Flower Show - March 21

March 21 – I hung around the apartment for a bit this morning to see if Caroleena would contact me. She did not, so I went on with my day as planned. First I went to the frame shop down the hill where we’d taken our photos & silk paintings from India to be framed. I think we had about 15 in all. They were done & looked great. We got an inexpensive oil painting of the HK skyline at dusk, but with a good frame it looks really nice. I bit the bullet & took a taxi home – kind of had to with all those pictures.

Next I headed out to the 2007 Hong Kong flower show. This is a big deal & everyone has been talking about it & asking if I have been yet. I figured best to go on a weekday so it wouldn’t be so crowded. People here LOVE their flowers, that was obvious from the New Year’s market. This show was at the same park as the New Years market, so I knew it was going to be big.

The flower show was huge & impressive. And my idea that a weekday would be less crowded, didn’t seem to be accurate. The first thing that struck me was the number of people with big huge cameras, but I don’t think they were professionals, but just more amateurs who like to take photos. These guys were all over the flowers, getting close ups of each petal and leaf. It was funny to see them stooping over the flower really in close. Or setting up tripods to get just the right shot. After the initial amusement they got to be annoying because they really hogged the space around the flowers. Next thing that struck me, literally were all the old people. I think it must have been senior citizen day or something. Now I don’t have anything against old people, I’m not far from being one myself, but Chinese old people (or at least in HK) are the most pushy and passively aggressive people I’ve ever encountered. At first you try to be polite & let someone in front of you, then you realize that 10 more people just shove their way in & you get walked all over. I had noticed this at the fireworks & on the buses, but that is usually just one person at a time, this was hundreds of the little wrinkly creeps all jammed into one park. I could hardly get near any of the exhibits. Then the battery in the camera went dead. It was John’s camera & I had forgotten to bring a spare battery. It was probably a good thing as I was getting fairly annoyed (as I’m sure you can tell) by the crowd & needed to move on.
As I got to the far end of the park I noticed busloads of school children unloading for their day at the show and there were a few busloads of handicapped folks being pushed around in wheel chairs. This was just more than I could take. I adore all of these particular types of people, but in lesser numbers. Also, everyone was buying flowers, so not only was the place packed with people, but people carrying lots of large bags containing flowers they didn’t want crushed.

I finally found a section off to the side that was where the bonsai exhibit was along with show winners. This area was very sparsely populated so suited me a bit better. I walked around until I felt like my feet would fall off. Despite the crowds, the flowers were amazing – I’ve never seen so many varieties and the displays were over the top.

Just to torture my self a little more, I stopped by Ikea on the way home. It is a block away from the park & they have really nice salad bowls & I wanted to get a couple more. I kept my cool with Ikea & found a way to get to the lower floor without having to snake my way through the entire upper floor first. But once on the lower floor, what I wanted was completely at the other end & then I had to come all the way back to the registers. It being a weekday, Ikea was slightly more tolerable than on other visits. I also needed to stop at the grocery store before getting home. For some reason that store was packed full of people. Since the aisles are so narrow & the carts hardly fit, people are always bumping into you or blocking the aisle without any awareness of others around them. Normally I tolerate this just fine, but today if drove me crazy. I guess city living can do that to you sometimes. Just get tired of the crowds everywhere you go. I guess that is why so many people here hit the hiking trails on the weekends, to get away. Good thing green and secluded areas are so accessible here.