Free Plants Anyone?

When I first heard of the Hong Kong Garden Society my first thought was the members would be the stodgy botanical sort quick to impress anyone interested with their memory of scientific plant names. But being new to Hong Kong I was looking for friends, activities and something I could sink my teeth into. Little did I know that soon I would be sinking knee deep into the dump piles of nurseries with this totally unpretentious group that will do anything for a free plant.

We have a spy who lives out in the New Territories of Hong Kong where the wholesale nurseries abound. He reported that the pickings were good from all the overstock and rejected plants not sold during the Chinese New Year rush. So our adept leaders chartered a motor coach and off we went trowels, trolleys and trash bags in hand. The Chinese nursery workers stood dumbfounded as we a lit from our luxury coach, donned gloves and dug into their rejects. The luggage compartment of the bus overflowed when we were done.

Having worked up an appetite we stopped at the nearby Ping Che Temple which serves only vegetarian fooed and had BBQ pork (really tofu), deep-fried shrimp rolls (really tofu), lemon pastry stuffed with tofu, chicken chow mien (really tofu). Everything was great and it is amazing how they could duplicate the texture of cooked meat and just add the flavourings.

Enough with the Chinese New Year

We concluded Julie's tour of Hong Kong with a trip to the Russian Vodka Bar.

OH - The Signs!

I don't know which was more confounding...that this sign was posted for who knows what reason on a tree in our little town of Sai Kung...or the fact that they spelled the word right.

There's No Evil Spirits Here!
Once the family festivities are over it's time for the dragons to start their work. You can hear drums everywhere which means the dragon is on the loose chasing away the evil spirits for the coming year.
Here in Sai Kung the dragon went first to the temple where it was blessed and prepared for its work. Then off it went to every business in town to chase away their evil. Since some businesses were closed for a few days over the new year, the dragon has been out daily to go to businesses when they reopen.
Here you see him doing his thing and the business owner is feeding him lettuce representing sharing the wealth to bring prosperity in the future.
Note all the guys with dragon legs. They switch off when they get tired from the dancing.

Fireworks at the "Family Bar"

Our Hong Kong son, Louis has named the lobby bar at the Intercontinental Hotel the "Family Bar" because they know us there by name. Denis had stayed there for years during his travels to Hong Kong and now we're frequent patrons and take all our visitors here for a night on the town because the views of the harbour are amazing.
Each night for a week after the Chinese New Year fireworks go off in the harbour and we had a great view from the family bar.

Chinese New Year Night Three - Fireworks

Three firework barges are set-up in Victoria Harbour for the event. We opted to get away from the crowds and booked a trip on a boat to watch. What a perfect decision. Other than the Marine police using their flood light to keep our captain at bay, we had a perfect view. Only problem was trying to get decent photos. Fireworks are hard enough to shoot on stable land with a tripod. On a boat the result is nothing but abstract art.
Julie opted to try video on her new digital camera which worked much better, we just weren't sure if it was working as it was too dark to see the controls.

This 16 Inch Square is My Space

On the first day of the Lunar New Year everyone stays in with their family. By the night of the second day they are tired of the family and EVERYONE goes to the New Year Parade. The parade is bascially a bigger version of the Electric Light Parade at Disney World or the Hollidazzle Parade in Minneapolis.

In typical Chinese fashion signs controlled the parade flow, unfortunately it was held right in front of my 16 inches of space on the parade route.

Show Me The Money

Bringing wealth into the home for the coming year is one of the most important things done at the strike of midnight on New Years Day. You do not hear people yelling "Happy New Year" or even "Kung Hei Fat Choi," you hear them opening and closing their front door to let the wealth in while hoping the breeze doesn't blow the oranges off your orange tree.

We are really in for the bucks this year too because the Wealth King himself made a visit to us on the first day of the new year.

If Pigs Could Fly!

Well they can in Hong Kong for the year of the Pig

First Event of Chinese New Year - Shenzhen Flower Market

After our trip to Bangkok it was time to head back to Hong Kong to take in the Chinese New Year festivities. Our first trip was with the Hong Kong Garden Society to the Shenzhen Flower Market in southern China. This will be the year of the pig. Trandition is to fill your home with new growth for the new year so people flock to these flower markets to stock up on the appropriate plants.

