On Friday morning, Steph, Alaina, and I decided to go hiking. We went to Tai Wai to hike to Lion Rock. When we were almost to the top we discovered that you could not actually hike to the rock, but to a great view of the rock. This was okay because we also got a fantastic view of Hong Kong! From the top you could see all of Kowloon and part of Hong Kong Island. I have found that most of the time Hong Kong is foggy/smoggy so you are lucky if you get a good view, and we were lucky.
Beginning of the hike.
Warning signs for rabid monkeys...
Lion Rock.
Beautiful view of Kowloon. You can also see parts of Hong Kong Island.
It may not look hot, but it was hot and humid. That combined with the hiking made us all really sweaty, which is evident in this picture.
A few days ago, I was listening to Phantom of the Opera and my roommate, Eva, had never heard it before. She really liked it and we ended up YouTubeing a bunch of other songs from movies. That turned into me making a list of very famous American movies that she has never heard of and I am going to make her watch before I leave. The next day I rented the first one on the list from the United College Media Library on campus and we watched it when I got back from hiking. It was Grease! She loved it. During one of the scenes in the movie, they dance to an Elvis song. This was when I discovered that she didn’t know who Elvis was. After the movie, I Googled him for her and she quickly realized that she knew him, but as his Chinese name, 猫王 (Mao Wang which means cat king). Even though she knew him, she has never heard any of his songs so we spent about the next ten minutes listening to Elvis. That somehow turned into us listening to Footloose (which was when she found out that I can tap dance and was in the musical in high school), and then we started watching videos from Happy Feet—which she also hasn’t seen. After that we listened to children’s songs including Old Mcdonald, The ABC's, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, etc. Finally, about an hour later, I found myself teaching her the hokey pokey, the chicken dance, and the Macarena. I don’t know how these tangents occur, but it is sure fun to be the one who shows her all of these new things.
The next day, Lena and I ventured to Diamond Hill in Kowloon. We first went to Lian Garden which has some charming bonsai trees, a rock museum, and a beautiful golden pagoda.
I love how you can see the big Hong Kong buildings in the background.
The cleanest koi pond I have seen.
Bonsai trees: they are grown to be small trees that look like big trees.
The rock museum. It was a lot cooler than it sounds.
The garden was connected to the Chi Lin Nunnery, so after walking around for a bit we headed over there. The Chi Lin Nunnery is a Buddhist temple that was built in 1990. It is actually amazing because it is built following the style of Tang Dynasty traditional Chinese architecture which means it is standing without the use of any nails. All of the wood is held together by pieces interlocking into other pieces through cuts in the wood. It is the only building in Hong Kong like this.
The nunnery.
It was raining before we got there so my bum got wet from this picture.
One stop up on the MTR is the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple so we stopped there on our way back. This is a Taoist temple and it is the most famous in Hong Kong. There we got to see a turtle pond, Good Wish Garden and of course, a temple.
There were so many turtles!
Outside one of the temples.
Good Wish Garden. If you look closely, you can see me on the bridge.
Another temple.
Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple is also famous because there are about a hundred soothsayers and fortune-telling stalls. While we were there, Lena and I decided it would be fun to get our palms and faces read. My fortune went somewhat as follows:
The first thing he said when he looked at my palms was “You are very independent. You’re parents do not have a good relationship and they got divorced when you were young.” I thought this was freaky since it is very accurate. Then I told him the year I was born (which is the year of the snake) and he continued. The only negative things my fortune told was to not drive fast this year (specifically not over 150 kilometers/hour), and when I am 39, do not go scuba diving because I have a high probability of hurting my ears. I will have a happy life, but I will have to work extra hard on being happy between the ages of 45 and 50.
The rest of my fortune was great! He continuously kept telling me how lucky I was and that I had a “golden hand”…whatever that means. He said that I have not been so lucky in the past, but that is changing and I will have really good luck until I am about 60 years old. This year, I am also going to find a boyfriend! I will marry this man at the ripe age of 25, and we will have four or more kids. My husband is also going to be successful and will love me and know how to care of me. He also said that I am going to be a very good wife and mother and take excellent care of my husband and children. I am going to have a long life (past the age of 85) and I will never have to worry about my accommodations. When I get old, my children will take care of me, and this will be easy for them because like their mother and father, they are going to be very successful.
As for school and my future career: I am a quick learner and I will own my own business by the time I am 28. He kept telling me that I was going to be filthy rich. If I ever choose to work and live abroad, I will not have any troubles. I will also have no problem in school at CUHK and I am good at learning new things.
Then he read my face and told me how my ears show more good luck in my future. By the end of my reading, I though that he was just b.s.ing me because I was paying him and therefore my fortune good, but then he read Lena’s fortune. Hers was not good at all! He told her that she has a bad stomach and lungs, and a bad relationship with her boyfriend. He said that she won’t get married until she is around 30, and that she will get divorced. Apparently, Lena will also have to get surgery on something when she is around 60 years old. The only semi-positive things he said to her was that she will live until 88 and have three children—which is how many she wants.
I have "soft hands" and good luck in my future!
When I got home from my busy day of sightseeing, Eva and I watched Aladdin...in Chinese! No subtitles either. We watched Mulan the other day (in English) because she hadn't seen it, and she discovered my love for Disney. She says that if I watch movies where I am familiar with the plot, it will help me with my Mandarin because I am not trying to figure out what is going on the whole time. I barely understood any of the movie, but she helped me when I had questions. I actually learned quite a bit. I now know that the word friend is different in conversation than it is in songs, and Prince Ali = Ali Wangzi.
Overall, it was a great weekend and I have a busy week of studying ahead of me—two Chinese midterms coming up
Welllll I'm glad you have golden hands. And stuff. Sounds...nice? And it's good that some random fortune teller told you that you'll be filthy rich, he obviously knows what he's talking about hahaha. Oh and I'm glad he told you about your ears. They've struck me as extremely lucky since the first time i saw you, I just never knew how to let you know...
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