Le Dumpling

This beautiful place is Sai Kung Town in the eastern New Territories. About an hour away from Central Hong Kong via three busses and a MTR subway ride, Sai Kung is where Saint Tropez meets the South China Sea. Expats move here to benefit from the seaside town’s peace and quiet, and locals move here to fish. I came to enjoy the scenery of the town, and then go on a two hour hike to a pristine beach (blog post to follow soon). If I permanently lived in HK and had a boatload of money, I would reside in Sheung Wan on Hong Kong Island, but have a yacht docked in Sai Kung.

One lesson I’ve learned from traveling this year is that you can never plan your travels to a T. Some things must be left up to chance, i.e. your car breaks down on the French-German border, you get food poisoning in Singapore, etc. What’s the latest travel hiccup? A rather large one, I must say. The Chinese government has rejected my entry permit to Tibet. I am really disappointed that I will no longer be visiting Lhasa, but I must roll with the punches, and those punches are bringing me to Guilin, Yangshuo, and Beijing (again). My one-week Chinese backpacking trip with two friends will be the adventure of a lifetime, and I am so excited to encounter what lies ahead!

One thing I have been wanting to do since I arrived in Hong Kong is see a famed Cantonese opera, and I finally got the oppurtunity earlier this week. Originating from Canton (Guangzhou), Cantonese operas are one of the three oldest art forms in the world. To a westerner’s ear, it’s a cacophony of bangs, shrieks, and howls. The vocal performers exaggerate the Chinese spoken language with long, drawn out declarations and sing-songy soliloquies. The performances are dramatic and the music is quite harsh, and all lyrics are subtitled in English. The set was a romantic Asian scenery, likely to Hangzhou’s West Lake, and the costumes and makeup were inconceivably ornate, typical of traditional Chinese operas. The “broadway” I saw was called Guan Yu. To be honest, even after sitting through the opera with subtitles, I still have zero clue what the performance was about. I will provide you with the short summary, and you can determine the meaning for yourselves.

“Cao Cao sent Diao Chan to seduce Guan Yu in hope of keeping Guan at his court. Guan was unmoved and he fled with his brother’s wives. Cao chased after them but Guan finally escaped at the Ba Ling Bridge. Guan went straight to meet his brothers at Gu Cheng. However, his second brother Zhang Fei was convinced that Guan had betrayed them by surrendering to Cao Cao and refused to let Guan inside the gates.”

SAY WHAT?!?!

Remember I went to the FIAC in Paris, France? Well I just went to the equivalent in Asia: Art HK 12. It’s an impressive showcase of prestigious art galleries representing the world’s most famous international modern and contemporary artists. It’s a great opportunity for Hong Kong to host this event every year, given its somewhat lack of art culture. The stand out artist was Choi Jeong Hwa from Korea. His artwork entails massive blow up lotus flowers that deflate and inflate, representing the blooming and dying of the flower. His artwork was stellar!

You’ll often hear tourists say about temples, churches, or synagogues: you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all. I’m “temple’d” out is also a common phrase. I love a good temple more than most, and have been known to temple-hop from time to time in my day, but I must say I really am temple’d out, probably because I actually have seen every temple in the New Territories. I didn’t think it was possible, but my dabbling in Buddhist and Daoist temples has led to a temple overdose. The photos above are from the Western Monastery in Tsuen Wan, Man Mo Temple in Tai Po, and Fung Sing Seen Koon in Fanling. Consider this my LAST temple post until further notice.

Gone are the days of plain fro-yo at Bloomie’s and steak frites at Le Relais de l’Entrecôte. I recently dined at a dai pai dong in Central for my first time with some local Hong Kong friends. A dai pai dong is an outdoor restaurant where a person with a cooking stall sets up shop in the middle of the street and cooks Cantonese food for hungry patrons. The health and legal standards are questionable, but the food tastes great and the price is right. My friends did the ordering, as they speak Cantonese, and I told them to order whatever they wanted. That might have been a mistake because they ordered fried pigeon, steamed squid, and chicken liver. The meat in HK generally grosses me out, but I had to suck it up for this meal and be a trooper, taking small bites and swallowing it down with cold beer. It was definitely an authentically Hong Kong experience, though I’m not sure it was worth eating seafood and pheasants on the street. When in China, do as the Chinese do I guess…

The Yuen Yuen Institute is a large Confucian / Daoist / Buddhist temple complex in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. It is slightly off the beaten path, but absolutely worth the visit to the New Territories. The temple is a real reflection of Chinese traditional culture, religion, and architecture in Hong Kong. It reminded me of the temples I saw in Beijing and Shanghai. There is aslo an amazing six-story pagoda as well as several prayer halls with interesting paintings and statues. The Yuen Yuen Institute is a sensory and religious treat.

