Grounded!

My passport was full.  No space left for any more stamps or visas.  As soon as we returned from Thailand, I headed over to the Canadian Consulate to order a new passport, this time requesting one with 48 pages, rather than the standard 24.  Because we travel so often, and because the processing time is almost three weeks, I had to make sure we would be staying put.  I must say I felt uneasy during the weeks that my beloved passport was not locked in the drawer.  The Consulate staff assured me that if an emergency arose, they would issue a temporary one.  Thankfully, I did not have to avail myself of that service.  Oh, speaking of service, there really isn't much at the Consulate.  Their hours for pick-up are two hours per day (2-4 p.m.) from Monday to Thursday.  Our tax dollars at work!  Jeff assures me that they are doing other tasks when they are not processing passports.
Hence, an entire month in Hong Kong!  Bored?  Never!

Hiking!  I joined three wonderful, adventurous hikes in February.  The first one was on Lantau Island with the AWA ladies.  Although the day was overcast, it did not rain, and the trail was dry.  We hiked up and over several peaks (Lantau Trail 5 and 6), and thanks to the leadership of Annemarie and Charlotte, we didn't get lost at all!  The trails are very well marked, but you really need a map to tell you which direction to follow.  After passing the Ci Xing Monastery, we came across a beautiful sight - Lung Tsai Ng Yuen, the estate of a (deceased) Chinese spice merchant.  The centrepiece of the estate is a traditional lotus pond with a zigzag bridge and covered pavilions.  The estate is two kilometres from the closest paved road, and is only accessible by the hiking trail (not for beginners).  Since Mr. Woo's death, the estate has been empty, but rumour has it that it will be turned into a restaurant or b&b.  The end of the trail brought us to Tai O, the fishing village that used to be a smugglers' haven.  By the time we reached the village, it was rather cold (about 12 degrees), so I couldn't convince any of the women to join me on a motorboat ride to view the pink dolphins (blog Feb. 3,  2010).

My next adventure hike was also on Lantau Island.  This time it was led by Michael Hansen, a Danish fellow who leads hikes and bike rides all over HK.  We covered 16 km from Pui O to Mui Wo.  The weather cooperated - I think it was the only sunny day in the entire month of February!  The climb was not very steep, and we followed the trail along the coast.  A photographer's paradise.  There were several surprises on this hike.  First, a youth hostel set in the park.  Alas, the hostel is closed!  The site looks primed for redevelopment.  The next surprise was the women's prison, which has been closed since 2010.  The third surprise was all of the garbage on the beach in front of the prison.  Apparently, when the prison was occupied, the prisoners were responsible for keeping the beach litter-free.  Michael took lots of photos of the debris, and promised to send them to the government department which looks after our parks.
My third hike of the month was again with the AWA adventure ladies.  It had been raining all week, so we were advised to bring rain gear and walking sticks.  We met at a central subway stop, and travelled quite a distance to Choi Hung, where we were supposed to catch a minibus to Sai Kung, and then a taxi to the Sai Kung Country Park.  Well, when we arrived at Choi Hung, we noticed that the line for the minibus was about 200 deep!  (Minibuses only carry 16 passengers).  Doing the math, we figured that the wait would be over an hour, so we decided to share taxis.  Unfortunately, the taxi line was also long. It seems that there had been an accident on a major road nearby, and all of the taxis and buses were delayed.  By the time we finally arrived at the start of the hike, it was late (after 10 a.m.) and pouring!  We had three choices - turn back, take an easier route, or continue as planned.  Being the heroes and braggarts that we are, we slogged on.  The trail was very slippery and steep, so our pace was not quite as brisk as usual.  Unsurprisingly, we saw absolutely nobody else on the trail until we got lost, and then, out of the mist, came three young hikers who pointed us back to the proper route.  It's very creepy to be walking along in the drizzle and fog with no cellphone reception (occasionally our phones beeped "welcome to China").  By the time we stopped for lunch (peanut butter sandwiches), the rain had just about stopped.  Charlotte told us that there was a surprise at the end of the hike.

