Hong Kong adventures - Part 6

Thursday, March 1

I woke up in the morning knowing basically what I wanted to do for the next two days by myself, but I didn't really know what to do when. A couple of the things would be more fun to do if the weather was really beautiful, but it's kind of hard to predict in Hong Kong. In the morning, it is often foggy, but then it might clear up later on.
I got on the KCR, and at the last minute when the train stopped at the Sha Tin station, it looked brighter outside, so I decided on the spot to get out and make my second attempt at seeing the 10,000 Buddhas Temple, since I actually know where it is now. There are about 400 steps up the mountainside to get to the temple, and the whole path has various golden Buddhas along both sides. Near the bottom I was looking at the foliage when I noticed out of the corner of my eye something crossing the path about 8 feet ahead of me. I thought "that's a weird cat". Then I realized it was a monkey! That was pretty exciting! I watched it go up a tree to eat jackfruit and saw another monkey in the tree too. I watched for a couple of minutes, but then decided to keep going and hope to see the monkeys again on my way down.
The temple was pretty cool. All of the Buddhas were golden. There were large standing ones lining the whole courtyard area outside the temple. Inside the temple, the walls were completely lined with little ones. I didn't bother counting them to make sure there really were 10,000! Inside in one corner were a bunch of fruit and vegetable offerings, some were still in the grocery cart! I didn't stick around there long. By this point I had have seen a lot of temples, and especially if you don't know the difference between what god each temple is for, they all look pretty much the same. They're beautiful to see though.
So, I made my way back down the path, and when I was about 2/3 of the way down I saw a whole bunch of monkeys in the trees alongside the path; everything from big old ones to little babies. I was pretty excited! Then I saw various monkeys crossing the path in either direction on the ground or above in the trees and bamboo. I stood around and watched them for probably half an hour. I think I was as close as 4 feet from a monkey at least a couple of times. It was thrilling, both in a good way and a scary way! There was a huge one that came close enough that I thought it might jump on me! I am sure it was trying to stand guard to protect the others. The bigger ones were definitely more used to people. At one point one was sitting just off the path. It made eye contact with me, then looked away and I took a picture of it, then it turned and looked at me with its jaw dropped open like it was in total shock that I actually had the nerve to take its picture!! It was hilarious! After a while I decided I really should carry on with my day, so I walked down to the bottom. Then I saw the sign warning about how to protect yourself from monkeys, which I had totally missed on the way in. I think I was probably a little stupid by how close I was to the monkeys and hanging around there, but everything turned out OK, so oh well!
I took the KCR down to Tsim Sha Tsui and walked to the Star Ferry Pier. I could have transferred to another train line that goes in a tunnel underneath the harbour to Hong Kong Island, but I like the ferry so much! While I was standing waiting to board the ferry, a guy came up to me, and said "man, you're pretty, man - tall and pretty". I thanked him and went back to looking out the window, but he didn't take the hint and went on to compliment me more and ask me if I was visiting etc. I gave him the very basic story of what I was doing in Hong Kong. He told me his name and that he is from Nigeria, but he lives in Hong Kong. He asked if we could be "friends". "Riiiight!", I think to myself. As if he would approach a man and beg to be his friend. This also happened to Noreen last week when she was waiting for me after going through customs coming back from China (also a Nigerian guy, I believe). Anyway, I told him that I was sorry, but no. He was very persistent. He asked if we could email. I told him I have lots of friends already, and I don't even have time to email with all of them, so no thanks. He STILL didn't give up. Eventually he finally got the picture, but it took me saying no maybe 10 times! I have noticed that men from any other country other than the US and Canada seem to be more likely to boldly approach women, at least that's been my experience.
Anyway, after my enjoyable ferry ride, I first walked to Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. The most unique thing I saw there was a model boat pond where old men were driving remote control race boats in circles in the pond. I took the tram through Wan Chai to Central. I went up the Mid-levels escalator again. I wandered into a few stores. I found the street markets on Li Yuen Street East and West. It's so strange how you can be walking down a major street by Rolex, Prada, Gucci, and other stores I can't even afford to walk into, and then turn up a little alley, and there are people selling cheap silk ties, clothes, jewelry etc. I walked down Hollywood Road, which is known for all its Chinese antique stores. Also more swanky than I can afford.
I found a Pacific Coffee Co and ate lunch and had a mocha. By this time it was 3:30 or so, and I had burned off that bowl of cereal hours ago, but I have noticed that most days I haven't even noticed if I am hungry, because I am so busy taking in what is around me and just going. There's so much to see! I used the internet for free there, and just relaxed for a while, then I found the Gage Street Market which was a wet market, selling fruits, vegetables, live seafood etc. I bought some of those great mangoes. Then I went back to the ferry and across to Kowloon and went in a store and bought a teapot. I knew I wanted to buy one earlier, but didn't want to walk around with it all day long. Then I took the KCR back to Noreen's.

