Weekend in Taiwan

Most tourists who visit Taiwan (not one of the premier hot spots of Asia) head straight to the National Palace Museum in Taipei to ogle the superb collection of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks representing 8,000 years of Chinese history.  In 1931, General Chiang Kai-shek moved the most valuable pieces out of the Forbidden City in Beijing in order to prevent them falling into the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army.  In 1948, he moved the collection to Taiwan in order to prevent it falling into the hands of the Communists.  Enough said!
The second reason tourists visit Taiwan is for the amazing local food, which has been influenced by both Mainland Chinese and Japanese cuisine.  Again, the Generalisimo was the catalyst. His high-level cadre brought their best chefs with them - chefs from all corners of the country.  These chefs, in turn opened restaurants and influenced the subsequent generations of chefs.
Our AWA weekend in Taiwan excluded both the Museum and the good food, but it did have its highlights and lowlights!

Twenty of us AWA members and spouses boarded an early flight to Taipei on Friday morning, January 13th.  Most of us were upgraded to business class - a very nice way to start a trip!  The focus of our tour was to travel off the beaten tourist track, and to explore the colonial history, natural beauty, and ethnic culture of this island.

After checking into the Fullon Hotel (one of the nicest hotels ever! twin king size beds! beautiful bathrooms! excellent Western breakfast! and it's shaped like a cruise ship!) at Fisherman's Wharf in Danshuei, a coastal suburb of Taipei, we headed to lunch in a restored colonial building where we were greeted by our guide-for-the-day, Stevie Garcia.  Stevie had been billed as the "Jason Wordie" of Taiwan.  (Jason's one of my favourite Hong Kongers - there are many references to him in my earlier blogs).  Stevie didn't quite live up to the billing.  He's not exactly a "scholar", and he lacked a very deep insight into the history of Taiwan.  We did learn that Taiwan was first colonized by the Dutch, then the Spanish, then the Dutch again.  In 1662, Taiwan became part of China.  During the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Taiwan became a Japanese colony, and there it remained until the end of WWII.  Japanese imperial education was implemented in Taiwan, and many Taiwanese fought for Japan in WWII.  The Japanese built at least 16 POW camps in Taiwan from which only 60% of the prisoners survived.  Enough said again.

I should mention that we had one of those TIC moments (after all, Taiwan is China) at lunch.  After a passable Chinese meal (the rest of our meals went downhill from there), the waiters brought out our dessert - Russian ice cream cups (yes, Chloe, it was awful!).

After lunch, we took a short boat ride (a respite from the humidity).  Although the day was cloudy, we were able to see the mountains on the other side of the river.  Most of the Chinese population in Taiwan live on the west side of the island.  Mountains dominate the interior, and ethnic minorities (referred to as aboriginal tribes) have been relegated to the eastern side and on the small islands off the east coast.

We alighted where the river meets the open sea, and then walked by the Love Bridge to get to Hobe Fort.  The fort was not remarkable in the least.  It resembled the forts that Jeff and I visited in Penang, Malaysia,  and Xiamen, China.  I suppose there's not much creativity needed when designing defence structures.  While we were walking around, I met a pleasant Taiwanese man who explained more about the history of Taiwan, and told me about growing up speaking Japanese with his parents!

I could not resist taking pictures of these two intriguing buildings.  Unfortunately, neither the Teng Feng Fish Ball Museum nor the Museum of Tamsui Fishiegoodies was on our itinerary!  

After visiting Fort Hobe, we proceeded to Fort Santo Domingo.  The fort was built by the Spanish, destroyed by the Dutch, rebuilt by the Dutch (renamed Fort Anthonio), then taken over by the Chinese. (One of the Dutch East India Company officials left his clogs outside!) In 1868, following the Second Opium War, it became the British Trade Commission, and so it remained until 1972 when the People's Republic of China was admitted into the U.N.  When the PRC was admitted to the United Nations, Taiwan was kicked out, and all of its foreign embassies packed up and moved to Beijing!  Today, the only a few African and Central American countries have embassies in Taiwan (including Burkina Faso, Chad, Swaziland, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Haiti).  More "important" countries, like Canada, the UK, and the US, have trade or liaison offices.

The Fort (photo on the left) is now a rather unimpressive museum.  It resembles several red-brick British colonial buildings in Hong Kong, including the Old District Office North (photo on the right), which is now used by the Scout Association of Hong Kong.

