Hong Kong - Last Day

The other people in my group had two meetings at a local university on our last day in Hong Kong, so I was on my own. I was a bit uneasy about it, because the subway system is very confusing. (Oddly, for how big it is, I could never find a lavatory. I’m pretty sure they don’t exist.) Luckily, Ah-Yen, Peter’s wife who is native to China, decided to go with me and act as my translator. What a relief.
For breakfast, we ate a fish ball restaurant (yes, you read that correctly), and because of my bad stomach the day before, I decided to take it easy. I ordered what looked like egg noodles (they were broader than ones I’ve seen) in a clear broth. Because that’s how they roll, they added some greenery and onions on top. I ate the noodles only, which served me well. Once the meal was over we took our bags downstairs to store for us, as checkout was at 9 a.m. Uh, yeah. Since it was hotter and more humid than hell itself, I decided to cross the street and get some drinks. I bought a Pepsi – all soda has sugar not shitty corn syrup – and if I remember correctly, about five packets of Airwaves , blackberry flavor. You cannot imagine how stoked I was to find my favorite British gum over here.
Since the university is near the temple, where we were going, we rode in the taxis with everyone else. I’m glad that we had the driver we did, because he pointed out Jackie Chan’s house. Thankfully, the camera worked and I got some photos. It isn’t like you could miss his house, though. He has a gigantic dragon insignia on the side – it’s made out of his initials – AND the entire wall is comprised of tiles celebrating Jackie Chan. I don’t think he’s concerned about stalkers.
We arrived at the temple – it’s called Sik Sik Wong Tai Sin – and it was apparent that this was THE place to be. Tour buses were everywhere. We rounded the corner, and on one wall, you could see a bunch of newspaper clippings posted on the top. I asked Ah-Yen what they said, and she said they were protesting human rights violations and how the Falun Gong has been treated. Continuing on, we got to the temple gate and went in. Entrance was free. It was sort of fortuitous having Dorothy with us – she’s nine years old – because she wanted to burn some incense. So did I but I was a bit nervous to it. Being with a child means you can get away with anything. I pulled out three free incense sticks for both of us – it advises you to burn three for the tutelary deities there – and then walked up to these candle-like burners to light them. As those are smoking, you go down some stairs to the right, where you see a big square filled with people who are holding up their incense and bowing. There’s a long tray in front of this other temple – we couldn’t go inside as it, like everything else in Hong Kong is under maintenance or construction – filled with sand, which is dotted all the way from one end to the next with incense sticks. (Not five minutes after we put the half burned sticks into the sand, I saw a volunteer or whatever he was, collect a whole box full of the incense and take them away.) I heard a rattling noise further on, so I went to investigate. People were shaking cups filled with fortune sticks. Ah! At last. I know they get their fortunes told at Shinto temples as well, and I’ve been meaning to check it out for myself. Now this temple wasn’t Shinto – I think it was Daoist – but when in Rome or in this case Hong Kong … I grabbed a cup and began shaking it furiously up and down until a stick fell out. Since I had forgotten to actually ask it a question, I did it again. This time I got two sticks. A woman told us that we should take our numbers to a fortune teller (I think the English signs said “soothsayer.”) We ventured to the very large Soothsayer Alley or whatever it was called where you see one fortune teller after another. They work in small “rooms” side-by-side. Not a lot of them were actually in their rooms, and the ones I found were with other people. Then we chanced upon this sweet elderly woman who reminded me a bit of Grandma Lil. We sat down. I was immediately chastised for having had two numbers, and was told to do it again. I took the cup and shook it in front of her stall. It came back 61. The question I asked was about work, and she immediately told me – through Ah-Yen who acted as a wonderful translator - that I was a straight forward and honest person and this caused me some problems. She then said that I wasn’t happy where I was, because there was a lot of stress and people who were close to me there were jealous and backstabbers. She said that even though this wasn’t a good environment for me, I should stick it out, because other opportunities would present themselves. I was kind of amazed at how accurate she was in assessing my dissatisfaction and some of the turmoil going on. Next I asked her if this pertained to my future educational life, and she told me to rattle the sticks and get another number. I got 40-something. Immediately, she told me that I should have already pursued and obtained my Ph.D. Then she told the story of a woman who loved a man, but her parents weren’t happy with the arrangement. The woman persevered, however, and all ended well. That was the gist of the story anyway. I asked if this meant I should do it despite the hardships. I asked for confirmation, and she said yes. Even though I was told the fortune telling would be 20 HK, because I had two sticks read, it was 40 HK. Nice! Glad I had enough money. (That said it was only about $6 in U.S. currency.) She got to talking about her vocation, and told us that she had been doing this for 60 years. In fact, her mother did it before she did. She even showed us her photo as a child with her mother. I asked her if I could take her photo, and even though she was a bit surprised, she went along with me.
The temple finished, we headed for the mall for lunch with the group. It was already so damn hot, I was feeling sick. I had brought a water and a Pepsi with me and had consumed all of the former and half of the latter and was still thirsty. I think it must have been 30 C and probably 90 percent humidity. It was just the most unpleasant feeling I’ve ever had. Right of out the temple grounds, we found a subway sign. It took us under a long tunnel and up about 50 stairs, leaving us essentially where we were but on the other side of the street. It was time to ask a local. Ah-Yen found a sweet elderly woman (noticing a trend) who reminded me of my Grandma Lil. (I think it was the old lady wearing a T-shirt and salt-and-pepper hair thing she had going on. Now I’m wondering if Gma was really Chinese and just didn’t come clean about it.) She told us that she was going to the subway, too, and would escort us. She chatted merrily the whole way. Ah-Yen told me that she liked Hong Kong because the “elderly” still speak Cantonese, and are so helpful. I have to admit that in HK, anyone you asked for help went out of their way to give assistance. They are a very nice people. At least the ones I encountered. We got to the subway and navigated our way to the mall, which was GINORMOUS. You could fit the Southroads, Westroads, Crossroads AND the Oak View in it and have room to spare. It had everything from an AMC Theatre to Marks & Spencer. Massive. Thankfully for me and my sizzling brain, we were meeting the group near an ice skating rink. Once we got to it, I seriously thought about going onto the ice and throwing myself down. I was sooooooo amazingly hot and sick. Almost disoriented. Probably first stages of heat stroke. My back was drenched, and I’m sure my face was beet red.
We waited a while and then Peter’s pastor friend came over and ushered us to a table at a restaurant. I think it was called EX or something like that. It had a strange subtitle, like experience pizza and, essentially, Asian dishes. The pastor came around to each of us and said that we should get a fruit drink, a main dish and dessert. It was on him. My lineup was a noodle soup with friend tofu (for some reason, the Chinese are straw noodle obsessed. I hate these things as they look like narrow alien penises or a strange jellyfish. I pick them out.) My “fruit” drink was carrots and apple, although the apple was tart like a Granny Smith. For dessert it was the incomparable green tea. I love green tea ice cream. Period. (To be continued …)