Happy New Year!

Holiday celebrations begin early in HK.  Over-the-top Xmas decorations start to appear on November 1st, right after Halloween.  It seems to me that there's a competition to fit in as many plants, trees and decorations as possible in any given public space.  The lobby of our building (on the left) is not very spacious, and less so with the large tree and plentiful poinsettias!  The malls are all decked out with trees and cartoon and seasonal characters.  And Xmas would not be complete without the local ballet company performing The Nutcracker.  Last, but not least, is the constant drone of Xmas music - although we have yet to hear Jose Feliciano's Feliz Navidad.

Some of my ongoing activities have wrapped up for 2010.  Instead of having a regular book review meeting in December, the book club enjoyed an end-of-year dinner at the Phoenix Restaurant.  Amazing how lively we all became with two or three glasses of wine in us.  We each brought a favourite book, explained why we chose it, and then exchanged them during dessert.  I chose Gweilo, a memoir of a HK childhood, by Martin Booth.  It's considered a classic by expats living here.  We'll be resuming our reviews at the end of January, beginning with the Orange Prize winner, and continuing with the Booker, the Pulitzer and Commonwealth winners.  (Not sure how much I will be contributing to our discussions, since I've recently picked up and quickly put down The Lacuna and Tinkers)

This term's English conversation group at King's College also came to an end.  I'm sad to leave my Secondary 7 (senior high) boys - they're a lot of fun, but also very serious.  As Christopher (third from the right) explained - their lives will be over if they don't succeed in their "A Levels" in March and manage to get into the right program at the right university.  They all study until midnight each night, even during the holidays.  Life will resume for them after exams, I hope.  During the weeks we met, I learned a lot about the educational system here, and also realized that aside from being coerced into achieving high marks, they are just regular boys with voracious appetites and interests in everything from music (Michael on the far left and Christopher), to botany (Edgar on the far right), and sports (the rest of the group).  Ben (second from right) said that if he doesn't do well in his exams, he will buy a motorcycle and bum around Australia!  I wish them all every success.

One of the most popular tourist attractions in HK is the Big Buddha on Lantau Island.  Jeff and I have not been there yet, nor have we been to Disneyland (waiting for Kyle to visit), or Ocean Park (but we will be there tomorrow to attend a wedding!).   I did manage to visit the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin with a few ladies from the AWA.  I'm sure there are more than 10,000, but we only had a few hours to visit the temple, and I couldn't count fast enough.  The path to the temple is quite steep, but lined with life-sized gold-painted buddhas, each with a different face.  There are also thousands of colourful ceramic buddhas, as well as pagodas, gazebos, and columbaria.   We were intrigued by the sign cautioning us not to give alms to the monks - we often see monks begging in our neighbourhood, and now I'm sceptical ...

Living in HK, we basketball junkies are desperate for any hoops entertainment.  Jeff and I were therefore very excited to see a blurb advertising the 18th 3D-Gold Super Kung Sheung Cup being played at Queen Elizabeth Stadium from December 14-19.  Because the information on the website is all in Chinese, we had no idea who was playing, the age of the athletes, nor the level of their skills!  Our 50HKD tickets ($6.50CDN) entitled us to front-row, centre-court seats for a triple-header.  As you can see from the photo, very few people showed up for the 5 p.m. game (5th place between India - undernourished-looking players - and a team from Mainland China).  Jeff and I were the only gweilos in the crowd, except for Norman Black, the coach of the Philippines team (yes, I spoke to him, and yes, he played in the NCAAs and in the NBA - three games with the Pistons).  The caliber of the players was slightly better than Canadian high school, but not quite university level.  We lasted through two and a half games, and left when the American team (mostly Division II dropouts) was ahead by 20 points.

The low point of the evening was our dinner.  We opted for the jumbo hot dogs instead of the dumplings, and yes, they did taste as bad as they looked!

Before we left for Penang, Malaysia (next blog), we managed to get in a wonderful hike along the Wilson Trail.  We took the MTR to the eastern end of Kowloon, and then hiked up the road to Devil's Peak and the Chinese Permanent Cemetery.  We passed the ruins of an old fort, long abandoned, with a spectacular 360-degree view.  We then hiked down the hill to Lei Yue Mun, a fishing village noted for its seafood restaurants.  We had a delicious lunch outside, and then slept all the way home on the subway!

It's been an amazing year, full of surprises and full of history and culture.  Our lives have certainly changed:  Jeff works harder than ever, but we love exploring and learning about HK and Asia in our free time.  We never tire looking outside our window at the magnificent skyline of this exciting city, and feel very fortunate to have this opportunity.  Thank you to Helen and Lou, Shelley and Issie, Cousin Lou, and Nancy and Randy for visiting with us.  We're looking forward to our next group of visitors, starting with Suzanne and Robert next weekend!

We wish all of our family and friends a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Hong Kong's answers to the Toronto International Film Festival

Friends in Canada ask what I miss from home.  In September, I was truly envious of Susan and John, Bill, Judith, and Diana, who wrote and told me about all of the great films they saw at TIFF.  HK hosts an international film festival in the spring, but we didn't attend it, since most of the films that were of interest were screened during the week we travelled to Cambodia (ah, the choices we have to make in life!)  We made up for TIFF by watching lots of films during the fall festivals.

Many of the consulates here sponsor film festivals.  First it was the Australian, then the Jewish, the French, and the German.  An Israeli festival is scheduled for January (why don't they combine it with the Jewish film fest?  Reminds me of the joke - two Israelis, three points of view).

A funny thing happened on the way to a screening at the Oz festival:  as I was walking down the street in Wan Chai near the theatre, I heard a woman say "Oh S---" very loudly.  She was a tall, blonde Aussie, stranded at an intersection - she had no idea how to get to the other side!  On main roads in HK, there are no traffic lights - you have to cross the street by the overhead footpaths, but finding the access to the paths can be tricky, since the staircases or escalators leading up are often hidden inside office buildings.  Dale to the rescue!  Since I had been in the same situation a few months before, I knew how to navigate us across the road.  She told me her whole life story in the five minutes it took to get to the theatre, and she was so happy to arrive on time, that she invited me to the pre-film cocktail party (she works for the Australian consulate).

The Jewish Film Festival was fun, though poorly attended.  We shmoozed with the director of the film The Third Richard, and passed the information about this terrific film on to the Toronto JFF via the grapevine.  We bought "macher" (big shot!) passes, and were able to see as many of the films as we wanted, although by the end of the week we began to run out of steam.

When the French film festival was advertised, I hustled to buy tickets to six films, including one with Gerard Depardieu.  Talk about people aging badly!  He's 61, and looks much older.  In the film Mammuth, he portrays a retiree travelling around to collect his pension.  He shows off his not-svelte physique, and, as my French friend, Jacqueline says, he's repulsive.  I would like to recommend The Big Picture (L'homme qui voulait vivre sa vie) - it's a terrific drama/mystery that is well-acted and well-paced.  Catherine Deneuve is exquisite in a supporting role (she has aged very well!).   We also saw Tournee (On tour), which won an award at Cannes this year.  I'm quite convinced that the panel of judges of that illustrious competition was paid a lot of money to vote for this embarrassingly bad film.

We saw an excellent German film last week called The Invention of Curried Sausage.  It was reminiscent of Goodbye, Lenin.  Barbara Sukowa won the best actress award for it at the Montreal Film Festival in 2008.

Being the film junkie that I am, I also went to see Le Concert on a rainy Wednesday afternoon (watching movies in the middle of the day is the height of laziness!).  It's one of the best films I've seen in a long time.  I was in a small arts-film theatre, with about 25 locals.  I laughed and cried throughout the film, but the rest of the audience was silent - I don't think humour translates well from one culture to another, especially through subtitles!  

