Feb 19 & 20 - Fireworks & New Years Performances

Feb. 19 – Fireworks

This little girl was waiting at the bus stop with me after the fireworks. She was just too cute not to photograph. Chinese childern dress in traditional Chinese outfits for the New Year celebrations. Her little brother was also dressed up, but he was not nearly so cooperative.

I spoke to Sarah today. She & Clay also ventured over to see the parade. They got there way earlier than we did & got a spot near the clock tower where the parade started. She said the crowds were ridiculous & Clay got impatient because the parade didn’t start on time so they saw like 2 floats & he wanted to leave. They fought the crowds to get to the MTR station & were both very mad at each other. I told her that John & just split up & he went home & text messaged me. She laughed really hard at that & said it sounded like a much more equitable way to handle it. She told Clay that is what he needs to do next time. We laughed about how much alike our husbands are.

For the fireworks, Sarah was very apologetic because without her knowing it, Clay had invited several people from work over to watch from their apartment. They have a perfect view. I told her I didn’t mind, as I like being with the crowd & hearing their reaction.

John let me know early in the day that he didn’t really feel like fighting the crowds for the fireworks, which I appreciated so I could plan accordingly. He went to the ones in the fall & felt like he’d rather not go again. It was raining lightly out so I didn’t really blame him. The cloud cover was very low, so I wondered how well we’d be able to see them anyway. I of course had to venture out. I love fireworks & just didn’t want to miss them. I left early (2 hours) in hopes of getting a good spot. I again went across to Kowloon, as I thought I might get a be better view from that side of the harbor. I found a spot about 20 people back from the front, but since this was in the sky it didn’t really matter. I met a nice couple visiting from Scotland for 2 days, on their way to Australia for a month vacation. They were in their late 20’s & so enthusiastic. They had a very full 2 days (they were leaving the next morning) & absolutely loved HK. They were talking about moving & finding jobs here. I guess the big city lights & crowds are exciting for folks from rural Scotland. We didn’t really feel the rain, but when you looked up into the lights you could see it blowing past, very misty kind of rain. The cloud cover was so low that you could only see about halfway up the buildings across the harbor. Sarah told me later that the clouds were so low that they only saw the first few explosions, then the smoke from those blocked the rest of the show. Glad I was were I was.

Turns out I had a good spot & could see very well. I could have done without the loudspeaker right next to me blaring the music, but I tolerated it. I was not disappointed by the fireworks or the crowd’s reaction. This was a much better location than last time, because I could see the fireworks from all 4 boats, it was a more expansive view. The trip home was a lot more difficult, though. I heard later that they estimated the crowd to be over half a million. I managed to find the ferry dock, after wandering around for 30 minutes and fighting massive crowds of people going the other way. It was like swimming upstream against a really strong current. I got dizzy watching the people come at me like a wave, it was strange. When I finally go to the ferry pier, it was closed. I guess since they set the fireworks off from boats in the harbor ferry service is temporarily suspended. People were waiting & after about 30 minutes they opened it up. I didn’t want to fight the crowds to get to the MTR station & be underground with all those people. Took the same mini bus home. It was actually the same driver & he laughed & welcomed me as I got on this time. The bus drivers are so nice. It was a late night, but I’m glad I went. John had an enjoyable evening watching a good movie & not fighting any crowds. We were both happy.

If my writing isn’t too good here I apologize. I wrote this very late at night & I guess I was more tired than I thought. I read through it once & made lots of corrections, but I don’t have the energy to do it again. Thanks for understanding.

Feb. 20 – New Year’s Performances

Yesterday & today the groups who participated in the parade were scheduled to do performances at a few venues over in Kowloon. Since I missed so much of the parade, I decided that I’d like to see some of the groups up close. The performances were from 2pm to 9pm. There were two main venues that were both in a mall area. One was inside the mall down about 5 floors, so you could view from many balconies overlooking the atrium. The other was outside in a large covered courtyard on a raised stage. It was about a 5 minute walk through the mall from one to the other.
I arrived a little after 2pm & could hear music booming from the mall. I found a spot on the performance level a few people back, so I had a decent view. There was a man behind me who had a huge camera with a huge lens. He looked nice & was reaching over my shoulder to get a shot, so I very politely let him get in front, for what I thought would be one shot & then he’d move back. I learned that lesson quickly. He just kept shooting & shooting. The etiquette of polite crowd behavior is a little different then I’m accustomed to, it is each man for himself. When the guy finally did move out, another man (he looked Indian), pushed into his spot so quickly that I didn’t have time to react. I took note of this.

The performance was a group from South Africa doing traditional drumming & dancing. It was spectacular. Lots of noise & energy. The cameras were out in force, with some huge lenses and tripods – the works. There were more stepladders than I saw at the parade. These people are serious about their photography. The flashes were constant during the entire performance. I wondered what these people will do with 500 photos of African dancers & drummers. Since this went on all day with every performance I realized how digital photography has probably changed how people view photo taking. I’m guessing if the had to pay to develop each photo, the enthusiasm would have been somewhat diminished.

The performances were every half hour & alternated between the 2 venues, so you had to rush to the next one if you wanted to see anything. The next performance was a group of dancers from Spain in Caribbean dress. I didn’t have a very good view & they basically had these huge feathered hoops circling way above their heads & were just strutting around & shaking. I was not inspired, so I moved on to the next location to try to get a good spot. I was starting to understand how this all works. You stake out your spot & fight to keep it no matter what. Nobody says anything, they just push & jockey for position. I can fight that battle as well as the rest of them.

I got to the next venue early & got a spot just one person back, unfortunately the couple in front of me were both tall (figures I would find tall Chinese people to stand behind). I would have asked if I could get in front of them, but they had a child & it didn’t seem like that sort of this was done. Wouldn’t you know it, the Indian guy ended up right next to me, he was as short as me so I knew if push came to shove, I could take him. This group was New Zealand stiltdancers. The costumes were colorful and dramatic. Lots of flowing wings and colorful makeup. Near the beginning of the performance a man came in with a little girl & he his wife was at the front row, in front of the Indian man. He let the man & child in & then complained that now he couldn’t see very well & one of them needed to move. The woman moved back next to me. I made a point of saying to her that she was very nice to do that because this man had pushed in front of me at the earlier performance. I said it loud enough so the man would be sure to hear it. He gave me a glare & I said “Yes, you did the very same thing to me at the last performance, so you really have no right to complain.” He just turned away & ignored me. I didn’t care, it made me feel better & I had won a friend in the woman. I’m learning fast.

Next up Flamingo Dancers from, where else, Spain. This one I watched from 2 balconies up because there was a spot in the front & I noted all the good spots on the main level were already occupied. This was another colorful and energetic performance. They had their own band accompanying the dancers, very enjoyable. I think I got some good photos of the women spinning around in a blur from above. My creative photography coming out.

Yes, I am happy to report that the USA was well represented at this event. The next group – The Arizona Cardinal Cheerleaders and Mascot. I was SO VERY PROUD of my country for sending such an authentic representation of our wonderful culture. Women half naked shaking & grinding to pounding music. Somehow the South Africans did a much better job at this. I couldn’t even get close to this performance, the men were jammed in like sardines with cameras flashing away like crazy. The stepladders were out in force, it was actually pretty comical. My lack of interest in this allowed me to get to the next venue early & stake out a good spot, because this was one I was particularly interested in – Chinese cultural dance & song.

I was near the middle in the very front (yeah, I graduated to the front row after just 5 performances, I am a quick study). I had to sit for an hour (longer break between the events this time), but it was well worth it. This group was from Hainan Province, which is an island province south of Hong Kong. The women were draped in flower and the costumes were extremely colorful. They danced & sang what one would think of as Chinese style with energy. One young man demonstrated some native instruments one of which was a bamboo flute type of instrument that he played by blowing with his nose.

I rushed from this location to the other one & ended up getting a moderately good spot. This was the Switzerland Comic Band. The only way I can describe their outfits is they looked like the guards at the castle of the Wicked Which of the West from the Wizard of OZ. They were bright blues & quilted material with geometric designs on them. They each had a different & very comical hat on. They looked like they were having a blast, very silly on stage with lots of faces & antics, but when they played, they were nothing but professional. They belted out some great tunes & were a pleasure to listen to.

Back to the other venue, but had an extra half hour so I got there early & got a good spot. I think I’m starting to get the hang of this. This group was from Korea & they were extremely good. They did farmer dances, drum dances, and Pan-Gut, which combines music dance & games (that is the description from the brochure). Their costumes were also colorful & fun. Some had hats with huge pom-poms on them with the colors of the Korean flag. There were 4 men who had long ribbons on the top of their hats (10 foot long ribbons) which were attached in such a way that when they made the slightest movement of their heads the ribbons twirled around them like the gymnastic ribbon event at the Olympics. One of them did a solo with an even longer ribbon & he could really work it, it was fascinating. The drumming was excellent also. This one was really fun to watch.

Next up, Thailand. I didn’t get a very good spot, but close enough to get some decent photos. This performance & costuming was what I would expect from Thailand. Very elaborate costumes with lots of gold & red. Some had the traditional Thai headdresses that look like temple roofs. Their movements were stylized, with lots of attention to finger positioning & angling. One group of women had long attachments to the end of their fingers with red pom-poms on the ends. This was another good performance, but I have to admit that the Thai music is very high pitched & it kind of got to me after a while. Fortunately the next performance was at the same venue, so when the Thai group was done & the people cleared out, I moved in for a front row spot.

