Blogs in June

What is it about the month of June that makes things like blogging difficult? Here we are half way or more through June, and I haven't written anything since May 2.

I don't have much to write now. Only about five weeks until I go home.

Hopefully I draw inspiration for a blog entry soon.

Hong Kong Torch Relay

Since Hong Kong hosted the Olympic Torch Relay today, and there seems to be so much of a kafuffle about it, I thought I might weigh in with my humble observations.

It’s amazing to me how an event which I have absolutely no interest in attending can become the centre of debates about human rights, freedom of speech and nationalism. The ritual in question is really not all that special. Why would anyone want to wait for hours on a ridiculously crowded street to watch a bunch of strangers pass around a fiery stick, especially on a rainy day like today? The sheer amount of people expected to attend this torch ceremony is enough to dissuade me from even considering watching. I don’t like being treated like cattle; so why submit to a ceremony where I am only going to be treated as one of the herd, a person to be kept on the sidelines behind fences and guards?

One of the mothers told me today that her daughter had been selected as a representative of her school. She was assigned the burdensome tasks of wearing a red t-shirt, standing, and waving. Finding this task too boring for her taste, she told her mother that next year she hopes she will get to say a few words to some important people. She was crestfallen to learn that the Olympics will not be for another four years, when she will be in Form 1 of secondary school, and at the bottom of the heap. I guess it would be no use telling her that she would also have to live in London.

My own attendance of the relay is a moot point since I had to work. But I would argue that our nursery had a much more satisfying Olympic Torch Day. One should not underestimate the pride that Hong Kongers feel for not only their selection as a host for the torch relay, but also as the equestrian venue for the actual Olympic Games in August. Hong Kong has stakes in a successful Olympic competition as well.

The teachers and children all wore red today in a show of support for having the Olympics here. To some of the children I teach, every colour is in fact red, so whether or not they realized that today was any more extraordinary than usual is subject to debate.

In the streets of Hong Kong, the colour was more of a statement. Red meant that you were wholeheartedly in support of the Olympics and the long boring torch relay that accompanies it. Orange, on the other hand, meant that you were protesting. What exactly people were protesting was a little less clear than in Paris, London, or San Francisco. Many of these protest groups stage protests throughout the year and draw attention to many of China’s diverse problems. But it was unclear if there was an overarching cause that united them.

I suppose the strangest part about the protesters who wore orange was this lack of solidarity. The red team was happy with the Olympics being in China and want it to go ahead as planned with their hearty support. The Orange team may have had some unity in their t-shirts and in their common enemy, but they weren’t very clear on what the outcome of their protests should be. There didn’t seem to be a clear call to boycott the Olympics, or even the espousing of any opinion to which their red clad opponents were universally opposed.

At school the divide was less not so much between red and orange as it was between those who remembered to wear red and those who forgot. There was a birthday party celebration today, so the children didn’t have to wear the uniform. Every birthday party, a few students forget and come in their uniform anyway. They don’t seem to care. While orange shirts aroused heckles on the streets lining the torch’s route, uniforms did not arouse much notice at all in the nursery.

Our torch run also took place with minimum protest. A couple newer children cried for their mommies, but that’s about it.

New glasses

Yesterday I picked up some new glasses at a store downstairs in our building. I'd picked them out on Saturday. But even though they weren't ready in an hour or two, you still can't beat the price. For about $50 CAD, I got new frames, new lenses, an eye exam and the resulting new subscription. I was pretty happy about that.

Anyways, not many people at work commented on them when I first arrived until Joshua, a soon-to-be three year old boy pointed them out while I was on door duty. Door duty includes standing around greeting parents and children as they enter the building and signing my name on the children's daily temperature record. I'm not entirely sure what the school or the parents are going to do with these temperature records once they've collected them, but I have to make sure that they have been checked every day. I think it has something to do with the hypochondriac tendencies of Hong Kong society. This same attention to children's health may have something to do with why I got two weeks off school when the flu was going around.

So, Joshua said, "Mr. Ben, why are you wearing those sunglasses?" They aren't sunglasses, so I was trying to figure out why he kept insisting that they were. In class later, he repeated that I was wearing sunglasses. This time, I found an explanation. The teacher told me that sun in Cantonese means new. Joshua is fairly fluent in both Cantonese and English for a two year old, so it is not too surprising that he would confuse the two languages every once in a while.

