January 9 2008 Frieda Kahlo Exhibit at the Walker

I’ve just come back from our holiday trip to the US. I don’t feel like writing about yet another trip to the US. It’s great going back and seeing everyone, but the wonders of returning to the US have worn thin for me. I no longer wonder at the lack of Asians, or get dazzled by the vast open spaces and the variety available in our supermarkets. Like my friend Sherry has said in her blog, after awhile the US becomes just another interesting country. Yes it is where I’ve spend most of my life, and yes it is where my children and my parents live, but the US as a whole no longer feels QUITE so much like home sweet home for me. This time, coming back to Hong Kong I definitely felt like I had come home; to my apartment, to my stuff, to my city. What a change almost two years can bring!

With that in mind I thought I would write about a fun afternoon we spent while visiting Sarah in Minneapolis. We went to see the Frieda Kahlo exhibit at the Walker Art Museum and we also saw a film presentation of the best British ads from 2007.

The Walker is a lovely modern art museum. It’s all odd angles, tilted windows and strange furniture to sit upon while viewing the art. The Frieda Kahlo exhibit was VERY crowded. They were letting people in slowly, trying to manage the crowds. It made it somewhat difficult to view the art. This was a big exhibit. I think they said that 2/3rds of her known paintings were included in this exhibit. That much Frieda in one fell swoop was a little, no a lot, hard to take! I never realized how down right GORY her paintings are, not to mention symbolic. She was a surrealist, even before she knew what surrealism meant. Most of her art revolved around Diego Rivera, her husband and the love of her life, and the way he broke her heart. The rest of it seemed to be about her various illnesses and operations. So, there was symbolic blood from her broken heart AND real blood from all the medical procedures she experienced.

We went with Sarah and Erik, and after about 20 minutes I think I was the only one left in the exhibit. The rest of them went out and explored the odd furniture instead.

There was an additional exhibit with photographs from her life and I actually enjoyed this more than the paintings overall. There was one of her paintings, however, that I really enjoyed. It’s a self-portrait of her with her parrots. It’s beautiful, very colorful, and not fraught with deep inner meanings or overblown symbols.

December 13 2007 Crossroads

Yesterday I went on a tour of a very interesting and unusual charity here in Hong Kong. The charity is named Crossroads International. The name is very apropos, as I discovered. Crossroads was started in Hong Kong by an Australian couple around twelve years ago. It provides STUFF, not money, to charities around the world. The stuff could be anything; beds, clothing, eye glasses, desks…whatever is no longer needed in Hong Kong, but desperately needed in the poorer countries of the world.

This is the perfect charity for Hong Kong. There is definitely a lot of stuff here, and a lot of affluent people that want new stuff and don’t know what to do with their old stuff. Crossroads partners with moving and shipping companies in Hong Kong, who will arrange pickup of things that people no longer want or need, and ship things free of charge around the world.

It’s really pretty amazing how this all works. Hotels renovate and give their old beds to Crossroads. Someone in Kazakhstan, maybe, needs those beds for a hospital. A school closes in Hong Kong, and doesn’t know what to do with their old desks and chairs, but a school in Bangladesh is thrilled to receive them.

The woman that gave us the tour was very passionate about Crossroads. I actually was a little afraid to look at her too closely; I was afraid she’d make eye-contact with me and all of a sudden I would be volunteering there three times a week!

They also had a little café that sold Fair Trade coffee, and a wonderful store, that sold crafts made by the people that have been the recipients of stuff from Hong Kong. I bought several craft items to use as Christmas gifts.

It’s too bad that Crossroads is way out on the Gold Coast, an area in the far western part of the New Territories. It takes almost an hour by bus to get there, so it’s really not convenient for volunteering…

Crossroads made me think of Katrina, and how generous Texans were after that disaster. I remember the parking garage in Austin where I went to donate blankets and chairs that was so filled with items for the Katrina victims that five levels of the garage with completely full.

One of the interesting things about Crossroads is that they really don’t need monetary donations. They need donations of time, services and things. I think that’s sort of cool. It’s so easy to just write a check, and that’s usually what I do when I want to make a donation, but Crossroads doesn’t want my money…

Here’s a link to their website: http://www.crossroads.org.hk/ 

December 3 2007 Corry and Jeff Visit Hong Kong and Lynn and Lee Visit the Phillipines

Corry & Jeff in HK, Lee & Lynn in the Philippines

Corry & Jeff landed in HK on Saturday, Nov 17th. Corry is one of my friends from the Texas Moms Yahoo Group. Her oldest son went to Trinity. They came in on a morning flight, which can be very hard, because you are jetlagged but it is better not to go to sleep. We took them out to see Central. We did the standards - up the escalator, down Hollywood road to the Man Mo temple, down thru Western, up thru the wet market, & then over to HK park to sit in the sun & relax for awhile. They enjoyed seeing all the families out for a stroll, & all the brides getting their pictures taken. Then we let them go back to the apartment, rest have dinner & go to bed. They did pretty well.

The next day, Sunday, they wanted t0 go to mass, so we took a taxi to Saint Joseph's. It was around this time that I realized that my fears of Corry being mistaken for a helper were SO not happening. No one would mistake Corry for anyone's maid! While they were at mass I went back to HK park & enjoyed the early morning quiet. After mass we walked from Saint Joseph's to Maxim's Palace at City Hall for Dim Sum. Maxims is so great, it’s really a shame we only go there when we have guests. After dim sum we were going to take the peak tram up to Victoria Peak but the lines on a Sunday were ridiculous so we took a double decker bus to Stanley instead. As is often the case visitors either love or hate Stanley market. In this case Corry loved it & Jeff was tolerant. Corry got to buy all of her HK souvenirs and Jeff got out of there w/o going completely mad. But then Jeff found the dragonboat association's shop & was able to buy a dragonboat t-shirt, so he was happy too. Lee was grocery shopping for thanksgiving (searching for those elusive American ingredients at every expat grocery store in HK) so he drove us back to the apartment.

 Daniel was supposed to have landed in HK Sunday night, but because of a little oversight on his part he was delayed for a day. He got all the way to the ticket counter in St. Louis before he realized that he had forgotten his passport. Fortunately for him his dad was able to rebook his ticket for the following day, which allowed him to go back to Columbia, watch the MU/KSU football game, & drive back to St. Louis in time to catch his flight one day late.

Sunday evening we took a ferry to Lamma Island & ate at the fishtank restaurant. This is another fun thing to do that we only do with visitors. At Rainbow Corry came up against the subtle obstinate stubbornness of the Chinese. Corry wanted her Singapore Noodles with our fish. But the Chinese consider noodles or rice to be "filler" food, only to be eaten if there isn't enough "good" food & you're still hungry. No matter how many times Corry asked them for the noodles their response was always "5 minutes" but no noodles appeared.  They finally came @ the end of the meal, exactly when the Chinese would have served them all along.