And then we came to CANCON!!!  Yes, Canadian content in a big way!  A doctor named George Leslie Mackay was the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Taiwan.  Like Norman Bethune in China, Mackay is a hero to the Taiwanese.  Mackay arrived in Danshuei in 1872, and remained there until he died in 1901.  He is as famous for his dentistry practice (he pulled more than 21,000 teeth during his sojourn in Taiwan) as his medical practice (he introduced Western medicine to Taiwan, and established Western hospitals).  We visited his first clinic, and then gathered by his statue in a main square.

We were all rather pooped by the time we arrived at the Sakuraoka Hot Springs Resort for dinner.  Not only was this an hour's drive from our Fullon Hotel in Danshuei, it also served absolutely bad food.  When my very polite father doesn't care for something, he says "it's different".  The food we were served that evening was beyond different!  Some of our group opted to go for a dip in the hot tubs during dinner, but Jeff and I could hardly keep our eyes open, let alone venture into the steamy baths of Taiwan.  The highlight of the evening came when we programmed the karaoke t.v. to play some golden oldies, and Susan W. and I sang along to Paul Anka's "Diana"!

After a great night's sleep, we were all raring to go on day 2 in Taiwan.  We were still waiting for a "wow" moment.  Unfortunately, the Juming Museum that we were scheduled to visit was still undergoing renovations, so we went to a highly entertaining puppet theatre and museum instead.  Glove puppetry (budaixi) is a traditional art form that has been popular in Taiwan for over 300 years.   The venue that we visited was founded in 1931 by puppet master Li Tien-lu.  Mr. Li's grandchildren (teenagers!) are now on their way to becoming masters of this art.  One of the grandsons gave us a demonstration of how the puppets move, and then a short performance followed.  We all sat as enthralled as children, watching the skill and coordination of the puppets (and their masters!).  After the show, we were given the opportunity to practice with the puppets.  Jeff was rather pleased with himself (until he tried to throw the puppet in the air and catch it!).

The puppet museum showcased beautifully costumed puppets.  There was even a George Mackay puppet on display!  We had fun browsing around the small gift shop.  Jeff wanted to buy a monkey king puppet, but I found it too creepy-looking, so we bought an emperor puppet instead.  Our puppet is now gracing the same shelf as our Vietnamese rice picker, our Cambodian lacquered flowers, and our miniature toulou from Fujian.  Quite an eclectic collection.

And now for our WOW moment!  Yehliu Geopark!  This coastal national park is filled with fascinating sandstone rock formations, eroded by centuries of wind, waves and rain into the most interesting shapes.  (They are Taiwan's answer to the hoodoos of Western Canada.)  It is a spectacular sight.  Everywhere we turned there were hundreds of large, weathered rocks, and also many fossilized rocks.  The most famous rock in the park is "Queen Nefertiti" - there was a very long line of tourists waiting to take pictures like the one at the left!  Although there is a thick line marking the boundary for visitors, as well as guards ensuring that tourists do not get too close to the water, these barriers did not prevent local women from scavenging for shellfish at the shore.  Everyone in the group agreed that Yehliu was the best part of the tour, and Kurt (age 23) proclaimed "Day two has blown the pants off day one!"

I can't remember where we stopped for lunch.  We were served the exact same tasteless dishes (pigs knuckles, boiled cabbage, unseasoned fish, etc.) as at Friday lunch and dinner.  This meal had one extra dish - a bowl containing a boiled/steamed black chicken.  At that point I downed my beer, rolled my eyes, pursed my lips, and went on a mini hunger strike for the remainder of the trip.  I survived on some street food we bought along the way and some Mars Bars purchased at 7-Eleven (did you know that there are almost 5,000 7-Elevens in Taiwan?).  I didn't starve, but I wasn't a happy camper.

To round out the day, our bus drove up a mountain so that we could visit Jiufen, an old mining town.  When we got out of the bus, we climbed up to the observation deck to see the surrounding area.  Jeff and I were very impressed with the beautiful Chinese houses dotting the upper hills.  After a minute we realized that these were all tombs!   The rest of the town is now a crowded tourist trap - small narrow streets filled with market-like shops selling junk.  We stopped in at a tea shop where we sampled excellent Formosan oolong tea, and bought some to bring home.