Friday, March 2

I woke up to a lovely morning. A little hazy, but it looked like it might clear up. I wanted to go to Hong Kong Park in Central, so I went back down to Hong Kong Island, using the Star Ferry yet again. It's so fun, and even moreso when it's sunny and beautiful outside which it was by the time I got there! The Park has ponds, an aviary (this one also closed due to Avian Bird Flu in wild birds in close proximity), a plant conservatory, and a tea museum. It was a gorgeous morning.
After I had lunch, I went to the pier for ferries to outlying islands, and for a mere $2-3 US, I took a fast passenger ferry to Cheung Chau. It took about 1/2 hour. This is a little island southwest of Hong Kong Island. It has no cars, so the streets are really narrow. I walked around the town quite a bit. I saw fishermen mending nets in the harbour. One of the first things I saw was a temple with a basketball court as its front yard. Interesting! Then I walked to the beach. The sand was really nice, and the water was so blue. But it was impossible not to notice all the garbage in the waves in the beach area! Gross! When you were further down the beach past the swimming area, there wasn't garbage though.
I ended up taking a hike around one corner of the island. All the way around I was high up looking out at the blue ocean. It was completely sunny and really warm. I was wearing a tank top, but I wasn't trusting the weather quite enough in the morning to wear capris, so I was wearing jeans. Talk about sweaty! It had to be at least 80 F (26 C). Most days have been about 70 F (20 C), which was perfect for walking around comfortably. But I am not complaining about the sun and warm weather when it's cold and rainy at home in Seattle! Anyway, the little hike was really enjoyable. At one peak overlooking the water, there was sort of a pavilion with benches where I sat and journalled for a little while with a pleasant breeze blowing. It was glorious! As I continued my walk I saw some rock formations and saw some fishermen in little boats just offshore. When I got back to the town I promptly found myself a Magnum ice cream bar. I walked around a little longer, then took the ferry back to Hong Kong. When I was getting back the sun was low on the skyline of Hong Kong. It was absolutely gorgeous! It was a great day!
Then I met Noreen and her friend Janet at an Italian restaurant in a mall in Sha Tin. We then went to the theatre to watch Dreamgirls. Good movie! I knew it was about music, but I didn't know it was actually a musical! I was a little surprised when someone started singing during an argument. :) The different thing about movie theatres in Hong Kong is you actually reserve seats for the movie when you buy your ticket!

Saturday, March 3

Noreen and I went back to Shenzhen in China again. Another beautiful sunny day. First we went to the mall near the border/train station again. I found a nice shoulder bag for less than $20. I don't know if it's an imitation of a brand name or a factory overrun or what. I can't tell the difference, and really don't even care! It's nice!
We went into a tea shop because I wanted to buy a tea cup or two. The woman that worked there actually knew English pretty well, unlike most of the people working in that mall. She had us sit down and gave us some Jasmine tea in tiny little tea cups. She made it with loose tea. First she poured water over the tea, and then poured the tea out over all the little terracotta tea pots and stuff that were on her wooden tray-like thing. Apparently this is one of the traditional ways of having tea in China. This cleans the tea cups and pots first. Then she pours water over the loose tea again in the pot and pours that in our cups to drink. The woman was really knowledgable about tea and just kept saying how she loves tea. She wasn't being pushy trying to get us to buy things either, which was different! She filled our tiny cups a few times, then asked if we wanted to try oolong tea. We did, and had several little cups of that as well. It was such a little oasis amid the insanity of the rest of that building! It was so much fun, and I ended up buying a few tea cups and some tea from her, partly because of the personal connection that was made. It meant more to me to buy from her than anyone else. What a good memory!
After that we went for dim sum, and had my favourite again, sui mai, as well as the barbequed pork dumplings, turnip cake, some steamed buns with custard in it, pumpkin cakes, and some green veggies (sort of Chinesey spinach - really tasty).
After that, Noreen and I took the train to Splendid China and the China Folk Culture Village. Taking the train was a little interesting, because there was only randomly something in English. We made our way there just fine though. The admission to this park was less than $20 US. The Splendid China part of the park has little miniature versions of various natural and man-made landmarks all over China, including the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors, and the Imperial Palace. Of course the landscaping was immaculate there as well. We wandered around the cultural village too, which depicts many different people in various parts of China. A lot of the areas had shows throughout the day, but we missed them all.
We found some food to eat, which is a little sketchier than in Hong Kong. We avoided the sour, stinky fermented tofu and fish balls. We got "pizza" from one vendor, which was just a crust with sesame seeds on it. The dough was more like naan bread or pita. It was tasty, so whatever! We ordered roasted corn on the cob, but I think it was actually seed corn, not sweet corn. Not too good. We did find a really good noodle dish to share though. It was set up like a food court, but it was funny because you'd order your food, then they'd give you a receipt-type thing, then you go to the cashier booth, pay, then go back and pick up your food or drink. This seemed so inefficient, and was hard to figure out when no one could really speak English, except one other customer who sort of helped us! Funny system, but we figured it out eventually.
By this time it was dark, and time for the evening show! They put on a large production called "Dancing with the Dragon and the Phoenix" every night, and it's included in the admission price. It's supposed to depict China's past. Let me tell you, between the casinos in Macau and this show, I never need to go to Vegas!! The show was so over-the-top, with acrobats, contorsionists, elaborate costumes, lasers, plate spinners, flaming torches, live horses, cows, and sheep running across the stage and on and on!! I just couldn't believe it! A lot of the time there had to be 30 or so people on the stage at one time. It was unreal, and certainly entertaining! Quite a grande finale to my trip. :) After the show we went back to Hong Kong and I packed for home!

Sunday, March 4

Journey home to Seattle!

I'll write some more general observations/thoughts later...