Orange trees are to Chinese New Year, what pine trees are to Christmas. And the more oranges the better. Also popular are pussy willows in every color of the rainbow and bonsai cherry trees with blossoms and ornaments.

I think the most unusual is the Nipple Fruit that is part of the eggplant family and is fashioned into trees.

Monks in Training

All males in Thailand are required to train as a monk. Here are a few in training at one of the temples we visited

Bangkok Teak Factory

These artisians are a sample of the workers at a teak factory.

The Floating Market

It is almost a 2 hour drive from Bangkok to get to the floating market so that is why we hadn't seen this yet, but it was so cool it was well worth the trip. We started by taking a long tail boat through man-made canals that provide the only means of access to the homes of many boat people living in this community. Much of the actual market is there for the tourists, but intermixed were the locals going about their daily lives. Our guide said the market is a social gathering place for many of the local old women.

Bangkok Coconut Farm

Julie Mankenberg from Buffalo came to visit us for 2 weeks in February. The first thing we did was take her to Bangkok. There is so much to see there, we found a few places Denis & I had not seen yet. This is a coconut farm on the outskirts of Bangkok. Here you see them boiling down the cococnut milk to make sugar and candy. Thailand supplies about 90% of the world's coconuts.

The Hong Kong Hike



When most people think of Hong Kong they visualize all the skyscrapers. However, Hong Kong is surrounded by green hills and has many well developed trails. We haven't done a lot of hiking because it is usually too darn hot, but the weather was perfect this Sunday afternoon so with hiking book in hand off we went to do a 12k hike around the South China Sea headlands not far from Sai Kung.



The Hong Kong idea of a trail means that the whole thing is a concrete walkway. The trail we chose took us to what is known as the most beautiful beach in Hong Kong. And it is a darn good thing they were right, because we had no idea what the concrete path was gonna be like.



The trail book did not give us elevation information. Nor did it include in the total distance the part of the trail that you had to cover to get to the trail described, nor the distance to get to a road to get a ride home. All total we walked 20k and only about 2k of that was flat. There rest included going up and down 3 crests about 800 to 1000 feet each.



Much of the hinterland of Hong Kong is inhabited by feral cattle. Going up one crest we shared the trail with this cow. I'm happy to report I was brave enough to pass the cow and beat her up the hill.



Once we got down to the beach and had been on a concrete trail for 10k, the trail crossed the beach and this stream. The stream crossing was on this decrepit single-plank bridge. Guess they ran out of concrete.

Long Lost Friend

Way way back the first year that Denis & I were married we lived in South Lake Tahoe and got to be friends with one of the gals I worked with Margaret. About three years later Margaret moved back to her home town of San Diego, CA and we only saw her once again a couple years after she moved. For the past 20 years Margaret has stayed on my Christmas card list, but we hadn't been in touch other than the annual exchange in cards until this year.

After getting this years card, Margaret sent me an email saying she had vacation time and would love to see Hong Kong. Within 4 days she had a ticket. What fun to be waiting at the airport to greet her after 20 years. We recognized each other immediately and had a great visit.

I think one of the things Margaret enjoyed most was trying the different cuisines. Here you see us at a Korean BBQ and at the "Family Bar," our favorite bar at the Intercontinental Hotel lobby lounge.

Even though the weather was foggy we decided to make the trek to the Biggest Buddha in the world that is here on Lantau Island. They just opened the world's longest cable car ride that takes you there.

Taking in the Culture in Phuket, Thailand

We wanted to make sure the kids didn't get bored with all the temples, museums and such so we whisked them off to Phuket, Thailand where our friend Roger from the UK had just bought a condo.

Thai massage was a hit during a day on the beach. A one hour massage was about $12usd. We spent an evening wandering Patong Beach where we were entertained by these lovely men. Yes men. And the girls built a temple of their own in Roger's rooftop pool. They called it the Beeramid.

Fun Wherever We Went

Our Hong Kong son, Louis joined in the family fun in a local Sai Kung bar. Louis worked with Denis at SML and is my go-to person when I get stuck communicating. Laine picked dinner out of the tank at the seafood restaurant.

All the Durgin's Do Hong Kong

Chaz made his first visit to Hong Kong along with Laine and friend Lindsey to start off 2007. Daily we took the sampan across the harbour. We had a beautiful day to take the tram up to the peak on Hong Kong island.