The last group was from Yunnan Province. If you are familiar with the book called The Last Horizon which talks about a place called, Shangri La, Yunnan Province is the place the author is talking about. I’ve heard from locals here that it is a wonderful place to visit & has some dramatic scenery. Again, the costumes were wonderful, lots of color & tassels & embroidery. The women had very unusual hats. I loved the colorful sandals the men wore. The music was upbeat & fun as where the dances. They did an all female dragon dance which must be unusual, because they made a big deal about it. The Chinese love the dragon dances & the women did a great job twisting the dragon around the stage. There must have been about 30 women making up the dragon & they had to curve around & twist through the row. It required very accurate timing & precision so as not to get tangled up & crash into each other. It was a wonderful culmination to a day of culture, theater, music & fun. I was thoroughly exhausted, but so glad that I went. I took plenty of photos & even some video. I only missed 2 performances, one being the New Zealand Air Force Marching Band (I’d seen them in the parade & wasn’t too impressed) and the Fralinger String Band from Philadelphia. I hated missing a home town group, but it was them or Thailand and I opted for Thailand. So I think I did pretty well getting in as much as possible.

It ended at 9pm and I found my way to the MTR this time & took the bus home. It was a good day. I think I got some good photos, so take a look at my photo site if you are interested.

Feb 21 – Cleaning the corporate apartment

This day was not so much interesting as it was comical. There is a guy coming in from the US Cadmus office tomorrow, and it being New Years, we could not get anyone to come clean the corporate apartment. For New Year’s it is important to have your home cleaned (or clean it yourself which most people don’t like to do) to get rid of the bad luck from the old year and allow the good luck to come it & have a clean place. It had been cleaned a few weeks earlier & a guy from the office in Thailand was there for a week since then, so I figured it couldn’t be too bad, so volunteers to make the beds & be sure it was presentable. I brought some supplies with me & walked over there. My first surprise was the freezer was thickly caked with ice so that none of the drawers would open, so it was going to need defrosting. I got that task started & then went to check the rest of the place. The rugs in the bathroom & kitchen were pretty dirty, so I figured since I’d be there for a while defrosting the freezer, so I might was well throw them into the washer. I did this, then went to make the beds. After a few minutes I heard what sounded like water & thought it was strange that the freezer would defrost that fast that water would pour out. I rushed back into the kitchen to find about a half inch of water all over the kitchen floor. It was not the freezer, but the washer was gushing water out of the bottom. I realized that there was a drain hole down there & the plug had come out. I replaced the plug & got the extra towel & began mopping up. I had it all cleaned up & was about to go back to the beds when the washer went to the next wash cycle & the plug popped out again. Fortunately I was there to get it back in quickly & gave it a turn to tighten it up. I decided that I’d better just sit there in the kitchen and baby sit the washer just to make sure there were no more floods. After mopping up that mess, I turned my attention to the freezer & got that all cleaned up. I’m glad to say the plug remained in & I didn’t have to do any more mopping. This is the same type of washer as we have in our apartment that takes 2 hours to wash & another 2 hours to dry. So I had plenty of time to get all the cleaning done & beds made & make the place look nice. Lesson learned, washers have plugs, make sure they are IN before you start it up.

Feb.22 – nothing much

I put up some groceries in the apartment. Met John & Keith (the visitor from the US) at the Airport Express station & brought Keith’s luggage up to the apartment for him so that he could head out to the new office. Keith is an IT guy who is here to get the new office computers & phones all working the way they should. Poor guy !! Spent the rest of the day getting things done around here.

Feb 17 & 18 - New Year's Eve & Day

Feb. 17 – New Year’s Eve

HAPPY YEAR OF THE PIG !!!

Today was a very busy day on the streets of Hong Kong. Everyone was bustling around getting last minute things for New Year’s. This is the day most families travel & get together for a big family dinner. It seemed like Christmas Eve, only busier if that is possible. I asked a few people their opinion & we decided that New Year’s here is like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter & solar New Year all wrapped into one holiday. It is really huge. Most everything will close up early today & be closed for the next 3 or 4 days. The factories in Mainland China are closed for the next 2 weeks so that people can travel home to be with family. We picked up a few last minute things so we’d be prepared just in case everything is closed for the next 4 days.

We met up with Sarah & Clay for dinner at the IFC Mall. We went to the Union Bar & Grill (one of the few places open on New Year’s Eve). We met at their apartment which is right next to the mall & right on the harbor. The view from their apartment is dramatic as they look right down on the harbor with no other buildings to obstruct the view. They are on the 43rd floor. They took us up to the 59th floor where the pool & health club are. Very nice!! The restaurant was very empty, which is strange for a Saturday night. Usually you can’t get a table if you don’t have a reservation. Most of the people there were Westerners. We had a nice dinner & the guys seemed to get along just fine. We wandered around the mall a little after dinner & then John & I walked home. It was a nice cool evening & we went up the escalator. John agreed that Sarah & I are very much alike & sees why we get along so well.

Feb. 18 – New Year’s Day – Kung Hei Fat Choi !!

We were very lazy today & just hung out at the apartment. It has been pretty warm & humid outside. It has also been very overcast. I was hoping the winter would be clearer & cooler. We spent the afternoon at the annual New Years Football (soccer) tournament. The teams were a Hong Kong select league team against the Jamacian Olympic team. The second game was the Chinese Olympic team against the Australian Olympic team. It was pretty fun to hear the crowd. They would roar over the slightest thing that the HK team did well. They had those inflatable sticks that you bang together & were using them well. It was more fun watching the crowd than the game. It turned out to be a decent game & ended in a shootout with Jamacia winning much to everyone's disappointment. We didn't stay for the end of the second game.

Next we went over to Kowloon for the New Year’s Day parade. I had read that it was supposed to be one of the most spectacular parades in the world, so I didn’t want to miss it. The parade was at 8pm & due to a misunderstanding we didn’t leave until after 7pm. By the time we got to the parade site, we couldn’t even get to the streets where the parade was supposed to go, they were all closed off because they were already filled with people. They had been closed off for 2 hours according to the police. You have to get there early I guess if you want to get a good spot. I’m learning that about things in HK.

We found a spot & had no idea if we would see anything or not. It turns out we were at the start of the parade. We could only see the tops of heads & the floats that turned out to be lit up advertisements for things in HK. John wanted to get some better photos so he tried going to a different location. I stayed where I was. About half way through the parade I got a text message from John saying he was home because he couldn’t find a better spot & his toes got tired from standing on them. I had moved & found a much better stop where I could actually see the people going by. All in all the parade was pretty disappointing. If you’ve been to the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade & The Rose Bowl parade, well this doesn’t hold a candle next to those. I’m glad I experienced it though. The dragon dancers were fun to see. And as always the crowd reaction is priceless. I found out that the Chinese take their photographing very seriously. Most people had big fancy cameras & they didn’t mind crawling up your back to get a photo. This situation really made the difference in personal space evident. The Chinese are WAY more comfortable on top of each other than we are. Many of the people with cameras brought stepladders that they stood on to get their photos.

As soon as the parade was over, I hopped onto the ferry & was to HK pretty quickly. I was waiting for the regular bus when I notice one of the mini bus numbers nearby that I’ve seen go by our apartment. I walked down to it & the driver asked me where I was going. I told him & he said to get in. I sat right behind him so that I could tell him when I wanted to get off. These buses will stop anywhere, they do not have designated stops, so you have to shout out when you want them to stop. Most of the drivers do not speak English so they can be a challenge for Westerners to ride. They are certainly faster than the big city buses. I managed it just fine & let him know where I needed to get off. So I’m no longer a mini-bus virgin!!
I heard the next day on the news that there were over half a million people attending the parade. I guess that is why I was having trouble seeing!!

Feb 15 & 16 - Soho, Heifer & New Year's market

Feb 15 – Wandering Soho

Today Sarah & I were going to go to Victoria Park to experience the big New Year’s market, but it was raining, so we decided to just do lunch nearby. We met along the escalator, down lower than I usually venture, but closer to where she lives. We wandered the narrow streets & looked in the many shops selling New Years stuff. We ended up at a little Chinese noodle shop that was more upscale than where I ate on Saturday. We each had some won ton soup, pretty good. After eating we wandered the streets. I remembered a place that Sophia had told me is supposed to have the best egg tarts in town. These are served warm & are like small custard tarts. They are very popular for teatime treats & these were delicious.

We parted ways & I headed to the grocery store in search of minced clams. It is really strange how grocery stores that are in the same chain will have completely different items. Like the Wellcome store on Caine Road doesn’t have minced clams, but the one just a few blocks away on Robinson Road has Snow’s minced & chopped clams & plenty of them. I’ve found this to be true with several items. So I found the clams so we could have clam dip for Friday night treat.

Feb 16 – Heifer presentation, Victoria Park New Year’s market

Today I met Jeanie to do the Heifer International presentation. We met at the bus station in Central, the bottom of the hill. I left early & walked down & was there a good 30 minutes before the appointed time. It was fun to watch the people catching their buses to work. Jeanie arrived & we hopped the bus. We had a good talk, getting to know each other. She’s native HK, but spent 6 months in Australia which is where she learned to speak English so well. Jeanie had been to this school before so I didn’t worry too much about making sure we got off at the right place. I did happen to notice that the stops were showing up on a LED screen at the front to the bus. I happened to glance up & was pretty sure I saw the school name on the screen. I mentioned this, but Jeanie said that we were not there yet. I then mentioned that I thought the school address was #5 & we were at #35 & the numbers were going up. At this point Jeanie decided to ask the driver & sure enough we’d missed the stop. We got off at the next one & caught a taxi back to the school. Guess I’ve gotten pretty good at riding the buses.