Lo and behold, there was a charming stone house with a beautiful English garden!  Aside from the Chinese-style roof and trim, it resembled large homes that one sees in the French countryside.  The house is at least half a kilometre from the main road, and there are feral cows grazing nearby.  We assume the house is owned by British expats, since the cars parked on the main road had UK license plates.

Canadian content!  Our friends, David and Donna, introduced us to a new burger joint, owned by a Chinese-Canadian fellow.  On a rainy evening, we met at the Big Bite diner, which made us all very nostalgic.  There was a large Canadian flag draped over the counter, moose on the walls, and cheap wings every Tuesday.  A lot like Duff's on Bayview Avenue in Toronto.  However, this is Hong Kong, where nothing is exactly like it is at home:  BB diner serves only GERMAN beer!  Where's Moosehead or Molson?

Entertaining!  Joan and Ron both celebrated birthdays at the beginning of the month.  I invited them for dinner along with Susan and Art.  A few weeks earlier, Ron had presented me with a housewarming gift - an electric hand mixer, and I inaugurated it by making the famous family carrot cake (a la cousin Arlene).  Dinner was quite a hit.  My favourite dish was the grilled vegetable torte (Barefoot Contessa), but the rest of the gang really loved the cake.

Chatterbox (English conversation with high school students).  I've mentioned this programme in previous blogs.  Every Thursday, we meet with students at a local high school in Wan Chai.  The aim of the session is to give them a chance to speak English in a relaxed atmosphere.  I love the school and the kids!!  They are in form 5 (grade 10), and have limited opportunity to speak English at home.  It's amazing how much more confidence they have now than in October when we began.  Next year we will be doubling the programme at this school to cover 40 students in form 4, and 40 in form 5.  We do everything from playing silly games (broken telephone, Simon says) to discussing politics and world events.  A few weeks ago, I brought a young Canadian visitor, Georgia, with me to the school.  I'm not sure who enjoyed the hour more!

Speaking of visitors, we had a wonderful evening with Diane, an old family friend, on a chilly night (they were all chilly in January and February).  I've known Diane my whole life, and Jeff's known her (and her husband) since summer camp in the 1960s.  After dinner, we took a walk around Central, and I gave Diane an abbreviated tour of some of the historic sights in that neighbourhood.  A very short, but sweet, visit.

Arlene and John (re)visited us in February.  They were our first guests in our new(ish) flat on Kennedy Road.  Since we had covered all of the most popular tourist spots last year, we showed them the "real" Hong Kong, including Lamma Island, where we had a delicious al fresco lunch (alas, the only nice day of their visit) and an enjoyable walk around the Island.  The HK Arts Festival was on during their visit, so we got tickets to Dr. John (superb!) and Cossi Fan Tutte (not superb).  We also went to an interesting exhibit at the HK Museum of Art called "Fantastic creatures from the British Museum".  After John left (he's become a university student again in his retirement), Arlene and I "hung out" all week, doing the activities that keep me busy - study group, book club, chatterbox, and even a walking tour.  We had a lot of fun at Yue Hwa Department Store (blog Sept. 7, 2011), and a lovely walk through Kowloon Park, where I took Arlene's photo in front of the totem pole donated by Mulroney's government in 1991.  Arlene spent her last day in HK with Joan, since Jeff and I left early that morning for Qingdao, China (next blog!).

(Apologies for some poor-quality pictures - I took them with my IPhone instead of my camera)

CNY in Thailand

I just realized that I've been doing something I've always detested - dropping acronyms in my blogs.  CNY, TIC, AWA.  When I worked at UTLAS in the late 70s, it was OCLC, BCUC, and Unicat/Telecat.  Blame it all on libraries!  Speaking of libraries, the city of Montreal has planned to build a new one in NDG where Andrew lives.  Andrew is sceptical, and says that it "might" happen in his children's children's lifetime.  Mayor Ford of Toronto, on the other hand, is trying to wipe out libraries and professional librarians from the Toronto landscape.  And the Dean of the Library School (Faculty of Information) at U of T has announced that he will move 80-90% of the paper collection to an off-site storage depot in the 'burbs in order to make space for more virtual labs for students in the Inforum (that's what they now call the library at the Faculty of Information).  This is not the profession that I worked in for 35 years!
But I digress ...
Back to Chinese New Year in Thailand!



