June in Hong Kong

... and the weather is steamy!
A typical conversation goes like this:  "When are you leaving"  "I'm only going to Canada for two weeks in August"  "Summer in HK is awful.  Next year you should plan to go home for six weeks".
We are starting to get our bodies and minds used to summer and even higher pollution in this part of the world.  The bottom line is: wear a lot of deodorant, don as little as you can get away with, and ignore the water splotches all over your clothes and body.  This link is to an "image consultant's" blog - she gives very good advice about how to cope in HK in the summer (see Wed., Aug. 26, 2009) image consultant  One last piece of advice: wear waterproof makeup!
Last August, when we visited HK for our "look-see", we were appalled that all of the stores kept their doors open to the street with the AC turned up to max.  We now appreciate the waste of energy as we walk through the city gasping for a bit of cold air while the unrelenting heat engulfs us.
Some of the thunderstorms we've had have been quite spectacular, lighting up the entire harbour.  We can hardly wait for the real typhoon season to begin.  There are notices in our lobby telling us how to batten down the hatches (i.e. tape up the windows and have lots of towels on hand) and prepare for the "season".  Life still goes on at its normal frantic pace, although I've started to pare down my walking and have begun taking taxis to avoid the heat.

Since returning from Canada, I've resumed my usual activities - meeting friends for lunch, working out with my trainer, eating lots of good food, attending lectures,  and walking through new areas.  My "degree" in Hong Kong continues.


While Jeff was in Toronto, I took my new camera and went for a walk along Bowen Road.  The hardest part of the 12 km walk was actually finding the beginning of the trail!  I walked along Robinson Road, the main street around the corner from our flat, until I arrived at the "spaghetti" intersection:  there are overpasses and underpasses and traffic lights and merges - all for vehicular traffic. Navigating the roads on foot is a mystery until you discover the concealed stairways leading down under the expressways.  Fortunately, there were a lot of dog walkers out who pointed me in the right direction.  I passed a lot of beautiful high-rise apartments including the one on the left with an elaborate "Miami Beach" entrance.

Unlike most of Hong Kong Island,  Bowen Road is a flat route, so it is extremely popular with joggers and walkers.  It is very high up the mountain, so the unobstructed views are spectacular.  Banyan trees shade most of the path, and there are playgrounds, exercise stations, and public toilets along the way.  Many locals use umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun, and I've started to adopt this habit, too, especially on 30C days.

Bowen Road marked the highest city limit 100 years ago.  In those days, HK was called Victoria.  The photo on the right is Happy Valley - the racetrack and neighbourhood.  The cemeteries mentioned in our Mar. 28 blog are at the eastern edge of Happy Valley, just beyond the racetrack.

An interesting sight along Bowen Road is "Lover's Rock", garlanded with offerings from marriage-minded young women.  The top of the rock is phallic-shaped, and there's a wonderful view of the harbour.  

One of my fitness goals is to start running again, culminating in the Beijing Great Wall 10 km run next May.  I am determined to practice on Bowen Road once the weather cools down (in November), but for now I am sticking to the treadmill at Pure Fitness!

Last Wednesday was Tuen Ng Festival, more commonly known as the Dragon Boat holiday.  Races are held in various venues, but the most popular site is Stanley on the south side of Hong Kong Island.  When we got off the bus, the first team we saw were wearing blue t-shirts with large maize M - University of Michigan!  We proudly told them that our daughter and her husband are professors there.  Most of the team were graduates now working in HK.  Canadian content included Air Canada employees and U of T/UBC alumni.  The entire venue reminded us of the Big Swim Meet at the end of the summer in the West Island.  One of my friends was on a team that won the best costume award.  I think that's equivalent to the Miss Congeniality award at the Miss America pageant.

We watched a few races and then headed off to the market to shop and eat.  The competitors were enjoying their post-race lunches, too.

