Passover Seder in Hong Kong

Last night Jeff and I had one of those special moments.  We looked at each other and said "Can you believe we are celebrating Passover on the other side of the world?"
And what a wonderful celebration it was!

We attended the UJC (United Jewish Congregation) Passover Seder at the Aberdeen Marina Club http://www.aberdeenmarinaclub.com/ along with 235 guests.  The venue is elegant.  The tables were set beautifully:  a large lazy Susan held a Seder plate, endless bottles of wine, matzo, salt water, horseradish and charoset (not as good as mine).  The chairs were covered (at no extra charge!) and place cards adorned the table.

We sat at table number 3 and had a lot of fun with our fellow guests.   We were a very international group!  Brazilians, French, American, Canadian, and Hong Kongese.   We elected Anna as our captain - she was responsible for breaking and hiding the Afikoman, and doing other rituals.  All of us knew the words and lyrics to the songs, and we sang loud and clear.

As for the meal, the gefilte fish was terrible, but the horseradish was potent enough to please Joe Kotler!  Jeff was in heaven eating the chicken soup with rock-hard matzo balls.  The main course (chicken, of course) was delicious, and the dessert looked as nice as most Passover cakes and tasted equally bland.

Rabbi Stan Zamuk was entertaining and full of fun as he guided all of us through the Haggadah and all of the traditions.  The female chazan, Shani, led us in all of the familiar tunes.  It was very moving when  the young children went up on the stage and sang the Four Questions with Shani.  Jeff and I were choked with emotion as Stan went around the room and asked people to say the first line of the questions in their native language - we heard French, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, and Korean.

The children were mostly well-behaved, but when they became obnoxious they were banished to kids' room where the helpers waited to look after them.

We had a wonderful time, it was lively and joyous and it even made Jeff smile!

"L'Shana ha ba'a b'Yerushalayim".  (Next year in Jerusalem - who knows!)

Playing tourist in our town

Time flies!  Jeff has been in HK for six months, and I'm ending month three.  Sometimes we feel like we've just "stepped off the boat", but most of the time we feel quite at home.  We have no difficulty navigating the city and its many alleyways and hidden streets.  Most of the time we feel this is "our" city, but, from time to time, we find ourselves in areas where we are the only Western faces and realize we are really just guests.
The expat community in HK is varied with respect to lifestyle.  Some live in apartment hotels - furnished upscale lodgings that come with many services.  Some live in the Mid-levels (our neighbourhood) in "regular" apartments (large and small) - with either their own furniture from home, or with HK-purchased furniture.  Others live up the Peak in larger, fancier apartments.  And many more live "way out" in the New Territories - closer to the Chinese border, quieter, leafier, better-smelling, but an hour away from Central.  A lot of permanent expats start off in the busier areas, and then gradually move away from the bustle.  Quite a few of the permanent expats have told me that they have moved several times during their 10-15 years in HK.  The one common denominator is that everyone rents.
Regardless of where we expats choose to live, each neighbourhood is replete with services - restaurants, cleaners, supermarkets, hardware stores, etc.  In North America, we see the same conveniences repeated in cities and suburbs (Loblaws, Shoppers, Canadian Tire), and the same occurs in HK, except the shops are usually small "mom-and-pop" operations.
I've met a few people who have lived here for 10-20 years.  Most speak almost no Cantonese, although one or two can get by quite nicely.  So far, my vocabulary is limited to hello and good morning, and lots of nods and smiles.  My plan is to take some lessons next fall, although I am torn between learning Cantonese or Mandarin.  Cantonese is more useful in Hong Kong.  Mandarin is the official language of China, and it is taught in all the schools.  Neither is easy.

There are times when we realize that we are strangers here.  When we were in the lobby waiting to enter the venue to see The Platters,  we noticed a crowd of young people taking photos of a pretty Chinese girl.  From the excitement, we realized she must be a celebrity, but to us she was just a pretty face in the crowd.  I took a photo of her, and Jeff asked his staff who she was.  Turns out she's Stanley Ho's daughter,  Josie, who is an actress/rock singer (have any of you heard of her?).  By the way, Stanley Ho is one of the richest men in Asia, albeit a bit of a shady character http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Ho   We wouldn't have recognized him either!