Monday morning we went on a Jason Wordie tour of some of the cemeteries in Happy Valley. Jason’s tours are usually very interesting & informative but I wondered if it would be boring just wandering around looking at some graves. Not so. We went to 3 graveyards, Catholic, Protestant, & Parisee. Each one was very different & Jason had unique stories to tell about the people buried there and their place in HK's history. The catholic cemetery had many Chinese graves and contained a chapel that is the oldest free-standing structure in HK. The military graveyard used to be part of the botanical gardens & was a beautiful place to walk through. The Parisee cemetery was very well maintained, because it was rented out to a plant store!  After the tour we met Lee for lunch @ Nga Trang. Then we went on the requisite trip on the peak tram.  Daniel arrived that evening none the worse for wear, and we had steak soup for dinner.

On Tuesday we took the Star Ferry to Kowloon, ate an early lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant, and then went to Sha Tin and visited the 10,000 Buddha’s monestary. We topped off the afternoon with  tea at the Grand Hyatt, but our visit was somewhat marred by the fact that  poor Daniel could not go to the buffet because he was only wearing sandels. So Corry and I had fun instead bringing him selected tidbits to eat.

That evening we went on a boat ride in Victoria Harbor to see the light show. Jeff was disappointed to discover that our particular red sail boat was not a working model & that its red sails were merely decorative. Personally I wouldn't want to ride on a sailboat in the choppy waters of Victoria Harbor; I think that would be a lot like boating @ the Lake of the Ozarks.

Weds Corry and Jeff left for Manila & Corry’s reunion. We stayed in HK to enjoy

Daniel's visit. Mostly we just hung out, since this was Dan's third visit to HK, but we did manage to go on a New Territories hike & get semi lost in the process. Since we weren't in a remote area it didn't really matter, since we could always see the high rises in the distance. We saw the Gin Drinkers Line where the defense of HK fell to the Japanese. We saw lots of monkeys. I was carrying a diet coke & one male monkey decided that it was his & I didn't feel inclined to argue. I threw it in the bushes & he went & retrieved it. Got a great picture of him drinking from the can & another holding it & staring contemplatively into the distance.

I will put our visit to the Philippines in a separate entry, or maybe several separate entries, since I had a lot to report!

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Monday, Nov 26, Manila day 1: I landed in Manila airport with no problem. It wasn't a bad airport, the guidebook made it sound terrible but it was easy. Corry & Jeff met me & we went to our hotel to check in. The Manila Hotel is very historic. We saw the archives with the history of the hotel while we waited for our rooms to be ready. Then got in the car & drove to Corry's aunt's house. Terrible traffic, over whelming crowds, jeepneys everywhere. There are also these contraptions called tricycles that are really a motorbike with a sidecar attached and a sort of roof, that are also used as taxis. On the streets extreme poverty like I probably haven't seen since Honduras. There were kids outside the cake shop where we stopped begging. Then we go past two armed guards and we’re in the gated community where Corry's aunt lives. The house could be in Florida. Corry’s aunt has four helpers, two kitchens, two pianos. The contrast is startling to say the least. Dinner was my first introduction to Filipino food. I got to meet some of Corry's friends from school. They are all very high-achieving people, engineers and businessmen.

We drove a different way back to hotel. Suddenly we were in Makati, the business district. Again, the difference was startling. All of a sudden, instead of the chaos of Manila we could be in any modern city, with clean sidewalks, stores, and skyscrapers. Its actually surprising there isn't more unrest in the country; the chasm between the haves and have-nots seems so wide.

Tuesday, Nov 27, Corregidor. Corregidor is a small island in the mouth of Manila Bay. Strategically significant it was fought over fiercely during WW 2. The American & Filipino forces held out for 5 months. MacArthur declared "I shall return" here. The defeated soldiers were forced onto the Bataan Death March.

Today Corregidor is an island-wide memorial with the bombed ruins preserved as they were when the Philippines fell. It takes an hour on a fast ferry to get there. We spent the day on an open air trolley tour viewing the sites. Our tour guide was 70 years old & alternately charming & obnoxious. He teased a young couple that was with us beyond all reason. I felt sorry for them.

The ferry ride back to Manila was one of the roughest I have experienced, probably because of the nearby passage of several typhoons. I don't usually experience seasickness, but this was pretty bad. I was very happy to be off that boat!

That evening we met some of Corry's cousins at a popular Filipino restaurant called Aristocrats.  I'm beginning to realize that Filipino food consists primarily of MEAT, prepared in a variety of ways. 

Wednesday, November 28.  It was nice to have Lee w/ me in Manila. We ate breakfast at the hotel, and then we got a car & went to Makati so that we could buy Hard Rock Cafe Jeepney t-shirts.

Then a comedy of errors ensued. Our driver took us to the airport and drove away. Not 30 seconds later I asked Lee "where are the t-shirts?" He had left them in the car. All we knew was the driver’s # - 42. We called the hotel, they contacted the driver, & he came back & delivered the t-shirts to us for our undying gratitude & a nice tip. We got in line for security. "Oh you're at the wrong airport. You need the OTHER domestic airport" Yikes! It was a 20 minute taxi ride to the other airport, including a call to Corry to negotiate a fair price.

More on our Philippine Trip and Palawan in the next post!

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Nov 29th, Palawan. We checked into our little hotel on Wednesday night. Corry’s friend Rafael took us to an interesting restaurant. It was built over a mangrove swamp. It was open air & the food was quite good, especially the spicy shrimp & calamari.

The next day we took a boat to a small island in Honda Bay. Its remarkable how similar all these Asian beach places look to each other. This could be Thailand, or more likely Malaysia. The water is blue & green, there is a decrepit dock & some worn out beach chairs. We get to hang out here for the day, go snorkeling, etc. The only problem is the water is pretty choppy & murky from the aftermath of the typhoon that passed by here a couple of days ago.

The name of this little resort is "Dos Palmas", but Corry said that one of the palm trees died so they really should name it "Unos Palmas".

That night we ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant at Hotel Fleuris. The restaurant was very crowded so they put us upstairs in the "piano bar" all by ourselves. It was nice to eat something besides Filipino food for a change. A young man sat down to play piano for us. He was great! He played old & new standards & we had fun trying to guess the names of songs.

Friday, Nov 30th: Road to Sabang. Yes a really, really bad road, just like the guidebook said. This was the first day the road was open after the typhoon and it was very muddy. Rafael’s truck did well, except it didn’t have four wheel drive and in one place the ruts were too deep and we got stuck. We were lucky though, a Jeepney came by in a couple of minutes and pulled us out and on we went. We saw really full Jeepneys with rice bags & people hanging from the back & sitting on the roof. It took two hours on a dirt road to get to Sabang. It reminded me so much of Central America in the 70's. When we got to Sabang there was a backlog of people waiting to take a banca (a type of outrigger canoe) to the underground river, so we decided to hike the trail to get there instead. The trail was less than 5 k, but was a little misrepresented. There were more than 700 steps involved in getting there! We were all in good enough shape except Corry so we all just worried about her. It was one of those situations where she was basically stuck. There was no way out but onward so she just had to make the best of it. It was really a beautiful trail. It went along the beach, over rocks & through the jungle. Then the underground river was neat. It really was a river into a cave. We took a boat paddled by a guide. Lots of little bats, lots of swallows chirping in order to know where they were by the echo.

