This is a personal blog to let our family and friends know how we get on with the linguistic, cultural and culinary challenges of Asia's world city, Hong Kong.
The evening that we got back from Hanoi, after signing the lease for our new flat (YAY!) we went to see the Tai Hang Fire Dragon. It was super-crowded in Tai Hang, as you'd expect, so we didn't get great pictures, but Fili's World has such a good description and pics that i suggest you take a look there.
Over a century ago, Tai Hang was a village whose inhabitants lived off of farming and fishing. A few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival a typhoon and then a plague wreaked havoc on the village. While the villagers were repairing the damage, a python entered the village and ate their livestock. According to some villagers, the python was the son of the Dragon King. The only way to stop the havoc which had beset their village was to dance a fire dance for three days and nights during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. The villagers made a big fire dragon of straw and stuck incense into the dragon. They lit firecrackers. They danced for three days and three nights and the plague disappeared.
So, Hanoi was great. It is a very noisy, busy, energetic place, and somehow the trillions of scooters make it all the more overwhelming.
We left HK late on Wednesday before National Day on 1st October (which marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC) We flew Hong Kong Express, which I thought had gone bankrupt, but still seems to be in operation. Met the guy from Hotel Elegance 3 (catchy name) at the airport, and after about a 40 min drive, arrived at the hotel, relieved to see a big comfy bed.
What did we do on Thursday? It was kind of drizzly, the tail end of Ketsana I think, but generally we were really lucky. We went for a wander around the Hoan Kiem Lake, whose name means "Lake of the Returned Sword". Legend has it that 15th century hero Le Loi was given a magic sword by a giant golden turtle in the lake (a bit far-fetched, but stay with me)He then became emperor, AND defeated the Chinese, then gave the sword back to the turtle. Not sure how he located the turtle. That detail is lost in the mists of time. In the middle of the lake is the Thap Rua tower, a monument to the turtle.
We went to the Ngoc Son Temple, which is on a little islet thingy in the lake. It was quite like temples we've seen in Indonesia, HK, Macau, Beijing....but none of them had a giant taxidermied turtle in them. He was found (boshed over the head?) in 1968, and is 2.1 metres long. Quite a sight to behold.
Also in the temple was the best Terrifying Horse I have seen since Yogyakarta:
In the afternoon, we had yummy Vietnamese coffee at the Hapro coffee kiosk next to the lake. The secret to Vietnamese coffee seems to be vast quantities of condensed milk - a staple of the HK diet. I think there's another secret, to do with the way it's brewed, I don't know.
A bit of wandering around the old quarter (aka traffic dodging) in the afternoon, appreciating the contrasts of life in HK and Hanoi. People eat on the pavements! can you believe it?! and, dearest Legco, they DO obstruct the pavement, but get this - nobody minds! Who would have guessed that people enjoy eating outside? You know that European lifestyle that everyone aspires to here (if property ads are to be believed) well an integral part of that lifestyle is eating outside. Get with the programme, as they say. (I am currently listening to the genius of white boy rap, Vanilla Ice, so I hope my temporary decade-slip can be forgiven).
OK, rant over.
We continued our game of Frogger visiting a few galleries =, which are all over the place. It became clear pretty quickly that 90% of them are essentially identical, and while they may not exhibit the same artists, you couldn't guess that. We did eventually find two that were more interesting, the Dong Phong Art Gallery, and the Life Photo Gallery.
By this time, decadence called - so we had Metropole Hanoi's Chocolate Buffet. YUM. It was pretty good, although I think Ross was a bit surprised that it wasn't more adventurous - just hot choc, lots of little chocolates, brownies, stuff like that. No chilli chocolates, or lavender and chocolate, or chocolate-dipped anchovies or anything. While we're on the subject of hugely-expensive hotels, it's interesting to note that there is actually a Hanoi Hilton - well, my point is that there are two. There's an actual hotel which is part of the international chain, and there is also the Hoa Lo prison, aka Hanoi Hilton which is where Senator John McCain among others involuntarily spent some time.
The next day we made a beeline for Lenin Park - yes, that's right, Lenin Park. It is super-strange, as you might expect. It's appropriate in many ways: soulless, enormous, criss-crossed by unexplained train tracks, not as advertised and essentially pointless. The promised placid Bay Mau Lake is no more. Nor are the paddle boats that resemble giant geese. I was looking forward to those. Here's what it looks liek now.
The Temple of Literature was founded in 1070, and it's a beautiful complex of traditional buildings and calm fishponds. Never mind Lenin Park, this was the real peaceful oasis (despite the tour groups sporting matching caps from, yes, you guessed it, mainland China)
Finally, we went to the water puppets - unmissable on a visit to Hanoi, so they say. It was great, charming I guess. Very low tech but sweet. There's a shallow pool of water at the front of the theatre, and the puppeteers operate the puppets from behind the curtain. They portray various little scenes from Vietnamese life (back in the day) like fishing for frogs, gathering the harvest, lions fighting, kids playing, stuff like that. Bits of it reminded me of Punch and Judy actually.