On our way back to our hotel in Keelung, our guide, Candy, turned on the t.v. on the bus so that we could all watch the presidential election results.  Because of Candy's enthusiasm, we had all been caught up in election fever ever since meeting her the day before.  Candy told us a little bit about the candidates and explained what their platforms were.  Almost 500,000 Taiwanese who work in HK and Mainland China returned to Taiwan to vote!  Everywhere we drove there were huge election posters with smiling politicians.  Team 2 - the blue team - won.  Mr. Ma, the leader of the KMT, was re-elected much to Candy's delight!
By the time we arrived in Keelung, it was too late and too dark to tour Baimiwong Fort, so we checked into our hotel, relaxed, and looked forward to a Western buffet dinner at our hotel.  The only Western dishes at the buffet were spaghetti and mystery sauce.  By the time our gang arrived at 8 p.m., most of the food was gone, and there were no plans to replenish it.  There were a lot of very nice people in our group, and we just sat and talked for a couple of hours, drinking our beer.  Most of my caloric intake that weekend was from beer - Andrew, am I becoming a "frat boy"?

Day 3 - Sunday morning, and the weather was pouring!  Seven of us bleary-eyed AWAers met for breakfast at 7:30, raring to go.  Where were the others?  Sleeping, of course.  Those lazy bums were about to miss Baimiwong Fort!  Fortified by breakfast, the seven of us donned our rain gear and joined Candy on our bus.  Oops! only six of us got on the bus!  About five minutes after we drove away from the hotel, the bus driver's phone rang:  S.O.S. - we had forgotten Sue!  Since it was too late and too complicated to turn around to fetch her, Candy told Sue to take a taxi and meet us at the Fort.  Our bus stopped at the bottom of a steep, paved road.  By the time we walked the kilometre up the hill to the Fort, we were soaked.  Sadly, I discovered that my faux Burberry raincoat (purchased in Shenzhen) is not at all waterproof!

Linda didn't have a raincoat at all, so we gave her an umbrella that we found on the bus. Alas, the umbrella was useless, so Linda had to return to the bus.  After a few minutes, we all started giggling, and we didn't stop laughing until we had explored every slippery surface of the Fort.  In the fog and rain, the only dim view we had was of the smoke stacks at the nuclear power plant nearby.  When we got back to the hotel, we dried our hair, put on warm clothes, and bragged to the rest of the group how much fun we had!

Our next (dry) stop was the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines.  This museum is right across the road from the National Palace Museum.  The museum contains artifacts relating to the numerous indigenous tribes of Taiwan.  I was not overly impressed, since I thought that it merely skimmed the surface.  I wanted to know more about how, why, and when most of these tribes were converted to Christianity.  Did they/do they have many churches in their villages?  What Western/Christian elements have they introduced into their daily lives?  We did learn that many of them now work in construction in the big cities, and it reminded me of the Kahnawake (Mohawk) of Montreal who built most of the skyscrapers in New York City.
We had our last disgusting meal at the Silks Palace Restaurant (check out the Imperial Treasures Feast on their home page) in the National Palace Museum.  My mouth watered as I watched diners enjoying beautifully prepared dim sum.  Nope, not for us!  Same old, same old.  I finally "lost it" and complained to Jane, our leader.  She explained that she had gone over every menu in every restaurant with our guide before our trip.  Alas, TIC - you are served what they want to serve you.  (Be sure to carry granola bars and a jar of peanut butter when you travel in China).

Next stop was the jade and flower market.  We Hong Kongers have visited our own jade and flower markets many times, so this was nothing new.  Jeff and I found the nearest Starbucks and warmed ourselves over cappuccino, tea, and some normal food.
Then it was back on the bus to our last stop, Yingge, the ceramic town.  Lots of tourists and lots of shops selling pottery and housewares.  We bought a couple of mugs and a very nice serving platter (to replace my blue and white platter that is in storage in Toronto along with all of our other dishes and serving pieces).
If time allows, Jeff and I will go back to Taiwan one of these weekends to visit the National Palace Museum, take in a puppet show, wander around the sculptures at the Juming museum, and eat some fabulous Taiwanese food.