The past two weeks have been full of culture and history.  Chloe and I went to see a beautiful photo exhibit called "An ethereal world, journeys to the edges of Asia".  The photographer, Matthieu Paley, (http://paleyphoto.com/) is based in HK, but his photos represent the farthest reaches of Asia - Siberia, northern Afghanistan, and Pakistan.  A few days later, we joined a tour of the LegCo (Legislative Council) building.  The Neoclassical granite building is one of the few remaining colonial buildings still in use, dating back to the early 1900s.  Our guide mentioned that it was designed by Webb and Bell, who also designed part of Buckingham Palace.  The photo of Chloe and me is taken in front of a backdrop that is often used for photographs of visiting dignitaries.  The guide explained the system of government:  there are 60 members - 30 are elected by direct election, and 30 are elected by indirect election (?).

The Asia Society of HK hosted a luncheon with a very interesting guest speaker.  (Cambodia lecture) Benny Widyono was the United Nations ambassador to Cambodia during the 1990s.  He gave us a short history lesson on Cambodia from 1969 to the present day, explaining how and why the United Nations continued to recognize the Khmer Rouge as the government of Cambodia even during the Vietnamese takeover from 1979-1991.  His involvement in Cambodia has continued, although he is now retired from the UN.

This week's treats were back-to-back lectures by Jason Wordie.  Jason's first talk was about material culture and the rise of modernity in HK and China.  The second talk was a historical overview of triads.  The triads are the equivalent of the mafia in this part of the world. They also thrive in the Chinese diaspora - Singapore, Malaysia, Los Angeles (read Michael Connelly's "9 dragons"!) and Vancouver.

Miscellaneous:  there's a very busy tunnel that links downtown HK with suburban Aberdeen.  At the entrance to the tunnel, there is a neon sign that lists how many accidents occurred last year, and another sign that gives the current tally.  In 2009 there were almost 18,000 accidents in the tunnel.  So far there have been 7875 accidents this year.  Boggles the mind.

On the home front, we revisited Horizon Plaza (blog Jan. 15) and bought an antique Tibetan chest to use as a coffee table.  It doesn't really "go" with our Ikea style apartment, but it's probably one of the few items we will definitely bring home with us.

Asian Adventure: time out

First trip home!  Left Jeff behind working 24/7 (even on May 21st - celebrated as the Buddha's birthday in HK, Andrew and Shelly's birthdays in Canada).  The non-stop flight from HK to Toronto follows the "coolest" route ever: north over Beijing, Harbin, and Irkutsk, across the International Date Line, over Ellesmere Island (about 150 miles from the North Pole), and south over Hudson's Bay (La Baie d'Hudson for our Quebec readers) to Toronto.  When I checked the outside temperature near the Pole, it read -72 C, almost as cold as Julie's ultra-deep freezer in her lab at UM.  I peeked through the porthole and saw bright sunlight, and cold, hard, snow-covered ground.  In between napping, eating, and reading, I watched Cooking with Stella, a film about naive Canadian government expats living in Delhi who get robbed by their housekeeper.  The best part about the movie was Ellen's cameo appearance in a diplomatic reception scene!  Ellen's husband is with UNICEF, and at the time of the filming, they were posted to Delhi.  They are now in Turkmenistan (it took me a while to find it on a map).

Montreal was my first destination, and it was wonderful to see and hug family and friends (and my sister's super-cute dog, Sparky).  Skype is great, but it sure doesn't replace the "real thing".  I ate my fill of Yagel cheese bagels, St. Viateur bagels, smoked meat, and steak (thank you Andrew, it was delicious!).  I also ate at the Yangtze (the food is better in HK).  The weather was beautiful - eastern Canada is at its best in the spring when the air is fresh and everything is green.  Thanks again to my parents, Helen and Lou, who hosted the always delicious and fun family dinner.  How many octogenarians do you know who can cook a feast for 15, do all of the preparations and 99% of the clean-up, and still have the most beautiful smile on her face!  Ma, you are an inspiration!  May is a busy birthday month in our family:  best wishes to Mom, Andrew, Shelly, Jeremy, and Sahra.