Our first stop was Chiang Mai in the hilly north.  It was quite a shock to leavie noisy, bustling, freezing (8 Celsius) Hong Kong and arrive in a laid-back warm place.  The sun immediately worked its magic to help us begin to relax.

Instead of bargaining with a tuk-tuk or songtao (covered pickup) driver, we opted to take a taxi to our hotel.  The sign at the desk promised to get us there "safe and saved".  From what? From whom?
After paying the exorbitant rate of 140 baht ($4.50CDN), we were asked to wait outside in the heat (30 Celsius).  Fifteen minutes passed, then another ten.  Welcome back to the Third World!  We finally gave up, got our money back, hopped into a songtao with our luggage, paid 100 baht and arrived at the Kantary Hills Hotel.  The hotel was both beautiful and comfortable.

We quickly shed our warm layers and heavy shoes and headed out to explore the city.  The old town covers one square kilometre and is surrounded by a tree-lined moat!  There are reconstructed ruins of city walls on the corners of the moat.  In addition, there are over 300 Wats (Buddhist temples) in CM - sometimes two in a single city block.  All of these religious structures convey to us the historic significance of CM.  From the 13th to the 18th centuries, Chiang Mai was the capital of the Lanna Kingdom.


My friend, Chloe, who lived in HK until June 2011, recommended that we visit the three most important Wats in Chiang Mai.  After that, one tends to get "templed-out"!  A few months ago, when we booked our trip to Thailand, I was excited to learn that Chloe and Eric would be in CM at the same time!  We made plans to have dinner on Saturday night, our second day in Chiang Mai.

Our first stop was Wat Phra Singh, one of the more venerated temples in the city.  Over 700 monks study here, and they were busy bustling around the complex.

Inside the main temple we beheld the creepiest sight!  To the right of the main buddha, there were lifelike plexiglass mannequins of deceased monks.  We had to look very very closely at the one in the middle in order to verify that he was "most sincerely dead" (like the wicked witch).  We were sure that he was sitting there staring at us until we read the plaque that said he had died last year at the ripe old age of 99!

Many of the Thai monastic complexes have libraries.  The one at Wat Phra Singh was beautiful on the outside.  Unfortunately, no visitors are allowed inside.  My travels are never complete without a photo in front of a library somewhere in the world!

Jeff and I continued our walk through the narrow streets to the most impressive Wat Chedi Luang, which was built in the late 14th century.  An earthquake in the 16th century destroyed most of it, but in 1990 it was restored with the help of UNESCO and Japanese funding.  This temple , surrounded by huge stone elephants, is almost as grand as Ankor Wat!

In one of the temple buildings, we beheld a very fat monk, Phra Sangkachai.  This monk was so handsome that angels and men often compared him to the Buddha.  He considered this inappropriate, and disguised himself in an unpleasantly fat body.

Every tree in every Wat has a slogan nailed on it.  This is one of our favourites!

This is Jeff's favourite sign. He says it proves that they have rednecks in Thailand.  (The American Heritage Dictionary defines "bubba" as "a white working-class man of the southern United States, stereotypically regarded as uneducated and gregarious with his peers".)

An enormous tree!  I couldn't fit all of Jeff and all of the tree in one photo.











And then a big surprise!!!  As we were about to leave Wat Chedi, I looked at the street beyond the main gate, and there was Chloe walking by!  (At 6 feet, she's hard to miss in Asia!).

Big hug, and then a photo in front of the sign that proclaimed "woman no entry".  We stopped for a refreshing drink and started to catch up on the past eight months.  Chloe left us with directions on where to meet the following evening.
Jeff and I continued walking around the old town, taking photos of the various Wats.  Then our stomachs reminded us it was dinner time, so we headed down to the night bazaar (tacky souvenirs, been there, done that) and the Kalare food centre across from the night market.  This was similar to hawker stalls we've visited in KL, Singapore, and Penang.  Dinner with large bottles of beer cost a total of 10CDN!

