I think that our neighbour in 26E is dead. His (her? their?) mailbox, which is next to ours, has been overflowing for months. We are two floors up, but so far we haven't smelled any rot. This could be the mystery story I've been wanting to write since arriving in HK! What would Rebus or Harry Bosch do?
Back to ordinary life ...
What was I thinking? Two weeks ago, HK hosted its annual book fair. I made a big mistake and ventured to the Convention Centre on the first day of the fair. It was pouring outside (T1 warning), but nothing would stop this intrepid librarian from checking out the scene. There were at least 50,000 people jammed into the fair when I arrived on Wednesday afternoon. Most of the time I walked in circles and squares looking for English books. Two or three large English book chains had booths, the rest was all Chinese! Sometimes I forget where I am living. I did manage to buy a couple of children's books (in English) for Kyle, and also the new Carlos Ruiz Zafon book for myself.
The highlight of the book fair was a session called "How and what and why do writers write" with Stephen Fry (Hugh Laurie's best friend and sidekick on Jeeves and Wooster and Blackadder), Frederick Forsyth (Day of the Jackal), Andrew Roberts (a noted British historian) and Sir David Tang (of the Shanghai Tang fortunes). The event, held at HKU, was sold out (perhaps that's not the correct term, since there was no charge, but we had to register online to be admitted). Stephen Fry assured the audience that if you can speak, you can write. There's just a grey shadow called self-consciousness that blocks people from writing their stories. He advised the audience to stop fussing and start writing. Andrew Roberts talked about the story-telling tradition. His advice was to stick to quality, rather than trying to write for posterity. Forsyth told us he ventured into writing when he was broke and out of work. He claims he writes strictly for the money, but we got the impression that he researches his books meticulously and is very serious about his "job". After the event, I had lunch at the Starbucks on campus with my book-club friend, Theresa. We discovered that this particular Starbucks is subsidized, so our sandwiches and coffee were very cheap. There's a very pleasant terrace, too - a comfortable place to read and relax.
Toronto friends, Nancy and Randy, arrived in HK on Saturday, the 25th. Nancy is a competitive dragon boat racer, and her team from Pickering arrived en masse to participate in the Club Crew World Championships (
dragon boat) in Macau. As soon as they had checked into their Kowloon hotel, Randy phoned us. We asked if they would like to take a nap before meeting up with us, but Randy said that if they closed their eyes they would be "done for". Jeff and I ignored their jet-lag and took them on a walking/subway tour of Kowloon - the park, bird market, flower market, harbour views, and Temple Street night market. We ended the evening at Aqua, a bar on the 30th floor of 1 Peking Road, that has a magnificent view of both HK island and Kowloon.
Nancy and Randy headed to Macau on Sunday, but came back to HK on Wednesday, the only day that Nancy did not have to practise. Their first stop was Maxwell's Clothiers in Kowloon, where Randy ordered some shirts and a jacket. I met them at the Star Ferry on HK island, and we taxied to Causeway Bay to have a dumplings lunch with Jeff. Our next stop was the upscale Pacific Place Mall, one of many in HK. Shopping at Chanel, Zegna, and Agnes B. is not in any of our budgets. My plan was to continue outdoors from the mall along Queens Road West, one of the major shopping streets in HK. However, a block away from Pacific Place we were caught in the middle of the black rain! We stood under an overpass for about 15 minutes watching the sky light up around us and hopping from one dry spot to another. We finally hopped on a bus which took us to the escalators. We slogged our way up to our apartment where we dried off and had a "nice cup of tea".
Luckily for Nancy and Randy, the weather was beautiful the rest of the week. I went to Macau to watch the 2000 metre race on Thursday, and Nancy's team fared very well. The most exciting part of the race was at the 1000 metre point, where three boats were turning at the same time, each trying to overtake the other! Nancy said that since their boat was in the middle of the melee they were knocking paddles on both sides of the boat.
In February, I went to Tai O village with the Y girls. The village is on a remote part of Lantau Island, which also houses the airport and several suburban towns. On Sunday, the 26th, Jeff and I headed back there to have lunch, relax, and watch the pink dolphins playing in the sea. It's amazing how many different weekend destinations there are in HK. An hour's ferry, bus, or metro ride takes us away from the noise and the crowds. The main attractions of Tai O are the tin houses on stilts, but we also saw small apartment buildings with flowering front lawns (a rarity here), and, of course, the ubiquitous temple.
A month in Hk would not be complete without a historical lecture by Jason Wordie. Last Tuesday's was called Flower Boats and Working Girls - prostitution in HK. (There were even Jewish prostitutes in HK - victims of the pogroms and anti-semitism in Eastern Europe)
That day I also had my monthly book club meeting. We attempted to read Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury, but only one person actually finished the book. Please don't add it to your reading lists! (This month's reading recommendations are Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, Mukiwa, and Let the Great World Spin.
Cebu, The Philippines: welcome to the Third World, part 2.
Did you know that the population of the Philippines is almost 92 million concentrated in less than 300,000 square km? By contrast, the population of Canada is 33 million in almost 10 million square km!
Jeff and I spent this past weekend at the Hilton Hotel in Cebu, the second largest city (2 million), and the oldest. The weather was beautiful, in spite of the forecast of thunderstorms, and a lot less humid than HK. We left HK on Friday night, and were pleasantly surprised to be bumped up to business class! Unfortunately, as the pilot was checking the plane before take-off, he noticed a small fuel leak. As a result, we were herded off the plane and transferred to another one parked nearby. Our delay was less than an hour - gotta love Cathay Pacific. One of the advantages of flying in Asia is that they still serve meals on short-haul flights.
Our hotel was not a 5-star resort, but it provided all we needed - a clean beach with lots of umbrellas and comfy lounge chairs. We ventured out each afternoon to different parts of Cebu. The Philippines offer bargain-basement prices for transportation (e.g. the 45-minute taxi ride to the centre of town cost about $4) and for meals (less than $20 for dinner including beer or wine). Our first excursion was to Carbon Market, where the locals shop. It's an example of how the other 90% of the world lives. Aside from the filth and abject poverty, we noticed children wearing t-shirts and nothing else, gaunt people sleeping on the sidewalks, garbage, flies, and goats all over the place. Quite depressing. We also saw many fortune tellers and jewellers sitting at their work tables on the sidewalk. The most interesting sight was a notary public typing letters for clients on an old manual Underwood.
We visited the crumbling Cathedral (that was packed with worshippers), and Magellan's Cross. Poor Magellan didn't quite make it around the world the second time: when he reached Cebu, chief Lapu-Lapu and his men killed him, thus becoming the first natives to resist the Europeans. Lapu-Lapu is immortalized at Magellan's marker, which is located near our hotel. On Sunday afternoon, we shopped at the SM mall, and were heartened to find a middle-class shopping emporium that catered to families. There were activity centres for young children and even chess competitions going on. Starbucks has the same menu as everywhere else, but the prices are much lower than in HK or America.
Most people get around town on jeepneys. They were originally made from U.S. military jeeps left over from WWII. They're known for their flamboyant decoration and crowded seating. There are no windows, and the passengers just hang out of the bus. (We opted for taxis ...)
Filipino food was surprisingly delicious! We ate crispy pata, which Jeff has renamed "instant heart attack", ribs, grilled fish, fish sisig, and adobong talong (fried garlic eggplant). The best treats are the pineapple shakes, which are so refreshing.
Our favourite sign was in the supermarket: priority shopping for the elderly over 60!
These last two photos were taken at Magellan's marker: Jeff with chief Lapu-Lapu, and me with assorted totems:
Kyle's second birthday was celebrated in Ann Arbor. 
