A weekend of indulgences

Wow this weekend felt like a non stop round of eating. We started the weekend with a trip to the Gold Coast, no not in Australia, but the newly developed Gold Coast of Hong Kong. I had noticed in the papers that they were having a music Festival in their Piazza and this weekend it was all about Jazz. It has been a while since we have heard any live jazz, so after studying public transport routes, we set off for to Gold Coast which is situated in the New Territories. From the size of some of the boats in their marina, one can assume there is money around. The weather was just starting to warm up again, however in the shadows of the Piazza it was still pretty chilly. We spent the afternoon snacking on German food (not sure what it was about German food, but there seemed to be a lot of it around... I can only assume that there is a community of Germans living in the area.) drinking hot coffee and tapping our toes to the dulcet tones of local Jazz bands as well as guests from around Asia.

In the evening we joined another couple to discover a great little Indian Restaurant just across the harbour from us at Aberdeen. The ambiance of the restaurant was nothing to write home about but the food was great. What a fabulous discovery for us. The weekend was topped off by brunch on Sunday, this time we met up with a colleague of Richards from his time at MCKillop College in Bathurst, Australia. We decided it was time to check out the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. To get to it you need to catch a Sampan across Aberdeen Harbour. The floating restaurant was not as we had expected, once on board it looked nothing like a boat at all, it really was a huge complex with slate floors, massive staircase, shining banisters and a number of different restaurants. We were on the top deck at the seafood and champagne buffet, food was great with plenty of it, and the company and views made it a great lunch. As you can imagine we waddled home, lucky not to have sunk the sampan with all the food we have eaten over the weekend.

An Enlightening Adventure - The Big Buddha

Perched 500m up in the western hills of Lantau is the Nong Ping Plateau where you can find the Po Lin Monastery complex and one of the world's largest statues of Buddha. To get there we decided to take the cable car, however this cable car was unlike any that I had taken before as not only were the sides all glass allowing a spectacular 360 degrees view of the rural landscapes and the airport, but the floor was also glass!! Not for the faint hearted. The whole trip up took about 25 minutes and took us over what looked like a fairly new and interesting hikers trail which we decided we would walk back by. We looked back at the airport, completely developed on reclaimed land, the only flat area of the whole island. Then suddenly the Big Buddha was seen from a distance, its hazy form surrounded by clouds, presiding over yet unseen places.

We had had coffee and a snack in Tung Chung before getting on the cable car as Bridget was not sure that there would be anything at the Monastery. We needn't have worried as at the top there was a whole new village complex dedicated to providing food and shopping pleasures for the hordes of tourists. There was even a Starbucks with a view of the Big Buddha... a bit sad. We arrived during the week when it was a little quieter and during a kite flying event. Huge kites soared above the monastery dancing around the Buddha.

The Po Lin Monastery complex was founded by three monks in 1905, This "Precious Lotus" monastery occupied an isolated setting ideally suited for meditative retreat in the centre of Lantau Island. For many years there was no way to get there except on foot which limited the visitors. It remained largely undisturbed until 1993 when 10,000 spectators showed up for the inauguration of the now famous Big Buddha. The bronze statue represents a bond between the old and the new, it was constructed in Nanjing by China Aeronautics, a company involved in China's space programme. Although cast in sections, it proved too heavy for any helicopter to carry to the lofty site. The alternative meant closing off, for three nights, all roads leading to the monastery, to allow the dismantling of all lamp posts, telegraph poles and electric pylons that might obstruct the oversized trucks transporting the huge precious cargo. The Buddha is seated on a lotus and is around 26.4m high and weighs about 202 tonnes. We climbed up the steps to the base of the Buddha for a closer look and to marvel at the spectacular 360 degree view from the top. We chose a perfect day to visit as the clarity of the air was the best I have seen since arriving here. The wind is obviously blowing from the right direction, and it is blowing pretty strongly. Heavy clouds swirl around the Buddha, touching lightly as though looking for enlightenment then swiftly moving on, never really threatening to set in or give us a drenching.