They school was on a hill (of course, this is HK, everything is on a hill). We had to climb several sets of stairs to get to it. Several of the teachers & kids were dressed very strangely & we were told that it was twin day. The head master was in a dress with big earrings on. His twin was the art teacher & she was in a matching outfit. It was pretty funny. They seemed to have a good time. Most of the staff sounded like they were Australian or American. It is an international school, so they speak English.

Jeanie did the first presentation, for the older kids. They were very well behaved, but I think her lack of comfort or command of English made it hard for the kids to understand some of what she was saying. She ask me if I would be willing to do the second presentation for the younger kids. I figured what the heck, no time like the present to get started. It was a small group & they also were well behaved. I think it was good that I was a native English speaker, because it was very easy for me to simplify the talk for the little ones. Jeanie talked about the project building a cistern for the village. I doubted the kids would know what that was. I told them it would be a really big water tank. We talked about the animals & what each kind of animal can give to help people who are poor. I tried to get the kids as involved as possible. I think it went pretty well.

Jeanie was thrilled that I did so well & that I enjoyed doing it. She said it has been so hard for them to find anyone to help with this project & they really wanted to have an English speaker to go out to these schools. I guess I have myself a job. We have another presentation in early March. Jeanie said last year the school & Heifer organized a trip to visit the project site & meet the people they’d helped. I told her that if at all possible I’d love to go on a project trip if they do one. How cool would that be?

I met Sarah at Time Square & we had lunch at the City Super international food court. We both chose Thai food. It was great. We headed to Victoria Park along with hundreds of other people. The park is a large open area & it was packed. I mean Chinese Hong Kong packed with people. Check out the photos on my photo blog, you’ll what I mean. People were buying everything & everything was for sale. There were booths set up in about 4 rows. There were a few food booths, but mostly there were flowers & blow up toys for the kids. There was every kind of blow up thing you could think of that related to pigs & New Years & some that you would never in your life think of. I tried to take photos of them just so I’d remember what was there. There were inflatable pigs, of course, it is the year of the pig, but along with the pigs you could buy big inflatable butcher knives. There were huge inflatable lollypops that said “Happy Piggy New Year” on them. Some other strange inflatables were; fire hydrant, fire extinguisher (maybe because this is the year of the fire pig????, who knows), stop sign, road sign, long necked giraffe, gold fish inside of a clear balloon with seaweed painted on it (I bought this one), then the ones you’d expect like Hello Kitty & Mickey Mouse & swords & shields. People were buying stuff like crazy. Besides my gold fish, I also took a plum blossom branch out of a dumpster. This is supposed to bring good luck in love for the New Year, I figured it was worth it. Each plant & flower has some significance for bringing good luck for something. I lost track, but mostly they are yellow or gold colors that are supposed to bring prosperity.

After Sarah & I laughed about how our husbands would be so glad that we did this without them because they would have hated the crowds, we headed home. The park was on the front page of the paper the next day, saying how many people there were. On the way home I stopped on Queen’s Road to return the light bulb I’d gotten earlier that was not the right type, but they would not let me return it for $, just exchange it. It was pretty frustrating. I also bought the real Casino Royale movie for all of $12US, not bad. I fought my way through the grocery store for a few more items for the weekend. It was interesting to see what people buy for the New Year. People were buying loads of fancy boxes of candy & the sales people were wrapping them outside the store. People were buying plants & flowers like crazy. I got some New Year’s cards & red packets. Not sure if I explained the red packets. They are envelopes that you give to service people (in your apartment or at work) & you put money in them. Not much, just like $3 to $5. The bills have to be crispy new bills & they will bring the person good luck in the New Year. People get really excited about the red packets, but you don’t give them out until New Year’s day. It is all very confusing.

Feb 14, '07 Heifer training, temple, DVD

Feb 14, 2007 Heifer training, another temple, Jusco, DVD from China

I went to Heifer this morning to do my training for going out to the school for the Read to Feed program that Heifer Hong Kong has developed. It was extremely interesting to find out how they do this. The basics are that the kids raise money by reading & getting sponsors. The school is given a project that their money will go towards. Since this school participated last year, we tell them about what the money they raise last year did. Then we tell them about the project their money for this year will do.

Last year this school raised over $9,000, which bought 14 cows for 7 families in Tibet. With this money Heifer also goes to the villages to find out what other needs there are & which families are most likely to be successful in the program. It also provided training to the people in how to care for the animals, environmentally friendly farming techniques (since the cows will provide needed fertilizer), gender equity & health education for the 4 villages involved (specifically HIV awareness – I thought that was particularly interesting). Heifer also helped form knitting teams to help reestablish the cultural skill of knitting & give them another income producing product.

The families have to sign a contract promising to “Pass it On”. This means that they are obligated within 2 years of receiving their “gift” to give one offspring from their animal to another needy family or to pay the equivalent of an offspring so that another animal can be purchased for another family. In this way the program keeps on working & expanding long after the initial project is completed. I think this is a really impressive organization & I’m really excited to be helping out.

The new project the school will be contributing to this year is for 6 villages in the mountains of China, north of Hong Kong. Their problem is clean drinking water & very little farmable land. This project will supply pigs to the people & will also provide the materials & training for the people to build water tanks to safely store & distribute drinking water.

My trainer, Jeanie, is native Hong Kong, but speaks English very well. I find that most people in HK speak a stylized English that has it’s own special grammar. In the Chinese language there are no tenses, so everything is in the present. I find that is how they also try to speak English, except those who have spent time in English speaking countries. I looked over Jeanie’s power point & handouts for the presentation & made some basic corrections. She was so glad to have me proofread for her. Here are some examples:
“The Heifer people play attention to what the villagers needs.”
“What Heifer do to help?”
“How’re we gonna use your money this year?”
“How is it like there?”
Since the audience are mostly native English speaking people (international schools), it is important to make sure the English correct. I was glad to be able to do this. She had me proofread several other items that she was working on. I can see that I didn’t need to worry that they wouldn’t be able to use me because I don’t speak Chinese. I guess I was just what she needed. It made me feel very useful.
After the training I went to the office just to say hi. I was told that I was supposed to be getting a New Years good luck plant for the office. I asked the staff if there was one temple that was better than the others for helping people get better or sending up healing wishes? They all said “Of course, you must go to the temple in Wong Tai Sin. That is the best one for having your wishes come true.” It turns out I’ve have this temple on my short list of must see places, so I decided not time like the present to head out there. I had found out that my dad was in the hospital that morning & wanted to light more incense for Sue’s good health. The temple is called Sik Sik Yuen.

I took the ferry over to Kowloon side & then got onto the MTR & had to switch lines a few stops up. I found the temple without any problem as it is just outside of the MTR station. I think since it is New Years, there were lots more people than normal during the middle of the day. I went to the incense vendor & got my big packet. I lit it at the lighting area & headed on up to the main area in front of the main Buddha. The place was really crowded with people with large handfuls of lit incense. It is really a pretty dangerous situation. There are men around who are constantly cleaning the old incense sticks out of the pots so new ones can be put in. This one man was cleaning out a large bunch that was still burning & he dropped in onto a woman’s bag. Luckily it was leather & didn’t catch on fire. I wonder how many people get burned doing this. The smoke is also very thick. My eyes were burning badly by the time I had stuck my incense into all the different pots. But I made my wishes for my father & for Sue, and distributed the incense all around to every Buddha there was.

This temple is well known for it’s fortune telling. I guess since it is good for making wishes come true, you need to know if they really will come true. What you do is get a little barrel of sticks from a booth (they are free). You take your barrel up to the front area near the Buddha & you kneel or stand & you make a wish. Then you shake the barrel until one of the sticks falls out. I guess you can make as many wishes as you want, you just shake out another stick for each wish. Each stick is numbered, so you remember what number went with what wish. Then (after returning the barrel to the booth), you go just outside of the temple & there are 2 floors of fortune telling booths. There must be about 50 booths on each floor. It is pretty interesting. As soon as I walked in, a woman from one booth took my arm & led me down the long hallway to a booth that said “English spoken here.”

I went in & spoke to Priscilla Lam. I told her the number & the wish. It was for good health for my friend. Each number is associated with a story & depending on the wish the story is interpreted for that wish. She said the story was a very good one for my friend’s health. It is about a very poor man who works very hard and he eventually becomes the #1 person in all of China. Each year after many examinations and much learning one person in all of China is the best (and China has a lot of people in it, so to be #1 is a very very good & difficult thing, she explained to me). This one person is employed by the emperor for life and has a very good living. So this was very good for this poor man to end up being the best in all of China & he had a very good life.

Ms. Lam asked some questions about my friend & said that she would be OK. She might go through some hard times, like the man having to study so hard and work so hard, but in the end, in the autumn everything would be good, because that is when the man took the test & became #1, in the autumn. She was sure that my friend would be fine. This made me feel better.