Our trusty guidebook, Leisurely hikes in Hong Kong, has led us on some interesting walks the past few weekends.  Last Saturday, we walked through Happy Valley, a residential area noted for the cemeteries that line the hills.  The Jewish cemetery was fascinating.  The entrance is through a small gate between a Buddhist temple and school.  The park-like setting makes it a very restful! quiet place.  We took photos of some interesting gravestones, including baby Mary Shaw, and Dina David, who was born in Harbin, China in 1910.  Many Russian Jews also escaped the Revolution by fleeing to Harbin in northern China (Manchuria).  The community eventually migrated south to Hong Kong.

The rest of the cemeteries are next door to each other, beginning with the Parsee cemetery, which was lined with beautiful potted flowers.  Since there are no vultures here, the Parsees bury their dead in lead coffins, rather than erecting a Tower of Silence.  The Christian cemetery had many memorials to ship crews whose boats were lost.  We were not allowed to take photos in the Catholic cemetery so we took them through the gate!  The last cemetery along the road was the Muslim one with very plain headstones in keeping with their culture.

Last Sunday, we walked the markets - separate ones for birds, flowers, goldfish and jade.  The photos speak for themselves.

Yesterday, we walked the Aberdeen Reservoir Trail.  All downhill, but very steep.  The end of the two-hour trek took us into Aberdeen, a working-class suburb of Hong Kong.  We did not see any other expats in that part of town.  We walked along the waterfront, taking photos of the sampans for hire.  We can't figure out why the sampan in this photo had a Hebrew sign (transliteration: Tom's sampan tour).


Tomorrow is Passover.  We will be attending a community Seder sponsored by the UJC (United Jewish Congregation).   The invitation said: "We suggest you bring your Helper to be able to assist you with the children ...  It is recommended they (the children) nap earlier in the day and then eat a hearty snack before arriving to keep them going."

Happy Passover and Happy Easter to all of you.

Sign of the week and fashionista of the week.

Music music music

It's Arts Festival time!Arts Festival Hong Kong

Where else but Hong Kong can we enjoy a week of varied music like this:

Last Saturday night we went to the Concert Hall to hear Cafe de los maestros - musicians and singers from Argentina's golden age of tango.  They are billed as Argentina's answer to the Buena Vista Social Club.  The singers were 85 and 87 years old!  The male singer can still belt out a great tune, but it took him quite a while to shuffle to the centre of the stage (my mother would've been yelling at him to pick up his feet).  The audience was young and local, and they gave the group a standing ovation.

Wednesday evening was Klezmer night at the Jewish Community Centre.  The buffet dinner was billed as "shtetl food" - I never knew that our ancestors in Poland ate Middle-Eastern salads and poached salmon!  Ha! and my grandmother told me that chicken soup with knaidels and roast chicken were shtetl food.   It was a good place to meet some new people, including an interesting couple from Tung Chung (a suburb near the airport) who had just returned from a five-day cruise to Vietnam.  It's the same cruise that we're hoping to take with mom and dad in October.  They gave it a thumbs up!  The klezmer music was performed by Yale and Elizabeth Strom - fiddler and singer.  Unfortunately, they concentrated on the gloomier aspects of klezmer, so we weren't inclined to get up and groove to the music.

On Friday evening we went to the convention centre to hear The Platters.  Please note that I said "hear" rather than "see" the group - we were in a room that resembled an airplane hangar, and had bought the cheap seats, very far from the stage.  The sound was surprisingly terrific and they sang all of their hits as well as a lot of Motown classics.  There's only one original member who's still alive (barely) - he hobbled on stage after half an hour, sat down and lip synched with the group.  He looked like Richard Pryor in his last years.  Many of the mainly older, Chinese audience were familiar with the music.

