Day 15 - Lantern Festival

Today is the 15th day of the Chinese New Year and is referred to as Lantern Festival.

It is the first full moon of the Chinese year.

The Lantern Festival marks the coming of spring, with the hundreds of lanterns sent up into the sky representing longer daylight hours as well as the light from the full moon. In Ancient China, it served as the equivalent of Valentine's Day in the West. Chinese New Year taboos are also declared over on the festival.

The Lantern Festival has been celebrated since the days of the Han Dynasty around 2,000 years ago, which culminated with the spread of Buddhism across China. According to legend, Emperor Hangmindi, who ruled around the beginning of the first century, saw that Buddhist monks would light lanterns on the 15th day of the Chinese year to show respect to the Buddha, and ordered that the tradition be repeated in the Imperial Palace.  

This year the display was titled "Kingdom of Vigorous Monkey". 

Now the lanterns often symbolize letting go of their owners' past selves as well as symbolize good luck.

It was traditionally seen as the "Chinese Valentine's Day", since the celebrations were one of the few days in Imperial China when unmarried ladies were allowed to freely leave the house.

Glad we were allowed out tonight! 

Sunday Funday - hiking and bolognese

Last Sunday we (Andy, Donna and I) hiked about 8 + miles over 20K steps (thanks, Fitbit for the info!). We hiked part of the morning trail to the Hong Kong trail and family walk.

Andy works at Hasbro with me and he and Donna live just down the street from me. 

We then hiked the very many steps up to Pinewood Battery. It is a historic site that was constructed starting in 1901 and finished in 1905. During the Battle of Hong Kong, the Battery came under repeated air raids. On December 15, 1941, the Japanese 23rd Army Air Group carried out extensive attacks on Hong Kong Island. Pinewood Battery, manned by the 17th AA Battery 5th Anti-Air Regiment Royal Artillery, was severely damaged.. The raid caused one death and one injury. One of the antiaircraft guns and certain other facilities were destroyed. The commander of the defending troops decided to abandon the battery, and all men were ordered to retreat on that day (thanks, Wikipedia).

After our hike we deserved some good food. Donna and Andy invited me to their place for homemade bolognese.

I did not finish the whole plate... yay for leftovers!

The most exciting part was I got to try my first mango steen. I saw these on their kitchen counter and asked what they were. So we had them for dessert.

You use your hands to slightly crush the outer part to get a crack so that you can open it up. The inside is bright pink and very bitter so you don't want to eat any of that. But at the center is a bright white delicious fruit. It looks a bit like a lychee but tastes more like mango.

Here is a stock photo of what they look like inside. Ours are messier than that so I couldn't take picture and eat.
 


Overall,  great Sunday with exercise (outside for some fresh air), good food and good friends.

 

It's that time of year... CNY lunch 1

It's that time of year again... Time for Chinese New Year lunches with vendors. Which means I need to bring out the stretchy clothes. Get ready for a marathon meal!

There are peanuts on table first and of course tea. Lots and lots of tea.

First course... these I can identify. BBQ pork bun and shrimp dumpling.

Then next course... chicken part in top left and some kind of meat below. The right side is a mystery. Pate and something.... just eat. Don't ask.

Then what I think may have been turnip cake on the left and some pastry on the right with slimy thing on top.

Then soup. I missed the picture... so imagine an egg white and green soup. 

SOUP!!!

Then this. So glad that they ensure I don't overdo on my vegetables. Talk about portion control. Fish and 1 piece of broccoli.

Then this.... here you can see the fork and knife used to eat this slimy stuff. Sea cucumber maybe and something else...

Then rice to trigger the end of the main meal.

Then dessert! Ice cream sandwich!

Then end with sago soup.

Thank goodness for stretchy clothes.

Here is where we ate. What a great picture!

More of these traditional lunches next week and the week after... wish me luck and more time at the gym.

Cantonese Language Fun!

I am learning elementary Cantonese language (speaking, not writing)... I have mow completed 50 hours of lessons. WOW. I am now signed up for another 50 hours!