We took a banca back to Sabang. This is basically an outrigger canoe with a motor. The swells were big (3 feet?) & at first I was very nervous, but I gradually realized what a remarkably stable craft it was because of the outrigger. Then I started to enjoy it.

We ate at a good Filipino restaurant that night. One of the dishes we had was stingray cooked in coconut milk. It was excellent! Who would have guessed? The restaurant had a bamboo floor and we had to take our shoes off to walk on it. Fun!

Dec 1st. Today we went island hopping.. First we went to the wet market in Puerto Princesa. It was a very wet wet market & I wished I had my camera - pig heads, cow haunches & lots & lots of fish. We bought our lunch & then went to the pier to rent a banco for the day. I've decided I like banca travel.

The first island was named Pandan Island. It had really nice snorkeling. Colorful plants, lots of fish. We saw a black sea urchin and huge starfish. Our lunch was great - squid, fish, shrimp, crabs, an eggplant salad with tomatoes, garlic, ginger. Our cook was very able! Then Corry said I should look at the freshwater pearls the locals were selling. I ended up buying 3 or 4 strands of pearls for around $12 US.

Then we went to Snake Island, named for its very long skinny beach. The snorkeling wasn't as good but I took a long walk along the beach. While I was walking someone stole my mask & snorkel! Grrr. I was upset, but there was nothing I could do about it.

The last island was called Starfish Island, named for all the starfish, of course. By then I was tired and my mask was gone, so I just hung out on the beach. Some of the day trippers had collected a bunch of the starfish and Corry got a picture of around twelve of them all lined up.

This turned out to be a really great vacation. I’m so glad we went and really glad we got to do it with people that new the area. We were able to see and experience (and eat!) so much more than we would have otherwise. I also discovered that I haven’t completely become a “4 star” girl and can handle the occasional adventure travel with ease.

October 24 2007 Sydney Australia

Last weekend was another holiday weekend in Hong Kong and Lee had Friday off, so we decided to take 5 days and go to Sydney. Lee found a great deal with Qantas, including hotel, so it really was quite reasonable, including our four night stay at the Four Seasons, right on the waterfront at Circular Quay.

The flight to Sydney from Hong Kong is “only” 9 ½ hours. I was able to kill a lot of time watching movies, listening to my podcasts, doing embroidery and reading. For some reason on this trip I decided to give the TV show The Office another try. Usually I just get so irritated with the people on that show that I can’t stand it and stop watching, but I seem to finally be acquiring a taste for it. Maybe it’s kind of like Seinfeld was for me at first. I used to walk in on the kids when they were watching Seinfeld and I never understood what was going on; now I love it.

On Friday we toured the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House is amazing. I have never, ever, ever seen a building like that. It is other-worldly and yet fits perfectly into its surroundings. It took fifteen years to build because they weren’t sure how to actually build what the architect designed.

I expected to have some profound reaction to seeing the Opera House for the first time, but instead I felt almost puzzled. We could see it right outside our hotel window, so when we entered our room Thursday night and opened the curtains there it was. I felt like what I was seeing wasn’t real. I never completely lost that feeling. When you have seen pictures of such an iconic structure for so many years, seeing it in person is just eerie.

The opera house looks different and wonderful from every angle. In my mini-notes that I take on my phone to remind me of what I’ve seen on a vacation I wrote “oranges, spheres, inner bird wings”. I’m not even sure what I meant, except that the opera house design is full of spherical shapes, and the roof inside looks like the wings of a bird.

After touring the opera house we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens. At this point we realized that the plant life looks JUST like Hong Kong. We knew why too – after WW II Hong Kong was devoid of plant life because the population had either burned it for fuel or eaten it, so they imported plants from Australia. The animal life though, that’s another story. We didn’t see kangaroos or koala bears, but we saw all sorts of very unusual birds. And in the Botanic Gardens there were hundreds of bats sunning themselves in the trees, in the sunshine. They looked like bag worms hanging there. They also made noises that sounded like monkeys hooting. Very, very ODD.

There were a lot of little kids around – student groups mostly, looking very, very Australian, mainly because of their darling bush hats. Australians have a hat fetish it seems, especially the little kids who all go around looking like Bindi. They even have those floppy hats as part of their school uni's.

Friday afternoon we took a bus to Bondi Beach, just about the most famous beach in Australia. We could have been in LA or Hawaii, except that it was windy, and cold. I put on my bathing suit, but did nothing more than lie on the beach and watch the surfers.  When we got back to the hotel I had to take a shower to get warm. Later that night we went out to a really nice restaurant - Aria - with a great view of the opera house. After dinner we checked out an old pub called The Hero of Waterloo in the area of Sydney called The Rocks. It definitely was Old & Picaresque. Some odd friendly Australian guy sat down and talked to us; an Irish band played. Too bad we’re not better pub-crawlers; there are so many opportunities to experience pub-life in former British Colonies….

On Saturday we took the adorable green and white ferry to Manly. We sat out on the deck and admired the wonderful views of the opera house & the Anzac bridge from the water. We did something called the Manly Scenic Walkway, a 10K walk along the shore of the harbor. This was probably our favorite thing we did. Great views and varied environments, from  rocky beaches, to sandy cliffs. We saw sea-view houses where extremely rich people live and out on the water dozens and dozens of sailboats, spinnakers out catching the breeze. We startled giant lizards and tried to get closer to brilliantly colored red & blue birds.

At the end of the hike we took a bus back to Manly and then caught the ferry back to Sydney. That night we ate at a good mid-range seafood restaurant, also on the waterfront, with another glorious view of the opera house. Does the opera house define Sydney, or does Sydney define the opera house? It seems like they are just both intrinsically a part of each other now.

Sunday we rented a car and headed for the Blue Mountains, misty eucalyptus covered hills west of Sydney. They are a combination of the Great Smokies and a tiny Grand Canyon, interspersed with mountain tourist towns. We took the scenic route there. As we climbed into the mountains the views got really nice, and the locusts, or whatever they were, got extremely LOUD. They were so deafening that it actually was hard to hear ourselves speak at times.

We stopped for lunch at a place called the Tomal Botanic Gardens. As it was still fairly early we wandered around the gardens first, and I got some great flower pics using the macro setting on my camera. After lunch the views got progressively more mini-grand canyon-like. We drove to a small town named Katoomba and did a very touristy thing called "Scenic World" where we rode a cable car with a glass floor across a canyon and saw the tallest waterfall in the Blue Mountains and a famous site called the Three Sisters.

After Katoomba we stopped in another small town called Leura for an afternoon coffee & a snack. Then it was back to Sydney where we decided to sample Australian pizza that night. No, we did not have the kangaroo OR the emu pizza, but it was still pretty good.

Monday morning before heading back to Hong Kong we did something called the Bridge Climb. We signed up to climb the girders on the Anzac bridge over Sydney Harbor. I was apprehensive because of my fear of heights, but it actually turned out to be pretty tame and not very scary at all. We wore jump suits and were strapped into a safety harness that was attached to the bridge, PLUS the walkways we took were all surrounded by cables and guardrails. The view was tremendous; they only better view might have been from a helicopter. My only complaint was that it was really hot, and we ended up spending a lot of time just standing around while they tried to make money off of us by taking endless pictures of us on the bridge. I got so bored at one point that I actually started daring myself to look straight down; anything to add a little excitement.