The fam is at it again - from France to Morocco, Hong Kong to Thailand, it has been a wonderful year of traveling together. It was so special to show my family (well, most of my family) my home in Asia. We did dim sum at Tim Ho Wan and mango sticky rice at the Chiang Mai night market, the Temple of 10,000 Buddha’s and Wat Doi Suthep, Shek-O Beach and Koh Samui Beaches, and more. It was the best holiday ever! I can’t believe I will return home in 2 weeks, but am looking forward to it!

Some photos I took of the incredible Koh Samui, Thailand sunsets. This is my last Thailand post. From now on, I will update you on my final weeks in Hong Kong, then my trip to Lhasa, Tibet, and finally my grand return Stateside to New York. 

My final Chiang Mai post, a quick one on Wat Suan Dok. Chiang Mai is packed with temples, but Wat Suan Dok on the edge of the city center stands out. The main temple is a large room with a colorful interior and a few big golden Buddha’s. The property around this temple is particularly spectacular. There is a huge gold chedi as well as a majestic white cemetery for royals. If you are planning a trip to Chiang Mai, I highly recommend visiting.

PS It’s funny to think back on my time in Paris where I visited gothic architecture Catholic churches every day, and now I’m visiting Buddhist temples in Hong Kong and Thailand all the time. Big difference, but essentially the same concept!

One of the most interesting things I did in Chiang Mai was visit a Pa Dong Village, a group of Burmese refugees who crossed the Burma-Thailand border to seek political asylum from oppressive national forces. The women and children live alone in the village, as the men go to Bangkok to work. The Pa Dong women are famous for stretching their necks with gold rings, a visually perplexing image. Their stories are quite sad as they are refugees but not counted as such, and are therefore not given the appropriate rights and care needed. They have set up tourist villages throughout Northern Thailand selling their colorful crafts to raise money. 

Chiang Mai is famous for its night market, which is just fair. It’s your standard Asian market, geared towards tourists and selling useless Thai crap that you most likely will purchase at what you think is a bargain, bring back to your respective homeland, and then wonder why in the world you thought it was a good idea to buy it. You don’t really need a little Buddha figurine, garish wall hanging, or traditional garment that not even the locals wear. But besides the stuff and things and excess, there was some delicious street food (think mango sticky rice and coconuts) and a fish spa. Not familiar with a fish spa? It’s one of those tanks where you stick your feet in and the miniature piranhas go to town on your feet, nibbling off all the dry skin. I got a 15 minute treatment, by far the most unnerving and exhilarating experience my body has ever undergone. I am not one for treatments, so it was definitely a rare and unusual occasion. I pretty much freaked out at first, because all of the fish swarm, tickle, poke, and chew. But I eventually got used to it and left with a slightly raw yet smooth pair of feet, all in all worth it.

It’s a game changer when Mum and Dad visit abroad: out with the old, in with the new. In this case, the old is fried rice and public transportation and the new is tasting menu’s and taxi’s (or tuk tuk’s in this case). One such fancy Asian treat was dining at the Mandarin Oriental, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Normally I wouldn’t blog about hotels, but this place was something else! Next to our hotel in Koh Samui (photos to follow soon), it might have been the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen. The Mandarin Oriental is not just a hotel, but a microcosm of luxurious Thai palaces, marvelous architecture, rice paddies, and exotic temples. It really set the bar high for 5-star hotels around the world, and made the hostels I have stayed in this year look exactly like what they were: small, dingy, and un-atmospheric. We went for dinner at their Thai restaurant where I ate the most divine Northern Thai curry you can imagine while watching traditional Thai dancers perform. It was the perfect evening.