Favorite Philosopher's Blog

This snuggly guy was one of the many dogs floating around, this one at Po Lin Monastery at the Big Buddha.  He and the others roaming around had apparently not read the “no dogs” signs.  This one was totally “out” in a tree box.  Kind of how I felt and have felt since getting home.  Jet lag is no joke.  Should have taken a day off work for sure – live and learn.  At any rate I like this photo because he is yet another example of how animals teach us how to totally relax.  He was oblivious to everything around him, happily slumbering.

So.  There were a lot of things about this trip that were unexpected or surprising or that I was dead wrong about and because it’s my blog, I get to write them down!

When one misses a connection to a place on the other side of the world, and one wants to go home in disgust, one should persevere.

The worst part of plane travel is not whether it’s an hour and a half or 15 hours.  It is the packing to go on the trip, the getting to the airport, the going through security (although I now am a “Known Traveler” with TSA so don’t have to take my g.d. shoes off or take my computer out of the bag); the waiting to get on the plane, the getting on the plane, the getting organized on the plane…..and then the getting off the plane, the getting your luggage, the getting to your final resting place for the night.  The one and a half to fifteen hours on the plane is nothing. I am ready for Australia.  Japan. New Zealand.  Having said that, I am starting a little travel savings account so we can at least fly business when going that far.

I did not expect that I would tire of or not enjoy the food.  A patient had told me that happened to her and I was skeptical because I’m adventurous re: food, expect for beets and sauerkraut and other cabbage-ey food, but it just didn’t appeal to me, taste wise.

I did not realize the practice of Buddhism was as ritualistic as it seems to be  – genuflecting and kneeling on pillows, incessant waving of incense, hands in prayer and waving in that position up and down, general groveling.  So traditionally Catholic.  Guess the basic message gets lost in fancy ritual no matter what the religion.

My knees are bad.  I don’t know what I’m going to do about that.  I always enjoyed hiking and up and down with my trekking poles.  The hikes up and down mountain inclines and stairs and the accompanying agony on my knees has me sad and worried.  Yes, physician heal thyself and I will start working my knees in earnest, but man, I’m not ready to stop.  If I have to wear bracing, so be it.  Not done with the vistas quite yet.

Rugby is better on TV.  The better to see the players, my dear…

When you are going on a trip “just to go” and it’s not on your bucket list, beware – you may very well fall in love with the place and have to put it (and surrounding areas) on your bucket list and pretend you were never there so that it can remain unchecked on that list.  I would go back to  Kong and beyond in a heartbeat.  It was beautiful, cosmopolitan, easy to navigate, crazy friendly people, even in the Chungking Mansion which is a building in Tsim Sha Tsui area and which I forgot to talk about. It’s a gathering place/foreign market/cheap housing for minorities from other countries from Asian and Africa.  Al and I went there the last night after dinner (he needed one more t-shirt) and the lower floor is the “main arcade” and so many languages were spoken, but again, a smile and a laugh is a universal language and we had a fun time shopping there in an area of mostly Pakistani men.  Approaching the building, I hear whispered in my ear “copy – watches, miss” “copy – purses, ma’am” many times.  Al heard mumblings about massages…

As a matter of fact, Al told me he was going back next year for the rugby and was, for the second time, surprised that I would be going as well – just not for rugby.  I have more Buddhas to see, more history to learn, real jade to shop for and antique stores to peruse.

Thanks for reading, all.  For some reason it is much easier for me to journal here while imagining I’m writing a letter to someone.  Writing to myself just puts me to sleep…

With rugby over, I had my cronies back, but we split up.  Patti and Jeff needed to help Jimbo schlepp his stuff to the metro where you catch the airport express.  Now get this.  You take your luggage to that station, CHECK THE LUGGAGE RIGHT THERE, and then go back out and play.  Then you can come back whenever,catch the airport express and be on your merry way.  I’m telling you, we have a lot to learn about public transit…

One of my choices the day before had been Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery (Man Fat Tsz).  It is kind of an out of of the way place and is not widely publicized by the tourist industry in Hong Kong because some of the structures were not considered safe by the government and so it was not encouraged that tourist signs be put up directing how to get there.  Just my kind of place!  When we arrived it appeared that some work was being done to rectify that situation – some of the slopes had retaining walls and signs that said they were ok by the government agency involved.  The pagoda, which is advertised online as being accessible to walk up the stairs inside to the tip top was closed and being worked on.