The last of my film recommendations is Echoes of the Rainbow, a sentimental tear-jerker that was filmed on Wing Lee Street (blog May 10, Oct. 14).  A group of us watched the film the night before attending Professor Woo's lecture on the urban transformation of Central.  Professor Woo wrote her report on Wing Lee Street a year before the film was shot, so when all the hype occurred about preserving this street, she suddenly found herself a media star! (There Goes the Neighbourhood)  I was rather surprised at how clean and neat the filmmakers portrayed the street - I'm not sure it has ever been anything but a run-down slum.  But that's show-biz!

Some good films, like Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger, have come and gone very quickly in HK.  By the time we decide to go to the movies, the only films showing are action and sci-fi.  We'll catch up on what we've missed on our 15-hour flights to Canada next spring!

I am Canadian

Each year, in early December, the Canadian Consulate hosts a commemorative ceremony at the Sai Wan War Cemetery, honouring the memory of the Canadian victims of the Battle for Hong Kong during WWII.  This year's event, also marking the 65th anniversary of the end of the War, was held on Sunday, December 5th.
The Japanese coordinated their attacks on Hawaii, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.  These attacks were all launched on December 7th and 8th 1941, depending on which side of the International Date Line the attack came.  Two battalions of Canadian soldiers - the Royal Rifles from Quebec City and the Winnipeg Grenadiers - had arrived in HK in mid November, 1941.  Along with the British soldiers already on guard in HK, they were ill-prepared for the Japanese attack.  The battle was brutal: almost 300 of the 1,975 Canadians died, and 500 were wounded.  Another 300 died as POWs in either HK or Japan.  These were the first Canadians to engage in a land battle in WW2.

The cemetery rises up the hill from the sea.  When it was built in 1946, there was a clear view of the channel where the Japanese pontoons crossed from Kowloon to invade HK Island.  Today, the view is obstructed by the high-rise buildings in Chai Wan, at the eastern end of the island.  The Canadian soldiers buried in this cemetary include Brigadier John Lawson, the highest-ranking officer to be killed in the defence of HK.

Jeff and I were moved to tears throughout the ceremony.  The crowd was assembled at the bottom of the hill.  A bagpiper led the dignitaries slowly down the long slope.  The dignitaries included Doreen Stiedle, the Consul General, and three veterans of the battle - Horace Gerrard, Frederick Cooper, and Arthur Pifher (all in their late 80s) and their families, including their grandchildren.  The junior choir from the Canadian International School sang "Amazing Grace" during the speeches and the laying of wreaths.  The highlight for me was Fred Cooper's reminiscences of the battle and his imprisonment in Japan for the duration of the War.  He spoke in a strong, calm, understated way.  I suppose he's just a typical Canadian, if there is such a thing.  We felt very proud, to put it mildly.

At the end of the ceremony, the 1st HK Canadian Scout Group placed poppies on the Canadian graves, accompanied by the choir singing "What a wonderful world".  The morning ended with the choir and audience belting out O Canada (followed by the Chinese national anthem).
The crowd slowly climbed the hill again to the luncheon reception at the top.  I was walking behind an elderly woman who was being helped up the hill by a younger, local woman.  I asked if she needed another arm, and we chatted as we hiked.  She is the widow of one of the soldiers who had died in the battle.  She's a francophone living in Winnipeg.
This event has made us reflect on how fortunate we are living in Hong Kong in peaceful, prosperous times.  Throughout our travels, we always have been, and will continue to be proudly Canadian.

Bauhinia blooms in December

We're not in Canada any more, Toto!  Trees bloom here in the winter!
The bauhinia (also called the Hong Kong orchid) is the national flower of Hong Kong, as well as the emblem on its flag, coins, and coat of arms.  The city is now covered in bright pinkish-purple flowers, and, along with the clear skies, the sight is breathtaking.  The smell of the flowers masks some of the stinkier scents of the city, too.  We've been told that these trees will bloom until March.  As northerners who only witnessed colourful trees and flowers from May until September, we certainly appreciate the vegetation of HK all year long.