The next night we heard the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra perform Mozart and Haydn at the City Hall Concert Hall.  After the first movement of the Haydn symphony, I whispered to Jeff that they sounded squeaky.  No sooner had I said that, when the conductor paused and had the musicians re-tune their instruments!  (They hadn't tuned up before they began ... hmm ...).  We were underwhelmed by the performance.  Not world class.

This week is Literary Festival week.  Dale is very happy!  The highlight so far was a discussion featuring Alexander McCall Smith and Louis de Bernieres about "the language of words and the language of music".  LdB is an accomplished musician.  He plays classical guitar, mandolin (of course!), and flute.  AMS plays bassoon (badly, according to him).  Both talked about the use of music and musicians in their novels.  Jeff and I had met AMS when he first hit the big time, about 10 years ago.  He was much humbler in those days.  I wish he'd write something serious - he's a professor of medical ethics and has been on international bioethics committees.  Perhaps his lightweight books balance his more cerebral work.  LdB wanted to be another Bob Dylan.  He is now writing a lot of poetry, as well as working on a new novel.

Other news:
The camera has been fixed (however, the two photos in this blog are from Jeff's BlackBerry)!  The AC in our apartment has been fixed!  The oven has been fixed (but it's a convection oven, and the shepherd's pie didn't crust up enough)!  The hot water has been fixed in the second bathroom! (We are now truly ready for visitors)
Dale watched The Wizard of Oz on t.v. last week.  ASN (All sports network) is carrying the entire NCAA basketball tournament beginning with the play-in game on Tuesday night.  We are going to move the trundle bed into the living room so that we can watch all weekend (Eastern time!).

The weather is always a hot (or not so hot) topic of discussion here.  We've had a few weeks of 26 degree temperatures with lots of humidity.  The other day the weather "plunged" to 17 with showers.  I find it strange to live in a place where the weather report is like this:  (we certainly don't have words like monsoon in our weather forecasts in North America!)

Local Weather Forecast

Updated at 11:45 HKT

An intense replenishment of the northeast monsoon will reach the south China coast tonight, bringing cold weather to the region. Weather forecast for this afternoon and tonight Misty with rain patches. Becoming cold tonight. Fresh easterly winds, and winds will strengthen from the north tonight. Outlook : Cold in the next couple of days. Rain patches tomorrow, and becomingfine midweek this week.

Guilin, China

Our true Asian adventure has begun!  We spent the weekend in Guilin, a short plane ride from Hong Kong.  Guilin is one of the "must see" places in China, noted for its scenery and its nearby minority (non-Han) village (Long Ji).  The famous limestone hills grace the 20 yuan bill, along with the Chairman (his face is on every piece of currency).

We don't normally use a travel agent to book land arrangements, however, we felt more at ease letting an expert plan our arrangements for our first foray into the Mainland.

Our English-speaking guide, Annie, met us at the airport, and then introduced our driver by saying "he is a good driver.  He has his certificate and has been driving for three years."  Driving in off-the-beaten-path China is quite the experience!  There is a lot of road construction due to the increased number of cars.  There are no safety requirements!  Scooters are very popular means of transport - we saw families of three (only one child per family in China) on scooters, with the fathers driving and the mothers bouncing the babies behind the driver!  Very few helmets, and most helmets were construction site hard-hats.  There is an occasional traffic light, but cars just continue to go every which way through intersections.  There are men walking water buffaloes along the main roads.  After a while, you realize that there's a certain rhythm to the traffic flow - no-one is speeding, and everyone merges where possible.  Frightening until you get used to it.

Our guide suggested that we take the night boat tour around Guilin - the two rivers and five lakes have recently been joined, and the government offers a cruise to show off the city.  We were unprepared for the "theme park" atmosphere - it was so phoney!  Fake pagodas, fake calligraphy under the bridges, dancers and musicians in little pavilions along the shore, staged cormorant fishermen, and even a section to show off China's international relations including a fake Arc de Triomphe and a Golden Gate Bridge!  There was a musician on board playing an erhu.  He began with Chinese music, then started playing international folk-music.  We laughed out loud when he played Kyle's all-time favourite:  hokey-pokey!  The sad part was how proud our guide was of this attraction.  She told us how much it all cost, and how long it took to build.

