Lost Property

Thursday, after a long day at school, I arrived at the ferry pier with my little associates and found out that they had lost the house key the day before. Since I'd misplaced mine somewhere on the weekend, we found ourselves locked out waiting for the only responsible one in the family to get off work and bring us a key.

It was a week for losing things. On Tuesday the littlest one had lost her ferry pass, so with all the time on our hands, I had the chance to ask after it in lost property. The ferry worker turned on a big smile because he'd found it himself. She was delighted to get it back, and luckily I made her go back to say thank you because then I discovered the phone I'd just left on the counter.

Then I tried to leave Circle K after topping up our all-purpose octopus cards without paying and the boy walked out with a Gatorade and realized embarrassed that he hadn't paid, just outside the store. Next I mis-counted my change and tried to push an extra $20 on the cooks for our supper of dumplings and sticky rice in lotus leaves. It probably was good and necessary to spend the hour and a half calming down, drinking a pint on the promenade and taking pictures of the evening coming on.

Ferry food top recommendation

Of all the food I've bought at a ferry terminal, the best by far is the barbecue pork pineapple bun featured here. Sweet, but savoury and only $5 HK, it was great value for something to eat while waiting in the drizzling rain for the ferry to come to take us back to Discovery Bay.
What continues to amaze me is that a planned outing takes the time allotted and does not turn into a long, drawn-out agonizing adventure. Hong Kong is the place for someone who likes the new and exotic, but without the pain.
Here's the latest evidence: Monday afternoon I planned to take the 3:00 ferry to Mui Wo, buy my boy a bicycle and take the 4:45 ferry back. I'd been told the name of the bike shop and knew it was around the corner from where it was before. We found it, tried out 5 bikes, bought one and a lock, took it for a spin along the beach path, bought supper groceries, got some ferry snacks for the way home and sat waiting, watching the ferry come into the bay to pick us up. You know that would have been inconceivable in Turkey.

Bombax malabaricum

At the end of the cold part of winter, all over town these large, bare trees bloomed. The blossoms are huge and waxy, but become fuzzy as they age and soften in a warm, kid's hand.
I wonder if they are the flowers in the Korean go-stop cards. Common names are Tree Cotton and Red Kapok Tree.
I got these pictures on the Wednesday the kids were home because of the flu scare. We took the chance to preview a field trip properly and walked down from the Peak and through the aviary in Hong Kong Park. It's my favourite place in Hong Kong. These flowers have almost all fallen now, but since it's started raining, spring flowers are blooming everywhere like cheap lingerie.

Easter Sunday in Hong Kong

I have a friend or two who can manage Easter. They decorate the eggs, bake the goodies, organize the hunt and all. I even have one totally capable friend who goes to church on Palm Sunday and makes pancakes for Mardi Gras! Usually Easter finds me stapling construction paper swiped from school into a box-like shape to make a basket and going out to buy a candy bar or two to put in it. I've even had to use real grass for the lining. But this year Easter was done right at my house. It was because my mom came to visit with Cadbury eggs, baskets, cute Beanie Babies, fake grass, an egg-dying kit, plastic eggs, Hershey kisses and jellybeans! My sole contribution was buying the only white eggs in the store (imported from America) and boiling them.
After a sweet, two-kid egg hunt in the morning and coffee cake for breakfast, we continued to celebrate the occasion by going to the Giant Buddha, Po Lin Monastery and The Wisdom Path. Hong Kong is known for its very specific superlatives (e.g. the world's longest road-and-rail suspension bridge built in the last quarter of the twentieth century), so this Buddha is very precisely, the world's tallest outdoor, seated, bronze Buddha. It has two hundred and seventy-eight stairs to the base of it according my boy's count. Another fun thing about it is you can take a 25 minute long cable car (gondola) ride to get to it. Luckily for us it had re-opened in January after being closed for 8 months for repairs because a couple of the cars fell off last year.
You can only go to the base of the Buddha for free. In order to go inside to one of the higher tiers you have to pay. But the fee is not for going in; what you have to buy is a meal or snack ticket to the nearby vegetarian restaurant. We didn't buy a ticket, but I've read it's actually pretty good food.
While we were up there we started to hear chanting/singing from the monastery nearby. Though it wasn't nearly the call to prayer, it was still compelling. It was a beautiful monastery and lots of people were lighting incense of all sizes in the courtyards. I'd been to lots of temples in Korea and was bored silly with them, but with the prayers loud enough to feel in your bones and the heavy incense smoke, it was all quite other-worldly.
Nearby was the Wisdom Path which is described as "an outdoor replica of the centuries-old Heart Sutra, one of the world's best-known prayers that is revered by Confucians, Buddhists and Taoists alike. The sutra is displayed on wooden pillars placed in the form of an infinity sign to symbolize the immeasurable splendour of achieving emptiness." Despite that description, the pillars were dappled with moss and bark and looked like they belonged on those hills against that grey sky.

More Street Food

I'm doing well on the resolution to eat more street food. It helps to wander slowly around sightseeing in a group of six - someone is always hungry.

Of the things I've eaten recently, the waffles smelled the best, the fish balls were the cheapest and worst and the octopus had the most interesting texture.

• Roasted sweet potato in TST ($18)
• Egg waffle (plain) also in TST ($10)
  
• Curried fish balls (tough and repulsive) at the Big Buddha ($6)
• Boiled octopus (tender and jellied) at the Big Buddha as well (10)
  
• Sausage ($17)
• Roasted corn ($18)