I had shaken out another number and said it was for myself for good luck in the coming year. She said that this story wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good. She said that I would have medium luck this year. The story was about a man who talks to his bird, it is a parrot, so they can communicate well with each other. The man sees a tiger take a sheep into a cave near his home, so the next day he goes to the cave to get some of the sheep meat because the man is poor & hungry. The town’s people see the man with the meat & believe that he stole the sheep & they put him in jail. The bird watches the cave & when he sees the tiger bring another sheep into the cave, the bird tells the town’s people to look in the cave. They find the tiger with the sheep & realize the man didn’t steal the sheep & they let him go.

Ms. Lam said that this story means that I have to be careful with communication & making sure people understand my message. The man went to jail, but then he was let out, so his luck was bad & then good. It is important to communicate. John got a good laugh out of this when I told him. He said he guessed that Ms. Lam didn’t realize that she was talking to one of the major communicators around. The fortune telling was only about $4, so it was worth it. They will also do hand & face readings, but I figured I’d save that for next time.

It was pretty interesting to see what people had brought as offerings to Buddha. One man had an entire plucked chicken; head, beak & all. See photo. He also had the usual incense & fruit. You can see in the photo the colored paper is to represent money. You burn this & it is supposed to bring you good fortune. This man was shaking out bamboo sticks & then checking in a book. Then he would throw these 2 wooden cresent shaped discs on the ground, look at them & then check his book. He did this over & over. He must have had lots of wishes.

Side note: I was listening to the news the day after New Years & they said the leader of Hong Kong had been at the temple (same one I was at) on New Years day to have his annual fortune read & the stick he pulled said that HK would have another good year. This was considered very important be the locals. I guess one year the fortune was not good on New Years & that is the year that SARS hit HK, so they put a lot of credibility in this.

On the way home I stopped at the Jusco store (large department store) to see if they had any New Years decorations & plants. They had both. I was told to get a few more things to decorate the office & a plant. I found it all. It was a bit tough carrying the plant on the MTR, but I managed & they office staff was very proud of me, for getting my fortune told & getting the plant back in good shape.

John was very sweet & offered to take me out for Valentine’s Day. They really make a huge deal about it here. All of the restaurants have special dinners & they are very expensive. Most places required reservations & it was late by the time he got home, so we just stayed in. John had gone to China to visit a printer. The printer took him to the mall that is just over the boarder & were you are supposed to be able to get all the copy products. He said there were tons of watch places & the prices were about ½ what we pay in HK for copy watches (I wonder if they work any longer – the ones we get here only seem to work for about a month). He did get a copy DVD of Casino Royale. So we decided to watch that. The previews were fine & the picture was good, but we couldn’t understand what language they were speaking once the actual movie began. I think it might have been Portuguese. We went to the menu to try to change the language, but it wouldn’t work. After about 20 minutes I finally figured it out & don’t ask me how, but I got it going in English, but you could hardly hear it. Even turned up full volume you couldn’t hear them. I guess that’s why it was only $1. I looked at the cover & it said Roger Moore as 007 (I think they are a little dated on that one). Guess they didn’t know the new guy’s name or something. We got a good laugh out of that.

Feb 12 & 13 Local shopping, HK Univ, Incense at the Temple

Mon., 12 Feb, 2007 Around town:

John left me with a few errands to run today, get some Splenda packets for the office, find a tailor who could reproduce a simple garment that had been in our guestroom in a plastic bag (I had no idea what it was, but figured something for work so didn’t ask), arrange for the other corporate apartment to be cleaned (some people are coming in for a week), & get some local stamps to mail some bills off. This would normally seem like a simple list, but I knew the easiest looking thing on it was going to be the toughest, finding Splenda packets.

I started out at the desk downstairs where you arrange for house cleaning. The guy there, Simon, was the one who told me all about Chinese New Year & is always very helpful and nice. Good start. He had stamps for me to buy, but to send the 2 USA letters he said they charged $30HK as a service fee (guess they have to get their money somehow). That is almost $4US, so he suggested I just find a mailbox. I arranged for the apartment cleaning, although not the dates John wanted as everyone is off for the week of the New Year. Guess I can do some cleaning. He also had the name of a tailor, which he called for me.

Mrs. Poon doesn’t speak any English, so Simon told her what I wanted & she said she needed to look at the garment, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Simon gave me very exact directions to Mrs Poon’s shop which was straight down the hill from our apartment, near where I was wandering on Saturday. This was an opportunity to explore a new location, so I was glad to go. Simon’s directions were good except for the building. Good thing I had the address written in Chinese because there wasn’t anyone around that spoke English. I went to a few tailors in the wrong building & they were not very helpful. Finally the guard of the building showed me that I was at the wrong address, I needed to be a few buildings over. I found Mrs. Poon & she was very nice. We seemed to make ourselves understood & she pointed to the calendar & showed 2 weeks to come back. She wrote down $350HK as the price, so I didn’t argue since it is for the business. It is for 2 of these kind of bathing suit cover things with pockets. She’s getting material & all, so $45US isn’t bad. I can’t sew, so I think it’s worth it.

Since I was in a new part of the city I decided to venture on down the street instead of catching a bus. I crossed the street & there was a vendor with a microphone strapped to his chest selling & demonstrating some cleaning stuff. These people are all over the place, it is like live infomercials & they always have the microphone turned up so loud, it’s just funny. Next to him was a little storefront that was filled with chairs & women in white coats. I hesitated & was immediately confronted by a man in a suit. He started poking at my neck & shoulders & saying “velly bad, velly bad. You much need my lotion and rub.” I realized that he was selling some Chinese healing lotion & these women were applying it with massage. There were 3 men & a woman in the storefront (all open, no door or front, just an open area with chairs). The men all had their shirts off & the women in white were rubbing their bellies & poking them with some black animal horn looking thing. One of the men was down to just his underpants & the woman was rubbing all over. I was a bit nervous, but one woman spoke a little English & said “You no good blood flow in neck, make you velly sick. You need me rub special Chinese medicine in you neck to make you no mo bad health.” She told me to sit & started rubbing. She was ruthless & really hurt, but it felt great. She used her fingers, then her elbow, then she got the black horn & dug that into my pressure points. The medicine must have a lot of menthol in it because it cleared out my sinuses & felt wonderful. She worked on me for about 10 minutes & charged me $200 with the medicine ($25US). I probably got ripped off, but it was fun & I could feel the medicine for a good 30 minutes afterwards.

On down the street I came across a small shoe store. The prices were very good, so I picked up a pair of thongs (shoes, not underwear) that felt comfortable. I haven’t worn shoes like this for years, the thing between the toes always bothered me, but those were the old flip-flops. I’m hoping these will be better. I also got a pair of brown leather slip-ons that are casual but nice. Now I’ve ventured past knock off crocs to some real shoes. The cost was about $12US for both.

On down the road I passed a small electric supply store. The lights in the apartment have bothered me since I got here. They are just light bulbs coming down from the ceiling. I’ve looked everywhere for covers for them with no success. It baffles me that they don’t have light covers. The man spoke English & knew what I wanted & said I would not find a light cover, ‘It isn’t something we have here.” he said. I thought that was the end of it until a few stores down I noticed in the window a frosted globe shaped light bulb with small flowers painted on it. It was very attractive. This looked more like a large supply store, as other than the 8 light bulbs on display in the window it was just filled with large boxes. The man called up to a woman who came down & spoke English. I pointed to the bulb & said I wanted 2. The man went off & came back with 2. Asked if they were screw in & I said yes (what else is there?). He took each one out of it’s box & tested it in some special sockets he had next to the counter. How nice that they make sure they work before sending you out with them. I was very excited about finally having some nicer lights (isn’t it always the little things that really drive you nuts?).

I felt like my day was going very well, so it was time to attempt the really tough task of seeing if I could find Splenda. I had stopped in a few drug stores & grocery stores along the way, just to check, but it was hard enough just to find the regular sugar (seems like the keep it hidden). The only artificial sweetener any of the had was Equal. So, I headed for the MTR station & City Super, where I’ve been successful in buying Splenda in the past. It was a good walk to the station & to the store once out of the station. Unfortunately they only had loose Splenda, no packets. It seems you either find one or the other. OK, on to Great to see if they might have it. I was not feeling optimistic. That required another MTR ride to the next station, then the walk through the mall to get to the store. Again, very tough to find the sugar section. I haven’t figured out how they arrange their products. There isn’t a baking section like I’m used to where everything you’d use for baking is grouped together. I think it is because they don’t really do much baking here. Well, they didn’t have it either. Time to give up, I wasn’t going to go all the way to the other City Super, I’d already been out about 4 hours on my missions.

Went home & emailed one of the women at the office, Sophia, who lives near the other City Super & asked her if she would take a look for it. She was glad to do so. Thank goodness. At least I got most of my duties accomplished. I found out later from John that the garment I’m getting made at the tailor is for John’s boss’s mother or something like that. You’d think he makes enough money that he does have to send me running around HK finding a tailor to get it custom made. It is just a terry cloth one piece shorts/top thing for wearing over a bathing suit. I think had I known that ahead of time I might not have been so accommodating. It is funny, the people with the most money are the ones who send us out for the copy watches & handbags.

I almost forgot, those light bulbs that I was so excited about, well there are other types of bulbs besides screw ins. The ones in our apartment have 2 prongs that stick out & they just give a slight twist. So the great bulbs with the flowers have to go back. Whaaaaaaa!