HCMC and Kamalaya, Ko Samui

Happy 2012 everyone!  My New Year's resolution is to keep up-to-date with my blogs!  (I promise to do that once I catch up on last year's adventures)

I had a flurry of trips at the end of 2011.  On very short notice, Jeff had to go to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) for a business meeting.  We decided to make a weekend out of it (one of the perks of living in HK!).

After checking into our hotel (yes Evelyn and Joan - it was 5 star this time) on Friday evening, we took a taxi to the Ben Thanh market.  The indoor market had closed by the time we arrived, but we were able to wander through the outdoor souvenir stalls and small shops.  Vietnam is famous for its lacquerware, and most of the stores were jam-packed with wall-hangings, bowls, plates, and other decorative items.  We
bought a set of three red lacquer bowls at the little shop in the photo.  My well-honed bargaining skills got the total price down to $25US, less than half the original asking price!  Shopping always gives me an appetite, but when we tried to order spring rolls or vegetable rolls at the outdoor food stalls, we were told that there weren't any left.  So we settled for our first bottle of Saigon beer.

We certainly packed in a long day of touring and walking on Saturday.  We began with the Notre Dame Cathedral, situated right around the corner from our hotel.  The church is new (1959) and non-descript.  There was a mass being celebrated inside, and, because of the heat, all the doors were open.  The church was filled to capacity, so we were unable to even peek inside.  The most interesting sight was just outside the main door : a tiny old lady wearing a traditional ao dai with her cigarette dangling from her mouth!

My favourite building in HCMC, the Central Post Office, is right next to the ND Cathedral.  This French colonial building (late 19th century) was designed by Gustave Eiffel.  The exterior resembles many French government buildings built during the 3rd Republic (stone, symmetrical, lots of columns and arches), but it's the interior that causes a "wow" reaction.  The long vaulted hall still retains all of its original beautiful woodwork.  There are old maps and clocks along the walls, and even old red phone booths that have now been converted for ATM machines.  Uncle Ho's portrait on the far wall dominates the room.  Stamps were very inexpensive - perhaps that's why our postcards to America took three to four weeks!

Dodging thousands of motorbikes and cars, we made our way to the Reunification Palace.  Traffic in HCMC is something crazy to behold, especially at rush hour.   Most of our Canadian rules of the road do not apply here - motorbikes turn left from the right hand lane, drive on bicycle lanes, climb sidewalks, and run red lights.  It's not as scary as it seems, though, to cross the road, since the traffic generally moves rather slowly.  The trick is to wait for a slight opening and to walk purposefully across in a straight line, while staring down the oncoming cars.  It also helps to hold your breath as you step off the curb.

On April 30, 1975, the first communist tanks to arrive in Saigon crashed through the wrought-iron gates of Reunification Palace (then known as Independence Palace or the Presidential Palace).  In melodramatic fashion, a soldier then ran into the building and up the stairs to unfurl a VC flag from the 4th floor balcony.  As we toured  the Palace, we began to learn the history of the "American War" as told by the victors.  It's a rather eerie experience being on the other side.  I'm sure the truth exists somewhere in the middle ...

The building is modern, spacious, and full of light.  It even boasts a very small library (the ubiquitous photo of Dale in yet another library somewhere in the world)!  The strangest sight was a display of severed elephants' feet - collected by the former president of South Vietnam.

The basement of the Palace housed the South Vietnamese military operations centre: tunnels, war rooms, and a telecommunications centre.  It reminded us of the Churchill War Rooms in London.  There were also terrific maps of Vietnam on the walls.
Fashion alert:  old man in blue pyjamas!  He reminded me of my dad who is famous for wearing the same uniform (but just for sleeping!).

After ogling the exquisite French colonial architecture of the Opera House and the People's Committee Building (with a statue of Uncle Ho across the road), we took a taxi to the Jade Emperor Pagoda, a Cantonese temple built in 1909.  Heavy incense engulfed us as we entered.  The temple is filled with very bizarre and grotesque papier-mache characters.  Stuff that nightmares are made of!

With no taxis in sight we decided to walk to the History Museum, about 1 kilometre away.  We passed lots of small shops, but the most interesting sight was the business being carried out along the sidewalk.
By the time we reached our destination, I was too pooped to tour the exhibits, so I sat in the cafe and read (Graham Greene's The Quiet American) while Jeff meandered through the museum.

We saved the War Remnants Museum for our last stop of the day.  This museum used to be called the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, but its name was changed to avoid offending Chinese and American tourists.  Jeff and I had not seen many American tourists on our other Asian travels, but we did see hundreds of them in Saigon, many of whom had probably been soldiers during the Vietnam War.  This museum pulls no punches.  The exhibits document the atrocities inflicted on the Vietnamese and they tell the story from the victims' side.  Many of the photos are not for the faint of heart, including pictures of deformed babies (agent orange), children mangled by napalm, and scenes of torture.  Ironically, the War Remnants Museum is housed in the former U.S. Information Service building!

Coincidentally, our close friend from Montreal, Hershie, and his cousin, Jack, happened to be in Saigon that same day!  We had had dinner with them in Hong Kong a few days earlier, and discovered that we would be in Vietnam at the same time, so we made plans to meet.  It was wonderful to share our experiences first-hand with them.  After our meal, we had a drink at the bar on top of the Majestic Hotel, where we had a view of the river and the lights of downtown Saigon.

The next day, Sunday, we opted for a tour of the Caodai Holy See and the Cu Chi Tunnels.  There were only six of us on the tour, along with a very up-beat guide and a driver.  These two sights are not to be missed!  After driving for a couple of hours through the countryside which reminded me of Cambodia (poor and undeveloped), we arrived at one of the strangest places I've ever seen, the Great Cathedral in the Caodai Holy See.   Caodaism was officially founded as a religion in 1926.  It was an attempt to create the ideal religion through the fusion of beliefs and symbols from Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam.  It is certainly a mish-mash of religious philosophies.  Graham Greene (way more articulate and talented than I!) offers the following descriptions of the Cao Dai Holy See in The Quiet American (1955): "The Holy See was at Tanyin.  A Pope and female cardinals.  Prophecy by planchette.  Saint Victor Hugo.  Christ and Buddha looking down from the roof of the Cathedral on a Walt Disney fantasia of the East, dragons and snakes in technicolour."  Jeff put it all more succinctly:  "It looks like a vision from someone's LSD hallucinations."

We (and hundreds of other tourists) arrived about 11:30, in time to walk around the Cathedral and then make our way to the upper gallery so that we could watch the noon mass.  It was quite the extravaganza!  Oddly enough, the communist government of Vietnam leaves the Caodaists alone.  There are two reasons for this.  First, the Caodaists supported the Viet Cong against the Republican (U.S.-supported) government of South Vietnam.  And second, the Caodaists are self-sufficient.

Our guide promised us a vegetarian lunch before visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels.  It turned out to be vegetables with fried shrimp, vegetables with fried pork, vegetables with fried chicken, and more fried food.  TIV!  The woman in charge of the restaurant began to sing to the diners half way through the meal.  Posters on the wall attested to her celebrity as a soldier and entertainer many years ago.  The other "entertainment" in the restaurant was a loud crash when the glass door to the stairway broke and shattered all over the room.  This was not "fine dining"!

And on to the Cu Chi Tunnels ...

This is how the Viet Cong won the War:  the VC soldiers were small; they built a network of tunnels (250km in this district alone!) that only they could fit into; they mounted surprise attacks by popping up all over the place - even within the perimeters of the U.S. military base; they then disappeared back into the tunnels through trap doors.  Svelt Dale was able to fit into the tunnels, but alas, Jeff's large size and bad knees didn't allow him the creepy experience of duck-walking underground for 100 metres.  There was so much propaganda ... captured American tanks, mock-ups of VC booby traps, and even an old movie showing the atrocities perpetrated by the enemy.  Enough said!

Jeff and I spent a wonderful Sunday evening in Saigon.  We bought a beautiful lacquered painting  at one of the numerous art galleries, depicting three women in ethnic clothing, and then had a delicious meal at a French bistro.  While we were dining (fine dining this time!), the art gallery packaged our painting and delivered it to our hotel.  It proved easy to transport back to HK.

On Monday morning, Jeff left early for his business meeting.  I sat by the window in the restaurant at the Intercontinental Hotel, sipping my cappuccino and watching life on the street.  A woman set up her pho shop under a large, leafy tree, directly across the road from the entrance to the hotel.  Business was thriving!  She doled out portions of food from a large stainless steel pot, and her husband placed 4" stools in a circle for the diners.  He also collected money and cleaned up as each person finished his food.  When I read Camilla Gibb's novel, The Beauty of Humanity Movement, I thought she had a great imagination when she described the protagonist and his travelling pho shop on the sidewalks of Saigon.  It was so very interesting to see her book come to life!

