The Longest Day

---

5/12/09

I could call this the longest day but I think there will be others which are more so and with more reason.
Suffice it to say we had a late start with Winnie’s alarm making her nearly late for work and us late for a pre-journey spiritual acclimatisation of a yoga and yoga nidra session. The trip anxiety having built to a crescendo and needing the assurance that all would be well. Fifi the chicken gave me goodbye kisses on my cherry red toes. Not sure whether this was a sentimental goodbye or a new form of sadism.
Sitting comfortably at the gate checked in we watched girls surely suffering with altitude sickness from the height of their heels and young male Hong Kongers in a competition for best shoes, the bright blue and silver ones with rubber toes just having the edge over the gold and black chevrons. Tough call!
The best travel agent in the world had made a few errors. No, it was planned to have 9 ½ hours in Hong Kong. Starting our journey before dawn as Hong Kong sleeps on a Sunday morning was an excellent time to take in the shadowy outlines of a city built out of containers, containers piled building high, cranes between each row, red lights winking like Christmas decorations. So quiet as day breaks. Calmness prevailing, we watch tai chi in the park in Kowloon. Ladies with swords, ladies with fans, elderly gentlemen teaching, elderly gentlemen being taught. Emerging from the flamingoed park dripping with banyans we found Hong Kong had awoken. Just like in Sydney’s Chinatown queues formed outside a popular Dim Sum restaurant called The Sweet Factory. Choosing a more humble eight-tabled establishment we sampled Seaweed Noodle Soup, Shrimp Wontons and Beef Noodle soup. The bill came to $69 and having neglected to find out the exchange rate before we left we had no idea if this was cheap or expensive!
Smog wrapped, cocooned, it softened the brash shopping experience. Sir and Madam did not want new suits. I suppose we did look as though we needed them. Mao had a new suit, a huge artistic statue of one outside the art centre. Here we were approached by a Sikh. I’m not sure of everything he was saying but I think the upshot was that G would be very lucky, but not yet, and we would have three green children! The gift of a small green lozenge shaped stone and a lucky seed apparently needed to have money put into his wallet to make them efficacious. Oh well, who wanted green children anyway? Purple was always my favourite colour.

---

Photos

Arriving in Hong Kong
Hong Kong at dawn

Hong Kong Harbour
Taking an early morning ferry to Kowloon

Tai Chi
Everyone but everyone is doing Tai Chi in the park

Comments

[jacki marshall]

Lovely to read your insights about Hong Kong
.......so glad you guys are sharing the journey....we can live vicariously through your eyes and heart :):):)

[carole]

Merry Christmas !!
Hi you two and a very merry Christmas to you both. Been reading your blog, very interesting to see what you are up to . Think I'll try same myself when I leave for Germany next week .... altho all airports in Europe seem to be closed at the mo ! Am in a leg brace now ... oh what fun, but still determined to hop over to Europe for the 3 weeks .... ha ha ... pun intended ! As you can see crutches, leg braces, anti inflamatories and painkillers that are far too strong for me and keep me flying high all day will never dampen my sense of humour. The renovations chez moi continue and seem to continue also to mount up .... been shifting soil this morning .... cant manage a wheel barrow, so 50 trips with 2 buckets is sure to keep me fit .... ha ha .... keep smiling ..... I know you'll be very empathetic when it comes to reno stories ! Anyway kiddies ... keep travelling, keep writing and keep safe ! Love to you both, Carole