After 4 days in Montreal, I took the train to Toronto.  Blogging allows me to vent (you may skip this paragraph if you've heard me whine about this before):  train "service" in Canada is terrible.  The first problem is that there are no porters at the drop off in Gare Centrale.  I had to shlep my very heavy bags inside the station to find a porter.  (By comparison, at the HK airport express drop-off, attendants wait at the taxi stand to remove the luggage from the trunk and put it on the free carts.  They also remove the luggage and take the carts away at the high-speed train.   Amazing what service you can offer with abundant cheap labour.)  There was mass confusion when we boarded the completely sold-out train.  Since no-one had an assigned seat, we were directed to different cars depending on whether we were travelling alone or with others.  I was told to go to car 6, but I actually went to car 5, because the porter had stowed my luggage there.  I think I messed up the total seating "plan".  Would it be too expensive to print a computer-generated seat number on the boarding card?  Ma, thank you again for packing me a delicious lunch of Snowdon Del party sandwiches.  Sure beats the ham and cheese sandwiches that were for sale on the train.  Mercifully the train was only 15 minutes late in arriving at Union Station in Toronto.  More confusion:  I stood outside on Front Street searching for Bonnie, who was 100 metres down the street searching for me.  It's quite a traffic zoo when the train from Montreal arrives, especially on a holiday weekend.

The week in Toronto was very busy.  I seemed to be on the go all day, every day.  Spending quality time with everyone was my mission.  Thank you to everyone who treated me to coffee, lunch, and dinner!  (We would love to reciprocate in HK).  A special thanks to Bonnie and Joe for their hospitality.  My apologies to Jeremy for not getting together (I owe you lunch on my next visit).  Saturday the 22nd was spent making myself presentable for the Sax-Malach wedding.  A relief to have my hair cut and coloured by Margaret and Kathryn at Jalouse on Yonge Street, and my nails done at Bayview Nails (Bayview and Soudan).  I was tempted to walk by the house on Merton St., but since it was raining and I was taking the TTC, I passed.

The Sax-Malach wedding was superb - Julia and Michael sure know how to throw a fun party.  We danced all night to Go Freddie Go (http://www.gofreddiego.com/), a rock 'n roll band who play 60s and 70s music.  One of the bonuses of attending the wedding festivities was spending time with Carol and Ivan who came in from Bakersfield.

The last part of my trip was spent in Ann Arbor with Julie, Eric and Kyle.  Their neighbourhood, Ann Arbor Hills, is the epitome of suburban beauty.  Tree-lined streets with a diversity of beautifully landscaped homes set way back from the road.  The "little boy" talks, knows his letters, numbers, and colours, and understands both English and French.  I was amazed at the change in him since I last saw him in December.  As for Julie and Eric, they seem to be thriving at the University of Michigan.  Julie showed me around her current temporary lab, as well as her new lab, which is almost completed.  Impressive!

This week is Jeff's turn in Canada.  He is attending a week-long, work-related workshop in Toronto.  He's also hoping to go to Canadian Tire to buy some essentials that we can't seem to find in HK:  CLR and picture hooks.

See you all again on our next visit in August!

Canton (Guangzhou)

Our latest weekend getaway was to Canton (Guangzhou in Cantonese) from May 14-16.  We joined a group of 15 eager and curious Hong Kong expats on an AWA (American Women's Association) trip led by Jason Wordie, Hong Kong's amazing local historian.   Jeff and I didn't have much time before the trip to do our usual "homework", so almost everything about the weekend was a wonderful surprise.
Canton is China's third largest city (after Shanghai and Beijing), with a population of 15 million.  That's almost half the population of Canada! (Pearl River Delta map)
The group met at the station in Kowloon, and took the evening train to Canton.  In the not-too-distant past (pre-1997), when HK was still a British colony, passengers had to disembark at the China border, have their visas stamped, and then board a Chinese train to Canton.  Once in Canton, foreigners were restricted to a small area of the city where trade shows took place (thank you to Uncle Shelly for his reminiscences).  These days the trip is an easy non-stop two-hour ride.  The trains resemble ViaRail's outdated cars, but an ultra-modern high speed line is in the offing, amid protests that the construction of this line will destroy villages and displace people along the way (like the Cross-Bronx expressway did in New York thanks to Robert Moses).  This has been one of the more interesting ongoing human-interest stories in our local English papers for the past few months.  This morning, the papers reported that construction may be delayed due to a manpower shortage.  The government is considering importing more mainland workers for the project.
But I digress (as usual) ...