We were pooped from all the travelling and walking we had done that day, so a Thai foot massage looked like the answer to our aches.  Jeff must have been really tired to agree to a massage - it's not normally his idea of a good time (it still isn't).  The excellent older masseuse worked on my feet, while the young, pretty lady gently massaged Jeff's feet.

The next morning we hailed a songtao and headed up the mountain to Wat Phra That Doi Southep, the jewel of Chiang Mai.  The main temple was literally blinding - all gold, shining in the sun!  Because it was Saturday, there were thousands of tourists crowding the temple grounds.  There was also a lot of local entertainment - young and old dressed in native costumes dancing in the square.

We also saw:

Whimsical garden decorations.

A group of monk-tourists having their photo taken.

and a dog wearing a coat (it was 31Celsius!).
(Believe it or not, we also saw a cat wearing a coat!)

We did some shopping in the afternoon and relaxed before meeting Chloe and Eric for dinner at an unassuming alfresco restaurant.  Lots of spicy food - we ordered numerous small dishes, and lots of refreshing Thai beer to wash it down.  I'm still trying to improve my spice threshold, but I couldn't keep up with Jeff and our friends.  After dinner, Chloe and Eric scooted away on their rented motorcycle.  (I was relieved to see them wearing their helmets, no matter how dorky Chloe thought they looked!)

The following morning, we hopped on yet another songtao and headed out of Chiang Mai to Bo Sang, the "umbrella" town.  Almost everyone in the village is employed making the umbrellas (silk, synthetic or paper) or selling them in the brightly decorated shops that line the main street.  We happened to arrive during the umbrella festival, and watched the beautiful floats drift through the town.  When I mentioned the umbrella town to some HK acquaintances, they rolled their eyes and commented how touristy it is, but sometimes "touristy stuff is truly fun and pretty.

The umbrellas are made in an assembly-line in the workshop at the back of the largest umbrella store.  Each worker has a specific task to do - e.g. cutting the posts to the right size, weaving the mesh inside, painting the outside.  The artists at the end of the line paint the umbrellas (and fans) and leave them in the sun to dry.

When we walked into the factory, one of the artists offered to paint our camera case, while another person offered to paint my t-shirt.  Both look wonderful, and the elephant on my t-shirt did not even run or fade when I washed the shirt!  When I asked the price, they told us "whatever you want to pay".  Their handiwork and humility probably caused us to give them more than they would have asked for had they set a price.

My last adventure in Chiang Mai was a one-hour Thai massage at the Old Medicine Hospital.  The massage cost 70 baht - 2.30CDN - no, there are no zeroes missing!!  Thai massage is not relaxing.  In fact, it's rather painful, as the masseuse pulls and pushes every joint and limb in the body.  It's more like physiotherapy than body rub.  I kept wondering how I would feel at the end of the process, and much to my surprise, I felt terrific!  As my mother always says, "it hurts to be beautiful"!  As it turned out, Chloe was taking a massage course, so we enjoyed our third reunion!

On Sunday afternoons, the main street of the old town becomes a "walking street".  This was way more fun than the night bazaar.  (I bought two silk sleeveless tops and a silk scarf for a total of 14CDN!).  There was music, there was food, and there was a wonderful atmosphere of locals and tourists enjoying themselves.  It reminded me of Boulevard St. Laurent in Montreal in the summer.

We splurged on a great meal to celebrate the end of three superb days in Chiang Mai.  We ate on the terrace of The Riverside - where all the "cool" people go.  While we were reading the menu, an American at the next table leaned over and recommended that we order the snapper that he and his partner had enjoyed.  It turned out to be a yummy choice.




On to Bangkok the next morning.  I'm convinced that 75% of the population of Thailand (almost 70 million) lives in Bangkok!  Traffic is a nightmare - expressways, cars, buses, more cars, more buses.  Yes, there are a few tuk-tuks and songtaos, but they look totally lost (and unsafe) in this extremely noisy place.  Taxis are dirt cheap, but they take forever, so the Skytrain (elevated rapid transit) is a much better choice.  Bangkok seems to sprawl for miles, and appears even more vast because the land is so flat.
 