Queen’s Rd again. Return light bulbs, kitchen products, red packets, new years stuff, McDonalds, Man Mo Temple, uphill home
HK Univ.
Tues. 13 February 2007 Out on the street again & some culture

This morning I got out early & did my Morning Trail walk. I didn’t do the entire walk, just to the top of the steep part. I figured that got me the most exercise for my time. It was an overcast morning, but I wasn’t going for the view. Still pretty warm here, I worked up a good sweat. I’m guessing the temp is still in the upper 70’s.

I decided I might as well return my light bulbs & see what else the guy might have. I took a sample bulb from the apartment to make sure I got the right thing. I headed on down the hill. I did pretty well finding the place I needed & even avoided the shoulder massagers. I’m sure they would have found something else velly velly bad with me. The light bulb man only had one flower bulb in the type I needed, so I settled for one flower & one regular. Oh well.

I got some New Years stuff, chocolate Chinese coins, cards, red packets (for putting the money in), some year of the pig items that looked fun. I also went into McDonalds, but not go buy food. They are having a promotion & the Happy Meal toys are these Sanrio figures. If you don’t know about Sanrio, they are the people that bring us Hello Kitty. There are tons of other characters, my favorite being Bad Batz Maru (a bad ass penguin with a Mohawk). So I’m trying to collect the set just for the heck of it. Bad Batz isn’t released until next week. I also found some kitchen items I’ve needed. It is good to find some regular stores where the locals shop.

On my way home I made one more stop. I promised one of my best friends in the entire world that I would light some incense for her at the local temple & send up some good stuff to the Gods that be for her. She has surgery scheduled for tomorrow, so I’m just doing my part. Whatever you believe in please say a prayer or whatever for her. I really do believe in the power of positive thought. The friend is Sue Lezon, but I won’t go into details as that is her story to tell, but I figure the more positive thoughts the better. I have observed enough “temple behavior” to know just what to do. I went to the incense table & bought a really big pack of small sticks & a pack of 3 really big sticks. I’ve observed that more is better & bigger is better. I walked in & lit the incense at the appropriate place. I’m not sure which Buddha is the one for good health so I hedged my bets & gave them all a few sticks. This is what most people do anyway. I think each one represents something specific. I focused on the one that looked the meanest, I figured he’d be the one to scare away anything bad. He was black with a really big black beard. He is probably the Buddha of war, but sometimes keeping healthy can be a war. I included some positive thoughts & incense for a few others (Kathy’s friend Lynn & my high school friend Leroy who are all struggling with health issues). Apparently this temple is for those believing in Buddha, Confusious, & Taoists, so that covered a good bit. On up the hill I passed a church & said a few prayers outside there too, just in case.

When I got home I looked up the University of Hong Kong, which I have discovered is right down the road from us. Turns out the have a museum with a few interesting looking exhibits. After lunch, I walked on down to the University. It is about a 15 – 20 minute walk, but no hills – yippee! One of the exhibits was paintings by a Chinese artist who lived in Canada. The paintings were Chinese style, but Canadian scenery. They were really wonderful. There was also an exhibit of photos around Hong Kong. I always wonder about photographers, sorry Sue, but most of these photos were blurred night photos of lights tracking. They looked like the photos that I delete after taking them because I jiggled the camera. I just don’t get it. Guess I’m not artsy enough yet. There is also a tea gallery in the museum. They explain the different types of tea & tea ware & you can buy a cup. I didn’t get any tea, but plan to come back with my friend, Sarah next week.

On the way home from the museum I passed a Community Center, so I went in to see what it was about. Turns out they have Tai Chi & line dancing classes. I think I’ll pass up the line dancing, but the Tai Chi sounds good. She said the teacher speaks English, so it would be a good choice. They have it twice a week, but classes have stopped now until after the New Year, so I’ll have to wait until the end of the month. I’m excited to have found this though & it is only a few blocks from the house.

All in all it was a good day. I feel really good about the things I discovered. I’m going to see what else is at the University, I’m sure there are lectures & other things going on. My friend Sarah was supposed to go back to the states yesterday for a court case (she’s a lawyer), but at the last minute the client settled out of court so she doesn’t have to go. That is good news for me. We are getting together Thursday to go to the New Year’s market & have lunch. Tomorrow I meet with Heifer International for my training to go out to the schools.

Happy & healthy thoughts !!!

Feb 10-11 Food markets, Shek O (beach)

10 & 11 Feb, 2007 – Lots of markets, a trip to Shek O

Saturday afternoon I decided to explore the streets below our apartment building. This is part of the area known as Soho, meaning South of Hollywood Rd. Hollywood Rd is several blocks down from our street & coming up the hill towards us is south. We’ve walked this area near the escalator, but I knew there was much more interesting places getting away from the escalator. Although the escalator is a great thing, you are elevated most of the way, so miss a lot of what is going on at ground level.

From our apartment building I walked about one block east & then headed down Ladder Street, which is not a street, but a pedestrian walkway that is all steps. It is probably 4 blocks down to Hollywood Rd & the Man Mo Temple, which is very well known & was packed with people this Saturday afternoon. I’m guessing with the upcoming New Years (18 Feb) many people were taking care of New Years obligations with their ancestors. I guess the New Year is a time to pay old debts & make good to everyone, which probably means the dead as well as the living.

In previous ventures down Ladder Street to Hollywood Rd. I’ve always headed east or on down the hill to the subway, so this time I went west. Hollywood Rd is know as the antique street (every street here seems to be known for something, they tend to put all of the same products on the same street, which doesn’t make much sense to me from a marketing standpoint, but it is good for the consumer to have it all in one place). As I went west on Hollywood I saw why. I’m guessing there must be about 100 antique stores in about a miles distance. Very different from what we would see in US antique stores, no shaker chairs or washtubs. These were filled with statues & heavy wooden furniture & lots of jade & china (go figure) & ivory & woodcarving. I really love the carving; it is so intricate & detailed. I guess the ivory is from mammoth tusks & not elephant tusks (which is illegal).

As I wandered other streets in the area I came across lots of new restaurants to try & LOTS of street markets. This is definitely where the locals do their shopping. There was not the touristy stuff like handbags & scarves, but stalls with produce & meat & poultry. There were also lots of small stores selling the everyday items people need – toilet paper, paint, hardware, cooking supplies, sheets. I knew the locals did actually shop at Ikea for that kind of stuff like us stupid Westerners did. Too bad I didn’t do this a long time ago!

The food markets I find the most interesting. As I think I’ve said before the variety & size of the produce is fabulous. It looks like it is on steroids. It being New Years time there were lots of flowers & special New Years plants available as well. They certainly use every bit of the animal & some parts I don’t even know what they are. I’m not brave enough yet to venture to buy any meat or poultry or fish. One of these days I will.

I ate lunch at a little local Chinese restaurant. They didn’t speak any English, but as with most places they had one menu in English. I just pointed to something & it turned out to be pretty good. Noodles with a slightly sweet sauce & prawns & shredded beef & pork & some sprouts & scallions. I only ate half of it as they served some soup with it as well. All for about $3.50. Not a bad deal. They were very nice & I think thought it was funny that I would come in there. Usually Westerners do not venture into these types of places.

I stopped a place that was advertising tofu cheesecake & had a sample. It was good, not as sweet as regular cheesecake. They had some other yummy looking items, so I took their card to return on a later date. I did get an almond cookie, which was delicious.

I know you all are freezing you butts off back home, so I hesitate to complain about how hot it was out today. I got home & had to take a shower because I was so sweaty. I’m still waiting for this winter they keep talking about.

John has been wanting to go back to our favorite Japanese restaurant over in Kowloon, so we went Saturday night. It was as good as always. The funny thing about the dinner was that when we were about half way through 4 people walked in & they were the same people who had been there last time we were there. The room only sits 12 people, so you tend to get to know the other people eating there. The reason we remembered these people so well is that one of them is Canadian and YES we talked lots of HOCKEY!! He played Jr A hockey before leaving Canada. He also is in the printing industry, so he & John also had that in common. His wife is Chinese & she works with him & the other couple works with him also, so there was plenty for us all to talk about. He has lived here for about 8 years. It was so funny that we should all be there again. We had another great conversation & traded business cards. Hopefully we’ll get back in touch with them; at least we know we have the same taste in food.

Sunday we headed out to the other side of the island. John wanted to do something away from the apartment, but NOT anything like the flower, bird & goldfish markets. He really didn’t enjoy that outing at all. So I thought he’d enjoy the small seaside town of Shek O. I went there a few months ago with Kristin & Steve & took lots of pictures of the rocks & water (I did not repeat those by the way). To get to Shek O we needed to go about as far east on HK Island as we could & then catch a bus out to the town. To get to the east side of the island we could take a bus, tram, MTR or combination. MTR is faster, but you don’t get to see anything. We decided to take the bus from in front of our place as far as it would take us (this is the one I took earlier in the week to the bank). Once we got off, we opted for the tram. This is a rattly 2 decker wooden trolley sort of vehicle that goes down the middle of the street. No matter how far you go the cost is only HK$2 (25 cents). Most of the locals take this because it is so cheap. It is also very very slow. It makes lots of stops & I’m guessing never gets over 25 MPH.

We finally got to Shau Kei Wan where we picked up bus #9 out to Shek O. The bus ride across the island is spectacular. You go over the mountains & the road hugs the side & you look straight down to the rocks & ocean below. Parts of the ride remind me of the hills of Scotland, bare of trees & dotted with rocks & long grass. As we looked out over the mountains with not a building in site, I said to John, “and everyone thinks HK is only skyscrapers & crowds of people, I wish they could see this.”

