March 3 - Next guys from US

Mar 3 – Saturday, Chinese Lantern Day

Woke up to one of the clearest days we’ve had in a long time. The weather lately has been so cloudy & hazy. I’m not sure if it’s pollution or just winter weather, my guess is a combo. But today was clear as can be. I decided it was a great day for a hike. We had 2 sales people coming in from the US, but John said they wouldn’t be in until about 2pm. I figured I could be back by then. I had taken the linens to be cleaned from Keith’s visit & they wouldn’t be done until 4 today (Keith left Thurs). The hike I chose looked like a challenging one, but I wanted a view, so I figured I’d go for it. It was a trail called Dragon’s Back & it’s on the other side of HK Island near Shek O (the beach John liked so much). I was about to leave & John asked if I’d come over to the apartment & get some things ready for the next guys, because he had to work on the internet which wasn’t working. Of course I didn’t mind at all. We’d just gotten there & the door opens & it was the 2 sales guys, Alan & David. I guess John was slightly mistaken about the arrival time. So we ended up entertaining them the rest of the day. It wasn’t so bad & I’ll get to do Dragon Back another day, maybe when mom & Pat are here.

We went over to Kowloon-side to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Osaka. These guys felt like having Japanese, they’d just come from a week in Thailand, so Thai was definitely out. They were appropriately impressed & enjoyed the hustle & bustle around the area. Since it was such a clear evening, we told them we really should go to the Peak to get some photos. Alan has been to HK before, but David never has. So Alan wasn’t very thrilled about going to the Peak as he said he’d been twice before, but we convince him to go. We took the Peak Tram, which Alan had never done (he took taxis before & that is a much longer journey). Alan turned out to be very impressed. He said the other times he’d been there he didn’t go to the top of the Peak building & it was also very cloudy. We had a group photo taken at the top & Alan even got one to take home & put in his office. It can be hard in impress salesmen!

Today was Lantern Day. I guess this is part of the New Year celebration & happens on the 14th day after New Years. I happened to find out about this because I noticed at Time Square that they were putting up lanterns all over the front atrium. I asked someone what this was for & they explained it was for Lantern Day, like Chinese Valentine’s Day. They explained that the children & young people who are not married pull fortunes from the lanterns & it gives them a message (I guess like the little Valentine’s cards that kids give out in school). They march or dance around the lanterns & there is candy distributed. I couldn’t find out much more than that. I will have to ask Sophia for a more thorough explanation.