Christmas in Hong Kong

Without the snow, cold and early nightfall, it doesn't really feel like Christmas. I'm on summer vacation with the rest of the Aussie teachers! Coming home to our families will bring on the Christmas spirit, no doubt. So the 25th felt much like any other day . . . except we, as Damo liked to put it, participated in a pagan ritual.

Hong Kong's dominate religions, in this country (city?) of almost 7 million, are Buddhism and Taoism, followed by Christainity (536, 000), then Muslim (70,000), Hindu (15,000) and Sikh (8000), according to my trusty Lonely Planet guide.

Our first stop was one of 600 odd temples, monasteries and shrines in the territory, the Chuk Lam Sim (Bamboo Forest) Monastery, to see some large golden Buddhas. This was followed by a trip to the Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree, a banyan tree upon which you throw a paper with your written wishes enscribed, in hopes that your paper catches a branch and your wish will then be granted. Unfortunately, the tree was dying under the weight of all the wishes so we hung ours on a wooden rack instead.

After our tour (in which we also took a boo over the border at the new mainland
China industrial city of Shenzhen and the old walled city of Kat Wing Hai), we went out for our Xmas dinner. Both of us passed up the turkey option for steak. Yum yum.

Christmas Eve in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, Christmas is a holiday but the sort of holiday where you take your family shopping and out to eat. On Christmas Eve, the streets of downtown Kowloon and probably across the harbour on Hong Kong Island, had to be closed off to vehicles since there were so many people out to watch the fireworks and laser show, plus take advantage of the shops' extended hours to 10 pm. We're right by the Golden Mile, a street of neon signs, aggressive salesmen, and dodgy electronic and watch stores selling goods without price tags. Since we're also at the primo harbour edge and near the hoity toity hotels like the Peninsula, we're right by the all the high end fashion house stores like Dior, Fendi, Prada and Chanel. Sigh . . . to be wealthy . . .

a melodramatic beginning

we arrived at the calgary airport just in time to miss our flight--unbeknowst to us, our 9:30 flight had been moved up to 8:15! we were told that there were no other air canada flights that night but we needed to be in vancouver to catch our 1:20 am cathy pacific flight! damo ran down to westjet; they were overbooked. We panicked (i called mom and dad in almost tears), but luckily cooler heads prevailed (i.e. Wray and Colleen) and noticed that there was indeed another air canada flight. damo and wray sprinted back to the other side of the airport (poor winded boys!), dropped a few hundred bucks on two business class tickets and we were set. phew! a few hundred bucks over a potential few thousand dollars for two one-way flights to syndey?--big deal! we made sure, however, that we took full advantage of our two hundred dollar beverage service.

got to vancouver, into the insanely long line for the cathy pacific flight to hong kong, and a lady in red (uniform) came walking down the line, asking for volunteers to give up their seats since that flight was overbooked. offer was a night in the fairmont airport hotel, all meals, phone vouchers, and either an upgrade to business class or $400 cash each. sold! we opted for the cash but it was a tough choice. so now we're lounging around our swank hotel room, all nicely rested and refreshed for tonight's long haul. we had stinky stress-sweat armpits last night.

the nico

countdown: 13 days until we fly out!