Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Holiday in Hong Kong

I know, I know - I make a resolution to write more about my personal life, and then, the very next one is another travel blog!! My excuse is that this one is actually a catchup post - from our Hongkong trip way back in May! Remember the whole Fobisia hoopla?? - well, believe it or not, we did manage to fit in a few other things besides cheering on Manasi!! Now, it's been a few months, and my memory is not what it used to be - so fair warning, this one might be a little sketchy!!

The first night I was in a Novotel near the airport. It was a really weird feeling - I can't remember the last time I had been in a hotel room all by myself!! I had the next day all planned out - visit the Big Buddha - quite sure that Ajey and Manasi were both happy to miss this one! My hotel was actually part of a huge mall - the Citygate - and there's also a MTR station right in the mall, so quite a convenient place to stay. After a quick breakfast, headed to the cable car station - also a few minutes walk away. Was a bit surprised to see that the ticket counters were not that crowded - but wait a minute, the counters have been very cleverly designed, concealing the waiting areas - didn't see the winding queues until after I'd bought my ticket!! Wasn't really the best time to be standing outside - sticky and hot - at least it was a covered area!!

Novotel Citygate

To date, most cable cars I had been on were a pretty short ride. Here - the Ngong Ping 360 experience - the cable car took such a long time! Well, it's actually about half hour, but seemed like forever - stopped being fun pretty quickly, especially when we were crossing the Tung Chung Bay. The gusty winds meant that the cable car was swinging quite a bit - I can get motion sick on a car-ride to the grocery ride - so this definitely wasn't doing me any good!! The brave-at-heart can upgrade to a Crystal cabin, with glass floors to enhance the experience, for the rest of us the Standard cabin it is! The views are actually quite spectacular - especially of the airport, with the landing strip in plain sight!

Tung Chung Bay crossing

View of the airport

South China Sea

The final destination of the cable car is the Ngong Ping Village - well, not so much a village as a tourist center! A really good food court - I had an awesome falafel roll at a place called Ebenezer's, surprisingly, they also served a wide variety of Indian food - the usual fancy Chinese restaurants, and for those who want to play it safe, even a Subway!! Shopping, of course - the usual touristy, souvenir shops, but quite highly priced - especially to someone used to Shanghai shopping!! There are also a couple of other attractions - a light and sound show about Buddha's life, couple of movie theatres, a Bodhi wishing tree and some other activities for younger children. Kind of a tourist trap - I did browse in a couple of stores, but the Buddha was beckoning!!

Outside the cable car station

Food court

Bodhi Wishing Tree

How far am I from...?

At 34m, the bronze Big Buddha is the tallest, outdoor seated Buddha - it is one of the 5 large Buddha statues in China. The three platform base resembles the Temple of Heaven in Beijing - giving it the name of Tian Tan Buddha. Over 250 steps lead to the base of the lotus throne - the Buddha as always is serene, peaceful. The day I visited - slightly overcast, misty clouds swirling around - the Buddha appeared to be ethereal, the enigmatic half-smile even more mysterious!! At the base of the statue are 6 smaller bronze statues - all making offerings to the Buddha, each of them with a similar serene expression. It is a beautiful location - the green hills, the expanse of the South China Sea and the tranquil Buddha - perfect for a solitary excursion!! Also located nearby is the Po Lin monastery - the Big Buddha is actually a newer addition to the ancient monastery - and the meandering Wisdom Path - a refreshing walk through the beautifully laid out tea gardens.

Climbing up...

At the base of the Big Buddha


Offering to the Buddha

Po Lin monastery


Ajey flew in later that night, and the next morning his parents joined us from India. It was a busy Fobisia day - in addition, we also changed hotels, moving from Lantau Island to Kowloon - Holiday Inn on the Golden Mile. The Golden Mile is exactly what it sounds like - hi-fashion, designer stores, glittering window displays, tons of window-shoppers!! Ajey and I explored a bit - we actually found a decent Indian place for dinner - and then ended the day with a stroll down the Avenue of Stars along the Victoria Harbor in Tsim Sha Tsui. Most of the celebrities who have 'Stars' on this Avenue are Chinese or Taiwanese - the Bruce Lee statue is probably the only thing we recognized - but the view across the harbor is spectacular!!

Avenue of Stars

The one place we wanted to take Ajey's parents was the the Peak Tower, but that had to wait one more day - a really cloudy day again, and besides, we got caught up in Manasi's soccer games!! That evening, we decided to head all the way around to the southern side of Hong Kong Island - shopping time, Stanley Market!! There's no way to get there by MTR, but we thought we had plenty of time - so decided to take a bus ride, a really, really long bus ride!! Quite scenic, through the not-so-polished part of HK, a lot of greenery, a great view of the famous Repulse Bay - unfortunately, by the time we reached our stop - the market was closed!!! Seriously, no self-respecting market in Asia closes at 6pm!! And you would think the concierge at our hotel would mention closing times when we were discussing possible bus routes!!

Well, no one really wanted to get on the bus again, so we took a taxi to SoHo, in the heart of the Central District. What an amazing place - 3 or 4 narrow streets, on a hillside, all connected by a giant escalator - tons and tons of restaurants, every possible cuisine, a very bohemian, party-town feel to the whole area!! For some reason, I can't find any pictures of these 2 days - seems very unlike me to have not taken photos...but they're nowhere to be found - really strange! Dinner was done - but still no shopping - so we then headed to another famous landmark - the Temple Street Night Market. The last time we were in HK, Ajey and I thought we found amazing deals in this Night Market - after 2 years of living in China, and shopping in Shanghai, we find ourselves incapable of shopping anywhere else!! Everything we found in the Night market this time around, was easily twice as expensive as in Shanghai - and there is much less bargaining!! So again, no shopping!!