After checking into our hotel (terrible hotel, terrible location, won't use this travel agent again), we decided to visit the Jim Thompson House.  Thompson was an American architect and entrepreneur (and purported spy) who almost single-handedly revitalized the Thai silk industry in the 1950s and '60s.  Thompson moved six old wooden country houses from Ayutthaya (the former capital of Thailand) and combined them into a masterpiece.  The house is located by one of the klongs - canals - that run through the city.  Each part of the estate is filled with treasures, and beautiful gardens and fountains unite the complex.  Thompson's personal story ended mysteriously.  While he was on holiday in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, in 1967, he went for a walk and disappeared.  No trace of Jim Thompson has ever been found!

The two main attractions in Bangkok are the Grand Palace (home of the Emerald Buddha), and Wat Po (home of the Reclining Buddha).  We took a convenient riverboat to reach both of these monuments.  And then we had our first-ever gullible dumb-tourist experience!  As we were walking to the entrance gate of the Palace, a man approached and informed us that the Palace was closed until 1 p.m. for a special function.  He suggested that we visit two other Wats that happened to be open only one day each year - and this was our lucky day!  This man was wearing what appeared to be an official uniform - khaki pants, beige shirt, pin in his collar, beret cap.  He grabbed my map and started to make notations all over it, and almost forcefully started to lead us to a taxi to take us to the other venues.  I snatched the map from his hands, gave him a "look", and started to walk back to the tourist information kiosk.  Jeff ran after me, berating me for being so rude!  When we arrived at the information booth, I asked if the Palace was truly closed.  The woman at the desk laughed and said "Oh, don't believe them.  They don't tell the truth."  There are so many policemen patrolling Bangkok.  I wonder why they don't clamp down on these illegal activities (does anyone smell corruption?).

The Grand Palace is breathtaking.  Huge, gold, bejewelled.  There is so much to see and absorb, that I think multiple visits are necessary.  This was not one of my fashionista days.  My Peter Ho hat, which I bought in KL last fall, had started to resemble a Mad Hatter's chapeau.  Although I wrapped a large shawl around my sleeveless shirt when I entered the Palace, the guards made me borrow a proper shirt for my visit.  I also forgot to wear slip-on sandals, so I was forever buckling and unbuckling my shoes as we visited the temples.  The Emerald Buddha sits atop a very high altar.  The Buddha is made of jadeite, and is clothed (by the King of Thailand) in seasonal dress.  Because it was winter (35 Celsius, but still winter), the Buddha was almost fully covered in garments made of gold.

These are two small examples of the amazing sculptures on the various buildings in the Grand Palace.  I could have spent weeks taking photos of every detail!

The Reclining Buddha at Wat Po was the highlight of Bangkok for me.  It's amazing to stand at the entrance to the temple and hear people gasp as they first lay eyes on the 15 metre high and 43 metre long statue! We started at the head, walked ever-so-slowly down the length of the body to the amazing feet.  The bottom of the feet are inlaid with mother-of-pearl, divided into 108 panels representing the auspicious symbols by which Buddha can be identified, like flowers, dancers, elephants, and tigers.  Along the corridor there are 108 bronze bowls representing the same symbols, and many visitors drop a coin into each of the bowls to bring them good fortune.

The heat in Bangkok was really oppressive, so we decided to visit the National Museum on our last morning, figuring that an air-conditioned venue would give us some relief.  Wrong again!  The Museum is only "cooled" by fans (not effective).  However, we lucked out with an amazing English docent, who not only gave us information about the Thai artifacts in the collection, but also the relics from Burma, Laos, and Cambodia.  One of the Museum buildings houses the funeral chariots of the royal family.  They are even grander than the Lord Mayor of London's coach (on a gigantic scale)!

Now that we've seen parts of two new countries in Asia (Taiwan and Thailand), it's time to venture into China again.  Stay tuned for our future adventures in Qingdao, Beijing, and Pingyao.