I loved Sydney; I loved Australia. I want to go back and spend more time there. Australia is huge and we only saw one tiny piece of it. I hope we get a chance to visit the rest of that amazing country.

October 12 2007 Balance

What do you think of when you hear the word balance? Do you think of trying to balance on one foot? Do you think of tightrope walkers? Do you think of the work/play balance many of us struggle with at some point in our lives? Do you think of trying to balance your time between your children and your spouse, and yourself?

I think at one time or another in my life the word balance has meant one or all of those things to me. But right now I’m struggling with a rather specific application of the word.

I like to run. It’s good exercise. It gets you outside. It’s not complicated, even I can do it! It burns calories, big time. It has a competitive side to it, that I can indulge in, or not, as my mood strikes me. And, it’s fun.

I also like Yoga. It keeps me limber. It has a mildly spiritual aspect that I can focus on or ignore, depending on my mood. It can be terribly complicated, but I’m fortunate to have amazing teachers here in Hong Kong, and if I’m patient with myself and don’t get frustrated I make progress, slowly. The classes I take make me sweat and afterwards I feel purified and clean (well after my shower anyway!). It’s non-competitive, which is good for my type-A personality. And, it’s fun.

But runners say Yoga isn’t good for you. Too much stretching can cause injuries. It’s not aerobic, so it’s not a good cross-training exercise. And many Yogis think running isn’t good for you either. It tightens your hamstrings and can cause injuries as well.

It bothers me that my two favorite physical activities seem to be at such cross-purposes with each other. Most of the time I just thumb my nose at them both. I go to yoga three times a week, lift weights and run on a treadmill twice a week, and run outside twice a week. That seems BALANCED to me, and I don’t care what anyone else thinks! But then I read an article by Jeff Galloway (the run-walk advocate that I really like. If I ever run a half marathon it will be by following his program), and he says stretching is unnecessary and causes injuries. And then I do something like I’m doing this weekend, and take a yoga workshop with 4 hours of yoga each day, and I start getting sucked into the yogic state of mind and start thinking I should drop everything else and just do yoga….

So, what’s the answer? There isn’t a good one really, except to be true to myself and what makes me happy. I don’t want to give up running. I don’t want to give up yoga. So, why should I? Its only when I stop listening to my inner voice and start letting outer doubts creep in that my BALANCE becomes shaky….

So, this afternoon I think I’ll go back to my yoga workshop and work on headstands. Then tomorrow we’ll do sessions on backbends and meditation. I’ll lift weights and get on the treadmill on Monday and Wednesday and take a Yoga class on Tuesday. On Thursday we leave for Australia and I plan to run along the harbor in Sydney as much as I can! That seems balanced to me….I think…I hope….

Sunday September 23 2007 - US Trip

I’ve noticed that in the past few months I’m actually writing more about times when I’m NOT in Hong Kong, instead of when I’m there. That seems to be as good an indicator as anything that HK as actually becoming more and more like home to me.

This was a fun trip to the US. I actually wasn’t looking forward to it that much, except for seeing the kids. It seemed like we had just been there (and in fact we had, in July) and I really wasn’t looking forward to that long overseas flight. But we did enough things that were different and enjoyable that it turned out to be well worth those days in the air.

I’m going to split this into several entries. This first entry is mostly about my trip to Seattle to visit my wonderful Texas-artist friend Cynthia.

We landed in San Francisco on Friday night, September 8^th. We spent Friday night and all of Saturday there. San Francisco is as beautiful as ever, and we stayed in a lovely area, Pacific Heights, in another little boutique hotel. I kept expecting Mrs. Doubtfire to come out of one of the nicely restored townhouses in that area! We spent a lot of time both Friday night and Saturday just walking around, trying to get as much sunshine as possible in order to beat our jetlag into submission. The hills DO compete with Hong Kong in some places in steepness, although it seems gentler, since it’s a series of hills, instead of one big mountain in the middle of it all. And, we were both really put off by all the pan-handlers and homeless people in San Francisco. It just seems like a huge failing on the part of the US government that these people aren’t taken care of better. I think it’s more of a cultural difference, but in Hong Kong you just don’t see homeless people on the street, and beggars are few and far between.

On Saturday we took BART over to Berkley and met Dorsey, Katherine and Little Dorsey Bass (not so little anymore) for lunch and conversation. The younger Dorsey was trying out for the San Francisco Jazz Band at the Berkley Music School. We had a great time catching up. It had been several years since we had seen each other. Then, we hopped on BART again and took it over to Pleasanton, where Corry Painter met us and drove us to their home in Livermore for dinner. Corry is another one of my Texas friends. She and Jeff work for Livermore Labs. They are the owners of the fantastic house on Cushing Island in Maine where I went last September. Later this fall Corry and Jeff will be coming through Hong Kong on their way to the Philippines and will stop and visit with us for several days. Then after thanksgiving Lee and I will turn around and visit with them in the Philippines and go snorkeling in Palawan.

Corry and Jeff have an amazing backyard, filled with fruit trees that produce real apples, peaches, oranges, etc. In fact dinner included a pie made from apples from their own back yard. They also had several bottles of wine for us to sample from local vineyards. They were really good too. We drank both of them before we ever left the US, the Merlot in Austin with the kids, and Cynthia and I drank the Chardonnay in Seattle.

Sunday morning Lee and I went our separate ways for a couple of days. He went to Austin to work, and I headed up to Seattle to visit Cynthia, the illustrious Dr. Seattle-with-her-Fort-Worth-Accent and her heart of gold. Cynthia is an artist, and her beautiful house in Woodinville reflects her creativity. I had so much fun just wandering around noticing all the little touches. It was also just AWESOME to see in person things like the swimming lady in the backyard for real and in person!  I’ve seen pictures of Cynthia and her house, but had not actually met her in three-dimensional reality. It’s kind of like having an incomplete picture of someone, with little pieces missing. Meeting her in person filled in some of the missing pieces, and also gave the overall Cynthia more depth and “realness”. One of the nicest things was that meeting the “real” Cynthia didn’t change my actual impression of her much at all. I was very pleased about that. I think it shows some honest and good work on both our parts – because the Cynthia I imagined in my brain from reading her postings and seeing her pictures really matched the Cynthia I met in person.

Cynthia was a great host. I had never really been to Seattle before, just around it on our long-ago camping trip up the West coast, so she treated me like the eager tourist that I was and showed me the highlights of the town. We had wonderful weather, rather warm for Seattle, sunny and bright. I lost the last of my jetlag somewhere overlooking Lake Washington.

We both grabbed our cameras and had a blast taking pictures. Seattle is a very art-friendly city. There is art everywhere it seems – in the sidewalks, on the whimsical pigs that can be found all over town, in the strangely shaped building by Frank Gehry over by the monorail…it was easy to take pictures of the whirling wave sculpture at the locks, or the odd totem pole structures where we stopped for cupcakes one afternoon.