Huge incense sticks filled the air with a sweet scent beckoning us across to the actual monastery. Despite the number of visitors it is still possible to feel strangely at peace surrounded by golden effigies, red lanterns hanging from the heavily painted ceilings and the colour red everywhere. On leaving the monastery we then walked for a short distance along the enlightenment walking trail. We were looking for a path that we had seen following the contours of the mountain behind the monastery. After a steep climb we seemed to meet a dead end, a shrine where workmen were doing some work. They spoke no English but with sign language and some Cantonese, we managed to get across to them that we were looking for the path to Tung Chung. They sent us back down the mountain which we were not happy about. Just below the shrine to we looked up and clearly saw the path only a couple of metres above the shrine. There had to be a way of getting there. We then saw the builders coming down the trail with rubble, laughing and then pointing at us, obviously amused by two foreigners wanting to walk to Tung Chung. We point to the trail to get the message across that we want to get onto that trail. After a heated discussion amongst the 3 of them, they eventually agree that there is a way to get to the path we want by going around the shrine and beckon us to follow. Once there they try to send us in one direction to Tung Chung saying it will take us 2 hours to get there but we have decided we want to go the other direction as this is the path that we saw from the cable car. So off we set.

The large bell in the Buddha tolls 108 times during the day to symbolise escape from what Buddhists terms the 108 troubles of mankind. As we climbed up along the the path the bells echoed around the valley and the chants of the monks carried on the wind gave us the energy to continue on up the slope. We were convinced we were on the right path as we were now below the cable car. Water rushed down a steep valley below us, the Aquarius in Bridget drew her to the water, but we had no time to rest as the afternoon was drawing to an end. At one particular steep part of the trail we saw another path that took us around the rise, obviously a contour walk was going to be easier so we headed off on this path, assuming it would re-cross the other path at some time. We were so busy chatting away and admiring the view that we failed to notice that we were moving further away from the main path. Eventually we discovered that we were heading in the wrong direction but could see Tung Chung in the distance so we figured that if we continued on this contour it too would drop down the valley to Tung Chung. It turned into a lovely walk winding through low rain forest however passed valley after valley without dropping down, until Tung Chung was but a memory on the other side of the mountain. By this time it was too late to turn back, so we just kept going, it had to eventually drop down a valley as there was no where else for it to go. Suddenly in front of us stood a grove of huge planks of wood that marked part of the Po Lin Monastery enlightenment path... we had completely circumnavigated the mountain and were now a matter of metres from where we started!! It was 5pm and we were still 2 hours from Tung Chung with inevitable darkness a mere hour away. I have to say that for a while panic set in, however we then discovered a wide concrete path with signs to Tung Chung. Even if it were to get dark before our descent, we would be able to walk this path in darkness.




Looking ahead we could see Tung Chung creeping ever closer to this lush valley... we were on the home stretch. It turned out to be a very pretty walk through the Tei Tong Tsai area, a collection of quiet monasteries and pagodas dating back many years, many hidden amongst some of Hong Kong's largest standing bamboo groves. Methodical drumbeats and resonant tones of Buddhist recitals emanated from a tower hidden among the trees, chanting monks could be heard but not seen... all drawing us further onward. As we passed through one monastery a Buddhist nun in a grey cloak with cell phone attached to her ear headed to the vegetable patch to pick food for dinner. As the last of the sun's rays fell over the valley we arrived at the village of Shek Mun Kap, at the exact same time a public bus pulled up, its destination... Tung Chung... a beckon for our survival!! Thank God, no more walking for us tonight.

A train and another bus ride later, I eventually arrived home at 8pm after a very long, eventful yet thoroughly enjoyable day.

