[HANASHIR:14525] Angela's latest adventures in Hong Kong (March - May, 2003)

[MoVFTYite <MoVFTYite...>]

This was the most recent Hong Kong update I sent out a while ago (on May 
11th) -- delayed sending to the list until after HN, but I thought some of you 
still might be interested in reading it!

Enjoy, and check out the photos!
Angela :-)

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Hello everybody!  (Nay ho!!!)

Okay, I have been meaning to write to you all for a month now.  I have made a 
few attempts, but I guess I've just been so busy having a good time out here, 
I never quite finished writing yet.  I didn't mean to keep you in suspense 
for so long!  So here it is, a run-down of Angela's Hong Kong adventures for 
the 
last month and a half!

First, I would like to teach all of you a word in Cantonese.  It is one of 
the most useful words I have ever learned, and it very appropriately expresses 
many of our feelings about the war, s.a.r.s., and many other things.  It is 
"aiy-YAAAAAAAAAAA"  (pronounced "eye-YAH")  Now, let's all say it together.  
Really emphasize that "YAAAAA" part -- aiy-YAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!  This is the 
Cantonese version of "OY VEYYYYY!!!!"  In fact, use the same tone of voice as 
you 
would when saying oy vey, and it sounds just right.  This is an all-purpose 
word 
and can be used when surprised, flustered, excited, annoyed, startled, etc...  
give it a try.  It really works well.

Okay, now I would like to tell you about some of my recent adventures.  In 
the second half of March, my friend Charles came to Hong Kong for a 2-week 
visit.  Charles lives in St. Louis, and he grew up in Hong Kong, so he knows 
this 
place pretty well.  His mom and some of his friends live here too.  We packed a 
lot of traveling, visiting, and sightseeing into 2 weeks.  

During the first week, we got over to Lantau Island (the island where the 
airport is) and went to see the Big Buddha (even though it was very foggy that 
day).  We also visited Tai O, a fishing village, and Cheung Sha (Long Beach), 
and then headed to Mui Wo for a seafood dinner, where I ate... a fish 
eye!!!!!!  
(see photos!)... Some other highlights from that week included hanging out in 
Wan Chai and Lan Kwai Fong (night spots), meeting Charles' friend Chi, and 
going to Stanley to move a couple pieces of furniture to my apartment (finally, 
something to sit on!)...  

The next week was full of more adventures, including going to the wet market, 
cooking with Charles' mom (we even ate frog!), visiting the Jumbo floating 
seafood restaurant, touring the Portuguese colony of Macau, and walking around 
the Ethnic Villages theme park in Shenzhen.  In the later part of the week, a 
group of 11 of us went to a huge Japanese food buffet (all-you-can-eat sushi, 
yum!).  We also did some shopping in the night market in Mong Kok.  One morning 
we visited Victoria Park and went walking on the foot massage trail (ouch!), 
and then out to Sai Kung, where we took a boat to a small island, and came 
back for a do-it-yourself barbecue dinner by the beach.

It was such a fun-filled 2 weeks while Charles was here, we got to see and do 
a whole lot (Thanks, Charles!), and I've posted photos so you can see what I 
am talking about!  Please check them out, as well as my other albums 
(directions at bottom of email)!

On to April...
The first half of April consisted mainly of Passover preparations.  We 
celebrated at our UJC community seder with 115 people!  The food was very good 
-- we 
had a Moroccan theme to our seder.

The weather for the entire second half of April was outstanding, so I went 
walking around some areas of town that I wanted to get to know better.  I took 
the famous trams to get around, and shopped in Wanchai and Causeway Bay.  
Another great thing to do here when the weather is nice is to go hiking!  I 
hiked 3 
times with different groups of people.  There's a beautiful area called the 
Dragonback, named for its rolling hills.  We took the hiking paths that run 
around and over it.  At the end of the hike, it was a short bus ride to Shek O 
beach, where we had some incredible food and relaxed a bit. (see my photos for 
some great views from our hike!)

The end of April/beginning of May was packed with more holidays -- we had 
community events for both Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and Yom 
HaZikaron (Memorial Day).  I had the honor of singing at both of these events.  
The 
rabbi and his wife also had a nice Yom Ha'Atzma-Ut (Israeli Independence Day) 
gathering at their place.  In addition, we celebrated 2 Chinese public 
holidays: May 1 - Chinese Labor Day, and May 8 - Buddha's Birthday!

On May 3, a rainy Saturday afternoon, my friend Cheryl took me to the Jade 
Market in Kowloon.  It's a place full of vendors who sell beads, jewelry, and 
many other items.  There is a lot of jade, of course, but they also have a 
whole 
lot of other materials -- turquoise, lapis, amber, coral, jasper, agate, 
aquamarine, and lots of other semiprecious stones.  I felt like a kid in a 
candy 
store!  

In the last week, the weather has been changing -- it's been raining a lot, 
and it's starting to heat up outside.  There was one day this past week where 
it rained so hard, the schools were cancelled.  They take their storms pretty 
seriously here, where the buildings are tall, the roads are narrow and winding, 
and floods and rockslides are not uncommon.  As we get closer to summer, the 
humidity and heat will become more and more ridiculous!!!!  Aiy-YAAAAAAA... 
time to get over to the beach!

Well, I hope you will forgive me for taking much longer than planned to write 
to you.  I have posted so many more photos!  Please go see my 2 new albums, 
so you can get some visuals of what I've been seeing over the last month and a 
half!

Directions to my photos, if you need them again:
1. log onto <A HREF="www.ofoto.com">www.ofoto.com</A>
2. log in as:  member name "photos (at) silverbygold(dot)com", password "photos"
3. choose an album and enjoy!  (viewing as slideshow works best)

Take care, and I'll see some of you St. Louisans soon!

Love,
Angela :-D