One day Cynthia took me to the Pike Street Fish Market. One of the highlights of this day was going back into the alley behind the fish market and seeing the GUM WALL. This is a huge brick wall that has been covered with multi-colored chewing gum. It makes a mostly abstract artistic vision from about 20 feet away. Then if you start looking closer there are all sorts of little mini-gum pictures, words and names. It was really pretty, in a gross sort of way.

On another day we went to the Seattle Art Museum. They have a really good modern art collection, with a wide variety of art. I was excited to see a Jackson Pollock, an Andy Warhol, a Lichtenstein…

Cynthia and I had such a good time together. It was hard to believe we hadn’t met before. It was like we HAD met, but in some alternate universe. It didn’t take that long for the strangeness of three-dimensionality to wear off however, and then it seemed like we really had known each other for years, which in a sense we have.

Cynthia is one of those people (like dear Gail in Nashville) where I just wish there was some way to have a same-city relationship, where weekly lunch dates would be the norm. When I think about returning to the US, I do imagine that where-ever I live my life will include fairly frequent, short trips around the US to visit with my dearest friends.

ACL Sept 12-17

On Wednesday, September 12^th, Cynthia put me back on an airplane, and off I flew to Austin. I had Thursday to run around like a mad-woman, getting laundry done, picking up ACL wristbands and checking us in to our b&b, before picking up the kids that afternoon. Daniel and Sarah were on the same flight, and Sarah’s friend Molly flew in 30 minutes later, so things worked out perfectly.

Our b&b was cute, but nothing fancy. It was a good location for ACL, which was our main objective. It was on Blanco Street, which is a couple of blocks west of Lamar, close to 9^th Street. We had two suites, which really worked out great. The kids had their own suite so they could come and go as they pleased and didn’t need to worry about disturbing the old folks.

Thursday night we ate at Uchi’s, our former favorite Japanese restaurant in Austin. The food is still really good, but now I’m comparing it to Tokyo Joe’s in Hong Kong, and honestly I might prefer Tokyo Joe’s. I think I’ll have to do a taste test when we get back to HK, just to be sure!

Friday, it was off to day one of ACL. We tried walking to Zilker Park, but as it turned out it was a forty minute walk, and in the Austin heat that proved to be a little much for most of us, especially the Minnesotan wimps! But of course the music was great. Lee and I started off with Asleep at the Wheel, which just made me feel relaxed and happy and got me in the spirit of things. Next was Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, which was jazz banjo (I think). It was interesting but way too intellectual for us.  We wandered over to try to listen to Peter Bjorn and John, but it was too hot to stand in the sun, so we decided to sit in a nearby beer garden instead. The location wasn’t any good for music listening, since there was cross-over from another stage, but me managed to sit down right next to one of Lee’s cousins! That was sure a surprise, to run into Bruce and Stephanie among 65,000 people! From there walked over to hear Joss Stone, who turned to be amazing! She sings old fashioned rhythm and blues, and sounds like either Diana Ross, or a 50 year old black blues singer, but really she’s a 20 year old lovely young lady from Britain. She was one of the highlights of the festival for us.

After Joss Stone we listened to about 5 minutes of M.I.A on the kid’s recommendation but that was WAY too weird for us, so we went over to the blues/gospel/world music stage and managed to hear a group from Belize that was really good – Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective. We ended up the day listening to the Mighty Clouds of Joy. They were old-fashioned gospel at its finest, but sadly in the week or so since we heard them, my main memory at this point has become their sound system, which was turned up way too loud and was downright painful.

Friday night we left earlier than the kids. We trudged back to the b&b (this was the only day we attempted to walk), rinsed off the dirt, and headed for a late-night meal at Z Tejas. The copious rain that Texas has received this year proved to be a real boon to ACL. It wasn’t nearly as hot as two years ago, and there wasn’t nearly as much dust. We were dirty and sweaty, but not absolutely filthy, which was a relief. Z Tejas really hit the spot that night. It is one of my favorite restaurants in Austin. I just love their take on Tex-Mex, and their margaritas are GOOD!

On Saturday, we were wiser about walking. We discovered that we could drive to Barton Springs and pay a fairly reasonable amount ($25) to park in one of the business’ parking lots. We also discovered that it really wasn’t a problem to find a good place for our chairs and just leave them there for the day. We put our chairs in the shade up by the AMD stage, and one of us was usually there. And we didn’t mind if someone wanted to sit in them when we weren’t using them. It was a lot better than lugging them around all day.

I’m having trouble remembering what we saw on Saturday that we liked. We started out with Paolo Nutini, who was really cute, but not that interesting in concert, at least if you weren’t familiar with his music, which we weren’t.  From there we went to listen to Steve Earle. He did a mostly solo set this year and I really, really enjoyed him. I liked his show better than any other time I’ve seen him. I think I like his slower more melodic newer stuff better. I definitely like his lyrics and I like it when I can understand them. After Steve we just went back to our chairs and hung out until it was time to go stake a place up close to the Indigo Girls. They were the highlight of the festival for me. I went early to their stage; they were the one group I wanted to try to get close for. I staked out a good spot where I could take pictures and sing along! They are so good…the only thing was I wish their set could have been longer. But that’s the tradeoff at a festival I guess. Lots of music, but not a lot of any one thing.

We ended Saturday listening to Arcade Fire with the kids. They were good – very musical. I’ve bought their CD because I’d like to listen to them more closely now. Sometimes that’s the best thing about ACL to me. I get a taste of something and then I want to experience it deeper, so I buy their music. It’s great to have new music to explore now for awhile.

Saturday night we went to Shoal Creek Saloon. Once again this is one of my favorite Austin hangouts. And it was right down the street from the b&b, so it was very convenient for some starving music-goers.

Sunday had some of the most interesting music we heard all weekend. We started out listening to Yo La Tengo but they were boring so I wandered over to listen to Ryan Shaw. He was a James Brown-like R&B singer that put on a good show. He was kind of corny, singing about LOVE being the answer and all, but he was entertaining. It was really enjoyable to hear Robert Earl Keene again. He puts on a good show. I went to hear Bloc Party with the kids. They were too metallic for me, although their lead singer had some very nice dreadlocks. After that it was back to AMD to hear Wilco…they are just amazing. I’m just getting into them (yes, I’ve never been one for being right on top of things). I’m fascinated by their mix of rock, jazz, electronica and country. They remind me of the Byrds. And Jeff Tweedy is definitely cool!

Finishing up Sunday by listening to the Decembrists was just perfect. They are my favorite thing that the kids introduced me to at the festival. I promptly went out and bought two of their CD’s (as recommended by Daniel) and I’m really enjoying listening to them.

It was sad saying goodbye to Sarah on Monday. We won’t see her again until December, which seems like a long time. We flew back to Missouri on the same flight as Daniel, and headed straight for Columbia, because Lee needed to work there for a couple of days. While he worked on Tuesday and Wednesday, I ran errands, did laundry, bought CD’s, fed Daniel, loaded pictures to my pc, and in general relaxed. I was able to eat lunch with Lee Black on Wednesday. We had a great time catching up on what’s going on in our lives. She seemed to be doing well. Her old folk responsibilities are under control, and Miranda and Michael are a happily married couple! We saw Mark, Mary, Elsa and Blake for dinner one night. Elsa is a senior at Rock Bridge this year, visiting colleges, and working as Ad Editor on The Rock. It brings back memories….