An Early Winter

Oh my god, what has happened to the weather. Last week it was hot, hot, hot and we were wondering when the cool change was going to come. I had assumed that it would slowly get cooler and cooler and we could get to enjoy that lovely in between time, the change of seasons. But no, yesterday morning we woke to 10 degrees!! Freezing!!! So I had to do some digging around and find the alpaca blankets for the bed and the lounge, my alpaca coats and more importantly my alpaca slippers. With no heating in the apartment, and the apartment being concrete, it got rather cold and I spend a good part of the day on the lounge with my warm and toasty alpaca slippers on snuggled under a blanket. With a strong on shore wind blowing in from the ocean outside was not any more pleasant.

It seems that the early winter may be the fault of the Chinese. I was reading in the paper how in Beijing they have been seeding the clouds in order to end the drought that is engulfing them at the moment. This cloud seeding unfortunately resulted in snow for them, the second of the season and both of which have been caused by cloud seeding. The first snow fall was the earliest in history for them and this latest one obviously has affected our weather patterns. And of course this was the day that we were doing a harbour lights tour in a junk, invited by the company that handled our shipping once it arrived in Hong Kong. They certainly go all out to welcome you to Hong Kong and make sure you are settling in well. But it would be held on this freezing day, and the wind off the harbour made it even colder. Not to worry, lots of yummy food and wine, rugged up in jumpers and jackets with new people to chat to against the back ground of spectacular lights, many now welcoming Christmas, made the weather easier to cope with.

Today the weather has begun to warm up again, so with clear blue sky and the warmth of the sun warming my back, I made the trek into town to meet Bridget and then out for a walk around the hills behind her apartment. It still amazes me that you can be so close to one of the most densely populated areas in the world, yet see nothing but trees a bubbling brooks and hear nothing but the call of birds. By the weekend the weather is expected to be back up around 20 degrees and by mid next week we should be basking in 26 degree heat. Lets hope the long term weather forecasters actually get it right.

Year 7 camp on the tail of a typhoon

The English Schools Foundation (ESF), which is the foundation that Richard's school belongs, to has a great concept for giving students and staff time to participate in CAS (Creativity, Action and Service) activities. Each year they have a focus week where all students and staff participate in an activity for the week, that means there is no school and a wide variety of activities are offered to all students in the school. These range from activities in Hong Kong, to trips to New Zealand, Thailand, China, Spain, France etc to complete a range of activities either creative, action or service or a mix of the three. All year 7's have to attend the year 7 camp which was held on Lantau Island. Richard had hoped to go on the Golf trip to China, but it had a full quota of staff, so he was asked instead to go on the year 7 camp. This worked well for us as they asked if I would some along to help as well. So instead of being left for a week on my own, I had to experience the world of work for a while to keep me in touch with all that it entails. It was also a great opportunity to get a feel for what the kids are like.

I must say that I was a little disappointed that we were camping in Hong Kong. I could not see that you could really camp anywhere here, and I had thought of Lantau Island as the island of the airport, so how could this be full of nature and a good place to camp. But boy was I wrong. We had around 220 kids divided into 12 tribes whom we met at Central Pier and loaded them onto the Ferry to Mui Wo. From there we were bused to Pui O Beach where Treasure Island camp is set up. Pui O is a lovely beach surrounded by tree covered mountains. There is a small village nearby, but not a single tower in sight. Wow, there is country in Hong Kong. And boy did we spend time exploring it. Every day and night was chock a block with activities, so many that the kids were so busy that they did not have any time to get up to no good.

The first night however was pretty scary. We were in the tail end of a typhoon, and boy was it windy. I really did think that we were all going to be blown away and was sure I was going to wake to an absolute disaster in the morning. But of course our weight held down the tents, but that did not make it any easier to sleep with all the flapping, and naturally the first night sleeping on the hard ground is never that easy. Within a couple of days we were sleeping the sleep of the dead as we were so exhausted. And believe it or not, the kids were also so exhausted that they were all asleep before 10pm each night!!!

