle about price. John is pretty good at that. It helps to go with someone who's been before so you know what to expect to pay. Eventually nobody leaves empty handed because as long as the price isn't ridiculously low, he'll go for it, especially if you buy more than one. Then there is another room with bags of all kinds. I'm not much on name brand stuff, but there was coach, gucci, Lois Viton, Channell, & I'm sure a bunch of others. Some of the women got purses too. I guess they are good deals. I wouldn't really know. I think they got them for around $30 or $40. I know I went into a Coach store last summer & a little change purse was around $80, so I guess $30 for a purse is a good deal.

Then we walked up Nathan Street which is just filled with shops of all kinds. We passed a jewelry store & there was a woman's Rolex watch in the widow that we figured cost $58,000 US. It had diamonds all over it. It is funny you have a guy selling Rolex watches for $20 & 2 blocks away they are $58,000. Strange place!! In front of one of the shopping plazas there were big lanterns celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival. Each one had a HK landmark on top of it. There were really pretty. Obviously they were something special to the local people as many were having their pictures taken in front of them.



Oct. 5 Thursday
One of the American's, Elizabeth, leaves tomorrow (Friday), so there is a tradition that the person leaving gets to pick a restaurant to go to for their last dinner in HK. Elizabeth wanted to try Vietnamese food as she hadn't had that yet. She's been here since about August 27. We let Sophia (she's new & from HK) pick out the restaurant. We went to a very nice place on the 11th floor of Time Square (this is a multi floored shopping mall in Causeway Bay, an area on HK Island). We let the HK natives do the ordering. The tradition at most restaurants here is to order several dishes & then share them all. I personally like that as it allows you to try lots of different dishes. There was nothing that really WOWed us at this meal. They did serve giant prawns (shrimp) that were split & then broiled with garlic & butter. This was delicious. Sophia & Ruby (another native we've just hired to be office manager) shared a prawn and were argueing a little over who would get a certain part. I asked what they were fighting about & they said the brain, it's the best part of the prawn. I was going to leave that part, but decided I'd better give it a try. It had a very different flavor & texture from the body of the prawn, but I can't say I'd fight over it. I actually offered mine to Sophia & Ruby after having my taste. I guess it is all in what you are used to. (photo: Sophia on left, Ruby on right)

Oct. 2 Monday
Another day off - YIPEE!! Steve has been talking about going to Monkey Mt. since I got here. One of the Chinese women at work told him about it. I guess he really likes monkeys. So I found it on a web site & researched how to get there, so Monday we did an excursion to Monkey Hill (that is what the locals call it, it isn't a mountain). We walked down the escalator & got the subway to Kowloon (that is the peninsula across the harbor from HK Island where we live). We got a taxi to take us to the entrance to the park. The first thing we saw was a man with blood all over him, a cut on his head. While we were walking by a motorcycle ambulance showed up. I got a picture. We were a little worried that maybe these monkeys were not so friendly.

Within a few minutes we saw several monkey that were hanging out at the entrance to the park. We ventured out on a park road that went around the 3 Kowloon reservoirs. As soon as we got away from the populated entrance area (where there are lots of garbage cans) we didn't see any more monkeys. The scenery was nice, but it was very very hot. At one point we came upon a picnic area where people were grilling all sorts of things. I guess that is what people like to do on holidays here, they get out of the house & go to a park & BBQ. Doesn't sound too unfamiliar. The food smelled good, but there weren't any hamburgers or hotdogs. We weren't really sure what they were grilling.

As we approached the other entrance to the park we started seeing lots & lots of monkeys. I have already posted those photos & I know many of you have seen them. There were monkeys of all shapes & sizes. The most fun ones to watch were the babies. They were very uncoordinated & kept falling of the branches in the trees. One time this one was pretty high up & he fell & just in the nick of time his Mom caught him by the foot as he was on his way down. She let him dangle there for a moment before pulling him up & giving him a hug. It was so cute. Of course he went right ahead & fell again. They seem to have so much personality. Some were very freindly, although they didn't touch you and some were downright nasty. For some reason they didn't like Steve & one bared her teeth and hissed at him. It was a little frightening. One just looked pissed off at the world. Most just ignored all of the attention. It was interesting that frequently as soon as you went to take their picture they would turn away, like they knew exactly what you were doing & they were sick of having their photos taken. I want to go back with John's telephoto lens & get some good closeups.

We caught a bus back to the subway. Went through a town that was obviously old & much of it looked deserted & falling apart. A stark contrast to where we live & work that is so clean & modern. I guess they've been selective about where the money goes. We were very hot & sweaty & wanted to do something inside. We were going to see a movie, but there wasn't anything playing that we were interested in. We decided to come back to our place & go bowling. Yes our apartment building has a 2 lane bowling alley. It's pretty fun. Then we ordered pizza & watched a movie on HBO. It was another good day in HK.


