This week the Koreans celebrate "Chuseok" (the Harvest Moon Festival), a three-day holiday (very similar to our "Thanksgiving") when families get together, give gifts, eat crescent-shaped rice cakes and visit their ancestors' graves. For the past week, families have been visiting the areas around our Village, clearing the ground around the various burial mounds, from all the growth that occurred over the past year. I see mounds I never knew were there, now that they have been cleared. This year the holiday officially starts on September 30 and runs through the week-end. Most shops shut down, tho I wouldn't know since we just got back to Korea early on the morning of the 3rd and I haven't been into town since.
Okay, our trip to Hong Kong--in a word, delightful! But I must start at the beginning. Our flight to HK left the Incheon Airport (about an hour's bus ride from Seoul) at 10:20 the morning of September 26th. To avoid getting up at the crack of pre-dawn, we decided to leave Friday night and spend the night in the airport. Yes, you read that right--we chose to spend the night at the airport. Let me tell you why. . .there's a jjimjilbang--a really nice jjimjilbang, in the basement of the airport! For less than $25 you can soak in the pools, shower, and enjoy a "private" sleeping room--then be ready for the next day's flight. The rooms are small (about 4'x6') and have clear glass doors and no airconditioning (but I think there was some circulation of air piped in), and the "beds" are quite firm. It appeared that many flight attendants also use the facilities, so things got pretty noisy fairly early in the morning, but we did manage to get a few hours sleep, which is more than the male member of our party could say--seems that he kept getting roused from sleep by the other men, seeking personal "favors" of the sexual variety. It's a shame, really. Most of the men at the Village will not go to the jjimjilbangs--now I know why. I'm just thankful the women are not of the same ilk.
Because the Hong Kong International Airport is actually on Lantau Island, the landing is quite interesting--you come in over the water until the very last seconds, when you touch down on land. I'm told that just a few years ago, before the new airport was built, landing in Hong Kong was even more of an adventure. People called it the "scary" airport. It was located right in downtown Hong Kong, so when you landed you could quite literally look into the nearby apartment windows and watch someone's television--that's how tightly packed everything is in Hong Kong! It's a very crowded city, densely populated. Luckily, also very international, with most of the street signs and a lot of the products sold there all written in English. A very easy city to navigate. Also, superb transportation, with the subway being our preferred and fastest means of getting around.
This is our first view of the city taken from the airplane. Many of the buildings you see are actually apartment complexes. For those of you unfamiliar with the area (and believe me I was one of them!), Hong Kong (handed over to China from British rule in 1997, but governed as a "Special Administrative Region") is actually comprised of four main areas: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the New Territories, and the Outlying Islands. The heart of HK lies in Kowloon (the southern tip of the mainland peninsula) and the northern edge of HK Island, separated by Victoria Harbour. Our hotel was on the northern edge of Kowloon, very near some great markets and one block from a subway station which could get us to the Harbour within 5 minutes.
Sunday (our first full day in HK) Catherine, Marvin and I decided to visit one of the islands--Lamma. One of the smaller of the islands, there are no roads and no cars allowed on this island. We took a short ferry ride and arrived on one side of the island, then hiked the Family Trail which dumped us out on the other side of the island at a different port where we could take another ferry back to the mainland. There were many seafood restaurants at each of the small villages at either port, but we decided to eat in the city that night. We turned what was supposed to be a one hour hike into
six hours of adventure, with a bit of shopping along the way. This was also our first encounter with the giant HK spider, many of which were hanging out alongside the trail. (Anna, close your eyes. . .) This one would span the width of an open palm on a very large hand.
Monday we spent several hours at the Jade Market then headed into the city center to visit the Hong Kong Art Museum. Afterwards we were heading out to find a place to eat dinner when a nice young Indian man approached Catherine and asked if she wanted to see some watches. Since her brother had asked her to get him a fake Rolex, we decided to see what the man had for sale. He instructed us to follow him, as he led us many, many blocks from where we started. Finally, as darkness was setting in and the area was becoming more and more "seedy", he told us to follow him into this building and into an elevator which would take us to the 7th floor. Well, at this point, my radar was up and I said no, I wouldn't go in there. Catherine was still willing, but finally Marvin expressed some concern and we got out of there, post haste. With the Indian man following us for about a block or so more, insisting that he would bring the stuff down to us, we just kept walking and finally we dropped him. Whew! Now you have to know what Marvin looks like--he's about 6'2" and best described as "burly". I was really not fearful for my life--but I was not going to go into that building! Anyway, we had a good laugh about the whole thing, and Cat decided that her brother could just come to Hong Kong and get his own d... watch! And by the way, I guess we were subconsciously influenced--we found a delightful Indian restaurant that night and introduced Marvin to curry and naan--mmm.