Speaking of plants, our good friends, Joan and Ron, left HK two weeks ago.  Joan bequeathed me her plants, despite my protests that I am the kiss of death for anything green.  She insisted that African violets and anthurium require very little care - water once a week, and keep them out of direct sunlight.  I've been heeding her advice with excellent results so far.  (There are little red buds on the anthurium, which might even turn into flowers!)  I'm now encouraged to venture to the flower market in Kowloon to buy some orchids, although last winter's orchid adoption was a dismal failure (sorry to admit this to Susan, my Toronto buddy who is a card-carrying member of the Orchid Society).

Two of our passions in HK are discovering new neighbourhoods, and learning more about the history of this territory, in particular WWII and the Japanese occupation (1941-1945).  Recently, I've been on several historical walks and have attended some interesting lectures.  As often happens, the lectures and walks mesh into a more coherent understanding of a place and time.

Shau Kei Wan

I first glimpsed SKW while lazing about on a junk boat called the Aqua Luna.  After a dim sum lunch in Kowloon,  a group of Friends of the Museum, Chinese University of HK (herein referred to as "Friends" - no Quaker connection whatsoever) boarded the junk and cruised eastward towards the shipbuilding docks of SKW.  The Aqua Luna is a new ship, designed and built by the eighty-year-old man in the photo.  As we approached the row of old-fashioned docks, we noticed the Aldrich government housing estate, but couldn't imagine anything remotely interesting behind it.

SKW is a densely-populated neighbourhood in the north-east end of HK Island.  At first glance, it looks like a planned, ugly district of high-rise public housing apartments, akin to the "projects" in large North American cities.  Although these buildings are a blight on the skyline, there is still much vitality and heritage to be found here, especially in the older, central part of the neighbourhood.

At a recent lecture given by Professor Woo Pui Leng, I learned about the urban transformation of this neighbourhood.  SKW began as one of the original fishing villages of HK, since there was some flat land on which to build small houses.  Many of the fishermen lived on houseboats.  Over the past 150 years, land reclamation has filled in the entire bay, so the original village is now situated way inland.  It is hard to imagine the old Tin Hau Temple on Main Street in its original setting on the waterfront.  Tin Hau Temples honour the goddess of fishermen and sailors.  There are many of these temples in HK, and none of them seem to be within one kilometre of water any more!  In SKW, all of the reclaimed land is filled with housing estates (named after Major Aldrich, the British army engineer who first surveyed Hong Kong), elevated expressways, and transportation hubs.
The changes here, and elsewhere in the city, happened over several decades, and were due to the enormous growth in the population after 1949.  I was astounded to learn that the population of HK has grown by 1 million in each decade from 1950 to the present day, due to the influx of people from Mainland China.

The original two-story shop-houses of SKW were gradually dwarfed by dense housing.  In 1964, the famous tenement known as the Corner Building was built at the streetcar terminus.  Instead of having the balconies face the prominent tram roundabout, the small, cell-like windows of the kitchens and bathrooms are in the forefront of the rounded building.  The next stage of urban growth featured the Ming Wah housing estates.  This cluster of buildings contains numerous tiny apartments, however, there are floating corridors separating rows of flats, bringing light and air into the interior.  The buildings were designed to give residents a view of the green mountains behind, and the sea in front.  The mountains are still there, but the sea view has been replaced by the Aldrich buildings!
A few days after Professor Woo's talk, I joined an AWA historical walk with Jason Wordie in SKW.  We climbed way up into the hills and saw the remains of the British gun batteries that were no match for the Japanese attack on HK Island in 1941.  The walk also brought Professor Woo's information into perspective.