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Finally, we ended up our journey in St. Louis. I went to Yom Kipper services with my mom. Friday night we went to CRC – Central Reform Congregation, which is the only Jewish Congregation in the city of St. Louis. It was really an experience. They held services at The Chase Park Plaza Hotel, in one of their ballrooms. There was a HUGE crowd. I’ve never seen that many people at a Jewish religious service. There were easily two thousand people there, maybe more. They have a wonderful choir and their rabbi has a very loyal following. I was really impressed. If I was going to live in St. Louis (nonono) and if I was ever going to join a congregation, I would definitely investigate them.

Spiritually it was kind of a strange experience. They’ve written their own prayer book and it contains the old prayers, but it also has lots of poetry, new music, new writing. There were references to Native American religious beliefs. It got me to thinking. When I was in college I was SO attracted to Native American history and culture. I remember wishing that I belonged to a tribe. It eventually dawned on me that I DO belong to a tribe…the Jewish people. But I never feel like I really fit in there. My feelings about Israel don’t match the “party” line. If I’m trying to feel something deeper and bigger than myself a Jewish religious service doesn’t really do it for me. It can make me feel closer to my roots and nostalgic, but more “one” with the Universe? Nah. But I had to wonder if a congregation like CRC would be more to my liking. I kind of swung between enjoying the music and the prayers and being freaked out by the huge crowd, and being squished by the rather large lady next to me that practically sat on TOP of me at one point!

My mom joined CRC because they hold a Friday night service at the JCA every week. She and dad used to go to Traditional, a conservative congregation in St. Louis. She remained a member there for several years after dad went into the JCA because she really liked the rabbi (I did too) but he has retired. She told them when she left the congregation that she was changing to CRC because no one from Traditional ever went to see dad at the nursing home. Good for her!

Saturday morning mom went to services at the JCA. I had just spent some time with dad on Friday so I didn’t go. But Saturday afternoon we went to the memorial service at Nancy’s synagogue (my mom’s cousin Nancy Baum). Their rabbi was also very intriguing. The service was all poetry and music. The music was more middle-eastern, with guitars and original lyrics as well as traditional Hebrew. Again I was surprised and impressed. This was a small congregation, but it’s really gratifying to find people really attempting to connect with God within a Jewish context, instead of just following the age-old formulas.  I guess I’m not the only Jew out there that doesn’t connect with the old methods of prayer and is searching for something different. Right now I’m content with Yoga and a little meditation here and there, but I like to keep that Jewish door open…

Now here I am, back in Hong Kong. It’s funny that I don’t mind this peripatetic lifestyle at all. I really enjoy (for now anyway) being footloose and free, and I have Lee to thank for this. It won’t be long before we wing our way to Sydney, Australia for 5 days in mid-October. Stay tuned!

Sunday September 2 2007 - Sai Kung West Hike

On Thursday I went on another hike. This was another Michael Hansen hike. It was labeled “Sai Kung West” and went to an area that I had never been in before. We traveled by MTR and mini-bus to get to Sai Kung, the town that is the jumping off place for many hikes and our sampan beach jaunt. From there we grabbed another bus and headed northwest, to the end of the line.

We had beautiful weather for this hike. Although thunder rumbled in the distance off and on all day we didn’t get rained on, so I was able to take more pictures.

The first part of the hike wandered through the forest, up and down on dirt trails, and finally up one good-sized hill. We came to several occupied villages, with people tending their gardens and one little old lady that told Michael in Cantonese that she would be happy to sell us some dragon fruit! Dragon fruit is pretty (pink and green skin, white fruit with little black dots) but its mainly tasteless and sweet, so we passed.

The hill wasn’t that bad, but a young man from California that joined us was totally unprepared for the heat, humidity, and hills of Hong Kong. He only carried two bottles of green tea, no water. His shoes were literally falling apart. And he was NOT in shape. I just don’t understand it, because this happens a lot, to Michael and to Judi, and even on the AWA Easyhikes. People just don’t seem to understand that a hike is not a walk or a stroll. That if you haven’t done anything except drive your car and walk from the parking lot into your office for ten years you are NOT going to be able to climb the hills in Hong Kong and walk for 14K! And in Hong Kong in the summer, it’s flat out dangerous. We get absolutely soaking wet without a drop of rain. We lose pounds just walking, because our bodies are trying so hard to cool us off and they’re struggling because of the humidity. And there’s not always a way to shorten a hike so someone can quit early. Fortunately for this man, once we got over the first hill, we walked for another hour on relatively flat ground and he was able to wait for a ferry at that point. Michael insisted that he not attempt the hill on the last portion of the hike.

When we got to the top of the first hill an AMAZING view spread out before us. We could see Three Fathoms Cove, an inlet in the Tolo Harbor. And off in the distance we could see Pat Sing Leng, the mountain of Eight Fairies fame that I climbed last year. It looked so beautiful off in the distance. I’d never seen the entire mountain so clearly before. It looked very impressive from that angle.

As we descended that first mountain I went on ahead a bit, since Michael was moving pretty slowly to accommodate the California kid. The path wound through forest and stream, passing ferns and waterfalls. I rounded one corner and BOOM, I ran into a little herd of wild pigs! I was so astonished, I yelled “Holy Moly!” and the pigs made panicked pig noises and rushed away in all directions. They were little, around 2 feet long, and black. There were maybe 8 to 10 pigs all total. I hiked back to where Michael and California were, and told them to shush, so that maybe they’d be able to see the pigs. We tiptoed back to where I had seen them. We could hear them grunting a little, but we couldn’t see a thing. I wish I hadn’t yelled, but they really surprised me! Seeing wild pigs is uncommon. If it ever happens again maybe I’ll remember to keep quiet and I’ll get a picture!

When we got to Three Fathoms Cove the path continued along the water’s edge. We could also see Mah On Shan, the tallest mountain in Hong Kong, from this point. The mountain looks just like a horse’s saddle and that’s what Mah On Shan means: Horse Saddle. Michael said it’s not really that hard to climb and that he does it occasionally. I’m going to watch for him to schedule it and try to do it sometime.

We finally got to a village, Sam Chung, where the ferry stops. This little village had a golf course, which just seemed so funny to me. It was a nine-hole, three-par course, in what looked like good shape. Nobody was playing on the course. Michael said it was the cheapest course in Hong Kong, and I can imagine that’s true, since the only way to get there is by hiking or ferry, and the ferry only runs twice a day (well three times on weekends). There were quite a few people on the ferry pier, all fishing. Apparently that’s a very popular outing in this area.

We sat at the little store overlooking the golf course and had some drinks and rested for a bit. Eventually Michael and I bade goodbye to California and headed up the last mountain path to Lai Chi Chong, where we picked up the 6 PM ferry to head across Three Fathoms Cove and back to the city. This was one of the little dinky ferries…our fellow travelers were the people returning from their day of fishing, and a group of young boys hanging out at a table playing a card game and laughing hilariously. I think one of them was related to the ferry captain, because he kept going into the pilot house and talking to him in a very father-to-son sort of way.