We took the transit to the site and found it quite easily just a few blocks from the stop.  Then the walk up hundreds of steps began.  But we were not alone.  We had Buddhas – lots of them – to guide us.  Of course the photos cannot do it justice but here they are anyway.  It is estimated that there are actually about 13,000 now, some of them the large ones on the trail, some immense ones inside and outside the temples (no photos inside the temples – damn it was tempting to disobey that rule, they were exquisite inside…), many of them tiny and lining the walls inside the temples as homage to Buddha by the faithful.  Several of the buildings were mausoleums and each little crypt had its own Buddha.  Incense everywhere, inside and out, which I discovered is de rigeur in and around any temples.  Makes Catholic Church incense use of old seem quite lame in comparison.

It was founded and built between 1949 and 1957 by Revered Yuet Kai who helped carry building materials up the hill at an advanced age.  He died at 87 and eventually his corpse was entombed/mummified and rests in lotus position inside the main temple. Not allowed to take photos inside the temple but this was on a website and I can’t really tell you about it any better than this website does:

“The preserved corpse of the monastery’s founder, Reverend Yuet Kai (The Diamond Indestructible Body of Yuexi) is displayed in a glass case in front of the main altar.The monastery was substantially redecorated in 1968, some of the pavilions were rebuilt and all the statues were repainted or coated with pure gold. Severe flooding and landslides in 1997 caused major damage to the monstery and some buildings were destroyed. The monastery was closed to the public for two and a half years for reconstruction which still continues today at the monastery’s upper level. The monastery is built over two levels on a bamboo forest hillside overlooking Sha Tin and occupies an area of over eight hectares. It has five temples, four pavilions, one verandah and a pagoda and is reached by a steep concrete path with 431 steps. The path is lined on either side with 500 life-size gilded Arhan statues.”

(retrieved April 4, 2015 from http://www.hongkongextras.com/_ten_thousand_buddhas_monastery.html)

The Diamond Indestructible Body of Yuexi

Now for my photos.  Here we go – are you ready?  Ten Thousand ++++

We were just finishing up, about Buddha’d out and ready to head back down the stairs when we heard from the other three that they were headed to see the Tian Tan Big Buddha at the Po Lin Monastery. We took a very long and picturesque gondola ride to get to the base, and of course are greeted by shops before you get near the entrance to the Buddha and the Monastery.   I am sorry to say I was not able to walk up and down any more steps, my knees have had enough.  But it was impressive – maybe next time.  I did meander the grounds and took a peek inside the Monastery Temple.  Services were being held and so we were not admitted entrance at all and a guard stood outside to shush the visitors hanging outside the door.   I did record the sound of the monks chanting which was nice (you need to turn your sound up pretty high) (I have no idea what that shoehorn thing is sticking into photo):

Exhausted once again, we headed back to the hotel and opted (finally!) for some Italian food next door – I had some delicious, non greasy, non saucy, thin crust pizza with olives and mushrooms.  Yummy.

I took off by myself.  It didn’t seem any less crowded in the metro on Sunday than during the week, in fact it almost seemed more so.  I got a little lost once I got to “Central” (kind of the hub of the city near where the bus terminals etc are located) but as usual people were willing to help – the old man handing out flyers, and eventually the police who are casually standing around were able to get me to the right place.  Riding the air conditioned bus it took me half an hour to get to Stanley, which is on the south end of Hong Kong Island and is is where a lot of ex-pats live.