Some of the words are quite funny when you know how they actually translate. A few of my favorite:

Sing daan louh yahn = Santa Claus

• this actually translates to "Christmas old man"

Fo gai = turkey

• this actually translates to "fire chicken"

 
Siu pahng yauh = child

• this actually translates to "little friend"

Sai sau gaan = bathroom

• this actually translates to "wash hand room" 

Daaih Luhk = Mainland China

• this actually translates to "big land"

Fooh sau dihn tai = escalator

• this actually translates to "hand held elevator"

Gon sihgaan = in a hurry

• this actually translates to "chase time"

Learning the language has been a great experience and fun to learn. Especially with some of these fun terms!

Justin in HK (Part 2)

Monday evening we went to have Thai food and then took the Star Ferry over to TST to see the parade. We had an okay view but many people in front of us on ground level. I didn't want to get there early to fight for a spot. 

There were people on stilts.

Floats!

Dragons!

Lion dances.

Acrobats!

Mickey and Minnie!

And princesses!

Tuesday we went to the Peak. The tram line was way too long so we took the bus. The weather was gorgeous and is was so clear. What a skyline!

Siblings at the Peak!

I had to take a picture of Justin hunched over on the bus. This place isn't made for tall people.

Tuesday night was fireworks dinner with friends. We forgot a group picture but I remembered to get a photo with my big bro!

CNY Decorations.

Wednesday we went to 10,000 Buddhas in Shatin. It is quite the hike uphill past all the statues.

At the top is a temple.

We had dim sum lunch again since Justin  enjoyed it the first time.

After lunch we went to Nan Lian Gardens in Diamond Hill. I had never been here and was so glad we went to visit. It was a beautiful oasis in the middle of the city.

It was a great day and glad I got to visit some places I hadn't seen before.

Wednesday was last full day with Justin in HK. He departed Thursday afternoon.  :(

Justin in HK (Part 1)

So my big brother, Justin, is in HK visiting for Chinese New Year. 

He arrived Thursday at about 3pm and I met him at the airport. We went to my place and then went to local store to buy some food for my apartment. We walked around Central for a while and then went to yakitori for dinner. Yakitori is Japanese grilled skewers mostly chicken at this place. 

Friday we took ferry to TST to see the skyline view and I showed him where my office is.

We had dim sum lunch with friends. Justin got to try a bunch of different dumplings. He avoided the chicken feet though!

We then went to wet market in Wan Chai to show Justin the meat and veggie stands.

We then walked up to a temple and found this cute knit monkey decoration.

We also saw a 3-wheeled vehicle outside one of the car repair shops.

Here we are in front of the temple.

Hong Kong pose!

We found a tub that is perfect for my next place. 

 
Friday evening, we stayed in and picked up New Zealand fish and chips for dinner.

Saturday we ventured to Stanley Market on the south side of HK Island for some shopping and hanging out on the shoreline. We bought some cool things (still need to figure out how to get them back to US).

Saturday evening we ventured to the Victoria Park flower market which is a crazy outdoor market similar to the Big E. Lots of people selling flowers, toys, and infomercial like thing. We could only stay for a short time before it becoming too much for us.
  Saturday night I arrange hot pot dinner with a group of local friends and those visiting.

Sunday we went to Big Buddha. I was happily surprised that the day before CNY was relatively quiet on the cable cars and at the Buddha.

We walked up through the temples that I hadn't visited before. Had some amazing carvings.

We also visited the hall of 10,000 Buddhas.

The cable car back down.

Sunday evening we went to Braza for all you can eat Brazilian meat. Delicious food!


Superbowl Monday morning. Game started here at 7:30 AM so we did Superbowl breakfast. We were invited to a British party and decided to bring our American pride. I wore my Patriots t-shirt (of course). The panda ears are because the ladies like the "Pandas" better than the name "Panthers."

Could have used a little bigger TV,

A Brit made us pancakes and bacon. Delicious!

Andy decided to have American pride so had a flag put across his face. 

Pandas!

This meant it was time to go home...

Will post more later!