I discovered that there is still an old-fashioned village on Main Street, with a beautiful wet market one street away.  The local shops and enticing eateries have not changed despite the urban growth around them.  Culturally, locals still prefer to live the way they have for decades - buying fresh food daily at the local markets, eating dim sum at tiny restaurants, and shopping for household goods in small, specialized mom-and-pop stores.

Jason's walk ended on an amusing note.  AWA outings normally end with an optional lunch.  The convenor announced that she had made a reservation for us at Ruby Tuesday's in Tai Ku.  Vanessa, Angela, and I shouted "not me!!" and hightailed it to a Main Street cafe, where we ate delicious dim sum.  Our entire lunch cost the equivalent of $6.50CDN for three!  We splurged on fresh egg tarts for dessert - three for 5HKD ($0.65).  Sure beats an American hamburger!

Helen and Lou

The smiles on their faces sums up the vacation!

I don't even know how to begin blogging the most wonderful, special time that Mom and Dad and Jeff and I had together, both in Hong Kong and on our cruise to Vietnam.  I suppose I will start at the very beginning, when Mom and I dreamed up this trip.
In August 2009, when Jeff and I told Mom and Dad that we were planning to move to HK, I said "We're moving to Hong Kong in a few months, and you're coming to visit us."  Mom looked and me and said "OK".  Dad looked like he wanted to crawl under the table - I think the thought of such an ambitious trip was a bit overwhelming!   Once we were all in agreement (Dad notwithstanding), we decided that the best time for them to visit would be late October/early November, when typhoon season is over.  Throughout all of the arrangements - frequent flyer flights, health insurance, cruise details, and what to pack - we all held our collective breath that everything would go smoothly.  In September and early October, there were a couple of setbacks - Dad came down with bronchitis/pneumonia, and then Mom caught a three-week cold.  But by October 25th, they were packed and on their way.

The 24-hour (and 3 calendar day) journey took them from Montreal to Vancouver, and then on to HK.  Since they were scheduled to arrive at 6 a.m., we had arranged for a limousine to fetch them at the airport.  They arrived at our apartment around 7:15 - Mom hopped out of the cab, blue eyes shining, looking like a million bucks!  Dad looked bedraggled and bewildered - a nap was definitely of primary importance.  While he rested, Mom unpacked, and then we scooted around the neighbourhood so that she could get a sense of the city.  I shlepped her to the cleaners, up and down steps, and to one of the local coffee shops for a cappuccino.  Then up the escalators and back home.  We spent the afternoon at the historic Ohel Leah synagogue, and visited an exhibit on the Jews of Shanghai at the Jewish Community Centre.
Mom and Dad also amused themselves watching the construction of a huge apartment building right next door.  As luck would have it, construction had reached our eye-level, so we could even wave to the workers who pranced around like Cirque du Soleil performers, erecting bamboo scaffolding and pouring concrete on the 28th floor of a high-rise.  (btw - the construction has now surpassed 40 stories, with no end in sight)

Day 2:  Clear skies, cool temperatures.  We got to the Peak Tram before the crowds.  The creaky old train crept up the mountain, affording us magnificent views of the skyscrapers along the way.  At the top, we took photos of the harbour, and also the vast country parks that cover most of HK Island.  Dad, of course, spent a lot of time talking to strangers (I've inherited that habit).  Luck was on our side, since the view was clear - unimpeded by the normal pollution and haze.

Our next stop was Stanley Market.  We took the scenic route on the top of the double-decker number 6 bus.  All of our visitors, including Mom and Dad, are amazed at the beautiful vistas just 15 minutes beyond the congestion of downtown.  The Market is colourful, with lots of fun souvenirs.  It was a pleasure for me to spend a weekday afternoon in Stanley, since Jeff and I normally go there on weekends when it's extremely crowded.  On our taxi ride home, I sat in up front with the driver, but kept turning around to make sure Mom and Dad were ok - there are lots of hairpin turns, and the drivers keep up a good pace!  (reminiscent of Chevy Chase and the Japanese tourists in the movie Foul Play).