The ferry ride was really nice. It was sunset and a gentle breeze was blowing. We could watch the sun setting over Pat Sing Leng, and see the area around the University KCR station approaching in the distance. The station is called University because this is where the Chinese University of Hong Kong is located. It’s a beautiful little campus on a hill and it was a great way to end the day.

August 26 2007 - Out and About in Hong Kong

I’ve gone on a couple of interesting outings in Hong Kong this past week. On Tuesday I went to “research” The Museum of Coastal Defense. I’m going to lead a tour of this museum in December, so I needed to be able to do a write-up for the AWA magazine. In order to do THAT I had to know how to get there and back, how much time it takes to tour the museum, and how you get there in the first place! I had actually tried to go to the museum about a month ago, but I tried to take the bus, got lost, and by the time I finally found it realized that it was closed on that day anyway! This time things went more smoothly.

It’s a very interesting museum. The museum is built on top of a hill overlooking the entrance to Victoria Harbor, where at one time there was a fort. It consists of two sections. On top of the hill is something called the Redoubt, which apparently is a British-ism for a large scale fortification. The second part is a historical trail leading down the hill. The Redoubt was reconstructed and then covered with a tent-like roof. There are indoor exhibits at the Redoubt, showing the history of the defense of Hong Kong from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to the current defense by the PLA.

The indoor exhibits were very well done. I spent a lot of time looking at the displays and reading the English explanations. The Chinese twist on things was illuminating. The PLA was displayed patriotically, as you would expect. And the British Period was described as “the occupation”, which also makes sense, but I just never thought of it that way…

I really liked the historical trail as well. It shows other sorts of military structures, including the ditch, Torpedo Station, caponiers, artillery barracks, batteries and underground magazines. I didn’t take any pictures of the indoor section, but I had fun taking pictures on the historical trail. The pictures are a combination of the views from various vantage points and actual items on the trail.

Then on Thursday I went on a hike in the Northeast New Territories. This was a Michael Hansen Hike, and I signed up for it and another one next week partially in preparation for going on Judi Lewis hikes when I get back from the US. It was definitely a wakeup call. I don’t have trouble walking for long periods of time, but I did definitely get out of breath on the one big hill we climbed. Michael said it was around 200 meters, which isn’t that much compared to some of the ones I did last year. Part of it was that it was warm and rainy and I was sweating like crazy. I had enough water, fortunately, but the next day I had lost 2 pounds, and that was ALL water! Today I’m back to normal. You have to be careful hiking in Hong Kong because of the heat and humidity. That’s why most of the hiking is done in the winter months.

It was a beautiful hike. It wound through an area filled with old abandoned villages. The villages were mostly abandoned back in the 1980’s when farming started to become unprofitable in Hong Kong. Most of the villages aren’t really that old, although they may have roots in ancient fishing villages that are really old. The villages really started to grow when the communists took over the mainland in the 1940’s and there was a huge refugee problem in Hong Kong. Their populations grew dramatically during the 1950’s and 1960’s and then slowly shrunk until the present day.

Some of the villages are actually being renovated now. They are so pretty and remote and the buildings are very picturesque. But most of them are not accessible by road, and few have running water, although most have electricity (and cell phone service!). But they make great weekend retreats and someone with some entrepreneurial instincts could make a go of hiking b&b’s I think.

I had fun playing with my camera, although because of the rain I didn’t take it out as much as I would have if it had been sunny; I didn’t want it to get wet. I started thinking of more camera accessories to buy – a waterproof case, a little case to put on my backpack…etc!

August 11 2007 Typhoon Signal 8

Typhoon Pabuk visited Hong Kong in the past couple of days. It was a very fickle typhoon. One day it skirted to our west, went up into Guangdong Provence in China, then changed its mind and came veering toward us again.

On August 8^th the signal went to a 1 and things got all dim and murky that afternoon. It was the first time in ages that we had anything except bright hot sunny skies, so it was kind of fun to have some real weather for a change. This was the first pass of the typhoon. The signal went to a 3 that evening, and I contemplated whether to bother to bring any of my plants in off the balcony. I decided they were safe enough. I have one heavy planter with basil and mint in it that was on the edge of the balcony. When I got up the next morning it wasn’t there! I looked closer and realized that it had slid off the edge and landed on the floor of the balcony. It landed right side up and nothing was broken or even bent! Good thing it was a plastic planter.

I decided to just leave it there on the floor for the time being, because it was still pretty rainy and windy, even though the typhoon had (seemly) passed us by.

Yesterday (Friday, the 10^th) was rainy, but when I left the apartment at 9 AM to go to Yoga there was no typhoon warning at all. I went to Yoga, browsed around SoHo a little, and then met some friends for lunch at the Marriot at Pacific Place around noon. By then there was a typhoon 1 warning again, and it was raining pretty steadily. We had a very nice lunch and we were just sitting there talking when one of the ladies got a call on her phone. One of her friends had called to warn her that a typhoon signal 8 was going to be posted at 3:30 pm (this was around 2 pm). We all kind of leaped up, because when the warning goes to an 8 everything closes - the shops, the banks, the MTR, the buses, the
taxis, EVERYTHING! So if you don't get home you can be stuck! We hurriedly paid our bill. One of the ladies lives in my apartment complex, so we tried to catch a taxi together, but no luck, no taxis were to be had at the hotel. So we hopped on the MTR (yes us and half of Hong Kong it seemed), rode over to Central, and crossed our fingers for the apartment shuttle. The shuttle was our last option. We could see the taxis all putting up their out of service signs as they passed us by on Queen’s Road. There was a huge crowd waiting for the shuttle, and at one point we wondered if it was still running, and if we would get on. If the shuttle didn’t come we were going to have to walk. It was rainy and windy, but the biggest issue was the fact that we were all in high heels! We would have taken the escalator up as far as we could, but I think I would have been strongly tempted to go barefoot before we got home, not a very appetizing thought in Hong Kong! Fortunately the shuttle came and we got home safely.

I knew Lee was planning on going shopping that afternoon, so I kept trying to call him, but I couldn't get through. The cell phone lines must have been overloaded, because everyone was trying to call their friends and family. I got home and sure enough he wasn't here. After awhile he was able to call me. "What's going on? All the shops are closed!" I KNEW he wouldn't have a clue....I told him to get on over to the shuttle – I called the apartment office and they said that the shuttle would keep running until 4:30 and then it would stop. He eventually got home safely too.

That ended up being the most exciting thing about typhoon Pabuk. Later that evening it took another 90 degree turned and missed Hong Kong a second time. It was very anticlimactic.

I got on the Hong Kong Observatory website and decided to read up on the signals. Signals 1, 3 and 8 are used to indicate a typhoon that is passing close to Hong Kong. The wind speed increases with each signal. Unless the signal goes to 10 however, Hong Kong is not experiencing a direct hit by a hurricane. So although a signal 8 predicts gale force winds, it’s still not a hurricane.