The next morning, we took the Li River ferryboat cruise.  There's been a severe drought in Guilin this year, and the water level was very low.  (Julie, Eric and Andrew - remember when we had to push the canoes along the Rouge River?  We were afraid we would have to do the same on the Li).  We passed hundreds (thousands?) of hills.  Unfortunately, the day was very hazy, so most of the hills looked like outlines and shadows.  The more interesting part of the cruise was the life on and off the river.  Cormorant fishermen, water taxis, pedlars selling fruit from their five-log rafts, and ramshackle houseboats.

The cruise finished in a small city called Yangshuo.  After checking into our hotel, we rented bicycles and set out with Annie to visit the Big Banyan Tree and Moon Hill.  I got a panic attack after five minutes of cycling through the heavy traffic with horns blaring away.  Jeff looked like he was ready to kill me, but Annie patiently told me to go in between her and Jeff and just continue along.  She reassured me that the traffic would thin out once we got out of downtown.  (All I could think of was Eva Madras' tales of bicycling in Beijing).  I finally relaxed once we passed the last roundabout and got on the open road.  The famous banyan tree is 1400 years old.  It was planted the year the town began!  The government has turned the tree into a theme park (entry fees), with a ubiquitous flea market, small lake, and punting rafts for hire (these looked like fun, but we didn't have time to  try one).  

A little further down the road (there is only one road...) we got to Moon Hill - a limestone hill with a round hole in it.  Depending on your perspective, the hill immediately behind it blocks more or less of the hole to give an effect of the moon waxing or waning.  The bicycle ride back to Yangshuo was uneventful, except for the stares from all the locals.  We noticed only four other Westerners on bicycles during our two-hour ride.

We had a fun evening in Yangshuo (we managed to ditch our guide and go off on our own).  Dinner at an outdoor cafe felt like a summer evening on Prince Arthur (Montreal).  Jeff was sitting next to a fish tank.  We suddenly heard a "splat" and there was poor Wanda lying wriggling on the ground!  Jeff picked up the fish net, scooped Wanda up, and returned her to her tank.  The other diners applauded!  

The shopping street was crowded with people (Saturday night), and we wandered along seeking bargains.  (The man is selling musical instruments and the lady is making silk).  We found a CD/DVD store and bought lots of music and new movies.  The DVDs cost the equivalent of $1.50 CDN!

On Sunday, we traveled back to Guilin and visited several interesting sites:  Elephant Trunk Hill, Fubo Hill, Reed Flute Cave (excellent stalagmites and stalactites) and the Tea Science and Research Institute.  The tea plantation was Jeff's highlight of the weekend.

The tea-leaf picker is on her cell phone!  The docent at the tea estate explained the cultivation process and told us about the research the institute is conducting.  She performed a traditional tea ceremony for us, and then we spent some time in the gift shop.  (The only down side was the demise of our camera.  The shutter stopped working just as we entered the tea ceremony room.  The rest of the photos in today's blog are from Jeff's BlackBerry.)

Later that afternoon, we drove up through the high hills to Long Ji, a minority Zhuang village noted for its terraced rice fields.  Jeff says that the hills reminded him of loaves of bread.  Cars are not allowed in the village, which is perched on very steep slopes.  In the parking lot,  Annie arranged to have our 20 kilo suitcase carried up the old stone steps by a local WOMAN.

The climb to the hotel/lodge was about 1 kilometre!  The porter arrived there before us, without any shortness of breath.  We heard/saw fireworks that night from our balcony.  It was the lantern festival  which signifies the end of Chinese New Year.  On Monday morning, we awoke at 5:45 and trekked even further up the mountain to watch the sunrise, however the morning was cloudy, so we could only imagine the beautiful colours of a sunrise over the rice fields.  After breakfast, we walked through the village and climbed up the terraces.  We even found a semi-hidden cemetery!  When we stopped for coffee, we befriended a family from France (good chance to practice speaking French).  We sang Alouette to the 2 1/2 year old girl!  