We walked on the beach & out to the little island for a great view of the ocean. It was a very overcast day, so you are spared photos of the ocean & rocks. There were lots of families out BBQing, a typical Sunday outing for the local folks. We had some soup at a local restaurant. John had his favorite Tom Yum Kung (Thai seafood soup) & I had mushroom, tofu & crab meat soup. Both were good. I had to get mango & sticky rice for dessert.

We caught the bus back. The town of Shau Kei Wan has a great market, again local foods. It is just festinating to see what they sell. The produce is wonderful as usual. This also had lots of meat, poultry & fish vendors as well. Many of the vendors were really surprised to see us (being Western) & one made a point of having me take his picture. Several looked at me in surprise & smiled & attempted some English. A few times everyone around the vendor also started speaking English (very limited). At one fish vendor the vendor said “Hi Lo” (I’m sure he meant hello). “Missy Missy you want some fishy fishy” Some older women shopping there started laughing & saying “yessy yessy fishy fishy swimmy swimmy fishy fishy”. They seemed very pleased with themselves for knowing some English. I laughed with them & said “No fishy fishy for missy. Missy no good cook.” They thought that was hysterical & all burst out laughing. Then they wanted me to take a picture of the guy with the fish.

Although I did not take lots of beach photos, I did get obsessed with the market. If you have a weak stomach you might not want to look at the photos of this trip. Here are some of the things that were for sale in the market. Shrimp still jumping around in the pan. Fish cut in half with the head off & the heart still beating (now that is fresh). All sorts of animal organs. Pig ears, feet & snout. Chicken feet. Legs of all sorts of animals. And the most bizarre in my opinion – I saw 2 sheep heads complete with hair & horns & eyes & tongue (see below). So I took photos of it all just to you’d believe me.

Guess I need to work on my cooking. Although after today, I’m feeling like I might be inclined to head towards being a vegetarian. They do have lots of types of tofu I could experiment with. I have been told there is something I should try called stinky tofu that stinks but tastes good. Something for another blog.

Feminine Hygiene Products

Feminine Hygiene products in China:

No photos coming for this one.

So now that I’m having my period again for the first time in over a year, I find the need for some serious feminine hygiene products. Since I’ve not had to use these items, I have not noticed if they are in the grocery store or the drug store or where. Some things are so easy to find here, but other things that you think would be simple to find or can get just anywhere in the states, you have to search for here. Like our search for shoe polish other than black or brown.

I figured this is a modern enough city that feminine products shouldn’t be too hard to find. I went to the local grocery store & began my search. I figured I’d start at the aisle with paper products – toilet paper & tissues. Not there. How about the pharmacy section – shampoos, moisturizers. Not there. Then I noticed baby products – diapers. Not there. I was wondering how the heck I was going to ask for this item. Would they understand “sanitary napkin” (heck, they didn’t know what brownies or cake mix was when I tried to find that the first time, turned out I had to say “Betty Crocker” for them to understand & it took 4 people & about 10 minutes until a nice British woman helped me out). Would they understand “feminine hygiene” or “period” or “menstruation”? Probably not. I usually resort to sign language when I can’t make my language understood. Hmmmm, what kind of sign language would I need to use. Not a pretty site for a Western woman to be pointing to her crotch & to the napkins & saying blood. I figured they might cart me off to jail or something. Just couldn’t figure out how to be creative, yet discrete with the sign language.

I’m pretty determined normally to find a way to communicate, but decided this battle was one I didn’t really want to fight. I would just go next door to the pharmacy & I was sure they would have what I needed. As I got to the checkout counter, just across from the candy & before the section of cold beer & soda, well there was what I was looking for. Who would have thought it would be at the checkout area. Guess they weren’t hiding it away in some remote dark room. I was very relieved not to have to ask anyone. Of course the choices were different than I was used to. Lots of different sizes & shapes. They all came with wings, guess that is the latest in feminine protection. When I got them home & opened them up, they are way longer on one end then the other. In my past experience these items are symmetrical. No matter, I figured I’d put the longer part in front. Just strange that they would be so different. Or maybe I’m just not up-to-date with the latest styles of feminine products.

I know this was kind of random, but just thought it was funny the things we take for granted that sometimes are not as obvious as we think they are. AND the added challenge of effective communication.

Feb 8 & 9, 2007 - Back to the bank & a new park

Feb 7 Wed – Paying bills, Chinese lunch, back to the bank

So today was another day of frustration & not enough information. John sent me off to the CSL 1010 Store, which is where we have our cell phone service through. He wanted me to pay his bill & get the charges credited to his Asia Miles account (they give rewards dollars & you can apply them to different programs). So I went armed with his company AmEx card & his Asia Miles card. I presented the bill & the first thing was that it wasn’t in John’s name. When this account was opened it was opened by the office director of the joint venture company, Gilbert. So the very nice woman explained to me what needed to be done to make the name change. She gave me a form for John to complete & said he’d need to bring the company chop (stamp) with him to complete the change. Then she gave me the form that was needed to be completed & faxed in order to get credit for Asia Miles. That was something John would need to sign. Then she very nicely explained that I could not pay the bill because the credit card was not in my name. If I wanted the charge to go on the AmEx card, Mr Riley would have to come back. Mission NOT accomplished.

Next John wanted me to go to the PCCW store (this is where we get our internet service & TV service from) & find out exactly what channels we are getting & what other options there are. He asked me to sign up for a few other options. I found the store, it was close to the other one, thank goodness. The two women working out front did not speak English well enough to understand what I needed. They called a man from the back who’d English was very good & he was very nice & patient. He printed out all of our channels & looked very thoroughly at our service. He explained that we really had all of the best channels & that since the service isn’t in my name, I could not make any changes anyway. Mr Riley would need to do that. Since I rarely ever turn on the TV I didn’t really care, but John wants some more news channels. I gathered the information & brought it back to John. Another failed mission. Does it sound like I’m getting discouraged. I understand that John doesn’t have time to be running around to do this stuff, but it is so hard when none of it is in my name & I can’t be successful with what he wants me to do.

I got back to the office in time to have a nice Chinese lunch with John. We went to a noodle place around the corner from the office. John likes their hot & sour soup & I usually try something of the set lunch menu. This time I had veggies with fried noodles. A bit greasy but very tasty. They are funny there because none of them speak English & I think they get a kick out of us coming in & just pointing to things on the menu. If we have any problems there is always another patron who speaks English & helps us out. After lunch John headed out to the phone store & the TV store armed with the info I’d gathered. Hopefully my earlier work made his experience there less confusing.

I had to head back to the bank. It seems that one of the checks that they wrote for us was not made out correctly. It had to be returned to the bank & a new one written & picked up the next day. When I got to the bank – the 9th floor – they recognized me & were very helpful. I did have to wait for the proper person to gather the check, but they were very nice about it. She did explain that it was not their fault, the info they had gotten was incorrect. I was told the new check would be ready after 9am tomorrow (oh joy, another trip to the bank, I’m becoming a regular at Bank of America, HK). I took the MTR & bus home & decided to stop at the dry cleaners to pick up some cleaning. This requires a fairly steep up hill climb When I got there it was closed & I remembered that Wed. is her day off. Another failed mission.

WARNING MALE READERS: you may not want to read beyond this point, it contains “female”stuff:
I got home & was feeling really depressed. I felt like I just couldn’t do anything right. The confusion & frustration suddenly made me feel so overwhelmed. I looked in the mirror & saw how fat I was & I couldn’t even hold in my stomach. What was wrong with me? I broke down & started crying. I wrote John a note say what a failure I was & decided to go for a walk & sit in the park at the bottom of our apartment. I couldn’t figure out why I was feeling so badly & low. John called & asked if I was at the airport heading home? He can make me laugh. Then it hit me what was going on. When I was home, I had some GYN issues (if any guys are still reading, that is gynecology, female stuff). Since I had not had a period in over a year, the doctor thought I should take some estrogen pills to force a period, just to make sure my “plumbing” was cleaned out well. I finished the 10 cycle of pills about 1.5 weeks ago & hadn’t thought much more about it, except that my breasts had been hurting. Well I suddenly remembered how much I hated having my period & those days before it started. YES guys PMS is real!!! Maybe having been period-less for so long my body was over reacting. I came home & John was very understanding & sweet, he even offered to order pizza. He watched a sappy chick flick with me & I felt better. AND the next morning, there was the cursed “friend” or whatever you want to call it. Guess I’m not menopausal quite yet. Darn!

END OF SPECIAL WARNING FOR MALE READERS:

Feb. 8 Thu – Back to the bank, Mexican for lunch, discovery of new park

I got up this morning feeling much better & understanding my issues from the day before. I had an early mission this morning – back to the bank!! Since I was going from home I decided to take the 23 bus. This is the bus I take to work, but I get off way before the end. It heads out the way toward the bank, so I figured I’d just take it until it turns back & see how close it gets me. It always enjoy the bus because I see all sorts of new areas. I was not disappointed. The bus turned at the MTR station stop before the one I usually get off at for the bank. It being a nice day I decided to walk the rest of the way. It was probably 20 minutes (longer than I thought it would be), but a good walk. They were very happy to see me at the 9th floor & greeted me like an old friend. The check was ready & I had the company chop (you can’t do anything for a company around here without the company chop). I made the obligatory chop (stamp) on the notebook, signed my name & was on my way with the check. I thought it would be fun to take the tram back to the office. This is an electric car that goes down the middle of the street. The locals use it a lot because it only costs HK$2 (25 cents) no matter how far you go. Such a deal !! The bus cost me about 90 cents to get there & the MTR is about $1.40. So the tram is a deal, but the only problem is that you have to know where you are going & where to get off, most of the stops are not marked. At least the bus stops are marked.
I waited at the tram stop with the locals about 15 minutes then gave up. It wasn’t worth the wait to save $1 & besides it would take a lot longer because of the traffic. That is the good thing about the MTR, doesn’t have to wait for traffic.

