Climbing the tallest holy mountain

There are four holy Buddha mountains in China: Mount Wutai （五台山）in Shanxi, Mount Emei (峨眉山） in Sichuan, Mount Jiuhua （九华山） in Anhui, and Mount Putuo （普陀山） in Zhejiang. As I consider myself culturally Buddhist, one of my goals in life is to pray at all four holy mountains. As a young girl before I left for the U.S, I visited Mount Wutai with my mother. When I came back to China to visit as a teen, I went to Mount Putuo with my father. In June, I went to pray at Mount Emei with a friend. Each instances, I feel the connection you make as you pray is distinctly different, yet held together by a common thread.
Mount Emei is the tallest of the Holy Mountain, where the temperature at the Golden Peak is usually just slightly above freezing during the summer. You can hike the mountain all the way up, from Baoguoshi all the way to the Golden Peak. That usually will take 2-3 days, where you can take rest at the local "motels" or monasteries. My friend and I took the bus up to close to the Golden Peak, then stayed at the Golden Peak Hotel, so we can wake up early to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative and we waited in the clouds for an hour without success. What was cool however, was the mist. It was so cloudy that you can barely see a few feet in front of you. Even at the base of the golden Buddha, I was unable to see it clearly.

We also spent a day hiking down to the Elephant Pool, which is just a silly little temple were people can see the monkeys. The monkeys are CRAZY! They're fat, greedy, and completely unafraid of humans. If you touch your bag, they will come and attack you until you have food! My friend and I were definitely attacked by these oversized monkeys and required other hikers to fend them off for us. Yikes. On the way up from Elephant Pool, we missed the last cable car up to the Golden Peak, resulting us in hiking over 30 kms and 8 hours on our journey. I felt very tired, but super accomplished afterwards.
 

We climbed over thousands of these stairs.

Wished I spoke Korean

I love South Korea. Really, everything is wonderful. When we arrived Friday evening, the weather was cloudy, but pleasantly cool compared to Hong Kong. The drive from the airport to our hotel was smooth, with the most beautiful bridges along the river. On the drive there, one can see the heavy American influence littered around Seoul. The road signs look distinctly American - with combination of English and Korean on the signs. They even have the same red octagon stop signs along the road.

While the flight and hotels are quite pricy in Korea, food, souvenirs, cabs, alcohol, and almost all other items of living are incredibly cheap for a developed nation. The streets are clean, the people are friendly, and the food is absolutely amazing. Everything is Korea tasted good. From the noodles we had at the Namdaemun Market to the waffles at Samcheong-Dong coffee shops, every thing we ate from kimchi, fish, bimbimbap, to dumplings were all wonderful. Everything tasted better than the next.

The highlight of the trip was definitely Sat, when we woke up early at 6AM to go on the USO DMZ tour. After an hour bus ride, we arrived at the Joint Security Area, where the North Korean tower and Soldiers are less than a hundred yard away. Between the two Korean towers, there four flat houses, where 2 are painted blue for South Korea, and two are painted grey for North Korea. One of the conference rooms is where the Armistice treaty was signed on July 27, 1953. The funny thing is, both side can use this conference room. Obviously, they do not communicate with each other when using the room. The procedure is that they surround the building with their soldiers, bring the tour group in from either the South or North side, depending on who gets there first. Sometimes, if there's a conflict of timing, the Soldiers will stay in there as long as possible to annoy the other side. Yes, both side of the same tour uses the same buildings. It's actually very cool. For the South Korean side, we are guided by the U.S. military. Since the conference room straddles the MLD, the U.S. soldier is not allowed to cross into the North side. Therefore, the door to the North side is guarded by ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers. While military service is compulsatory for all young men, the ones stationed at the DMZ are super cute! Another positive for Korea.

The North Korean Guard was only a few hundred yards away!

Inside the DMZ, both sides were allowed to one village. On the North Side, there's Kijong dong, what the U.S. military officer foundly called as Propaganda Village. There is situated one of the largest flag poles in the world, flying a 600 lb North Korean flag. According to the officer, if you can get a one meter by one meter piece of that flag, the CIA or wikipedia will pay you US$10mm. Of course, you'd have to cross the landmines, 2 sniper teams, and the North Korean army. Good luck.

Also at the DMZ, we went into the tunnels dug by North Korea trying to get into Seoul but was stopped just a few kilometers across the MLD. We also went to the Dorasan station, where it's an empty station with no trains on the tracks because it's suppose to be the first station on the train to Pyeongyang. While highly symbolic and full of hope, the station's emptiness brings an eerie reminder of a country with an uneasy peace with its neighbor.
 
 

Where will I be next weekend?

Tonight concludes my whirlwind of travel for the past weekend. Here were my travel itenaries since the beginning of June: Chengdu, Singapore, Bangkok, South Korea, and North Korea (granted, only for 5 minutes under the watchful eyes of the US military and ROK forces). For all of this has made Hong Kong worth it, for I don't think I shall ever have another opportunity to travel as extensively and frequently again. Details on each trip to be followed.

Kadoorie Farm

Too often all the expats, visitors, and even its own local residents think Hong Kong is just Central and maybe a small portion of TST. Very few of us venture outside of the comsopolitan Hong Kong. However, just an hour away by cab, lies the beautiful Kaddorie Farm. The best time to visit the farm is late March/April, where the Orchards are in full bloom and the weather is pleasant. The birth of the farm is a romantic story of how Sir Horace Kadoorie discovered an untended tangerine tree in the upper slopes of Tai Mo Shan, the highest peak in Hong Kong. From then on, the farm was developed to aid refugees who are mostly farmers.