The bus dropped me off at the small mall, right on the waterfront, and I roamed for awhile before heading off to the market stalls, where I had been told I would find more than the usual junk, and perhaps some art and jewelry worth looking at.

Along the rock wall I saw these drying in the sun on the rocks.  I don’t know if they were anchovies or what.  And then the people putting them in bags and weighing them and selling them.  I passed on them.

More photos of the area around the harbor, including a wave sculpture made out of soda cans:

After roaming around the open markets for awhile, I went looking for a bathroom and entered what appeared to be an open municipal building.  As I walked in, I heard a taiko drummer and walked into a hall with a stage and an audience of people, mostly seniors, sitting in folding chairs.  I took a seat on a bench off to the side, and from there I could see backstage.  The taiko drummer was reading from music – this was not a polished performance by any means.  Then out came a woman singing a Chinese song.   As I continued to watch, I was noticed by some of the waiting performers and I guess my smile and interest invited them to investigate me.  It turns out it was variety entertainment put on by local people.  My people!!!!!   One of the performers explained it to me in English and I understood as best I could.  They were laughing that I couldn’t understand a word of the singing but was delighted by it anyway – I know what it’s like to have the mike in front of me and sing for the joy of it.  “Music is music!” I told them and they welcomed me to Hong Kong after finding out where I was from.  I stayed for an hour and a half – it looked like it would go on for a long time, with the same performers coming out doing different songs and skits.  The cha cha dancers came back and did a country western dance, for example.  I finally had to leave but not before taking a video of my new friend, Elith, with whom I exchanged information. She has given me permission to share my video of her…

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=598BavATcgY

I left and did a little shopping and had a slice of pizza.  Here I should perhaps answer the question that many people have asked since I got home: “How was the food?”  – well, that first night was indeed a fabulous dinner but after that things went downhill.  By night three I was not digesting the rather greasy, saucy food that was served at every restaurant that served local food.  I was eating a lot of rice.  I’m not sure what it was about it that did not agree with me, but it did not bear any resemblance to the Chinese food we get here in the US – less grease, less sauce, less – I don’t know, was it five spice powder? – something very overpowering that just made me a bit nauseous after several days of it.

I met up with the rest of the rugby goers that evening and had – ugh – another meal at a Hong Kong restaurant.  It appeared to be a very nice restaurant, and I hardly ate. What tickled me was not one but two big screen TVs in the crystal chandeliered room with some wacky movie on that was impossible to follow, and not because of the language, but because it was hard to figure between normal daily life scenes and suddenly people impossibly flying through the air.  Think Bruce Lee on steroids.  I was also not pleased by the sight of shark fin soup on the menu, but you can research why that is on the internet…

It is Sunday morning in Hong Kong.  Yesterday we got started early and headed to the Hong Kong World Sevens Tournament. Pretty much what any sporting event is, with a large dose of Halloween/Bay to Breakers costuming.  Astronauts, Oktoberfest frauleins, Smurfs, Superpeople, etc etc etc.  There is a special section for all those people and we had regular tickets.  The World Sevens rugby is rather complicated but long story short there are seven guys on each team, seven minutes to a half and it all goes pretty quickly.  I brought my crossword puzzle book and my Nook reader because I expected to get bored pretty quickly, which I did.  It’s interesting, don’t get me wrong and I love the fact that it’s pretty much boys wrestling over a ball and tackling each other and wrestling some more, but after four hours I’d had enough.  When you’re into it, you can keep track of who’s winning and getting enough points to be in such and such a championship.   I also think like any sporting event it’s better on TV.  Can’t really tell what hunkaroos these guys are from up in the stands.

I was keeping track of NCAA March Madness on my phone, so I get it, I really do.  But by 2 p.m. and I knew it was going on til 7 p.m. and the sun had come down under the overhang and it was getting hot – I grabbed my stuff and found my way back to the hotel where I showered and rested until the others returned and we went for dinner.