I got back in time to go out for lunch with John & James Kelly (an American living in Bangkok who Cadmus does business with). We went to the Mexican place, Coyote’s, around the corner from the office. They have very good Mexican food & it is never crowded at lunch time. The Chinese places are packed at lunch & you usually have to wait or sit with random people.

I decided it was time to me to do some more exploring of HK. I’ve been back almost 2 weeks & had only discovered a new trail to the Peak. So I decided to head over to Kowloon-side & see if I could find the Kowloon Walled City Park. I thought I’d already found this park, but it turns out I’d been to the Kowloon Park & that is a different place. I found it on the internet & had the choice of bus or MTR. Of course I chose the bus. I took the ferry across the harbor from Wan Chai & then caught bus #1 at the ferry terminus. The ride was long & much of it I’d seen before (we passed the flower market, the street market). We finally did get into new territory, so that was good. Nothing very nice to look at though. This seems to be where the local folks live. The buses on Kowloon are newer than on HK Island, so they have displays in the front that show the next stop. I was so glad to see this & felt confident about getting off at the right stop & I did.

The story behind Kowloon Walled City is that when the Brits took over HK, this area remained governed by the Chinese. So the area became a haven for immigrants from Mainland China. The Chinese government had a garrison there, but they were corrupt & more interested in importing opium then protecting the people. It became a haven for the Chinese Triad (mafia) & was extremely over crowded. There were some photos of the place in 1990 & it was amazing how packed in the building were. The story is that if you got inside you might never find your way out in the winding narrow streets. In 1994 the place was leveled & the people moved out to other locations. Most of the land was claimed & rebuilt, but a small part was kept as a park.

The park has a 6 – 8 foot wall surrounding it. There are many sculptures inside. There are various little areas with themes. One is the zodiac park. There are statues of the Chinese zodiac symbols (the year of the: pig, rat, dog, dragon, horse, etc….). There are some ponds & waterfalls & lots of narrow winding paths. There are covered walkways & pagodas with benches. It was very relaxing & quiet. I had some reading with me so after going around the perimeter & then through the middle, I sat & read for an hour or so. I could hear the birds chirping all around. It was very enjoyable. I didn’t see any other westerners there, so I don’t think most get this far off the beaten path.

As it started to get dark, I walked to the MTR station. It was about 15 minutes. At the station there was a Jusco store (don’t know if you remember about these stores, but to me they are the HK version of Super Wal-mart (without the politics). I had to go see what they had. Of course I found some Hello Kitty & Bad Batz Maru things to get. The New Years decorations were out in force & really fun to look at. If you want anything with pigs or cats, this was the place to go (the new year coming up is the year of the pig & I guess cats are just considered luck any year or time). It was fun just to look around.

I made my way home & got the dry cleaning successfully this time. John had a business dinner with some potential customers. He invited me, but I opted out. I wanted to get home & do some writing. So got the blog some updated.

Feb 9 Fri – Nothing much
Spent the day doing stuff around the apartment, going to the store & writing & reading, doing expenses. It is pretty hot outside & I worked up a sweat just going to the store & back. Not sure what we’ll do tonight. I get a newsletter from a HK Food review magazine & they recommended a Japanese restaurant not far from us. I might see if John feels like trying it out. It’s on a street I don’t think we’ve tried before. Heard from the Heifer International woman & we are going out to a school next week. I’m very excited about doing that. More later & keep the faith – peace out !!

Feb 2 - 7, 2007 Super Bowl & other fun things

Feb 2 Friday – New Office

We took the MTR to the new office. It is on Kowloon-side (instead of just saying HK or Kowloon, they always say HK-side or Kowloon-side, goes way back). The MTR stop is pretty far out, but John will not have to change lines, so that is good. He will catch the MTR at the first stop on the way in, so he should be able to get a seat. I’m going to miss my bus ride, but it will give me a chance to learn about a new area. The office is just 2 blocks from the MTR station which is great. The area is definitely not as nice as where we are now, but the building is nice. Karen & Ruby were excited because they said there were lots of HK style restaurants nearby. They said that meant noodle & soup places.

We are on the 15th floor & the windows look out on a hill-side, but there is some construction & a highway between the office & the hillside, so it isn’t really very scenic. At least there are windows. They had to sign lots of contracts & then we went & they picked out furniture. We were going to rent furniture for a month or 2 until some stuff is delivered from the states, but it turns out it is cheaper to buy it then rent it.

I noticed a nice plant/flower store a block from the building, so maybe I’ll get some plants for the place & liven it up. Our current office doesn’t even have any pictures on the wall.

When the business was finished it was quitting time so we headed home. We get off the MTR & then have to catch the bus to our apartment. Between the MTR station & the bus stop we have to pass through Pacific Place which is a large mall. Most stuff there is very expensive. In fact I checked out a real La Sportsac bag like the fake one I got at the street market for less then US$10 & it was US$80. How ridiculous!! It was dinner time & John was in the mood for Thai soup & I wanted just Chinese soup. The mall has a food court that we’d never been to before so we tried it out. Turned out to be pretty inexpensive (US$4.50) for our respective soups & they were really good. This is why I don’t bother cooking very often.

Feb 3 Saturday – Peak & cooking

John had to go into work in the morning, so I took the opportunity to do my Morning Trail walk again. I did much better this time, but still sucking some wind going up. It was a gorgeous day & I had nothing to do so I decided to just take it easy. I spoke to a man from Holland who was here for 2 days on a stopover from China. He sells agricultural additives for cows. He said it is horrible how the Chinese don’t care anything about the environment. This seems to be what most foreign business people say. John read something that said of the people who die each year from pollution related deaths, half are Chinese. I think HK is trying to improve, but Mainland just doesn’t care I guess. I guess that it how it is with developing countries, they are more interested in the immediate results & income, not the long term effects of their actions.

Saturday was much busier than previous days especially at the Lung Fu Shan Park. Since it was lunch time there were lots of people with picnics and kids all over. It was nice to sit there & enjoy the families. I met a young woman who was also on a stopover from Australia where she’d been studying for a year. She was German and we had a great conversation. She was surprised how nice HK was & glad she had 3 days here before going back. She was especially enjoying the warm weather because it is very cold where she was heading in Germany.

When John got home we decided to try our hand at some home cooking. John is obsessed with this Thai soup called Tom Yam Kum. It is a hot & spicy & sour seafood soup. I had a recipe from a book & when I went to the store, they had a packet in the produce aisle that had everything all in one package with a short recipe on the back. I thought that was pretty cool. We also decided to try our hand at some Japanese cooking. Our favorite Japanese restaurant here makes 2 things we love. They both are very thin slices of beef that get stuffed with either straw mushrooms or chives & roasted garlic. I got the ingredients, but I’m sure the beef was not the quality of what they use at the restaurant. We spent the evening cooking & the results were not good. John said the soup was missing some very particular flavor that makes it so special. The beef rolls were OK, but nothing like the restaurant. I’m sure they use lots of butter & special sauces to make the great flavor. It was fun trying.

We spent some time playing guitar hero. If you haven’t heard of this video game, you need to check it out. The boys had it over Christmas & it is a blast. It is on Play Station 2 & your controller is actually a guitar that plugs into the system. If you’ve ever seen the dance game (Dance Dance Revolution), it is like that. On the screen notes come up & you have to press them down on the fret & strum the strum switch. The songs are mostly good old time rock & roll tunes that are really fun to play. There are several levels, so even us old folks could be successful on the easy level. We did find out that you only start out with 5 songs (out of a possible 47) and you have to unlock the other songs by “beating” the first songs. For every 5 you beat you get 5 more. BUT to unlock all of them, you have to go to Medium level & that is a lot harder. So we are having fun being rock stars. If you have kids that are teens or young adults, I’m sure they know all about this and have probably mastered the expert level.

Feb 4 Sunday – Flower Market

Since Sunday is the only day John gets off, we are usually pretty lazy in the morning. I made omelets & we read the paper & drank coffee. John had to meet someone coming over from Thailand who is going to spend the week here, so I called Sophia (my friend from the office) to see what she was up to. She & her boyfriend, Eric, were heading to the Flower Market to get New Year’s flowers. I was just there last week, but I never turn down an opportunity to go somewhere with Sophia. Being a local, she always makes the experience special. This also gives me a chance to ask her all the questions I have about everything. She is so patient & fun.

We met at the MTR station on HK-side. I had to wait quite a while in the station for them & while there I was looking at a poster about places to see in HK & what MTR station gets you there. One of the locations was the Kowloon Walled City Park. I thought I’d been to this when I was here last April. There is a park near the harbor along Nathan Rd, called Kowloon Park & I thought they were one in the same. WELL, they are NOT! I was very glad I had the time to look at this poster to realize I’d missed one of the key parks in HK. I added it to my MUST SEE list.