Last day in Hong Kong - Peak Tower it is!! The biggest attraction here, of course, is the Viewing Terrace which overlooks Victoria Harbor - panoramic views of both Kowloon and HK skylines. The heavy clouds didn't really look promising - sure enough, it was drizzling lightly by the time we reached the Tram. The next big indoor thing is the Madame Tussauds Wax museum - always a lot of fun! Ajey's mother really got in the spirit of things, and posed enthusiastically with both the celebrities and the political figures - ranging from Brangelina and Amitabh Bachchan to Barack Obama and Gandhi!!! There is a large number of local celebrity statues, which we didn't recognize - but overall, it is a pretty decent collection!! The view from the terrace wasn't really that good - thanks to the weather - but Ajey and I made a discovery. The Burger King in the mall has a balcony - it's actually the smoking area, I think - but it has an amazing view of the skyline too!! Plus, it has a roof - so you're not worried about getting your camera wet while taking pictures!!

Tram tracks

View from BK balcony
Last night in Hong Kong - another hotel change, back to Lantau, closer to the airport for our early morning flight next day. The missing pictures are going to bother me - where in the world did I save them?? Still, I'm so glad to have this post done - I do hate to skip things, and now I can finally get back to the present!! Until next time - signing off!!


Friday, September 12, 2014

Just because...

End of August marked 2 years for my blog - 2 years, almost 70 posts, so many memories captured forever! To be honest, I surprised myself a bit - I guess somewhere deep down, I really didn't believe I would keep going so long! Of course, there have been times when I have had to almost force myself to get a particular post out, so many days of staring blankly at the screen with no inspiration whatsoever - but somehow, always kept going, and now 2 years!! My plans for any project are always grandiose, over-the-top - I never was one for small measures - so it's really funny to think about the days when I actually started writing - I was sure I would be cranking out the posts, planning my 100th post when I had barely written 5!! Today, a little humbled, I'm grateful for the 70 odd I have written, happy that I am able to manage at least 3 a month - the 100th will come, and I'm in no hurry to get there!!

2 years of the blog - 2 years of living in China! August is also our China anniversary, and while I firmly believe that home is wherever you're living at that particular time - this year coming back 'home' to China was really, really hard! Part of it was being in the US over the summer - a stark contrast to our life here in China, and a reminder of the life we have given up! The blue skies, the clean air especially make me really, really want to move back - like, right away! In addition, 2 of our friends decided to move back over the summer - looking at you, MT and DH! - and although, friends moving away is a part of this whole expat life, this time it cut just a little too close to the bone! I came back to Suzhou dragging my feet, totally depressed - and for the next 10 days, I was happy to surrender to jet lag with Manasi - falling asleep at  4 in the afternoon, then waking up at 2 am to bowls of cereal and cheesy Hindi soaps on TV - Manasi thought it was the best time ever!!

Trying to shake it off, I signed on for a bunch of things - a bit impulsively, maybe? But being busy helps, or so everyone says!! So this year, I'm officially on the committee for Friends of Dulwich (FoD), and the parent rep for Manasi's class - both these translate into a lot of meetings! Seriously, in the 3 weeks since school has started, I have been in school almost every single day!! Not to mention the flood of emails - it's like going back to work, except that I don't get paid!! Socially, too, the plan is to make the extra effort to mingle - so more parties, busier weekends! We've also joined the Euchre club - a social evening, playing cards - first time tonight, fingers crossed!! Not finished yet - I've also joined the neighborhood book club - and that is another first! As much as I love reading, I'm not sure how much I will like talking about the chosen book - so again, fingers crossed!!

Speaking of books, my book blog - despite my best intentions, that one is straggling a bit, it's almost become my step-blog! I'm always so eager to finish the book I'm reading, and then move onto the next one - more complicated, if like I usually do, I have at least 3 books going at the same time! It's so difficult to slow down, take the time to write about a book I've enjoyed - so little time, so many books!! In any case, I'm not ready to give up on that one yet - and it's my promise to myself to be a little more diligent, and hopefully 1 day writing about a book will be as natural as picking the next one to read! And if I can inspire or interest even a single person to pick up one of my favorites, well, that's reward enough!!

I feel like on this 2 year anniversary, I should make some kind of resolution about writing more, writing better - but I know I'm still join to keep going at my snail's pace, so I won't even bother making the resolutions! One thing I do hope to change, though - well, not so much change as enhance - this blog started off as a journal for our years in China, but as I look back upon some of my recent posts, the blog seems to be turning into a travel blog, and that was never the intention. So I will be making an effort to write more about our daily, every day life rather than only the big events - like today, I joined a couple of friends to go look for an Indian restaurant somewhere in Old Town - rumor had it that this place had everything for under 10 RMB! We did find it - a total hole-in-the-wall kind of place, no decor to speak of, not even a sign outside! But the food was decent, and it was only 60 RMB for all 3 of us - that would be the cost of 3 naans in any other Indian restaurant in Suzhou!! There it is - that's exactly the daily stuff I want to write about!!

At the end of the day, a blog is nothing without its readers. So for all of you who have been reading along, for all the words of encouragement, for all the FB likes - a big, big THANK YOU!! I hope you will stick around for more!! Just a few days ago, Manasi asked me how long I would keep writing the blog -  I had to think a minute about that, but the answer was so very easy - why would I ever stop?! Until later, then! Signing off!!