Some observations:

Sign of the week:  Jeff recently read an article about blind people being trained as masseurs.  We happened to pass one of these "spas" on our first night in Guilin.  One room - many cots - lined up inches from each other.

We did not see any libraries, but then again we don't read Chinese!  I told Annie that I was a librarian and worked in a college library.  Her response was a total blank.  

The only bookstore we saw was in the Guilin airport.  No Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, or Alexander McCall Smith translations.  As far as I could tell, any translated book spewed the Communist philosophy.

All of the houses we passed were three story, flat, and unadorned.  Whenever we saw an impressive gated entrance, we realized that it led to a government building.

We passed a new hospital:  No. 181 Military Hospital of the P.L.A.  Our guide informed us that it was for military personnel, and too expensive for common people.  Some people are more equal than others.

Mainland Chinese are allowed to visit 38 countries (provided they can afford to).  Our guide thought that this was very generous.

The meals that were included in our trip (breakfasts, lunches and two dinners) were bland and spice-less (good for my father!).  We questioned our guide about this, since the meals we had on our own were deliciously flavoured.  Annie replied that they are told to order meals like this because Westerners do not like spicy food.  

What's different about Hong Kong

Walking:  Ever thought that walking in a big city might be an easy way to get around and see the sights? Well, walking in HK has its challenges.  As Jeff says, HK is a perpetual "step class".   We go up and down concrete steps all day long, and they are made for size 6 feet!  (Andrew beware)  Next to the famous escalators are corresponding steps to use when the escalators are not moving in the same direction that you are.  I counted how many steps there are between our apartment and the fitness club: 350!  Steps aren't the only challenge - sidewalks tend to come and go.  You can be strolling along the sidewalk on a main street (e.g. Hollywood Road), and suddenly, the sidewalk on your side of the street ends!  and it ends at a busy intersection with no traffic light!  and the cars are driving on the "wrong" side of the road!  eek!

Elevators:  In public places, there are elevator control staff to line the crowds up and direct them into the elevators.  I've noticed this in the HK Central Library, Sogo department store, and the Immigration building (where we got our HK i.d. cards).  No pushing, very orderly, and very polite.  (Reminds me of my summer job as an elevator operator at the Queen E. Hotel in 1968)

Attention David Sax (author of Save the Deli):  Delis here aren't the same as in North America.  In Jeff's blog of December 16th, he mentioned walking on Lamma Island and noticing the "Deli Lamma".  This week's South China Morning Post reported that the manager of the Deli Lamma appeared in court charged with allowing it to be used as a drug den!

Hong Kong is a city of festivals.  The Arts Festival is getting under way at the end of this week.  The subway escalators are lined with advertisements for the various entertainments of the festival, including a concert given by Sa Dingding, an award-winning Mongolian singer, whose "versatile, ethereal voice weaves a sonic tapestry of four languages - Tibetan, Sanskrit, Manadarin and a self-invented tongue."  The posters show her in a Shiva-esque pose, covered in coloured stones and jewels.  You can check her out on youtube.  An acquired taste!

The Literary Festival is coming in a few weeks.  Alexander McCall Smith is the biggest draw.  All of his events are sold out!  I've got tickets to see him "in concert" (literally) with Louis de Bernieres (Captain Corelli's Mandolin).  The lineup of authors is interesting, however the locals are complaining that in past years the Booker prize winner usually makes an appearance, but Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall) has declined to show up this year (or perhaps the sponsors didn't offer her enough of an incentive).

We ate at an Italian restaurant the other night.  They advertised peking duck pizza.  Will try it next time.  They serve duck more often than chicken in Hong Kong.

McDonald's has 24-hour delivery.  Restaurant deliveries are on scooters, with boxes attached.

I've also seen "meals on wheels" delivered this way.