87 Pho Ma May is a tube house which has been restored to its former 19th century splendour. Being a tube house, it is long and narrow - this was a way of cheating an ancient system that calculated property taxes according to a property's width. When we went, the house was full of children, making lanterns and carving patterns into melons in preparation for Mid-Autumn festival. The idea is that the lanterns are lit up at night, and the light catches the moon's attention - he will then grant the wishes of the child holding the lantern.
I'm sure Ross will remind me of all the bits that I have forgotten to include, but how's that for a whirlwind tour?
Here's a video of what it's like trying to cross the road. Admittedly it was Mid-Autumn Festival Eve, but this is not an unusual quantity of traffic. And the pedestrian crossing light was green.
The good news is that we're going to Hanoi this weekend - which should be really exciting. I'm looking forward to eating tonnes of vietnamese food (lots of steak pho please!) and checking out the chocolate buffet at the Sofitel. Not quite decided yet whether we'll go to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum...Looking forward to a bit more open space and just being out of HK.
The bad news is that Typhoon Ketsana (the one that just demolished Manila) is also heading to Vietnam. Hopefully it will stay a bit further south than Hanoi, but if the weather here is anything to go by, it'll still be very rainy. The typhoon is about 800k from HK now, and the weather all day has been atrocious.
The other bit of bad news is that we'll be missing the National Day celebrations on Thursday 1st Oct. This is a bit gutting because it's the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC (as you'll know if you watch BBC World!) so the fireworks and general hoo haa are likely to be spectacular. Oh well, there's always YouTube...
Also in inimitable HK style, there's another public holiday on the Saturday for the mid-Autumn festival. Yes, it's mooncake time again! you'll e pleased to know that my ever-generous employer has kindly provided some Minnie and Mickey themed mooncakes - I'm planning to give them to our lovely doorman, in the hope that he likes mooncakes, or at least knows someone who does.
We went to see As If To Nothing at the Kwai Tsing Auditorium last Friday, with Sanae. We booked ages ago, and I was really looking forward to it, but I came away a bit disappointed. I felt a bit like I had been repeatedly bashed over the head wiuth a blunt instrument for an hour and a half. The sound was SUPER loud, too loud for old grannies like me, and it was all a bit directional. Well, I'm sure that those in the know would dispute that. I just didn't really get it. We have seen quite a lot of dance here, and it can be a bit hit and miss admittedly, although this is choreographed by such an acclaimed guy, Sang Jijia, that I thought it would be good. And I have enjoyed performances by the CCDC before too. I guess it didn't help that I had had one of the worse weeks I have had since starting work here - all a bit sad-making really.
Oh well, you can't win them all.
Ross update: Actually I quite enjoyed most of the dance. The music was loud, but full of energy and very urgent - quite industrial though (we're talking experimental Prodigy crossed with... something less pop-y). And the dancing and video effects were odd and I don't pretend to have understood 10% of it, but it kept me engaged for 60 of 90 minutes after a long day at work!
So I think I have broken the news to everyone who ever reads this blog (all three of you!) so here are a couple of posts I wrote a while ago but didn't publish. I am 13 and a half weeks now, and very definitely showing! Looking forward to Christmas, and coming home to see everyone, and trying to buy some non-tent-like maternity wear. Not looking forward quite so much to spending £700 on a tandem buggy...
Monday September 28th 2009
Having spent the last few weeks alternately panicking, napping and muching crackers to stave off the nausea, I think I am getting the hang of this at last. My Amazon order is in the post, I have been finding out more about how to exercise safely (although that's not stopped me from gaining weight!) and I have not had to fend off too many enquiries about my sudden tee-totalism and new-found "aversion" to sushi.
Things are still very difficult because we are trying to make a decision about a new flat, and that's kind of hard when neither of us can really truly imagine what it'll be like to have a little squawking bundle around. How much space do we need? where will the buggy go? Would we get by ok without a bath? I'm just glad that we found out in time to veto all those lovely 4th floor walk-ups we saw! Also Oliver is coming to stay - by the time he comes, he will kow that sometime in May he'll be Uncle Ol, but part of me wants to tell him to wait until next year, since there'll be more to see then! But if he comes in Nov, it's cheaper as , and I'll still be able to leave the house (wherever that house may be). Heck I might even have a day off! I do have to bear in mind though that I only get 10 weeks' maternity leave (yes that's right, WEEKS not MONTHS) and Ross gets the princely sum of 2 days paternity leave, or something like that. Crapola.