Macau

In my last blog entry, I said I might post some pictures of Vietnam. Well, I figure the expiry date on that intention has passed. I also have since been to Macau and my memory is only good for recalling one trip at a time.

Macau is a pretty nice place to visit, and it is getting bigger all the time. The Special Administrative Region consists of Macau Peninsula, Taipa Island and Coloane Island. But because of the huge investment in infrastructure in the area, Taipa and Coloane are actually connected by a broad area of reclaimed land. This Cotai strip not only serves to enable greater travel between the two islands, but it is also the construction site of many new casino resorts of a type for which Macau is already becoming increasingly known.

Lindsay and I took in a lot of casinos over the course of our trip, but we never actually placed a bet. I was close a couple times, but the complicated rules of the cashiers and the language barrier prevented me from changing my money into chips. Baccarat is the game of choice in Macau, but neither of us knew how to play really. The game is interesting because it appears that players play against each other, while the house only takes a 3% commission off each round. A lot of the Mainland Chinese who come to play appear to sit at tables in groups of families or close friends, so this competition between each other is probably preferable compared to the other games.

Whether you choose to gamble or not, the casinos are definitely sights to see. The opulence of each one is striking. Stanley Ho's Hotel Lisboa, shaped like a lotus flower growing out of a bulb, is visible from almost anywhere on the Macau Peninsula. It's an impressive structure but its constant presence in the background becomes somewhat of an affront to the senses. The Wynn, the MGM Grand and the Sands are all impressive buildings near the city's waterfront. They are impressive not just for their size, but, especially in the case of the Wynn, because of the nice paths and gardens they have built surrounding their casinos.

In the Cotai strip, most of the casino resorts are still in the construction phase. However, a big exception is the Venetian. The Venetian is massive and completely self-contained. If you were to fly to Macau and take the shuttle bus to the Venetian, you might get an impression that Macau consists of only the airport and the one resort. The scale is ridiculous, yet so is the detail. There is an enormous tower in the middle of the steel and glass type, which is probably wider than it is tall. In front of the tower are facades of Venetian buildings based on actual places in Venice. What is striking about these facades is not only how numerous they are, but also how much detail there is in each one. Further out from the facades is concrete lagoon where Italian gondoliers will take you out for a ride. And then there's the interior. The inside looks more akin to the Louvre than most of the other casinos. Beyond the casino area there is a shopping mall. Throughout the shopping mall there are more canals and more gondoliers to give you rides. The ceilings are all painted to resemble a blue sky and the lampposts and lighting give the area a feeling of everlasting dusk. At the food court there are people dressed up in Renaissance style clothes performing Renaissance style dramas on a stage. It's a pretty surreal experience.

Aside from the casinos, Macau has quite a lot to offer for sightseeing. There are many Portuguese structures that have lasted for centuries. The roads are also built in an old style, and some are still made of cobblestone. People often bring up the word fusion when talking about Macau, insisting that the area is an example of fusion between Portuguese and Chinese culture. As far as architecture goes, I think the Portuguese elements still have a leg up on the Chinese ones. Portugal already has a lot of cultural fusion in its history, so it has a lot of different techniques. The outside of the Portuguese buildings is almost universally two-tone and the colours are always pastel, but there is a lot of variation on the construction. One of the buildings we saw was a Moorish Barracks. The Moors never occupied Macau, obviously, but the Portuguese have a lot of Moorish buildings at home. So why not share that style?

We also saw many churches. There was the Church of Saint Dominic, the Cathedral of Macau, the Church of Saint Anthony, the Church of Saint Augustine, the Church of Saint Lawrence and the Church of Our Lady of Carmel. They all had Portuguese names, but I can't remember if the saints were Sao or Santo, and I think some were different.

There were temples all over the place, as in any Chinese city, but the temple to A Ma was a larger one. While it didn't have as much impressive architecture as the churches, it was still pretty impressive in keeping a natural feel to the complex. There are paths leading up rocks and trees growing all around. In spite of its more natural appearance though, there is incense burning all around. It doesn't offer the same feeling of tranquility as one would hope to get at such a natural looking place.

We also saw a Protestant chapel which was about half a block away from the Church of Saint Anthony. It was tiny in comparison. There was a cemetery behind which was interesting because many of the headstones gave descriptions of who the people buried there were. Many were British officials from Hong Kong, or sailors with the East India Company; many others were members of the American navy who died in port or at sea. There seemed to be a fair amount of Dutch headstones as well. Even though they were all from different denominations, they all had to be buried in the Protestant cemetery because they couldn't be buried in consecrated ground. This cemetery was their only option.

Near the Church of Our Lady of Carmel, which was in Taipa, there were old colonial style houses where people lived up until the 60's. The furniture inside would have been collected over generations. Some pieces were beautiful. The houses themselves were fairly modest, considering the wealth of the inhabitants, but they were beautiful. They once would have had a view of the ocean, and Coloane island across the way; now they look out upon a marsh and the Venetian resort.

It was an interesting to be in Macau just now. In the future, the Cotai strip is going to be developed into so many hotels and casinos that the region is going to undergo a huge transformation. It has already seen a big change with it's reunification with China and the opening up of the casino industry to foreign investors. It'll be interesting to see whether it will become a place where ESL teachers are needed for one. With so many foreigners coming to the region, will it aim to diversify into things other than gambling tourism, or will it just base its wealth entirely on that one industry?

Good Morning, Vietnam!

It's been a while since my last post. There was about a month that felt like a lull in between two vacations. I'm sure interesting things happened at work, because interesting things always seem to happen at work. I'm always telling Lindsay at least one funny story about what a kid did.

However, our impending trip to Vietnam was foremost in my thoughts. Now that it has happened, I'm sure I'll be able to return to the more mundane stories of working here.

When we first arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, we had to take a taxi from the airport to the hostel. On the way, I made my first observations about Vietnam. First, there are a lot of motorbikes in Vietnam. When we were in Taiwan, there were a lot of two-wheeled transports, but the majority were more scooterish. In Vietnam, I would be more inclined to call most two-wheelers motorcycles rather than scooters.

The second observation I made was that many couples in Ho Chi Minh city spend their evenings sitting on their motorcycles parked at public parks about five metres away from the next couple. Somehow they lull themselves into a sense of serenity by turning away from traffic, which is only five metres away as well.

A third observation is that traffic and driving in Vietnam is generally appalling. A horn receives much more use in Vietnam than anywhere I have been before. People in Taiwan weren't afraid to use their horns as a method of communication, and the sounding of horns by frustrated drivers in Hong Kong is quite persistent even into the wee hours of the night. However, Vietnam takes the cake for communication with horns. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the drivers in Ho Chi Minh City are incapable of speech and can only communicate with the aid of a horn. There seem to be many types of honks that communicate different messages; but as our stay was brief, I was not able to invent a system of classification just yet.

The fact that Vietnamese couples can kiss, cuddle and snuggle in peace by merely looking away from traffic is quite an interesting phenomenon. I don't know that I'd feel comfortable since I have observed on several occasions that traffic often overflows onto the sidewalk.

Our hostel was nice, though I wasn't used to the hard beds at first. For breakfast, we had bananas, eggs, and baguettes. The baguettes were pretty ubiquitous in Vietnam. It seems people all over the country eat baguettes as part of their daily lives.

After our first night, we woke up early to catch a tour to the Cuchi tunnels. The tunnels are pretty amazing. With all the paths set up to lead tours through, you don't get a genuine experience of how these tunnels would have looked. On the other hand, I am glad that they are sprayed for snakes, scorpions, and spiders. Let's be honest, most people wanting to learn about these tunnels don't want a genuine firsthand experience of them, especially not the booby-traps.

I'm as amazed by these traps as I am of medieval torture devices from Europe. The fact that somebody actually thought not only about how to make an efficient trap, but also one that would give its victim gruesome yet non-fatal problems, is horrifying. Some traps were called souvenir traps because the only way to remove them from your person, without causing further damage, would be to take them with you.

The tunnels themselves were dark and small, so no surprises there. If I were one of the countries fighting for the South and saw what kind of conditions my enemies were living in, I'd probably give up.

Later that day, we toured around Ho Chi Minh City some more, ate at one of the many Italian style restaurants that seem to be prevalent in Vietnam, and went to bed.

The next day, we went on a tour of some Islands in an area of the Mekong Delta two hours out of Ho Chi Minh City. There was a lot to see, and many people were making their livings by fishing, carving coconut wood, growing rice, and making coconut candy. It was a nice day, and the tour operator looked after everyone pretty well.

On Saturday we took a taxi to a resort area on the coast. We got a good idea of traffic works in Vietnam. Rural driving is definitely different from urban driving. In spite of the craziness of Ho Chi Minh City, there is a kind of organic order that somehow prevents accidents from happening as often as one would think. Motorcycles seem to be able to go wherever they want, and feel confident that cars will yield to them.

Outside the city, there is chaos. Motorcycles are brought low, and are treated with the same spirit as schoolchildren on bicycles. Tourbuses, a nuisance in the city, usurp the role of chief vehicle and have their way with large and small automobiles alike. Once in a while, a lone motorcycle laden with trade goods will try and restore the order of the city, but a passing vehicle will ride its tail honking loudly until the defeated yet still defiant motorcycle returns to the shoulder whence it came.

Sometimes, the motorcycles are lucky even to get a shoulder. When highway traffic reaches gridlock here, enterprising motorists lead those brave enough to follow to found a new lane. Where once only a terra nullius of a shoulder existed, a new world is discovered bringing its occupants ever closer to their manifest destiny. But this shoulder, one must remember, once belonged to the motorcycles, who in their arcadian days, before the arrival of the cars, sped carefree and unaware of gridlock traffic or lanes, motorcycles, who are now regulated to the dirt at the side of the shoulder, motorcycles, who before the arrival of the car used the bountiful space of the shoulder to pass one another in opposing directions.

Once we arrived at Mui Ne, we were pleasantly surprised that our resort was pretty much as beautiful as one could expect. We spent the next two days eating good food, swimming in the ocean, and enjoying our comfortable room. On the third day, we took a jeep tour to some sand dunes. They were beautiful, and I actually slid down some on a plastic carpet. We also stopped at a fishing village where some little kids selling tourist crap joked with us about driving us back to the resort. Our driver, who probably sees these kids every day, seemed unimpressed. We thought they were pretty cute though. They seemed happier to joke and look at Lindsay's camera than to be there selling things.

So that's our trip in a nutshell. I may post some pictures later, but for now, this is all you get.

Phuket

This is going to be a long one.

Our holiday was probably a pretty good length for a stay in Phuket. We stayed for 5 days and 4 nights, which was enough to see most of what the island had to offer, yet not enough to turn into the typical Phuket tourist.

Perhaps the most striking image of our holiday was the typical Phuket tourist. Topless, saggy, bronzed, German, rude, smoking, scantily-clad, numerous, oiled, Russian, uninhibited, prolific, sedentary, beer-swilling people positively covered Patong Beach where we were staying. Lindsay's first reaction when we reached the beach was, "Why isn't she wearing a top? Ewww! Why isn't she wearing a top? What's wrong with them? That's filthy!"

While I am aware that our North American prejudices can often be considered prudish, nobody can possibly say that they want to see overweight tourists in a thong and nothing else. I do admire the ingenuity of those who can stretch such small pieces of material over such vast expanses of flesh, but I feel a line must be drawn. While nature may have intended us to strut about clothed as when we were born, it likely did not intend for us to roll up the sides of a perfectly good bathing suit and tuck it in between the corpulent, jiggling halves of our posteriors. This deviant phenomenon occurs far too often on Patong beach.

As for Speedos, if you want to move through the water more quickly, why not attempt to eliminate the overhang? If you can't see your bathing suit, I don't think it will make you go faster. Before investing in a streamlined bathing suit, maybe you should also consider other ways of reducing drag like shaving your back hair.

It was pretty obvious from our initial reconnaissance that a trip to the beach in Patong comes at a price. Our first trip to the beach would not be our last, and the shenanigans of middle-aged Europeans can only deter one so much. It just took us a little by surprise the first day. There were just so many, and they were just so naked.

