Chinese Traipsing

The trees look like this in the New Territories (lovely neighborhood) where we walked from a museum back to our hotel in Kowloon. On the way, we stopped to watch people sing Karaoke by the river while others did ballroom dancing (amateurs both). A tipsy Indonesian man with a few teeth missing (with the OK from his wife) asked me to dance. What's the dance called when you do "one-two-three and four"--is it Foxtrot? I didn't know, but of course I don't turn down invitations to dance. Afterward, they asked if I could sing Chinese--I said I would sing an English song (I love Karaoke) but they didn't have any. Sad. The next stop was at an outdoor Acapella festival. A group of about 20. The people dress modestly here, there aren't vulgar ads, there is a general cooperative feel among the people, and of trying to do one's best. They seem to me to be reserved, formal, with great manners. I don't know if communism and censorship has anything to do with this, but it is quite nice. HongKong seems to be able so far to take the best from Chinese communal spirit and Western economic practice. Good balance I think.

I want to be in a Cantonese opera. Did you know there are over 300 styles of Chinese Opera? We learned all about the artistic conventions of this type of performance art and saw a bit of one. The antagonists wear white since it is the color of death and evil. We passed by the marriage registry where brides are dressing in western bridal wear. I wonder if their older family members are uncomfortable with that since the traditional color is red (warmth, life). An older man at the Jade market says young people aren't really getting married or having children much--it's difficult and expensive in HongKong. A Filipino lady who helped me find the ferry said she shares a 3 bdr-2 bath apartment and rent is $1500 USD per month for the place. The man said people have dogs now instead (sounds familiar). The population heres is a bit over 7 million though and I see kids in school uniforms all over the place. Incidentally, this type of makeup looks great on an Asian face with wide set eyes and high cheekbones. I look cross-eyed ;)

As you can see, I couldn't find the night button on my camera. We rode the tram to Victoria Peak (that thing was at a 70 degree angle at times!) On the top there are restaurants and shopping and a great view. HongKong is a sea of skyscrapers! And the harbor is a sea of shipping containers. Mountain after mountain of them. Cyler, I thought of you and 9e when I saw them. God bless shipping containers and long may they sail.

We also took a junk ride around Victoria Harbor last night. From the boat we saw the light show where some of the skyscrapers light up and shine lasers across the harbor. I had mixed feelings when I saw AIG and Bank of America doing this--do they really have the money? Today is park and SOGO (Japanese department store) day. Pics to come.