Tuesday was the only day we had pre-planned an excursion--a 6-mile hike on Hong Kong Island, called the Dragon's Back Trail. Of course the day was rainy and dank. Our guide called and asked to shorten the hike and start a bit later, in hope that the weather would clear. We started out in a mild drizzle. It was a lovely hike, with great views of the island. Once we got up on the ridge which was the dragon's back, the rain picked up and gale force winds began pelting us with light hail. At one point, I questionned why we were doing it, but in all, we had a great time. We were supposed to finish the hike at Shek O Beach (Shek O is sometimes referred to as the "last real village on Hong Kong Island"; and the beach is one of the best on the island) so we all brought our bathing suits along. We were all starving so we had a nice lunch at a Chinese/Thai restaurant. Then, since we were all still soaking wet from head to toe, we decided to swim. The water was quite warm despite the clouds and light rain. We played in the surf for about an hour, then found a bus to take us back to the mainland.
On Wednesday, Cat and I took a quick trip to the Flower Market and the Bird Market, then embarked on a bus tour of Lantau Island where we visited the Tai O fishing village, and took the Ngong Ping 360 cable car ride to the Ngong Ping Village. There we participated in a delightful tea ceremony and rode to the top of a hill to see the Tian Tan Buddha, a seated
representation of Lord Gautama some 23 meters high. The Buddha is made of bronze and weighs 202 tons. And oh yes, it was pouring rain during our visit with the Buddha. On the cable car ride back down we met two charming 19 -year-old girls from mainland China who really wanted us to come home with them and visit their country. As Cat and I are always missing our daughters, we were inclined to go with them. But a small issue with visas kept us on track.
Thursday we all decided to arise early and hit "The Peak." Victoria Peak, at 552m (1811 ft), is the highest point on Hong Kong Island. We took the tram. There was a foot race going on that morning, so we sat in the coffee shop and watched the runners coming in. Then Cat and I decided to walk back down instead of taking the tram. We ended at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, where we were entertained by many lemurs, some crazy primates, and delighted by a variety of birds. From there we headed back to the Jade Market for a few last-minute shopping items. Then it was time for our adventure on the last sailing junk in Hong Kong, the "Duck Ling". We sailed the Victoria Harbour for an hour, much to my delight and Catherine's chagrin (her stomach doesn't care for this sort of thing). Then we had an hour and a half before we boarded another ferry (this one a "party" one, decked out in lights and offering complimentary snacks and drinks (of the tea variety). It was the first of October and China was celebrating "National Day", very similar to our 4th of July. This year they were also celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. At 8pm, aboard this small ferry, we were privileged to watch 30 full minutes of uninterrupted fireworks over the harbour. It was spectacular!!! And the whole thing was choreographed to fantastic Chinese music! I was enthralled!
Afterwards, the ferry (prevented from going into the main area of the harbour because of the fireworks) dropped us off in a different part of town, one we were not familiar with. We managed to tag along with a couple from South Africa who were also trying to find their way back home, and with some luck and the help of a very friendly mother-son couple from China, we found the subway station and got back to our hotel by 10 pm.
Friday we sadly boarded our plane to return to South Korea. It was a long day filled with subways, planes, buses, trains and taxi cabs--but we finally arrived safely at the Village at 2:40am on Saturday. What a trip!
Okay, I promised no more long entries and look what I've done. Blame it all on Nancy Henry--she said she liked the long ones! Last week while we were gone from the Village, there were no students and this week promises to be more of the same. I'm being filmed on Friday for a "cyber" class, so I've got to finish preparing my script, but life here is just too good to be true. I hope you all are enjoying a fantastic fall--I hear it's cold in Colorado. I think of you all often. Peace be with you, and Happy 50th Birthday John Henry!
It was a perfect Fall day, low 70's, mostly sunny. Our Korean hosts had invited us to climb Mount Palgong. We left the Village at 8:30 and arrived within an hour. After waiting for the rest of the staff to arrive, we set out on our hike. Took the first group only about 90 minutes to reach the top. While the views from the top were less than ideal due to smog or fog (I'm not sure which it was), the trail itself was absolutely stunning. This was the color I had been anticipating for months!
