asianadventure: Recent activities here in Hong Kong

Lots to report and a few photos to enhance my ramblings (and as you all know, I do tend to go on and on).

For those of you who are concerned about Jeff's gout - it has cleared up, he is wearing normal shoes, and has no pain walking. He has vowed to stay away from shellfish, mushrooms, cauliflower and asparagus. (He doesn't like any of them anyway.) He also has to take it easy on the wine and beer - that's another story.

Our boxes finally arrived on January 18th (that's January 17th EST). The only furniture we shipped was our bed. Luckily it fit into the master bedroom. Everything arrived in perfect condition - the only problem that remained was "where are we going to put all this stuff"!! We spent a few days organizing and reorganizing, and then decided we needed a few more armoires and shelving for storage. I will post photos of the apartment in next week's blog.

Two weeks ago, we attended a "fireside chat" at the Jewish Community Centre down the road from our apartment. Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks was interviewed. I was impressed at how relatively young he was when he was appointed Chief Rabbi (Modern Orthodox movement) - not much more than 40. His knighthood is recent (October 2009). With so many distinctions, I found it odd that the interviewer addressed him as Chief, rather than Rabbi, or Your Lordship. There must be a rule in Debrett's Peerage that governs this issue! Although he seemed so relaxed, I can only imagine how stressful and how political his job is. He did mention that the past few prime ministers of the UK have been pro-Israel, however, their governments are another story. Here is a link to the Rabbi's biography: http://www.chiefrabbi.org/Articles.aspx?id=1849 (Question for Diane Short - is Golders Green the neighbourhood where your high school was situated?)

Two interesting excursions with my "welcome to HK" group from the Y:

Last week we visited the Wong Tai Sin Temple and the Chi Lin Nunnery on Kowloon. There were busloads of people lined up to pray at the temple. It is very popular among gamblers praying for good luck at the casinos of Macau. (By the way, the Wall Street Journal reported that Macau posted a nearly 65% increase in gaming revenue in January). The scene certainly dispels the serenity and peacefulness of most places of worship that I have ever visited. One old lady was praying, shaking her box of sticks, and making strange marks on her scrap of paper. I whispered to Claire that she was probably saying a prayer for each of her friends and relatives. Claire commented that she was probably choosing her lottery numbers!

We each took boxes of numbered sticks and shook them to see what our lucky numbers would be. Mine was 53. Then it was off to the soothsayers to seek our fortunes. Although the sign said "English", my fortune-teller understood very little. We were allowed to ask one question. Mine concerned my health. The answer was "Do not lend any money this year or you will never get it back". He also asked me the year I was born, looked it up in a ledger, and then wrote my correct age on a little piece of red paper!

Chi Lin Nunnery is a quiet oasis in the middle of a very busy neighbourhood. The grounds are immaculate, and it's the kind of place to sit and read on a nice day. However, there are no benches or tables - visitors are encouraged to walk through the complex and then leave. There is a vegetarian restaurant under a waterfall that looks like a nice place to cool off in the summer months. We did not see any Buddhist nuns while we were there. I always find the contrasts in HK very interesting. There is a large, modern, shopping centre right across the street from the grounds. It's called Hollywood Plaza!

This week, the group trekked to Tai O, a unique fishing village on the far west corner of Lantau Island (the airport, two very modern suburbs, Discovery Bay and Tung Chung, as well as Disneyland are also on Lantau). Time seems to have stopped in Tai O. The villagers live in tin huts built on stilts. The surrounding barren hills reminded me of the Laurentians, and the village made me think of outports in Newfoundland. We took a dolphin boat ride - first through the canals to see the houses, and then into the open water to see the endangered pink dolphins. They are quite amazing to look at. Their skin resembles the colour of pigs! Unfortunately, they were way too fast for any of us to capture on our cameras. (The picture here is from the internet.)

We spent the rest of the day walking through the stilt houses "street" and looking at the dried fish in the open-air markets.

Jeff and I seek out new parts of the city each weekend. We follow our trusted guidebook "The Leisurely hiker's guide to Hong Kong". On Sunday, we visited Kennedy Town, west of the central core. We strolled along the waterfront, and noticed a large apartment complex which reminded us of home:

Then we climbed up to see the Tradesmen's Temple, but it was enclosed in bamboo scaffolding:

On our way home, we stopped at a bar in Soho to watch the Australian Open tennis championship, but left after the second set when it looked like Federer had the match in hand (we are sure that Eric was a happy camper that day!).

Books, reading, book clubs: I've been to two different book club meetings so far! (didn't take me long to sniff out the readers in HK). We reviewed Telex from Cuba at the first one (sponsored by the HK Literary Festival). Had a lively discussion about expats, pre-revolutionary Cuba, and colonialism. Wine was served! The second book club reminded me of my mystery group in Toronto. We sat around a big table in the YWCA boardroom, and dissected Marilynne Robinson's Home. The group was lively and very well-read, however, the only Canadian author they are familiar with (they are a mixture of Brits, Aussies, and Americans) is Margaret Atwood! None of them (including three English teachers) have heard of Mordecai Richler! However, we will be reviewing Lawrence Hill's The book of Negroes in March, after we tackle Wolf Hall in February. Right now I'm in the middle of The Help, which I am really enjoying. (I'm always interested in your recommendations). There is very little wait time for books at the central public library, and we can renew books five times!

Funny signs and strange clothing continued: