Travels in Asia: October 2010

Incense and offerings shop

Greetings from Hong Kong. We have been here now a little over four weeks and are feeling very settled. Karen has joined the American Women's Association and has been hiking with a Hong Kong hiking group and playing tennis. I have been attending research meetings at the Centre on Behavioral Health focusing on Body-Mind-Spirit social work practice, attending lectures and classes on Buddhism, auditing a course on traditional Chinese medicine, and sat in on a therapy session last week. But more now on where we are living.

The part of China know as Hong Kong is made of over 200 islands, though not all are inhabited. We are living on the main island of Hong Kong till the end of December. Our neighborhood is the Sai Ying Pun section which is on the western side of the island. It is traditional community, which I am told will not be here in its present form in ten year. The Hong Kong mass transit system is building a subway station about a block from our apartment. Once the subway is here, gentrification will not be far behind. Here is a look at the area as it now is.

Street altar

One of the first things I notice when I am walking around the area are small altars on the ground outside many of the buildings. People burn incense and candles as offerings to the earth gods. It is so common around here that most people do not even notice them.

While buildings may rise up 20-30 stories or more, there are stores on the street level. Many businesses in Hong Kong group together and locate in one area. Our street, Queen's Road West, is known for incense shops. There are many on our street and on the side streets and alleyways in the area. Some of the shops not only sell incense, but also offerings for ancestors (see top photo). As one person told me, his wife had a dream that her deceased uncle needed a pair of shoes. She went out to the store and bought a pair of shoes made of paper. She then went to his burial site and burned the shoes so that he would have them. As you will see below, people can buy all sorts of items. I have no idea why you would need a six pack of Coke in the after-life, but you do, your descendants can buy it for you on our street. I know that the only way I am going to get a Ferrari is in the after-life.

Various paper offerings sold for ancestors including cars, refrigerators, clothing, and houses.

Food items being dried in baskets on the sidewalk .

What is life without eating, and there are all kinds of food shops around our neighborhood. Items are left on the sidewalk to dry, many of which I can not identify. Some are forms of sea-life, some are plants and some are meat. I am very surprised to find fresh meat hanging from a butcher's hook outside. I can only think that the meat is sold so quickly that it does not have a chance to go bad. I learned in my class that it is traditional to eat snakes in the winter. Luckily there is a snake restaurant right across the street from us (they also serve turtle and lizard). Along with the traditional food stores, you can find stores that sell western style food and we shop in both types of stores. We also shop at "wet markets". Wet markets have multiple floors, one selling vegetables, one for fruit, one for meat and often one floor as cooked foods. Each floors consists of many individual stalls, just like a flea market but for food.

Fresh fruit and vegetables can be purchased on nearly every street corner.

Fresh meat hanging in the butcher's shop

Vegetables for sale in the market.

Karen has been buying fresh tofu from a woman who sells tofu on the street.

One item I was surprised to see in the food stores is flavored potato chips. The chips come in various flavors such as shrimp, seaweed, lobster, pizza, prawn, beef, chicken, or pork among others.

There also appears to be a preference for jasmine rice from Thailand, as there are many varieties offered for sale.

The street which parallels our street is also known as "dried seafood street". Karen dislikes walking down this street as it has a distinct aroma of dried seafood.

Local street signs

Shop on Des Vouex St (also known as Dried Seafood St)

Dried squid and various other forms
of dried seafood.

Greetings from the Sai Ying Pun section of Hong Kong. Karen and I have settled into our 15th floor apartment in the Wai Yuen Mansion on Hong Kong Island. It is a really great location. We are close to the University of Hong Kong so that I can walk to the campus and we are surrounded by all kinds of shops. We are close to the tram line, buses stops right across the street and there are a variety of restaurants, fruit stands and food markets nearby. Our apartment is listed as 650 square feet, though we learned that the measurement includes a percentage of the public spaces in the building.

Have a look below at our place.