The Creative activities included things like working together to build a raft and then seeing just how long it floated in the ocean and working together to win crazy activities in the beach olympics.

Action included lots of treking, gorging (and unfortunately I do not mean eating a lot... but climbing a gorge) and kayaking and then the Service activity was beach cleaning. We walked around to another beach which is not cleaned daily as the public beaches tend to be, and picked up the litter that has washed on it's shore, most of it coming from passing boats including the regular ferries. The kids had to use a check list to check the different pollutants that could be found on the beach. It was a great way to get them to both clean up and think about what rubbish is being dumped, and despite it being pretty hot, they attacked the task with gusto. They also spent one day where we visited another island for a treasure hunt. The kids were given a map, coordinates and questions, and working in groups they had to find the answers to the questions by visiting the coordinates. They also were given money for the day so had to budget for their lunch and the ferry to return to the island, and they had to fill in an expenditure sheet so could not supplement their money with money of their own. We started the day with a 30 minute walk around a headland to the pier where we caught Sanpans over to the island. The kids were then let loose in groups of 4 to find the clues. Staff were not to accompany them so we just got to wander around the town soaking up the atmosphere and having coffee. I was sure the kids would get lost, or arrive back very late, but as they would loose 100 points for being late, they were certainly on time, and surprisingly they did not get lost either. After leaving the island mid afternoon, we ferried back to Mui Wo on Lantau, and from there had an hours trekking up to a peak where we had an evening BBQ followed by night activities that really required the kids to work together and trust each other.






By the end of the week we certainly got to know the kids well and left feeling rejuvinated as well as pleasantly exhausted... if that is possible. I was so looking forward to a nice soft bed!

Shocking Shopping

I thought I would share this story with you all, you might get a kick out of it. The other day I decided that I was going to cook a laksa so needed to buy some fish. Now buying fish here can be a bit of an experience as when you go the the fish counter in the supermarket all the fish are swimming around in fish tanks. Not really the way I am use to buying fish, but admittedly you can not complain about freshness. There are also some already dead and sitting whole in ice, however as the names of the fish are written in Chinese I am never sure of what I want and also I want it filleted. The last time I went to buy fish there were so many other women haggling at the counter and I had no idea of what I wanted and how to get it filleted so I ended up buying frozen fillets. But this time, I was determined to buy fresh. Richard had come home from school early so I decided to enlist his help, surely between the two of us we could come home with something. So off we went.


I think Richard thought I was a bit of a whimp until we got there. We perused the tanks wondering what would be best. Let me assure you that choosing a fish from the fish tank to eat is not the same as buying fish ready to eat. So we were still not sure of what to do when we noticed another tank, but this tank did not contain fish, but was full of live frogs or toads!... As you can imagine, this sent us hopping straight to the frozen fish section again!!

A Weekend in Hanoi

SaturdayThe best way to start a day in Hanoi or pretty much anywhere in Vietnam, is with a good cup of coffee at one of the many coffee shops that were introduced by the French in Colonial times. To be honest there was a reason for doing this and that was that we took a little too long to get going this morning and arrived at the Military War museum a little too late and it was closed for lunch. So coffee helped to fill the time. We were sitting across from Lenin Park where there is a huge statue of Lenin, supposedly one of the few remaining statues of him. This museum reflects the history of founding and defending the nation against foreign invaders of the Vietnamese people chronicling 4000 years of history. Poor Vietnam seems to have been fighting one battle to the other, from the wars against China, Japan and other Asian countries to Colonisation by the French followed immediately by the war with America. It feels like it is only really in recent history that Vietnam has been able to develop free of the shackles of war. After walking around the museum we climbed up the Hanoi Flag tower which was built in 1805.