Sunday September 13th 2009
So, I had my first scan on Friday. Which sounds crazy since I am only 4-6 weeks pregnant. The cynic in me would say that since scan cost $600, they offer them to anyone.
Looks like having a baby in this town is going to cost a lot of money – not least because I've been to the HK Sanatorium so far (mostly because it's so close to our flat) which is a private hospital. Hospital visits here always seem to involve at least 6 procedures before you see the doctor – which might be why we didn't get to see Dr Lam until an hour after my appointment time. First you fill in some forms and hand over your ID card. Sit in the waiting rom for a bit. Then you get your temperature taken (plus optional face mask if you look a bit hot). Sit in the waiting room for a bit. Get weighed. Sit in the waiting room for a bit. Answer a questionnaire about your recent travel history and contact with poultry (no questions about your contact with pigs ha ha) Sit in the waiting room for a bit. Take a pee test. Sit in the waiting room for a bit. Finally, see the doctor!
She correctly diagnosed me as very nervous, but I had Ross with me to stop me from passing out (again – I did a fainting special a couple of weeks ago at a very swanky rooftop bar in Wan Chai. Again, my hero was on duty and laid me – very gracefully apparently – on the expensive teak decking while someone got some iced water)She asked some questions, I asked some questions, then I had my scan. It was a pretty scary feeling getting up on that horrible bed thing with (shudder) stirrups. Eugh. Anyway, here's a little pic. The observant amongst you will notice that there are two blobs....at the moment it seems like only one of them is developing, but there is a chance that sometime around the middle of May 2010, the size of our family will double. Gulp. The blob is only 2mm long at the mo, so Dr Lam thinks it's 4 weeks old.
It feels like a rather lonely time at the moment – we can't tell anyone until our next appointment (9th October) at the earliest. So between now and then I have to come up with some excuses for fainting, not drinking any alcohol or eating sushi, and nearly falling asleep by 5pm. I'm a very bad liar, so there's going to be some unconvincing mumbling for the next month. I have spent a lot of time recently crying, yelling at Ross and taking naps at the moment, It's really not as romantic as it sounded. But that's just now, things will get better :-)
I need to equip myself with a couple of books I think. Amazon will be my saviour!
So I was on the telly the other day for a whole two seconds. We did a charity screening of the DisneyPixar movie Up, and there was a TV crew there from ATV news to cover the event.
The UA cinema is over at Whampoa Plaza in Hung Hom, right opposite the shopping centre shaped like a boat.
The movie was shown to 330 kids and their grandparents, I don't know which was cuter, the 2-year olds balancing the 3D glasses on the end of their noses, or the 92-year olds balancing the 3D glasses on the end of their noses.
Here are the sacrifices I made:
Getting up at 7.30 on a Saturday morning
Missing Pilates
Wearing a t shirt that says "VoluntEARS" (witty pun no?)
Having breakfast at Maccy D's in order to gulp down my antibiotics (yes, dear readers, I've had flu, tonsillitis and an eye infection)
Suffering many severe (but inexplicable) tiny cuts on my fingers as a result of playing an integral role in the "Blowing up 330 balloons team"
Taking part in a marathon photo-taking session which became more creative and elaborate (not to mention obligatory) as time went on.
On the plus side, I learnt how to say "Would you like to have a photo taken?" in Cantonese - "Ying seung". I also met lots of lovely people from other departments at work, including Kactus, which I think you'll agree is an interesting name. Anyway, I assume the participants enjoyed the film (as well as the complimentary popcorn and water I served with my own fair hands) but the day's proceedings were very much in Canto, so I can't be sure.
The bonus of this video is that you get to see the opening credits of the news, which I love. They remind me so much of The Day Today. Or Drop the Dead Donkey. Or something like that.
After the screening I got the ferry back from Hung Hom to Wan Chai. A month or so ago, we noticed that the roofs of the ferries were all very white - I think they had their annual repaint - but the one I got on Saturday was liberally sprinkled with black dust. I don't know what the Star Ferry runs on, but it ain't unleaded. In fact, I can only assume that they have a big furnacey thing on board (like in old movies) into which they shovel some fossil fuels. Big chunks of coal, most likely. Anyway, the ferry pier at Hung Hom's nice, much more spacious than the others, and Hung Hom itself is cool too. Actually we considered living there, but that tiny (and ever-shrinking) harbour is just too much of a mental block.
Mr Moore has booked his tickets for Blighty in October, while yours truly will have to stay here, slaving away over a hot Lenovo Thinkpad X200. Boo for local annual leave!
Monday, 3 August 2009
Very strange path for this tropical depression to take...it's currently heading this way (HK is the little red asterisk) but that could change at any time.
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