Day 2 (12 July) Shabbat in Hong Kong


Advertisement
Hong Kong's flag
Asia » Hong Kong
July 12th 2014
Published: July 14th 2014
Edit Blog Post

Saturday 12 July, Shabbat. We woke up very early. If we had been at home Don would have gone to the early service, but when in Rome... At 9.30 am we went out into the searing humidity to go to shul. There I was able to have my early morning coffee and felt a bit more human. The shul is situated in one of the posh looking blocks of apartments. But to get to it on Shabbat one has to climb the stone service stairs. The first three flights lead to the car park which will give you the feel of the place. The next floor up is where the shul is located.

As is usual with the Chabad it was a very welcoming and spiritual experience. After the service and before kiddush the Rebetzen went and spoke to each of the children making them feel welcome. There aren't many young children as most of the attendees are young singles or young couples. There are older members of the community but they mainly came for the service and for kiddush.

The kiddush was a gefilte fish fest on the terrace. The terrace is "grass" - well green artificial turf really but from the year it was invented. And the sun was ruthless. Then we went inside for a lunch feast. The Chinese cooks had been cutting kilos of tomatoes and salads and fruit since early morning. And even in that temperature there was cholent.

We gave up at1.30 pm and went back to the hotel for our "Shabbos shluf" and some. Don went back to shul for the seudah (more gefilte fish) and services and I watched the skies of Hong Kong come alight. Each skyscraper was not only taller than the next one but it was more gaudy.

One of the benefits of Don working for a multi national company such as IBM is that he met interesting people from around the world. We met up with one of his former colleagues, Kevin who showed us the night life at Lan Kwai Fong. This lane (Fong means lane) contains many pubs, bars, restaurants and night clubs. The girls spend thousands of dollars on the latest clothes and fashion accessories. They are looking for a rich husband even though many come from lower income families. Every penny they earn is spent to "look the part" . Our trip ended at the hippest joint in town - Haagen-daas for ice creams. Then a taxi back to the hotel and an earlyish night!

Advertisement



Tot: 0.147s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0773s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb