December

I sit in the sunshine on the court yard steps this morning after I've finished opening the restaurant. The weather is fair and cool, but this Asian sun still relays considerble heat when you sit in just the right, breezeless spot. I am alone. I close my eyes and, in one brief moment, the bustle of Hong Kong slips away. For one moment this city of millions is silent but for the call of a bird, hiding on a quiet ledge overlooking this human world. I listen to the call. It is piercing, tropical, dense and bored. I immagine what it must have been like for the early explorers to wander through this land with the calls of the wild thundering down upon them. Explorers who, when they first set foot on this island, were swallowed by a jungle of thick underbrush and towering forest rather than by the dense undergrowth of pedestrians and traffic congestion and a jungle of concrete high rises as exists today. I decide to myself that those explorers wouldn't have had any idea of how to process what Hong Kong Island is today. They would have run off in terror at the alien society of modern Hong Kong and never spoken a word of it to anyone. My thoughts return to the present as the dishwasher at the small Cantonese restaurant upstairs begins his work and the clink and clatter of plates meeting metal chopsticks in the washbin echo between the buildings that have created this little haven. A diesel delivery truck grinds its way up the street outside and sends off a blow of its horn to indicate his dissatisfaction with the traffic preceding him. Its a whole new jungle now.

The Muslim Cemetary

As I had mentioned in a post far too long ago, I have wanted to visit the Muslim Cemetery on Wong Nai Chung road in Happy Valley. As I am nothing near a computer genius and all my attempts to take a screen shot of this map have failed (yes, I googled instructions and tried several times) here is a link to the map; http://tinyurl.com/muslimcemeterymap .  (As you can see, the Muslim and Catholic Cemeteries are in the center, Wong Nai Chung is the big road on the right hand side of the cemetery, the Hong Kong Football Club Stadium is in the middle of the Happy Valley Racecourse along with several other athletically inspired clubs and stadiums as open space is a commodity on this tiny little island. I live about a 10-15 minute walk away from this spot.) This cemetery is immense and the map doesn’t quite do it justice, and the fact that it is right next to the Catholic Cemetery, makes its presence in person undeniably surreal. Graves scale the sides of little mountains and the amount of people buried in such cramped plots can literally be jaw dropping. I spent an hour and a half walking through the landings and up the stairs in 32 C heat and maybe was able to see a third of the entire cemetery.  Huge.  Here are some of the photos that I was able to take; enjoy!

"Beware of Snakes" was literally the first thing I saw upon entering the gate

Someone had decorated their children's graves with samples from a tile store

The Mosque

A gift planted to keep the grave of a loved one company

Pomegranates in the Nature

I have several other photos which I wanted to share, but due to the fact that they're portrait rather than landscape formats, this blog photo uploader wont allow me to upload them correctly...  I don't know what I'm doing wrong, it used to upload portrait formated photos, but now it tries to upload them as landscapes and I cannot stand a photo that should be upright laying on its side... So, if you have any idea how I might be able to fix that little issue, please let me know! Thanks.



Street Art: China Style

As I'm an avid street art fan, I've been looking for some here in Hong Kong since I arrived here almost three months ago.  The other night I stumbled upon this alley, or rather was pulled behind Nicholas through it on our way to meet friends.  But I'm glad that it was found nonetheless.  Here are a few shots I was able to take this afternoon. Enjoy!

lets talk about Jusco

It’s a stunningly beautiful afternoon in Hong Kong today. Warm and sunny but not too humid and the air quality seems better than usual (maybe?). I have the day off and decided to run around and try to pick up a few things for the apartment that we still haven't been able to pick up (a bed pad of some sort to mask the irritable springs that inevitably find their way into our backs at the most unappreciated times, some plates, an extra set of bath towels, you know the deal.) After a quick stop at G.O.D. (Goods of Desire, they carry a deliciously soft mink blanket for $12,000 HK but they don’t have a bed pad) and a breeze through Muji and Japan Home Center, I was still out of luck for most of my errands.  So, before a trek to IKEA I decided to get lunch at Pakora, a fast-food Indian food joint around the corner from our place, and mysteriously and magically, through a never-before-seen doorway in an inconspicuous part of the building wall a Jusco appeared!  Jusco is a sort of Japanese convenience store in that you can get anything you could possibly think of needing there.  Some are more like department stores, when there’s more space and include a full, ridiculously large grocery store as well.  I was first introduced to Jusco a few weeks ago when I began teaching nine hour shifts on Saturdays.  Jusco was the closest, cheapest, and most convenient spot to go grab some quick lunch on my break.  So, needless to say, I was pretty excited to find that I live around the corner from another such shopping Mecca.  I walked up the flight of stairs to the second floor to begin my exploration.  This Jusco has no real grocery section, but if you need spice packets for Indian, Thai or Chinese cuisine, this Jusco’s got it.  There was a rather large selection of school supplies offering pens and pencils in every imaginable color with every imaginable cartoon figure and every sort of binder, folder and pencil holder.  Jusco is also my one stop shop for household gardening supplies; I can get the dirt, the pot, the fertilizer and even a package of “Mystery Gel That Grows Plants!” a bag of brightly colored goop that I assume is added to said dirt in said pot and then allowed to grow… I can’t wait to try it out.  There’s also a large selection of household items such as cleaning supplies, random plastic storage containers, bath towels, plate ware, and so many other things.  I was particularly attracted to the large supply of artificial bamboo and flowers and supply of random children’s toys.  Some of the cute little Japanese knick-knacks were almost too hard to pass up.  I can tell you I’ll definitely be back to pick up some cutsie stuff to prepare a Love Package for my nieces back in the States.  Hello Kitty chopsticks anyone?  You would also find yourself in luck at Jusco if you needed a new collared shirt, collection of novelty socks, kitchen tools, or hammers and nails.  Jusco just plain rocks.