We took the train to the flower market. The first thing Sophia did was to get a sweet potato from a street vendor. I have been fascinated by these guys, but always afraid to try one. They have these huge cooper kettles filled with hot coals & they roast yams & nuts & sell them in bags. I guess they have a cooker or something under the kettle to keep the coals hot. It always smells so good when you pass them, but they look kind of sketchy, so I never was sure it was safe. Sophia assured me they are very safe & that I needed to make sure to get the purple yams, they are sweeter. I have never heard of purple yams, but that is what she got & we shared it. It was delicious. I also bought what looked like roasted almonds, but they didn’t taste anything like almonds. They were not too good. I should have gotten the chestnuts. I started to eat the skin of the yam & Sophia scolded me & said that it probably wasn’t a good idea to eat that since the outside might not be clean. I figured since it was so hot, the coals would burn anything bad off, but I didn’t want to upset Sophia, so I didn’t eat any more skin.

I got to ask her all about the special flowers for the New Year. Pretty much anything gold color is good luck because it is the color of money (yellow & orange are considered close enough to gold to be lucky also). Round & gold is especially lucky. So the plants you need to get are little orange trees covered with oranges (kumquats I think are what they are & little mandarin orange trees). Also, forced bulbs are really popular. I’m sure they are paperwhites or daffodils. It is the year of the pig coming up, so there was lots of pig planters & figurines to buy. There is this one fruit that is bright yellow & very strangely shaped that is especially lucky. I got a small bunch of these in a little pig pot for our apartment. Sophia approved. She got some bulbs, Eric paid. He is so nice, but very quiet. They are really fun to be with.

They were telling me about New Year’s traditions and what to & buy. If you recall the guy at our apartment said that after eating New Year’s Eve dinner people go to Victoria Park to New Year’s shop. Well, Sophia & Eric said the same thing. They said if you wait until the vendors are about to close you can get really good deals. They said last year Eric got a great deal on a plant because he went to the vendor at 3:30am. They said people will stay up shopping all night & the shops don’t close until the wee hours in the morning. I think I can manage without getting a deal like that. I enjoy this street shopping thing, but not enough to stay up that late, but we’ll see. I’m wondering if it is like New Year’s Eve in the USA where people stay up & party all night. I thought that was really funny.

After walking around for a few hours Eric was off to have dinner with some friends. Sophia wanted to do some shopping along the huge street market in Mong Kok (which I was not in the mood for, even with Sophia, just too many people), and I was heading back to have dinner with John & the guy in from Bangkok. We met at the escalator and he ended up choosing a Vietnamese/Thai restaurant that I’ve read about in the restaurant review magazine, so I was glad to go there. I tried a dish called seafood laska. Jim said it is a Malaysian dish, but often eaten in Vietnam. It was good, but had lots of coconut milk in the sauce. I’m not a huge fan of coconut milk, a little too sweet for my taste. We had some great Thai spring rolls that are wrapped in rice paper, very thin wrap & filled with nice crunchy veggies. Passed on the desserts.

When we got home I decided to make a pie that I had promised to make for another guy (our Cadmus guy) coming in from Bangkok, Meenawat. Meenawat lived in the states for 15 years (he’s only 27) & was telling me how much he missed pumpkin pie. His birthday is later this month, so I promised him I’d make him a pumpkin pie when he came. He is only going to be here Mon. & Tues. so I didn’t have a lot of time. I bought a oven thermometer while I was at home in the US, so I could better regulate the temperature. As it turns out the conversion & the actual temperature were way off. Not sure if you remember last time I tried baking pies they took like 2 hours or more to bake. This time I had the temp right & they took the normal time. Glad I got that part figured out.

Feb 5 Monday – Super Bowl, pie, Cadmus Dinner

If you are wondering why I made the pie last night & not just wait until the morning, it is because we had a date with the Super Bowl. Being 13 hours ahead of the eastern US, the game started over here at 7:00am. I had noticed last week that our favorite British Pub just around the corner from the office, Delaney’s, was opening early & showing the Super Bowl live. Since John hadn’t seen a football game all season, he was anxious to go. I had gotten to see several of the playoff games, so I had sort of gotten to know the teams.

I got there a little early because I thought it might be crowded, it wasn’t. Many tables were filled, but there were still some good ones left. They were serving a British breakfast (lots of meat & grease), so I opted out. Most people were Americans & were having liquid breakfast (bloody mary’s & screwdrivers & beer). We had tea & coffee. We are so boring, but John had to go to work afterwards & I must be getting old, but alcohol from breakfast just doesn’t appeal to me.

It was fun watching the game with a crowd. The group was fairly evenly mixed between the Bears & Colts, but the Bears fans were louder, well until it became obvious they were going to lose. We were cheering for the Colts, so were happy with the results.

Monday night was the company New Year’s dinner. We went back to the Korean BBQ place that we went to for the company Christmas dinner. I guess everyone liked it. That was the dinner where a few employees consumed mass quantities of sake & put on a good show from the crowd (that would be Steve, who is back in the states). This dinner was also very fun and got pretty loud as well. This time I think it was the plum wine & not the sake that was at fault. I know that was what did it for me. I really need to remember that I should just stick to beer. It was fun & there was more food than we knew what to do with. I’m not sure how this Korean BBQ works, but they just keep brining more & more platters of food. We had a lucky draw, which is door prizes. There were enough for everyone to win something. I brought out the pumpkin pie with candles & a crown for Meenawat. Everyone seemed to think it was excellent. It is so easy to please people who can’t get pie. I just used the recipe off the can & premade crust – how much easier can it be? Hopefully we made all the right toasts for the New Year so that Cadmus will have a lucky year. There was a lot of toasting going on!

Feb 6 Tues – More pie, the Peak, the bank

Despite the late & drunk night before, I was up at 6am & went to the store to get apples for an apple pie. This was Meenawat’s other request & since he was leaving tonight I figured I’d just get it done early. I met up with my friend, Sarah, at 11:30am. She is the woman I met at the Delhi, India airport & we’ve become friends & have had several lunches together. We have been in touch via email & she has to return to the States next week for a trail (she’s a lawyer) that she thought would settle out of court, but now isn’t. She’s been working non-stop on this case, but needed a day away, so wanted to try my new walk to the Peak.

She is in much better shape than I am. She didn’t seem winded by the climb. She explained that her last apartment (they just moved Feb 1) was 7 rooms & 7 stories, so she did a lot of climbing all day long. The apartment was also on a hill, so to go anywhere she said it was all up & down. We had a 1pm reservation at the Peak Lookout restaurant. This restaurant has been in the same location for I think 60 years. Neither of us had been there before, but it is a big tourist place. We had an outside table & it was a very pleasant afternoon. The service was very slow, but we were not in a hurry. Amazingly enough we never run out of things to talk about. We are a lot alike & found out we are even the same age. I think we were destined to meet.

The menu was culturally very varied. We both opted for soup & salad. Got Thai spring rolls to share. I got asparagus cappuccino (strange name) & spinach salad, she got a spicy Thai salad & mushroom soup. I only mention what we got because the bill was so ridiculous. When you are converting currency sometimes it is hard to realize exactly what the conversion is until after you’ve paid. I realized that it came to about US$30 each for soup & salad. We won’t be going back there any time soon. Maybe with some special visitors. The funny thing is, there isn’t even a view because the trees are grown up so high. It was fun & I’m glad we did it. We had a nice walk down & I showed her our apartment. I’m really bummed that she goes back home next week & will likely be gone a month, maybe more. We are getting to be such good friends. Guess I’ll just have to find some other friends.

I headed into the office with the pie & got some ice cream on the way in. Everyone enjoyed it. I didn’t have any. I had an errand to run for the office. I am the Cadmus delivery/fetch person. They needed me to go to the bank (Bank of America) to pick up some checks. I wasn’t completely clear about exactly what I was doing. I thought I was to get some checks that had been delivered to the bank, sign them over & have them deposited into our account. The only time I’ve been to the bank before it was to deposit checks. So I went to the bank, it is about 20 minutes away. I was told to go to the 9th floor. I went to the 9th floor & tried to explain what I was there for. They said I needed to go to the 17th floor. That is a different elevator, so I had to go back to the 1st floor & get the other elevator to the 17th floor. When I got to the 17th floor, they didn’t know what I was talking about. I called Karen at the office to have her explain what I was doing there. It turns out that I didn’t understand my mission. I guess we don’t have checks that we can write against our account, so the bank has to do them for us. I was there to pick up checks being written out of our account to pay our vendors. The woman on the 17th floor called someone on the 9th floor & then said to go back down there & they would know what to do.

Back to the 1st floor to catch the other elevator to the 9th floor again. I went to a different desk which looked more official. I explained what I was there for. This woman had no idea what I was talking about. I called Karen again & she explained. The woman went away for a few minutes, then came back & sent me back to the desk I’d been at the very first time (still on the 9th floor fortunately). They had no idea what I was talking about. Called Karen again. Thank goodness for cell phones & Karen. She explained AGAIN & they finally knew what I was there for & they were very very apologetic. They gave me a stack of checks, which is when I realized exactly what I was doing there. We speak the same language, but sometimes the ideas just don’t get across because things are done so differently that it just isn’t in my mind set to think of this.

This is funny to think about afterwards, but it is very frustrating when you are trying to make yourself understood, trying to describe something you don’t really understand. I find that happens to me a lot. I am sent on errands with what I think is all the info I’ll need, but it isn’t. There is something missing so I can’t accomplish the task successfully. It gets discouraging & extremely frustrating. Things are just done differently, guess that is the cultural differences that cause problems between cultures.