Exactly 24 hours after I returned to HK, I left for Kamalaya in Koh Samui, Thailand, with ten other members of the AWA.  Yoga, massage, beach, good food, quiet time.  What a delight!  My favourite dessert (which I had several times) was mango sticky rice with coconut sauce.  When I poured the sauce on the rice it reminded me of Murray's steamed fruit pudding.  I felt sorry for the two women in our group who had opted for the detox program at Kamalaya.  Although their plates were colourful, they basically ate only fruit and vegetables for the entire visit.

One evening, a few of us ventured out to what we thought was the night market downtown.  There is no night market in Koh Samui.  It is a two kilometre street filled with the tackiest, overpriced souvenir and handbag shops, tattoo parlours, bars, lady boys (photo on the right), and the most obscene-looking tourists I've laid eyes on in Asia.  NQOCD (not quite our class dear).  I can't even begin to describe the smell!

We all returned home feeling rested, refreshed, and ready to tackle the hardships of daily life in HK.
Kamalaya marked the end of our Asian travels for 2011.  Stay tuned for 2012 beginning with Taiwan and Thailand later this month.

A very busy month

We had an "ordinary" HK week in between visitors (Oct. 23-29).  While Jeff worked his normal 15-hour days (including evening conference calls), I busied myself with study group, two book clubs, chatterbox (English conversation with high schoolers), working out, and meeting friends for coffee or lunch.  One of the highlights of the week was picking up a new pair of gold earrings.  Joan's jeweller recycles old pieces that we are not using any more, so two pair of very dated hoop earrings that I hadn't worn in over 30 years suddenly became a stunning pair of everyday earrings.  Moreover, the jeweller made them reversible!

Janice and Ted arrived on Saturday, the 29th.  They had just completed a two-week Sinorama tour of China that included a TIC "adventure": while they were on their Yangtze cruise, a landslide occurred farther down the river.  As a result, they had to get off the boat and board a bus to get to their next destination.  The bus ride took 15 hours!  The driver drove like a maniac (with one hand on the wheel, the other on his cell phone).  Most of the time they were in the middle of nowhere.  The driver eventually stopped somewhere so that the group could use the WC.  Their guide rented two hotel rooms just for the clean bathrooms (a rarity in China).  After stopping for dinner at 1 a.m., they finally reached their destination at 6 a.m., thus completely missing a night in a hotel.

We had a lot of fun showing Janice and Ted around HK.  They couldn't get over how much it had changed since they were last here in the mid 70s.  Janice recalled that when they first came to HK, they stayed at a "guest house" in the infamous Chungking Mansions, replete with large cockroaches.  After ogling the grandeur of the Peninsula Hotel (and using their luxurious washrooms), we proceeded up Nathan Road and visited a guest house on the 5th floor of Chungking Mansions, so that our friends could see how little has changed in 35 years.  In addition to taking the Peak Tram, visiting Central and its escalators, the Big Buddha and Tai O, Janice, Ted and I went on Jason Wordie's tour of historic Stanley Village, and shopped in Stanley Market.

My favourite part of Janice and Ted's visit was playing Scrabble with them each night.  At first I was rather rusty, since my Scrabble set has not been used in years, but by the last night I was doing rather well (if I do say so myself!).  I also loved showing Janice, another retired librarian, the HK Central Library.

The day after our friends flew home to Toronto, Jeff and I moved to a new flat in Wing Way Court on Kennedy Road in Wan Chai.  Wan Chai is an eclectic area; to me it's the real Hong Kong.  Wet markets, clothing markets, two Starbucks within walking distance, local restaurants and Western restaurants, small mom-and--pop shops selling everything anyone needs and a lot of things that nobody needs, and thousands of people at every crosswalk.  Our apartment is up a hill (131 steps) and we have 360 degree views because there is only one flat per floor!  After squishing into 750 square feet for two years, we now have an 1850 square foot home with lots of storage space, and a more comfortable place for us and our friends and visitors.