We ended a great day at Hometown Dumplings, our favourite local eatery (blog Oct. 14).  The waiter gave Mom a lesson in how to use chopsticks - easy!  Dad was not convinced - his sweet and sour fish tasted just fine with a fork!
We walked home (up the escalators), and watched the daily 8 p.m. light show!  Free entertainment at the Biteens'.
Early to bed - tomorrow is WALKING day!



Well rested, and completely un-jetlagged, we started our 2-hour walk the next day at the Man Mo Temple.  Built in 1848 (and renovated several times), this is one of the most well-known Buddhist/Taoist temples in HK.  We managed to arrive before the tour bus onslaught, and were able to walk through the buildings, and smell the strong incense.  From the Temple, we walked east along Hollywood Road, stopping to look at the collections in a few art galleries.  We walked through the wet market (open-air food stalls) on Graham Street and Gage Street, and saw the contrast between the old world and the new. We even walked down Pottinger Street - just about the most difficult, steep, road to walk on in the city!  (In fact, my HK friends were aghast that I would take my "old?" parents on it!)  Pottinger is lined with small kiosks, usually selling seasonal paraphernalia.  Halloween was two days away, so the shops were filled with masks and costumes.  Lots of fun.  We all ran out of steam when we reached Marks and Spencer on Queens Road - time for lunch.  Once refreshed, we shopped in "the lanes" off Queens Road, and headed home up the escalators.

My mission was to show off my parents to as many of my friends as possible, so we had an enjoyable Italian dinner at Vivo with Ed and Hanora.  Ed is in the shmatta business. He and Dad talked shop.
After dinner, we all went back to our apartment, and enjoyed our tea with Mom's mandel bread - I wonder how they stayed so fresh on all of those flights?




On Saturday, we taxied to Ocean Terminal (directly across the harbour in Kowloon), where we boarded the Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas.  Our 5-day cruise took us to Sanya (on Hainan Island in South China), Da Nang, and Halong Bay.  Although the ship had a tired look about it, it was still very comfortable and relaxing.  We were each able to do our own thing - Jeff found a quiet spot in the library and worked on a report, Mom played the slots in the casino, Dad napped, and I read.

We shared our dining table with two couples from New Zealand (Dunedin - the last post office before the South Pole!), and had a lot of fun.  I discovered a kindred spirit in Shirley (extreme left in the photo) - she's also an avid mystery reader.  (Last week we exchanged book lists.)  The only minor problem was that Mom and Dad had some difficulty understanding the New Zealand accent.  Living in HK, with expats from so many different places plus locals with heavy Chinese-accented English, Jeff and I have become expert at understanding almost everyone who is speaking our language.

Sanya was not an interesting stop.  It is a growing city that China is touting as the next Hawaii.  There are some 5-star resorts along the coast, with many others under construction, but aside from the empty high-end mall that our bus took us to, the rest of the city looked run-down.  The majority of visitors are from the Mainland, but there are also a large number of Russian tourists.  Although the city is moving forward, we still noticed yoked vendors like the one in the photo.

Our two stops in Vietnam were very interesting, and whetted our appetite to spend more time exploring that country in the near future.  Both Hoi An (near the port of Da Nang) and Halong Bay are UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Hoi An is charming: old streets lined with temples, French colonial buildings, and tailor shops.  The highlight of the town is the 16th century Japanese bridge that connected the Japanese and Chinese quarters.  Disputes between the two communities were settled on the bridge.  There were hundreds of bicycles and motorbikes racing through the town, and Mom decided she'd like to try riding a motorcycle!  (Not on my watch, thank you!).  We also did some shopping at a silk embroidery workshop which was very similar to the one we had visited in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Halong Bay is on every list of places to see before you die.  All of the passengers were on deck at 9 a.m. to experience sailing through the most beautiful vista of rock islands in the world (although the New Zealanders claim that there are similar sights in their country, too).  We stood for almost two hours, mesmerized, taking photos, and trying to soak it all into our memories.  The sky was clear and the view was breathtaking.