Those who know me well know that, at a certain point, I need to be alone.  I hit that socializing wall and just can’t make one more sentence of small talk and feigned interest. So I sold my tickets for today’s marathon rugby session and here I am, catching up on m journaling.  A woman who lives here, Tess, gave me some suggestions of what to do and although I am not really into shopping I am going to one more market as she says there is art and more than just crap (although I’ll have to walk to more of that to find it) and I’d like to find something nice for the house.  Tomorrow is our last day and Al and I are going to take off alone to see the Big Buddha on Lantau Island (it’s not old but it’s supposedly impressive) and also I’d like to hit the Ten Thousand Buddhas which is supposedly more like 30,000 at this point and is kind of a quiet place to go, peacocks walking around and stuff.  I have to go up 431 stairs to get there but I’ve had a few days rest and they look like short steps.  Being by ourselves we will be able to make our own pace and at the top is purported to be yet another grand view of the area.

Well, my planned departure for my day was noon and it is not 11:20 so I’m lookin’ good.  More later….

Al was sweet enough to agree to be my sherpa Friday morning and we headed off to the fabric markets at Sham Shui Po, which is a neighborhood a few stops  down from where we are staying in Kowloon.  I would like to take a moment to mention that the MTR – the public train – is very user friendly.  You buy one card – the Octopus card – when you arrive in town and use it for everything public transportation.  The signage is very clear and I have not had one iota of trouble figuring out where I/we are going.

I had read up on the fabric market online before going, so knew pretty much what I was going to see and where I was headed.  My goal was to buy some souvenir fabric for quilting at home.  This ended up being more of a daunting task than I imagined – so little time, so many choices, so much greed in my evil, evil heart.

 not just “fabric” – leather. ribbons, buttons,  huge contractor garbage bag sized bags of buttons, belt buckle stores, button stores, thread stores (didn’t dare go there, honestly, I had to control myself…)

The first thing that challenged me was that we are talking wholesale here.  These are the folks who actually print your fabric.  So the shops do not have the fabric, although some do, it is mostly wall upon wall of cards of fabric samples.  You can then order it and it takes a couple of days for them to pull it from their warehouse, which is a couple of days I don’t have and also how could I possibly decide?   I passed by many of them and finally got nerve to ask “how much are the samples?” only to find out – samples are free.  Which is the point at which I needed to remember it was Lent and I should curtail my greed and I only have one suitcase and….here’s my stash. I did buy some cotton quilting fabric and it was hard to choose that as well.  My purpose in grabbing all the samples was that I would like to make  – ahem – a sampler quilt of the fabrics.  However, once I am home I am going to take a good look at it all and perhaps order some from home.

I liked the hamburgers because it will inspire me to actually create the quilt I’ve had in mind every since I found the frogs BBQ-ing fabric and the red checkered table cloth fabric with ants on it – it’s been a vision in progress for at least 8 years…Al chose the yellow daisies, I chose the geometric for Terri (we always laughed that I’m into flowers and she’s into wacky) The little mama and baby sea lion were what first caught my eye and the blue was just an impulse buy as I walked along.  Great color.  Those close ups of the bicycle fabric were because when I was making a bicycle themed quilt last year it was very difficult to find bicycle fabric – so of course…here it is, I only had to come to Hong Kong.

The rest of the day revolved around the same area but more of a general market scene – mostly cheap crap but I did buy some stuff – a business card holder for some of my credit cards, some hair thingies in every color, a neat bagel shaped box, a fan (with horses for 1954 of course), the usual dangly thing that can work as a souvenir Christmas ornament and Al’s jade chopsticks…

  a shop of carabiners!!!!  not sure I’d depend on them for El Cap in Yosemite,  though

 serious shoelaces, dude my sherpa

That night we again played poker and I lost more playing Texas Hold ‘Em than I did buying stuff at the market. I started out so well, winning at first,  but honestly, I had terrible cards for most of the night.  When I ran out of money I went over to the couch and…you guessed it…dozed until it was time to go back to the hotel.