The move itself was easy.  Santa Fe movers showed up at our old flat at 9 a.m., packed everything (we don't have that much stuff) by noon, and were finished unpacking at the new building by 5 p.m.  Joan and I watched the movers rebuild our Ikea wall unit in minutes!  Then we toasted our new digs with a glass of wine.
As I write this blog, we are sitting in our nearly empty living room waiting for a furniture delivery.  We've also just ordered curtains for the living room/dining room, and will start to hang our art work once everything has been installed.  I am very excited that we can now accommodate up to 7 people in our home, and are just waiting for friends and family to book their trips to Hong Kong.

My friend, Susan T., invited me to hear John Nash (of "A Beautiful Mind" fame) at City U.  Neither of us really understood most of Mr. Nash's speech - we attended simply because of his star appeal.  John Nash is a frail 83-year-old, who was helped to the stage.  His talk was projected on a large screen behind the microphone.  Instead of reading the speech from the lecturn, he turned his back to the audience and read it from the screen!  Most bizarre.

Thank you to Donna and David who gave us VIP passes to the HK Philharmonic pops concert (attended by 15,000 music fans) held at Happy Valley Racecourse (yes, it is warm enough here in November to enjoy everything outdoors).  Our tickets even included a free meal - chicken burger, chips and a soft drink.  In the photo above, you can see the fireworks that were choreographed during the finale - the Blue Danube waltz.  The encores were the theme from Star Wars and, in honour of the location, the William Tell overture.

We spent the week of November 12-20 enjoying the 12th annual HK Jewish Film Festival.  I thought that Nicky's Family was the best film of the festival.  The film tells the story of Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved the lives of over 600 Jewish children (including the CBC's Joe Schlesinger) just before the outbreak of WWII.  The most disappointing film was Barney's version.  Jeff and I enjoyed the scenery of Montreal and the Eastern Townships, but the acting and casting was awful.  (The book was so much better!)

Joan and I thought we had a treat in store for our husbands on Saturday, Nov. 19th.  We signed all of us up for a tour of Cathay Pacific City next to the airport.  We were hoping to go inside a flight simulator and see where meals are prepared for all of the Cathay flights.  Instead, we walked through a very non-descript, non-airconditioned building (on a very hot, humid day - they turn the a.c. off on the weekends), looked at a flight simulator through thick glass from two stories above, and had a chance to sit in some of the business class pod seats.  Our large group of expat Hong Kongers are very well-travelled, and most of us have flown business class at some point in time, so the tour was most unexciting.

In my spare time (ha!), I spent many hours preparing my paper on Norman Bethune for study group.  In spite of the fact that we had technical difficulties with my power point photos, the talk went well.  I'm now the resident HK expert on this notable Canadian.  Did you know that all Chinese middle school students still have to memorize Mao's homage to Bethune?  There are hundreds of Bethune statues in China, and several hospitals named after him. There is only one statue of Bethune in Canada - near Concordia University in downtown Montreal.

Joan and Ronnie entertained for Thanksgiving.  I love this holiday!  No hype, just food, friends, family, and football.  (The HK version does lack the family and football, though.)  Yummy turkey and trimmings, pies, wine, and conversation.






Now that the weather is cooler, the serious hiking season has kicked in.  A couple of weeks ago, we (AWA advanced!) hiked the Shing Mun Reservoir and MacLehose stage six  (I love dropping trail names - in truth, I just follow the group and hope that I finish the 10 or 12 kilometres without killing myself).  It was a perfect day!  When I packed my knapsack in the morning, I remembered 2 litres of water, a towel, lunch, snacks, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, and my bus pass.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.  We saw British bunkers which fell on December 9, 1941, and prompted the evacuation of Kowloon.  There were hundreds of feral monkeys (and signs that warned us not to feed them), a few nomadic cows, and magnificent views of the city.

This past week, we hiked Lion Rock and MacLehose stage five.  Walking through the woods we saw the monkeys swinging from tree to tree and the babies romping with their watchful parents glaring at us. It reminded me of my favourite movie, The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy and friends cautiously advance while repeating "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

We certainly felt a sense of accomplishment when we reached Lion Rock, but then we looked over to the west and saw two more peaks that we had to tackle before beginning our descent!  The trail we followed is the dividing line between Kowloon and the New Territories.





I'm off to Montreal for a quick visit, and will blog Ho Chi Minh City and Ko Samui when I return.