After the ship anchored near Halong City, Jeff and I took the junk boat tour of the islands.  The tour took us to a recently-discovered cave as well as to a floating fishing village.  People live very primitively.  There is no schooling for the children, and there is no health care for the families.  We were able to disembark at one of the houses, and observed how the people sustain themselves.  The houses are very small, and there were no beds - just hammocks.
Mom and Dad took the tender to Halong City, where they encountered hoards of women and children begging and following them.  They were very unnerved.  They hired a rickshaw to take them to the local market.  Dad tore his pants getting into the rickshaw, which only added to their unease.  The highlight of their visit was buying a pair of "custom-made" sandals for $6US.  Mom chose the soles and the top strap, and watched the woman create a fashionable pair of shoes.

On formal night, we all dressed up for dinner.  The excellent Filipino cover band played in the main atrium, and Mom and Dad danced.  They got applause, especially from the Chinese passengers who also snapped their photos.  Dad's sore hip doesn't seem to affect him when he's dancing or playing golf!

On Thursday morning, we arrived back in HK to rain - a good excuse to laze around, unpack, sort the laundry, and relax.  Later that afternoon, we taxied to IFC mall so that Mom and Dad could experience one of HK's premier high-end shopping malls.  They were impressed (but bought nothing).  After dinner, I led them through the mall, across the elevated covered footbridges, and up the escalators to our apartment.  Lots of walking, lots of new sights.

I finally got to show Mom and Dad my favourite HK building on Friday morning - the Central Library.  We then walked through Causeway Bay in the pouring rain to meet Jeff at Din Tai Fung for dim sum.   Unfortunately, it is impossible to cross the intersections at street level in this area.  We had to climb up and down two steep flights of 30 steps in order to get to the restaurant.  Like Jeff says, HK is a perpetual step class.  Lunch was delicious, and Dad even practised using chopsticks.  That evening, we had yummy Peking duck at Peking Garden in the Pacific Place mall.

Before their trip to HK, Mom kept saying that she wanted to go to Shenzhen, China to shop (blog April 21).  I had to convince her that we should leave Dad at home with Jeff.  Once we arrived at the Lo Wu mall, she understood my warning.  Thousands of tiny shops and many pushy salespeople following us around shouting "Missy, buy a handbag" or Missy, buy a DVD".  We bought gifts and then had a quiet lunch at the Shangri-La Hotel across the street.  After lunch, I showed Mom around the 5th floor of the mall, where all the tiny tailor shops are located.  She was most impressed with the fabric hall in the centre of the shops.  Row after row of every kind of fabric imaginable.
Dad and Jeff had a great day while we were in China.  They went to the Ohel Leah synagogue for services, and then stayed for the kiddush lunch.  Dad met the new Rabbi, who studied at McGill, and who knows Rabbi Steinmetz at Dad's shul in Montreal.  Jeff also introduced him to our friends, Ursula and Stephen, and Howard (from Toronto) who is the director of the HK Jewish Film Festival (next blog!).  We had befriended a couple from Melbourne on the cruise, and they were also at services.
Later that afternoon, Jeff took Dad to the HK Museum of History.

Sunday was another "walk your feet off" day for Mom and me.  We visited the crowded Sunday markets of Kowloon - the flower market, bird market, and ladies' market.  The highlight was definitely the egg tart on Nathan Road!  Unfortunately, Mom was not wearing good walking shoes, so by the time we met up with Jeff and Dad, she was hobbling along.  Dad and Jeff had also done a lot of walking through the Museum of Art.  I think Jeff and I had finally worn them out!



We saved one of HK's best attractions for last:  a trip across the harbour on the Star Ferry.  Mom and Dad left smiling, happy, and full of memories.