It’s just the beginning of the typhoon season here. We had a signal 3 at around this time last year (a blog is very handy for looking up these things) and it caused a lot of damage. After that storm they decided they needed to check the wind speed in more areas around Hong Kong. Because it is so mountainous there are a lot of micro-climates and the amount of wind and rain can vary a lot from one area to another.

It’s funny to think that last weekend it was so hot and sunny and we went to the beach! I’ve got some pictures of the beach we went to last weekend – Half Moon Bay, but I haven’t loaded them to the computer yet, so I don’t know if they came out very well. It was a lovely little beach and the water was crystal clear, but it was quite a haul to get there. We had to take the MTR and then a bus and THEN a sampan. I know my Cantonese has improved a little. I could tell the sampan lady what time we wanted to be picked up and argue about the price a little, and say “Ho Tin!” (nice weather) while we were in the boat. However, she started talking Cantonese to me, and 99% of it flew right by me. I just can’t understand them unless they speak really really slowly. I DID know that when I said “come at 3 pm” she said “you want to me come get you at 3 pm?” That was the important part, that and the price!

August 3 2007 - Kowloon Walled City Park

Yesterday I visited a park up in Kowloon that has an interesting history. The park is built on the site of the former Kowloon Walled City. This area of Hong Kong was originally a Chinese Fort (it used to be close to Kowloon Bay, but reclamation makes that hard to imagine now), then a British walled garrison and then a Chinese community. Its jurisdiction was disputed. At one point the British ceded jurisdiction of the area to the Chinese government, but at the end of the Qing Dynasty (the last one before the Nationalists and subsequently the Communists took power) there was a lot of war and unrest, so the Chinese didn’t really bother to govern the area either. The area ended up being controlled by triads (Chinese mafia) and all sorts of illicit activity took place there. It was very densely populated. Pictures of Kowloon Walled City from the 1950’s make it look like one giant building (it was an area of about 6 city blocks) but it really was dozens of buildings tightly packed together with tiny passageways in between them.

Here is a website with lots of information about the city and some very interesting pictures: http://www.archidose.org/KWC/.

It was a mysterious dangerous place, and very different from the rest of Hong Kong. In the 1980’s the issues of jurisdiction were finally resolved and the Hong Kong government decided to tear it down. For once Hong Kong did an urban renewal program properly. They preserved the oldest buildings in the Walled City, plus remnants of the original walls, and the north and south gates. The park is split into 8 areas, each with a different theme. You can wander around the park, learn about the history of the area, and enjoy the beautiful gardens, ponds and plantings, interspersed with old walls and buildings, plus a couple of cannons from the old fort!

The park seems to be very well used. I went pretty early (around 8 AM) because it has been so hot here. The park was filled with people doing tai chi (of course), maids walking babies, old men playing chess, or talking, or meditating, old ladies strolling slowly with their umbrellas, staying in the shade.

I was the only westerner. An older man came up to me and decided to tell me about the park in his halting English. He was looking for practice. I had to hand it to him; if I would start doing that my Cantonese would probably be a lot better by now! He was a bit of a pest though. I was enjoying my solitary wandering about in the park and he kept popping up like a jack rabbit with another tidbit of fractured English!

I posted pictures of my trip to the park in Flickr.

When I got back to Central I called Lee to see if he wanted anything from the grocery store. He said “hey, your daughter called and wants you to know that she and Erik aren’t dead!” I was like “what are you talking about”? The Minneapolis I-35 Bridge had collapsed while I was strolling through the park. I immediately called Nicole and found that she was okay, just a little shook up. Her apartment is close to that bridge, and she rides her bike to work underneath it every day. And Cody was at the Twins game…very strange. Sarah said all of her friends were okay, and as far as we know all of the 3Mers are okay too.

This time of year in Hong Kong is kind of slow. There aren’t a lot of AWA tours. The hiking hasn’t started up again yet – too hot. I’ve been doing Yoga, and a little shopping. I’m going to Shenzhen next week now that my China Visa has been renewed, but I think my Shenzhen shopping days have definitely slowed down. I’m peeved about the quality of some stuff I’ve gotten there – purses where the zippers broke, etc. I’ve also been playing mahjong more consistently. That’s a good hot weather activity! And we’ve gone to the beach several times, and I’ve hung out at the pool. I COULD be doing more constructive activities, but I don’t really feel like it. I think it’s the heat!

It’s SOOOO beautiful here right now though. You just have to get out early if you want to do something outside…

July 26 2007 Tracy Kidder's Book - Mountains Beyond Mountains

This book is about Dr. Paul Farmer, a Harvard MD that fell in love with Haiti and started a clinic in the Central Plateau, a godforsaken place, mired in extreme poverty, disease and hopelessness. I haven’t finished the book yet, but I’m finding it fascinating. I’m not so much interested in this man’s saint-like qualities, of which there are many. The part that is so interesting is his philosophy about what causes diseases such as AIDS, TB and Malaria to flourish in places like the Central Plateau. He is an anthropologist as well as an MD, a believer in “liberation theology”, a man that puts individual patients before international policies.

It’s a little hard to describe why his approach to curing these diseases seems both radical and extremely logical and commonsensical. Take for example his approach to tackling MDR-TB, multi-drug-resistant TB, a scary problem in parts of the world, that threatens the 1^st world as well as the 3^rd. WHO’s plan for treating MDR was considered too expensive to implement in poor countries, because these countries can’t afford the second-line TB drugs that are only used when the first-line drugs are ineffective. But, Farmer looked at WHY these drugs are so expensive, and discovered that the reason wasn’t that the drugs were expensive to make, but rather that they were used infrequently and therefore drug companies were reluctant to spend much in the way of resources to make the second-line drugs. The drugs were expensive because they were a scarce resource. Farmer was able to persuade the companies to lower the drug price. Then MDR-TB became treatable in poor as well as wealthy countries.

Farmer doesn’t accept the commonly held belief that these diseases can’t be treated in poor countries because poor people won’t take their medicine properly, won’t use bed nets consistently, won’t travel the long distances sometimes required to get to clinics to be treated. He has done many studies to show that poor people are just as capable of following treatment plans as anyone else. He doesn’t accept that the world has limited resources when it comes to medicine. He doesn’t see why the 1^st world can’t share its medical wealth with the 3^rd.

This book makes me want to do something. I don’t mean volunteer at a clinic or anything like that; I’m not that sort of person. But since we moved overseas I’ve been evaluating which charities I’d like to support. I  feel especially drawn to the ones that seem to truly improve people’s standard of living, not by giving them material goods, but by improving their health, which gives them hope and energy to improve their own lives.

Farmer’s organization is called Partners in Health. He’s got a website: http://www.pih.org/home.html. He might not be for everyone. I wouldn’t describe him as left-wing though; he’s not political. But he’s a radical nonetheless. Tracy Kidder subtitled his book “The quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who would cure the world”. This is no exaggeration. Farmer doesn’t see or acknowledge barriers, or boundaries, or practicalities. He achieves success with disease-ridden and poverty-stricken populations that most people have written off. He’s worth checking out, and supporting, I think.