The focus of the visit was historical Canton.  We began our Saturday walk in Shamian (pronounced Sha Meen), the small island where British and French traders operated during Canton's boom years in the first half of the 20th century.  Unlike Hong Kong, where a lot of beautiful colonial buildings have been torn down to make way for high rise structures, the mansions of Canton have remained intact.  They were not destroyed during the Japanese invasion or during the Cultural Revolution, however, many of them were covered in grey "Shanghai plaster".  The restoration of this neighbourhood began 12 months ago, and will be completed in another 18 months.  (Another digression - in China, when a project begins, it will almost always be finished on time, a striking difference to Toronto, where the new St. Claire streetcar line has taken 5 years to build so far, and Montreal where the "super hospital" is still a dream on paper after 15 years.  It's amazing what you can do with an unlimited government budget and abundant cheap labour).  The boulevards in Shamian have been designed for pedestrian traffic only, and the completed buildings are being filled with restaurants, shops, artist studios, and even Starbucks.  The atmosphere is upscale New Orleans.  Flowers, playgrounds, and whimsical statues line the streets.

We crossed a modern bridge linking Shamian to the Bund, the old financial centre of Canton.  The Art Deco buildings blend with colonial masterpieces such as the domed British Customs House.  There is also a beautiful flatiron building which was the first high rise in Canton.  It has recently been transformed into an expensive hotel.  Next to the flatiron hotel is the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hospital, the first western hospital built in China (1850s).  Not far from the Bund was the Catholic cathedral, built in the 1860s.  We noticed that the gargoyles looked like the figurines on Chinese temples!  They reminded us of a historic church that we visited in Ecuador that had native-looking saints decorating the doorway arch.

No tour buses for our intrepid group:  we took the subway (modelled after Hong Kong) to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial.  There are many places in China that honour SYS, even though he was a Republican revolutionary rather than a Communist.   The Canton memorial is a concert hall/museum.  The architect combined Western and Chinese features in the structure.  The rest of the hot and sticky afternoon was spent walking up to the Zhen Hai  museum in Yuexiu Park (no, we don't know how to pronounce it).  Hidden in the park was a Cold War bomb shelter!

One of the highlights of the weekend was Saturday night dinner.  Jason ordered many local delicacies including fried eel (yup, that's me enjoying? it) and chopped fish on duck web (Jeff).
Jeff's rule is:  taste anything new, and ask what it is after you've swallowed it!

On Sunday, we visited Liang Garden, the former estate of a wealthy Cantonese official during the Qing dynasty.  A performance of Chinese opera (an acquired taste) was taking place in one of the open-air pavilions.  The gardens were filled with bonsai trees, flowers, tai chi practitioners, and old men playing Go.

Dale's rule:  no trip is complete without shopping!  Jason took us to Foshan (pronounced Fotsan), which is the pottery centre of China.  The gaudy figures and humorous bas reliefs found on Chinese temples are all made here.  The pottery market is colourful and jam-packed with stores selling ceramic vases, pagodas, buddhas, and figurines.  We bought a statue of a Mandarin fanning himself and drinking tea.

After lunch it was on to the jade market, which Jason assured us was cheaper than the jade market in Kowloon.  (We noticed HK jewellers buying jade in the wholesale area).  I was determined to buy some jade bangles, but I could only squeeze my hand into one of the thousands that were on display!  Jeff bought a jade tea set - his collection is growing! (Jeff's rule: only one tea pot per city)

Our group got on the train with a huge number of parcels, and we all dashed to the taxi stand upon arrival in Hong Kong.  Even though we were only away for a few days, we felt like we bonded.  Here are photos of the group (minus Jeff the photographer):