Hung Hom

Here to accompany my previous post are a few photos I snapped this evening after work.  You're lucky that I missed the 6:35 ferry and had to wait for the 7:05 one.  Enjoy!

North Point across the bay

People fishing on the pier

The rains are moving in

Just look at the crowds on this ferry!

Raining in Central but not in North Point

Ferry

I have to say, its pretty incredible to be able to see rain over one part of the island while a short 3 MTR stops away the skies are cloudy but not even near raining.  The mists rolling in over the water and gathering around the mountain tops warning us of the rains to come and bragging their ability to work in ways that we are unable to control.  Its also funny, in a way, when I get into the MTR and ten minutes later I get back out and the rain has already been and gone. 

Lunch Break on the Hung Hom Pier

The skies are clear today, by Hong Kong standards anyway. Between the clouds that cling to the bushy green mountain tops, I can glimpse a muted version of the bright blue hue that was so common back home. I miss that blue. I have traded my Midwestern skies for the South China waters that lap at the pier calmly and quietly this afternoon. One couldn't refer to this water as blue, or clear, or even dirty for that matter, but dense and dark and green and smoky, like a fine piece of jade. The pier is lined with fishermen this afternoon. Some have proper poles, but most simply have fishing line baited and dropped into the water. I really have no idea what they're fishing for; I've never seen anyone catch a fish or even seen a fish in the water larger than my thumb. Little sparrows are cautiously gathering around my feet, casting sideways glances at me to see if I have any food to offer them. I do not. They skitter along in search of a more promising friend and scatter abruptly as an old man scuffles by. On the other side of the patch of greenery that I'm sitting next to, there is a little old man sitting on a bench with two small birdcages. Two tiny, frantic birds that resemble goldfinches are frantically jumping from bars to floor to perch and back. I had heard of men gathering together at a designated spot to talk and smoke and let their birds soak in some sunshine and breathe some fresh air, but this is the first time I've even born witness. A constant breeze of the water makes sitting out in the humidity tolerable. And the air is fresh, by Hong Kong standards; I can smell freshly cut grass and the salt from the ocean. I wish I could capture the view of Hong Kong Island with a panoramic camera, for as densely populated, stark and urbanized this city is, the view is still lovely. The residential buildings of North Point stand tall and crowded right on the water's edge.  Bus after bus after car after car drive past my eyes on the busy highway in front of those buildings.  A ferry breaks the mostly quiet atmosphere followed by the grinding brakes of a city bus. One would never know, during the quiet times, that a bus terminus and bustling ferry port encompass this scene. I can see my neighborhood from here, my home of Causeway Bay. The sun would feel nice on my skin, if I could ever get myself to a beach or pool. I wish I could nap for the rest of my break here on this breezy pier on a towel in my swim suit. Quiet, clean, fresh, warm, peaceful.

Its been an uneventful few days here in Hong Kong.  The rains are here and so is the humidity so long excursions through the winding streets of the city are few and far between.  I was able to make it out today, as the humidity did let up a bit, to take a few photos of a fountain near by.  I had set out intent on making my way to a huge cemetary that I've noticed on my way to Happy Valley before, and a bit of searching I ended up doing.  Finally, after retracing my steps down wrong turns and traipsing up and down the hilly streets, I found it, The Hong Kong Muslim Cemetary.  Unfortunately, as I arrived at a little past 6 pm and the park closed at 5:30, I chose to save the photographs for another day out of respect.  A little research has uncovered that this particular cemetary (one of five, apparently, in the Happy Valley area) is said to contain the grave of one individual from WWI and at least seven from WWII.  The graves span hillside after hillside in various levels and its just awe inspiring.  Hopefully I get a chance either Wednesday or Thursday to get back over there, now that I know where it is, and finally take some photos.  Not only are the mountains of grave stones beautiful and inspiring, but I'm sure the views of Hong Kong, including the Happy Valley Racecourse, will be incredible.  Anyway, here is the fountain that I mentioned before.  Public Art in this form, among many, can be found literally everywhere in Hong Kong.

Dragon Boat Races

The Dragon Boat Races are part of a larger festival held in basically any country with a significant enough Chinese population (from what I've read, thats about 60 countries) but the largest and most extravagant of the festivals are held right here in Hong Kong.  Legend has it, as I'm told by Nicholas' and my friend Mr. Eric Ma, that thousands of years ago, a great Chinese official in the Ming Dynasty stood up against the Emperor and the other officials and demanded that the corruption stop.  He was ignored and scorned and so he drowned himself in the ocean as a protest to the corruption and evil of the government.  The people were greatly distraught that one of the only officials who had tried to work for their good was dead, and so was born the festival of the Dragon Boat Races.  The paddles of the boats, along with the beating of ceremonial drums, were meant to scare the fish away.  During this festival, people make rice dumplings; rice and whatever other ingredients they want (the one I had was filled with pork fat, nuts and some other bits and pieces that I was unable to identify) all wrapped up in bamboo leaves.  Tradition has it that the dumplings were dropped into the water as food for the fishes, to prevent them from eating the body of the people's hero. 

The Dragon Boat Races were yesterday down at Stanley Beach.  I did not attend them because it was a 45 minute bus ride from my home and I didnt want to get lost in that crowd alone (festivals like these tend to bring a long of the Chinese Mainlanders over and they can be a LOT more pushy and grabby than Hong Kong natives.) I did, however, borrow some photos from google just to give you an idea of all the ruckus.

(http://blog.easytobook.com/tips/dragon-boat-festival/)

On another note, here are some photos that I did take the other night for our friend Heather Hughes going away party, so to speak. She'll be back in a few weeks after her sister's wedding.

Best Spicy Squid Ever