Today, you take a bus through the acres of the farm, exploring into jungle like trails to discover rare plants, flowers, and animals. At the very top, there are glorious views of Hong Kong, where on a good day, you can see all the way into China. As the group of "if it gets awkward, just drink" went on our expeditions, I have come to realize that so much of Hong Kong is hidden from our views of Hong Kong Island. It's a pity that so few of us actually ventures outside and take full advantage of what Hong Kong has to offer for us.

Hong Kong Customer Service

Everyone always says that Asia has the best customer service. At the high end designers, Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton, that’s definitely true. If you’re ready to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a handbag, pair of shoes, or anything else that embodies the materialistic culture that is so prevalent in Hong Kong. Basic services, however, makes me wonder.




Last week, it was a co-worker’s 25th birthday. 10 of us went to Night Market, a Taiwanese restaurant that serves decent street food. The food is not bad and we often frequent the restaurant as a firm favorite. As we walked in, we managed to get a table quite quickly. However, two of our friends were finishing up work and was coming later. The restaurant owner simply refused to save chairs for them, even though there was plenty of space available. That part is understandable. A busy restaurant depends on turnover for revenue.



When our friends showed up, there was only one extra chair at the table given the rest of the long table was taken up by another party. We asked the manager if we could add a chair at the end. He point blank refused. There was plenty of space but he claimed there are no chairs in the restaurant. Given it was our friend’s birthday, we said, fine, let’s just all share on the chairs. So the two girls shared a small chair together (thank goodness for small Asian girls). At that point, the same waiter, who is the manager in charge during lunch, refused to allow them to order, citing the fact that they won’t be able to eat their food on the same chair….



How are we supposed to have a birthday lunch if two members of our party cannot order? We decided it’s time to go then, because we can’t enjoy the food at the restaurant if they refuse to serve our friends. The waiter-manager then threatened to call the cops on us on his power trip of making our meal as difficult as possible. I took out my blackberry and said “What’s the number for the police?”



Once he realized that we’re not afraid the cops will show up, for we have done nothing wrong but trying to enjoy a birthday lunch, his entire attitude changed. He begged us not to call the cops (for I think the actual manager would not be happy with him). Once he realized that he overstepped his power trip, he quickly got our food out. It was a sad realization that in Hong Kong, they serve based on money and fear, rather than delivering good service to its customers as a principle, even in the service business.

Tea in Sai Kung - a different side of Hong Kong

Too often as expats, we are trapped in the bubble that is Central/Soho/LKF and maybe sometimes Wanchai and TST. A tall tale sign of being too insulated is the fact that after 9 months in Hong Kong, I can only say my street and stop here in Cantonese to tell the cabs where I need to be dropped off. Last Sat, I was given an unique opportunity to visit a lovely Cantonese family.

Joanna was my landlord up until a few weeks ago, when she sold the apartment to someone else. Luckily, I am still a tenant under the same contract. She always mentioned that she wanted to take me to her house in Sai Kung for lunch or tea one weekend. Last weekend, she came and picked myself and her former tenant in the apartment, Nick, up from my apartment. With just a twenty minute drive, we were out in the fishing villages of East Sai Kung. There, Joanna lived on the third and fourth floor of a small low-rise building. There are villages after villages by the beach, with beautiful weather and clean air. The houses reminded me of townhouses in the United States, except each section of the townhouses have a different design, breeding personality and character into the village.
Her sitting room was the very top floor, with open windows and excellent sunshine. It felt like an open aired room even though it was complete enclosed. There was so much space! Joanna told us that for HK$8,000 a month, we could rent over 1,000 sq. feet. I currently pay double that for less than half the space in Mid-levels! We had tea and dim sum from Tim Ho Wan, the famous Michelin star restaurant. Joanna, picked up the dim sum last evening and heated them up after we arrived. Post dim sum, we went on a long walk around the beaches and different fishing villages. All the little communities are connected by the water. The air quality was unparallel. Even though every family had a car to get around, it is still 100x better than the muggy air that over cast that consumes Hong Kong island.

After our walk, Joanna and her husband hosted us for ice cream and fruits. We had a lovely time understanding what matters to a Cantonese family. Joanna and her husband were very concerned about her children, worrying about their lack of attention span, lack of responsibility, lack of self-displace. As a professor in film, Joanna tells us she often has students that don't complete their work. She worries for her own son in boarding school, worried about his development.
The afternoon couldn't last forever and we didn't want to overstay our welcome. It started at 1PM. After a 45 minute non-stop bus ride back on bus 618, I managed to return to the land of the expats again around 615PM. I couldn't have asked for a more lovely afternoon with a very impressive woman. Thanks Joanna.

Sauna Etiquette

One thing I really like to do after running is to sit in the sauna for 5-10 minutes relax. It's not a big sauna room. Could fit maybe 4 people comfortably lying down on two levels of wooden benches. Usually, no one will be in the room. Never more than 2 people have been in the room while I entered. People are usually in a towel, sitting or lying down and relaxing. Sometimes ppl would have a face mask on. Some would be scrubbing themselves with some sort of device that I can't recognize. I've even seen a girl do yoga in a bathing suit. However, what always bothers me are the people who are completely naked, without any towel on. It's a public gym and a public sauna, shouldn't there be a minimal standards of covering up?

It would be less frustrating though, however, if people who are naked are more properly groomed. I find it extremely uncomfortable when an unshapely woman who is not groomed lay there naked with no regard for the comfortable level of other people. Am I being overly judgmental or is there some basic expectancy of etiquette in a public sauna?