Dai pai dongs have become our favourite eateries.  They are Hong Kong's answer to delis and fast food. The fare is standard Cantonese, and we often have "won ton mien" for lunch - won ton soup with lots of noodles.  A meal at these places runs about $3-4!  Jeff and I ate at one in Kowloon recently (before the parade).  You'll notice the mini temple behind Jeff's chair, and the overcrowded tables in the restaurant.  They turn the tables over about 3 times an hour!  And they are masters at turning a table for two into a table for six.

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Happy Chinese New Year 2010 - the year of the tiger!

This is the most important holiday of the year, and it is celebrated as festively as Christmas in North America.  Chinese New Year is the "spring" festival.  It celebrates the new agricultural year.

The festivities began a month ago, when the decorations began to adorn buildings, shops and restaurants.  Festive red lanterns, red and gold good-luck banners, fake firecrackers, and lots and lots of lights lit up the city.  Each mall had huge decorations, both inside and out.  Here is a photo of the main lobby of Pacific Place, an upscale complex in Central.   In the second photo you can see the tigers in front of Fendi (thanks for the photo, Joan).  The stores were packed with shoppers, and there were lineups and crowd controls at Armani, Coach, Louis Vuitton, and all the other fancy shops.   We noticed everyone (except us!) walking around with fancy purchases.  Parents bought their kids new clothes for the holidays in preparation for visiting all the relatives. It reminded me of pre-Rosh Hashanah shopping when our kids were young.

Fourteen parks in HK hosted huge flower markets the week before the holiday.  Joan and I visited the market in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay (close to  Jeff's office, and across the road from the HK Central Library).  I expected to see row after row of flower stalls, but as Jeff says, everything is done Hong Kong style - i.e. capitalize on the space and sell all kinds of "stuff", not just flowers!  Two long rows were filled with the flowers that symbolize good luck, good business, romance, and good health: lilies, narcissus, peach blossoms, orchids (Susan: you must visit next year's market!), and tangerine trees.
 

The rest of the park looked like a carnival/country fair!  Young kids were selling cheap toys, hawkers were demonstrating brushes, squeegees, and brooms (this is also "spring cleaning" time), and food kiosks were selling traditional cakes and sweets.  The crowds were overwhelming, and we decided to leave when we realized we were being borne along by the crowds, rather than our own feet!

Sunday (Valentine's Day) was the first day of the holiday.  Jeff and I had prime tickets to the night parade (we stood in line for two hours the week before at the Visitors' Centre - no online purchasing).
Our seats reminded us of the t.v. stands that we sat in many years ago at the Orange Bowl Parade in Miami with the Kofman family.  There was a loot bag, courtesy of Cathay Pacific, on each chair.  The bag included a plastic raincoat (much needed!), candies, a programme, and some blow-up tigers.  All of the acts stopped in front of our stands to perform their routines.  The highlights were the flag wavers (Italy), the tiger band (from Switzerland, not Princeton), and the stilt-walkers from Belgium.  The floats were Disney-esque, advertising airlines, places near and far (Macau, Hainan, Thailand).  Many of the local ballet and dance academies had routines.  Oddly enough, the San Diego Chargers cheerleaders and mascots pranced across the stage, too, and so did the scantily-dressed Tropizana dancers from the U.S. (like Copacabana - they must have been freezing, since it was only 9 degrees and raining!).

The fireworks on Monday night were spectacular.  We stood with 200,000 other people on Kowloon watching the blasts of light right across the harbour.http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_china/2010-02-16/055268377038.html

On Tuesday, day 3 of the holiday, with the rain still coming down and the temperature well below 10 degrees, Jeff and I looked at each other and said "Next year - Phuket with all the other expats!"

Miscellaneous facts:  Retailers did a roaring business this year - in some malls, revenues surged more than 25% over last year.  Mainlanders flocked to HK to shop, shop, shop and buy, buy, buy.  More than 78,000 people showed up at the Sha Tin racecourse and forked over more than US$140,000,000 on Tuesday alone.

Please don't ask us if we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics - none of our 15 sports channels get any coverage.  

And for those of you who think our apartment (last week's blog) looks rather small, take a look at this amazing video:  http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/worlds-greenest-homes-hong-kong-space-saver.html