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Published: January 17th 2009
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Vegas?
I got a little confused about where I was going. In a contradictory world, it is fitting that I went from an isolated island in the Great Barrier Reef to one of the most densely populated ones in the world - Hong Kong.
Hong Kong shames Vegas in terms of neon volume. Not only does it outnumber Vegas it does so in two languages. As if they neon advertising wasn't enough they decided to make the skyline into a mini Pink Floyd the wall experience. Granted they weren't playing
mother but they did have a soundtrack to their laser light show. The buildings shot laser beams into the sky as glittering lights in an array of colors ran up and down the buildings. No wonder Disneyworld built a theme park nearby. Half of the light show was already there.
As Chinese New Year approaches, it was quite a busy time amongst the markets. People were stocking up on the fruits and candies to offer to the gods. Buying any sort of meat and fish product one could desire. Add flowers, lanterns and everything read and you have a rather eclectic market scene. Fish heads, crabs crawiling, fish swimming in an inch or so of aerated water in a styrofoam
cooler lid, pig legs with the hair on the hoof, and dried sea horses were just some of the delectables snatched up on this fine morning. As I saw more and more red fruit bags head on up the hill, I decided to follow.
The red bags led me to Man Mo Temple in central Hong Kong. Here people were storming the temple, purchasing various packs of incense, candles, plain and designer paper. Not exactly sure what was happening, I sort of meandered about the incense filled temple trying to grasp what everyone was doing. Not realizing that there were giant coils of burning incense above my head (I thought the smoke induced haze was from the incense people were carrying around), I managed to catch on fire for a brief moment. Aside from catching on fire, I was not accomplishing much.
I finally decided to be a bit intrusive and ask people what was happening. I suggest learning how to say "what's going on?" in Cantonese or be prepared to spend the better part of the morning obtaining this information in English.
The edited version is that Man Mo Temple is for both literature and war.
People are everywhere
The central market gets a little crowded. I focused mainly on the war portion. The diety is a 2nd century soldier named Kwan Yu. Interestingly enough Yu's duties have extended to restaurants and pawnshops so he is quite popular around here. At the end of each new year, people come to pay their respects for being guarded over and protected. They do so by lighting candles and incense as they offer up bags of fruit and candy. There seemed to be a traditional three bow pattern but I was unable to confirm this. After people moved about each station within the temple they proceeded outside to have their offerings for themselves and others burned (I assume to reach the heavens). After Chinese New Year, people will again return to the temple and repeat the procedure in hopes of being protected for the coming year. Not wanting a bad year myself, I decided I would offer up my wishes in hopes of a good year.
I wandered back to the market, had milk and tea that was poured through a ladies stocking (silky flavor?), purchased some fruit and then went to get some candy for the gods. The candy store owner saw a foreigner and went for
Milk and Tea
Pouring tea through a stocking makes it silky? broke. He convinced me that Starburst were good candy to offer up in addition to lucky candy and I decided to play along (turns out he was correct as I saw it at numerous other temples as well).
I returned to Man Mo and made my offerings. The three bow system weant off well as no one admonished me.
I also managed to go to the Po Lin Monastary off Lantau Island. I happened to catch a glimpse of a giant buddha statue as I flew into Hong Kong and was intrigued to meet welcoming statue. I ferried on over to the island and was immediately in the oddest buddhist temple I have ever wandered through. The statue was high up the hill and was pleasnat enough, but the constant drone of construction was quite the distractor. The monastary was under serious renovation and looked to be expanding (due to the number of tourists visiting I suppose).
Tai O is a nearby fishing village which will soon be a nearby former fishing village. The overfishing has really depleted the fish around these parts. The known Tai O dried fish is now importing fish from the Phillipines. The
village is built over the water versus next to it. People live in tiny tin houses, with a big porch out back above the water. The average age of the residents disturbed me. I guess I have a love of small towns that it freightens me to see small villages such as Tai O filled with mostly older generations.
Finally I apologize in advance for an incredible idea gone bad. The whole time I have been in Hong Kong, I have been eagerly sought out by tailors and watch dealers to purchase suits, shirts, rolexes and fake rolexes. My non-Asian features make me an easy target and they would dive bomb me from all angles passing over 10-20 people at a time. Even when I explained to them that I was unemployed, they were determined to get me a suit (maybe for a job interview). I imagine that people get rather annoyed by their persistance and might even get rude to them. I decided that wasn't fair as they were just doing their job and that it might be difficult. So I decided to have a little fun.
I decided that I was going to photograph each person
Man Mo Temple
Offerings of candles, incense, fruit and candy for a good year. that came up to me trying to sell me something. I figured I could get some funny poses with me intrigued, disinterested, contemplative and running away. Apparently I have great faith in my emotive qualities for the camera. After that I was going to reverse the trend and attempt to sell them one of my suits (granted it was really a swimsuit but it was the only suit I had). I had this vision of my being photographed hemming up the swimsuit on a sales persons leg.
Needless to say, I need to think things through. The salespeople would immediately back down, some ran away or blatanly refuse and others asked me odd questions such as; "Do you work for the police", "why do you need this photo? - evidence" and of course the standard, "sure as long as you come to the shop." After sitting through four lectures on the fine quality of suit I was getting and numerous discounts, I realized that this photo gallery would take the better part of a week and I was leaving in the morning. So a grand gallery of various watch and suit makers is not to be. I am sure
Tian Tan Buddha
Perched atop a hill greeting all to Hong Kong that can see through the smog. all of you are crushed by this but I just couldn't make the vision happen. I did manage to get four pictures but nothing as grand as I had hoped.
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Daphne
non-member comment
I am not sure how you were able to make the transition between the slow pace of watching sea turtles lay eggs to the crazy hustle and bustle of the markets of Hong Kong - it must have been the incense! Thanks for keeping us posted on your grand adventures!