June 17, 18, 19 2007

I’ve decided that I need to get back into touring HK. If you can believe it there are still things I haven’t seen yet. So the blogging will continue!

Sunday June 17 – Father’s Day
Believe it or not we spent most of the day at the newest mall in HK. Don’t really believe this city needs another mall, but now we have “mega box”. It is 17 floors of shopping! I’m sure some of you are thinking that we must be nuts to want to spend Father’s Day at a mall, we must have really gotten bitten by the HK bug & are becoming locals. WELL, not that fast, we have not changed that much. Does it make more sense if I tell you that this mall has the only regulation size ice hockey rink in HK? Now you know why we fought the crowds to be there. Sunday happened to be the final day of a week-long international ice hockey tournament & we wanted to check it out. We only saw the adults play & it was men’s level hockey, nothing special, but it felt good to be watching real hockey again. Otherwise the mall was good as malls go. The ladies at the office are very excited because there is a store there that has a large arts & crafts section, like you might find in the US. This is a first for HK, so very exciting!

Monday June 18 – Heritage Museum
My intent was to go to the 10,000 Buddha Temple which my guide book said was at the same train stop as the HK Heritage Museum. The guide book said to get out at the north exit & follow the signs. I didn’t see any signs for the temple, but saw them for the museum. So I went to the museum. The area was nice, along a river with mountains all around. Still lots of buildings, but more suburbia (well HK suburbia).

The museum was worth the visit. They had a special exhibit of relics found in 2 grave sites in Central China from the ancient Shu civilization. I’d never heard of this, but the artifacts were pretty impressive. Huge bronze heads & gold masks. Seems to have been a very sophisticated civilization & it seems to have just disappeared. The calculate it was 3000 years ago. There was also a photography & camera exhibit that I’d like to take John back to. All black & white photos from all over China, but many from HK. Also a Cantonese Opera exhibit – I didn’t find that so interesting. It was lots of costumes & posters. A Chinese art section that was interesting. Finally there is a HK history section. This was interesting, but I think I was too tired from having seen the rest of the exhibits to really appreciate it.

The most interesting thing was a film about the Chinese holidays. It explained what they do for different holidays in the area. For the Bun Festival the build huge (60 feet high) towers & cover them with buns (yes the kind you eat) & some guys race to climb the towers & throw the buns down to the people. The higher up the bun is that you get the more luck you will have in the coming year. There was another festival where people through old chicken feathers from their window. A specially chosen teenage boy from the town has to go around collecting the feathers & puts them in a paper boat which is then burned, to signify cleaning out of the old & bringing luck. There were several others & mostly they have to do with burning big paper effigies of bad gods for good luck. I guess when you have a culture that has been around as long as China’s has, there has been lots of time to develop many interesting traditions. I think it is great that they are so good about keeping the traditions alive.

The best part about the visit to the museum was the gift shop. I was just looking around & I was shocked to see that in the display of little animals that stand on pedestals & you push the bottom & the wiggle & droop – there was a hockey player. I couldn’t believe it, no other sports represented, just animals & a hockey player. Of course I was tempted to buy it, but thought, no that’s silly. Then I picked it up & looked at the back & it was #21! For anyone who knows us well, 21 has been Brooks’ number since he first started playing hockey!! Well, I figured it had to be there just for me – karma! So of course I bought it & he stands by my computer to remind me of my little hockey players.

June 19 Tuen Ng Festival
Dragon Boat Races in Stanley

Yet another holiday in HK! I think John said the staff gets 18 public holidays. It’s no wonder they have to work on Saturdays!

This festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a 3rd-century poet-statesman who drowned himself to protest against corrupt rulers. The people loved him so they throw flowers & other things into the water so the fist will not eat him & he will be protected. I guess the dragon boat races began because the churning of the water from the paddles also distracts the fish so they will not eat Qu Yuan. Most people say, its just an excuse for a holiday!

I got on the bus around 9:30 & got on at the initial stop as I thought it might be crowded. I was right. The bus was packed, but I managed to get a seat. I was glad to see that most of the people on the bus got of at the beaches we stopped at before reaching Stanley. This was a holiday for the Philippino maids & most of the people on the bus I realized were maids. They had bags full of food for bbq on the beach. They do have a good time their days off.

On my way to the beach I encountered as the US Consulate team. I had to take a photo & one of the women asked me about my camera (I had John’s nice Nikon). Of course we struck up a conversation. I ended up getting her card, so now I have an in at the Consulate. Also funny that she is from Greenville, SC; so we are almost neighbors. She’s an information management specialist, so I’m not sure she’ll be able to help me with any favors, but she seemed really nice.

Once down on the beach, it was the usual happy, festive, crazy, disorganized crowd of people that are at all HK festivities. There was the usual horde of men with huge cameras pushing & shoving to get their shots. There were dragon boat teams in colorful shirts all over the beach along with the spectators just enjoying the show. The beach was very narrow, so most people were up to their thighs in the water, which was pretty filthy. I was relieved that I got through without getting the camera wet or dropping the lens cap into the water!

I have the feeling that not many of the teams take winning that seriously. I think it is more a chance to have a day off & hang out & enjoy the festivities. Having fun seemed to way over shadow winning! Many of the teams were dressed up in special costumes for the occasion. The Nordic Paddlers wore baby blue caps with silver horns protruding from them. An Asian team was dressed in baby clothes with pacifiers & caps. The women were in pink & the men in blue. The HK police team all had black & white striped shirts & their drummer was a very sexy woman dressed in a very short & revealing police outfit. Another group had a drummer dressed like a Nordic goddess all in gold with huge conical breasts & blonde braids. The US team had an Uncle Sam look alike & another guy with a woman’s blonde wig & lots of tattoos. Another group of men were dressed in black tank tops with gold wings on their backs & wearing bee antennae that were covered with gold sparkles. There was a group of men that had pink feather wings & little halos.

So you can see that for many it was more about the costumes & fun than about the actual race. The boats are long narrow wooden boats, which are supplied by the sponsors of the event, so the just keep recycling the same boats for every race. There are enough boats so that one race it going on while the next group is getting ready. The bow of the boat has a dragon on it & a large drum. There is a drummer in the bow, 18 paddlers & a helmsman in the stern. Each race had 8 boats & they seemed to run about every 15 minutes. They started at 8:00am & the final was at 6:30pm. So you can see, there were lots of people there. Although it was fun, it was also scorching hot. I only stayed about an hour & then had to leave to get out of the sun.

Maybe next year I’ll figure out a way to get onto a team. I think that is where the real fun is.

So Happy Tuen Ng Day everyone!!!