I feel like it will take me forever to write about everything I have been experiencing in the past 9 days in Hong Kong that I don't know where to start! But I guess I will start from the beginning, and gradually get up to date.
I arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday night, the 18th. It was good that I came at night because I could go to bed pretty soon after not sleeping much the night before I left Seattle or on the plane. I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4:00am! That first morning, Noreen and I met up with some of her school teacher friends and couple of young 18 year old travellers that were visiting as well (the girl was the neice of one of the other teachers). We took the train and then a double-decker bus down narrow windy roads, and went on a hike on Hong Kong Island along a ridge called Dragon's Back. On a clear day, it would have a spectacular view of the ocean and probably lots of stuff on the island too, but as it was, we were hiking in a cloud! We actually got wet hair just from being in the fog/cloud. Actually, it was pretty cool, in a way. After our hike we ended up at Shek O beach and ate lunch at a Vietnamese/Thai restaurant. Afterwards, the 18 year olds, Jennifer and Michael, and Noreen and I took a bus back into the city and took a traditional tram a long way down one of the main streets, passing lots of stores and sights, including the Happy Valley Race Course. I never would have guessed it, but horse racing is huge in Hong Kong. After eating supper, we watched the Chinese New Year fireworks over Victoria Harbour. There were 3 barges shooting off fireworks, so it was quite a display!
The next day, Tuesday, the 20th, Noreen and I slept in and then had brunch. On our way out for the day, we happened to hear that the complex she lives in was about to have a lion dance, so we stayed and watched that. It was a blessing for the complex for Chinese New Year. There were several young men playing Chinese percussion and 2 men each in 2 different lion costumes. It was cool how much they could make themselves look like a real animal. The lions danced around for a while on the ground and on stilts, then took the offering of vegetables, pretending like the lion was eating it, then there was some sort of blessing at the end with management from the complex. Lots of people came out to watch. It was great that we just happened upon that! Then we went to Wong Tai Sin temple. There were tons of people there, because of Chinese New Year, making offerings of fruit and burning incense. I couldn't believe how many people were going through. They actually had police with megaphones herding people along. The haze of incense was thick!! As a side note, little shrines with offerings are everywhere here, including little tiny ones in businesses to bless the business. I have also seen them under overpasses, on street corners, or any random place. Anyway, after the temple, we went to a nearby nunnery. It's the largest Buddhist nunnery in Asia (I think I got that right). It had lots of beautiful gardens/courtyards. It wasn't nearly as busy as the temple was. Across the road from that was a recently opened garden with a big gold pagoda and a goldfish pond, lots of landscaping, including an area with orange jasmine trees that smelled so glorious! The sun actually peeked through while we were at the garden (it had been cloudy all day), and the quality of light was so beautiful. It was a great, more relaxing day.
More later....
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