After we took in the beach on our first day, Lindsay and I ate lunch at a restaurant which we would find it difficult to find again. We then made our way back to the hotel, where we spent a while relaxing by the pool. In this action we avoided the crowds, but not the toplessness. After a swim and a shower, we went out for dinner. We'd looked around earlier and decided on a Mexican themed restaurant. The food was OK, but nothing special. There was a misunderstanding about happy hour rules and I ended up drinking four margaritas, instead of two.

As we left the restaurant I was fairly well lubricated and we proceeded to walk up the beach where we got into an argument over whether the light in the sky was a star or an airplane. Further down the beach a man settled our dispute when we realized he was selling lanterns, lighting them and sending them off into the sky. We immediately purchased one from him and enjoyed watching it float away. The crowds on the beach disperse before sunset and there was hardly anybody else on the beach with us. It was a very relaxing moment. We made our way back to our room, stopping abruptly here and there as I tried to take pictures of the crabs that were scurrying about.
The next day, we went to the beach. We laid in the sun, read, and went swimming. Lindsay was determined to go parasailing, since her dad had gone a few months earlier. I don't know how parasailing is done elsewhere, but in Phuket they start driving and then tell their client "Run!" It seems to work. After lunch, and a couple drinks we returned to our room, stopping at a swimwear store on the way where Lindsay bought a couple new bathing suits.
That evening we had dinner at a Rock and Roll themed restaurant. They had these giant statues set up outside, which didn't seem to fit the decor.I don't understand what Alien or Predator have to do with rock and roll. I guess it makes sense in Thailand. There were stores (that's plural) selling those statues. If I didn't know that this restaurant had these statues, I would probably still be wondering who would buy such odd things. Where do you put your giant statue of science fiction characters?

We did a little shopping after dinner. I managed to find a T-shirt that was not vulgar, which took quite a lot of effort. Lindsay bought a dress, and some fisherman pants.

On our way back to the hotel, we were accosted by some people. I say people because I am unsure of the correct nomenclature in this instance. A man is easy to call a man, and a woman is easy to call a woman. Those in between have various states, so it is difficult for me to discern exactly what to call these people whose history I don't know. This was not a hostile approach, but Lindsay and I were actually curious what their show they were advertising was like. They made us each take a photo with them and then asked us for a tip of 100 baht. For my photo, the one made me grab his or her breast. I then had to put our tip in their cleavage. I guess it's a living. We went back to the hotel, got massages and then headed back out. The show was OK, and some of the dancers were extremely feminine looking.


Just outside the place was a bathroom, which Lindsay wanted to use. I surveyed the surroundings and wanted to ask Lindsay if she could please hold on, but she had already gone in. I was uncomfortable and began to actively not make eye contact with anyone. But some people are persistent. In total, three people who were somewhere in between a man and a woman propositioned me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see some of the hedonism that was occurring in their stall; this alley was lined with stalls, each with a bar, and many with young ladies, or not-quite-ladies soliciting patrons to buy more. What they wanted the patrons to buy was generally left up to the imagination, although the people who propositioned me made it perfectly clear what was being offered. I'm not sure if they thought I was trying to negotiate, or if their English wasn't very good, but it seemed to take a while for them to understand the sentences, "My girlfriend is in the bathroom. I'm just waiting for her."

On the third day, we went on a sailing excursion. This was probably the highlight of the whole trip. We actually didn't sail all that much, but that didn't matter. We got to explore caves, eat lunch on the beach and just take in views of the islands. It was great. We have a lot of fantastic pictures. Lindsay was a little seasick at first, but after making an offering to the god of the sea over the stern, she was good to go with the aid of a little yellow pill.
According to our tour operator, Captain Mark, who was an Australian expatriate, the first cave we went to was a pirate cave. People have apparently gone there to search for buried treasure before. Captain Mark said that he has seen a ghost there before too. We didn't see any ghosts, but it was an interesting place. We had to go fairly soon after arriving because the tide was rising and the boat wouldn't fit through if we left it too long.

The next cave was called "The Ice Cream Cave". One of the formations inside resembles an ice cream cone. Just past the formation there was an opening into a hong, or lagoon, that was otherwise inaccessible, and did not have an exit.
After "The Ice Cream Cave", we went to another cave where there was a really beautiful hong. Captain Mark believed that both hongs were somehow connected, although he had never personally traversed this connection.