Oct. 1 Sunday:
October 1 is National Day in China. It was explained to me as being like our July 4th. On mainland China the workers get the entire week off so that they can go home to see family. The mainland workers usually get a week off now & another one in the spring for the Chinese New Year. It is such a large country that most people need a week to travel home. In Hong Kong we only got Monday off, which was nice, we actually got 2 full days off in a row. To celebrate we invited the American Cadmus employees over for brunch. John & I made omlettes. It was fun to entertain.

On Sunday Kristin, Steve, Ashley & I took a bus to the Peak Tram. It was packed, but we decided to wait & the line moved quickly. This is a funicular that goes straight up to Victoria Peak (The Peak). The view is spectacular. I'm sure on a clear day it is even better. It's much cooler up on the Peak compared to where we live. There is a strange looking half circle building where the tram ends & you can walk up several floors, actually take about 10 escalators (they love escalators here) to the top which is open for a panoramic view of Hong Kong.

As official Cadmus HK ED (entertainment director) I am given the job of finding our way around. Again I had a very difficult time locating the exit to the tram building. It is about 6 floors of stores & they make it very hard to get out. They want you to shop shop shop! We located the exit after asking 3 different people. We found the trail I'd found for us to hike down. It is a road that is limited to park vehicles only. Traveling was good, but very steep downhill which was tough on the knees. The scenery was a refreshing change from the city & hard to believe we were so close.
The trail ended by going around this reservoir. We discovered a stream that fed into the reservoir which we walked up. There was a nice little waterfall we came to. It was most unexpected to find and I think it was just what we all needed to relieve the stress of a busy work week. There was a public bathroom at the bottom & I took a photo so you can see what the hole in the ground toilets look like.

We caught a bus out to Stanley. This is on the other side of Hong Kong Island. Stanley is on the water and is known for it's market (like so many other places in HK). There are lots of restaurants along the waterfront. The street market has most anything you could want. I actually found some pants that fit me. Very exciting in a place where the average person is probably a size 4! There was a clothes shop that was almost 1/4 full of ski jackets & warmup suits, which I thought was very strange considering it was almost 90degrees. I guess someone must buy it.

We got a taxi home (expensive ride, but there were 4 of us & we were exhausted so it was worth it. Ashley & I regrouped, got up with John & headed to the waterfront in downtown (near our office) to watch the fireworks. I guess for National Day mostly people just relaxe & rest all day, no big family picnics or anything, but they love their fireworks. The place was packed. We got there about an hour early & everyone was jockying for position. This little old lady kept trying to get infront of me. She was really subtle about it, but determined. I was equally determined not to let her in. I'm not being mean, this is a game here, it happens everywhere. People are alway trying to push ahead. We decided that they have a closer personal space zone, so they don't mind getting right up in your face & they respect you if you get back in their face. If you don't you will get walked all over. They aren't very big, so this is not as difficult for me as it would be in other places. Most westerners complain about the personal space thing & the shoving. I think it is also just city life. People are not outwardly rude, just pushy.

It was amusing because with all the jockying going on to be right up front, when the fireworks started it turned out there was a roof for a walkway that blocked the fireworks if you were in front, so everyone quickly moved back in order to see. There were 5 boats in the harbor that were setting off the fireworks. It was very impressive. I think what struck us the most was the noise of the crowd. When the first one went off the crowd just gasped and cheered. They were very vocal throughout the entire 30 minute show. Oohing & ahing and cheering, it was delightful. Their were some unusual fireworks as well. One that looked & sounded just like a waterfall - it was beautiful. The sounds of the fireworks were much more varied than I've seen before. There was one that sounded like bubble wrap being popped. Of course there were lots that just boombed. The grand finale was spectacular, the sky was literally lit up with colors and sounds and the crowd responded accordingly. When it was over the crowd was very orderly & the streets were closed off for about 4 blocks right up to the subway station. A father & son (about 6 years old) spoke with us & asked where we were from and how we liked the fireworks. The boy spoke English very well, it was impressive. If you make the slightest effort to speak the language or show an interest in the culture the people are very very nice. They are a proud people and with good reason.

John had left during the show to find a better vantage point to photograph the fireworks, so we didn't go back with him. Ashley & I decided to take the bus home, but the lines were really long, so having not eaten since brunch, we stopped at a McDonalds. It was packed. I had yogurt with fruit (blueberries & peaches) & it was very good. We got home around 11:30pm. Another great day in HK!!!


Kripsy Kreme:
Just so we wouldn't feel too homesick a Kripy Kreme opened up along the escalator. A prime location. It was funny, about a week before it opened people were handing out 1/2 dozen boxes of free donuts. They also had people dressed up like donuts handing out coupons. It opened up about 2 weeks ago & every day I see so many people walking home with boxes of donuts. It is packed every time we pass. We have not succummed to the HOT NOW blinking beacon, but I'm sure one day soon we will.