Next we strolled along to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh is a revered national hero whose photo was very visible in many of the exhibitions in the museum. Each year thousands of Vietnamese make the pilgrimage to see Ho. After his death in 1969, Ho joined other communist heroes and was embalmed (Lenin and Mao also are embalmed.) Ho's body is eternally in state in this formidable mausoleum, except for a few weeks of each year when it goes away for re embalming. We could not go in and see his body as the Mausoleum is only open in the morning, but we were lucky to arrive at the time of the changing of the guard - the pomp and ceremony displayed here rivals the British equivalent of Buckingham Palace, with lots of high goose stepping. The Presidential palace is right next door so we walked past this.

In the evening we found a great restaurant for a quick dinner before heading off to see water puppetry. Water puppetry I hear you cry... what could this possibly be. It is a uniquely Vietnamese form of entertainment that has been performed for over a thousand years, that brings together drama, live music and occasional pyrotechnics over a stage that is, essentially, a large wading pool. The tradition is believed to have begun in the Red River Delta near Hanoi, over 1000 years ago. Very likely its first practitioners were rice farmers accustomed to spending much of their time waist deep in the rice paddies. The puppeteers wade waist deep in the pool of water behind a bamboo screen operating brilliantly painted wooden puppets that can be almost a metre high, with nylon strings and wooden poles. Because the poles are in the water they are difficult to see and the water also provides exciting effects like waves and splashes. They performed 17 short skits related to Vietnamese myths and legends as well as day to day village life from scenes of farming. fishing and festivals, usually full of humour...Fishing turned into a game of wits between the fisherman and his prey, with the fisherman getting the short end. Lion dogs romped like puppies while dragons exhaled smoke and shot sprays of water at the audience. This was all accompanied by a small folk orchestra stationed to the side of the water stage, not on water of course. Some of the instruments they play were really different and pretty special making the music at times mesmerising. I really recommend clicking on the link to you tube to watch a clip of water puppetry so that you get a bit of an idea of what it was all about. We went to see the puppets really not sure as to whether we would actually enjoy it and left having had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Click on this link Water Puppetry. You can see the puppeteers emerge from behind the bamboo screen at the end to get an idea of how deep the water is.

SundayAgain another slow start to the day, but really we are on holidays so I feel that this is the way that days should start. Then off to the Temple of Literature. This temple was founded in 1070, and consists of a compound of traditional buildings, interior courtyards and tranquil gardens. It is interesting for both its architecture and its history, and you can easily lose track of time wandering the grounds, snapping photos and watching traditional musicians perform. It was founded by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong who dedicated it to Confucius in order to honour scholars and men of literary accomplishment. Vietnam's first university was established here in 1076 to educate the sons of mandarins. It consisted of classrooms and a dormitory for 300 students. The students were selected by local examinations from all over the country. They studied Confucian Canons, practised writing administrative documents, literary compositions and composing poetry. It took them about 3 years to study there to prepare for the National and then Royal exams to become doctor laureates and mandarins. In 1484 they began to erect Doctor's stones for engraving the names and birthplaces of 1304 doctor laureates of 82 exams held between 1442 and 1779. Among them are some apparently famous scholars that I am afraid meant nothing to me. But sitting on top of Tortoises they make great photos.

After walking around the ancient university we decided that a perfect place to recharge our batteries was lunch in the restaurant KOTO (which stands for Know One Teach One). This restaurant was a project that was set up by a Vietnamese Australian. On a visit he had asked some street kids what it was that they really wanted and they said some training. So he set up KOTO, a non profit grassroots project providing career training and guidance to former street kids. And the food was really good. Our day really revolved around eating as our next destination was the Hanoi Opera House where we could only look at the outside but could enjoy a coffee sitting in the grounds of the Opera House under the shade of plentiful trees.

This was our final day in Vietnam, for tomorrow morning we fly out and back to the routine of work, at least for Richard. It has been a great introduction to Vietnam, and we will definitely be coming back to explore both central and southern Vietnam, but might save the south until a winter break when the weather is just slightly more bearable.