The final cave on the list was "The Bat Cave". Na na na na na na na na, Na na na na na na na na, Bat Cave! It wasn't Lindsay's favourite. There were a lot of bats. Lindsay thought bats were peeing on her, but it was really Captain Mark trickling water off a paddle. On the way to the bat cave, we saw this:
For lunch we went to a beach that was completely secluded. Captain Mark's cook served up some Thai food which was awesome. We chatted with the other people in our group and just relaxed. After lunch was over we returned to the boat and headed back to shore.

That evening we ate at an Arabic/Indian/Thai restaurant. The original reason for doing so was because they let you smoke a water pipe while you sit. They smelled really good. However, the food was also excellent. Lindsay said it was her favourite meal.

The next day we went on what we intended to be a tour of the island. The driver of what we thought was a touring vehicle didn't seem to believe that we wanted to see things on the island. We enjoyed going to Wat Chalong and a massive stone Buddha, but it felt like pulling teeth to get him to take us to the latter. After the Buddha he took us to what seemed to be some sort of theme park where you could watch monkey shows, snake shows, go elephant riding and shoot guns. I suppose that stuff would have been entertaining, but we didn't really want to do anything. We were more interested in sightseeing. After several unsuccessful attempts to get our driver to take us somewhere more interesting, we got him to take us back to our hotel. We could have been bitter about it, but we still got to see some cool things. We lazed about for the remainder of the day. I got a foot massage at the place next door while Lindsay got a manicure and pedicure.

Our last day, we went to the beach and relaxed before going off to get on the plane. Now we're back and have had a day of work. Some children weren't back yet. They're probably on extended Chinese New Year vacations.

I said this was going to be a long one and it was. There are probably many more details I could have provided, but that might take a whole other five days.

The Real Thing

Today we had a reprise of our quest for the Monastery of 10 000 Buddhas. This time we were more successful. An earlier turn from the road to the cemetery led us to this sign:
So we turned left and found ourselves confronted by some vendors and monks both wanting money. I must admit that I felt a little embarrassed by the monks begging. They seemed friendly enough, but I don't really know what you are supposed to give a monk. If I gave them the change in my pocket, would that be insulting? Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. But they seemed to prefer the money that folds from the appearance of their begging bowls. I didn't even know if these particular monks belonged to the monastery beyond. If I were Kim from Rudyard Kipling's book, and this had been the streets of Lahore in the early twentieth century then I would probably have known what to do with a Buddhist monk. As I am not, I merely passed diffidently by both monks and vendors alike.

The proliferation of Buddha statues at this monastery was quite evident from the outset of the uphill climb. I can't really illustrate how many Buddha statues there were, so I will instead show you a series of pictures.And just when you thought that you couldn't stand to see another statue of Buddha:Monkeys!

No sooner had I taken this picture, then the monkey in the foreground became bored with the apple in his hand, and began using his friend behind him to satiate another one of his appetites. I didn't take a picture of that though. There's been a big scandal in Hong Kong recently over photographs of celebrities not even getting as far as the monkeys did being published on the Web. So, I wouldn't want to be accused of exploiting these monkeys.


Anyways, here are some more monkey pictures:

I like how these little guys are blissfully unaware of the religious artifacts they use as their playground.

At the top of the monastery there were a bunch of temples featuring several different Buddha statues. I'm still confused about some of the Buddhas that look like warriors. Buddha doesn't strike me as the type to take up arms. But he can look pretty intimidating if he wants to.
I think I like this next Buddha statue the best:
It was just past the nine-storey pagoda.
The monastery isn't just about the big life size statues on the way up. The number of statues lining the walls of the main temple are equally impressive.
There are also some large idols in the centre of the temple for worshippers. In front of them is another interesting artifact. The founder of the monastery is Rev. Yuet Kai. It appears that he liked his temple so much that he wanted to become a part of it. Personally, I think he just saw the James Bond movie Goldfinger one too many times. People I know of whose remains are encased in glass: Lenin, Mao Zedong, Rev. Yuet Kai. It's weird how two were revolutionary Communists who built nations, and one was a Bhuddist monk who built a monestary. It's somewhat of a megalomaniacal step to decide that one wants one's remains to be displayed to the world, not the attitude one would expect from a devout Buddhist.
So that was our journey today. Tomorrow, Phuket!