Weekend in Hong Kong

This weekend was a 3-dayer because of the holiday of Deepavali, the Hindu "Festival of Lights" and a national holiday here in Singapore. So what did we do? We decided to dash off to Hong Kong, a modest 3.5+ hour flight that is equivalent of flying from San Antonio to Duluth. (That is, if San Antonio was located a bit north of Quito, Equador in terms of lattitude.)

We got a surprise upgrade to business class on the way to HK. Coach was oversold and we just got lucky.

The "new" (now about 10 years old) HK airport is about 30 minutes away from the city center by high speed train. We got 3-day tourist passes the combined a round trip from the airport with unlimited use of the subway.

We covered several 'must do' items right away. We took the Star Ferry over from Kowloon to Hong Kong island and had dim sum at Maxim's. Hong Kong is the place for dim sum and Maxim's is one of the recommended places; it was worth the 30 minute wait to get a table. Dim sum is the a la carte buffet that comes to you. You sit at your table and servers wheel carts around the room and offer you baskes of steamed or fried snacks. The menu is displayed on each cart, and unfortunately for us, in Chinese. (We were able to avoid the plentiful traif options by speaking to the servers.) After giving you your food (usually in quantities of 3 items), the server marks your bill. When you're done, you take the bill up to the cashier and pay.

What surprised us most about Hong Kong was the terrain. It's a lot like San Francisco with plenty of hills and small mountains. It also has the haze and, while not as cold as SFO, it was definitely cooler than Singapore. We took a "cable car" (known in ski circles as a gondola lift) to Lantau island to see the Tian Tan Buddah, one of the largest outdoor bronze statues of the Buddha.

We had some memorable meals. One was at Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant where we had a terrific cold pigeon dish. Yup. Pigeon. It was very good, and served with the head on the side (which we skipped). Another was at Hutong, on the 28th floor of a building with a spectacular view of the Hong Kong skyline and the nightly light show that takes place promptly at 8pm. The food was terrific, including the best fried rice we'd every had -- simply prepared with sea salt and dried fish and just a bit al dente. (Thanks to our friends Susan and Ed Hurley for recommending Hutong to us.)

Of course we had time to walk around and take in the sights, especially up and down Nathan Road in the center of Kowloon. At night it was lit up in neon and had an energy that didn't seem to stop. From traditional medicine shops to cameras/electronics to international designer label store, there was plenty to see. That includes the stores, the displays, and (of course) the people doing the shopping!

We'd put off taking the trip up to The Peak because we kept hoping the haze would lift for a better view (and to avoid the throngs who make the trip over the weekend. So on Monday we made the trip up on the Peak Tram, a train that is pulled up the side of the mountain on a cable that runs down the center of the track (techncially called a funicular railway). The views were gorgeous, even with the haze. We took the tram down, collected our bags from the hotel, headed back to the airport for the flight home. No upgrade this time.

Comparisons between Hong Kong and Singapore are inevitable. The one I heard and like the best goes like this. "Singapore has a nice Chinatown; Hong Kong is Chinatown."

The Singapore Sukkah

The holiday of Sukkot is here. To those unfamiliar with the holiday, you might consider it to be the Jewish Thanksgiving. Part of the observance is to spend time in a temporary dwelling called a Sukkah.

Sukkahs come in all shapes and sizes. Back in Plano, Beth Torah has sukkah that seats 80 and is unique in it's custom design & round construction. It takes a dozen guys a few hours to put it up and take it down.

Here in Singapore, the community sukkah was substantially smaller and of the mail-order variety. Made in the USA.

The roof must be made of a natural material that allows you to see the stars on a clear night. Back in Texas, bamboo served the purpose. Here, it was palm leaves that were woven into a kind of "roof mat".

It was was the first time we'd been in a Sukkah that was 33% lulav.

The Indian "ArtsFest"

It was a cultural opportunity that we simply could not resist. The Zee cable TV network was bringing their Carnival to Singapore! And better still, the headline attraction was none other than Shahrukh Khan, the king of Bollywood.

A bit of introduction: The Zee TV network is the first Hindi satellite/cable TV channel. It provides the global Indian diaspora with a taste of home, showing Bollywood film, Indian cooking shows, news, reality shows, and musical shows around the clock. (It's been available in the US for 10 years.) And although the comparison is definitely apples to mangoes, Shahrukh Khan is somewhat the Bollywood equivalent of George Clooney.

So Raye got dressed in her salwar kameez and I put on a neru collar shirt I bought in India, and off we went to Suntec City on the MRT. Raye got several second looks on the MRT. To no surprise, the closer we got to Suntec City, the more and more we stood out as being outside the "target demographic" of the event. One Indian woman stopped Raye, took a long look at her, and simply said "Thank you, you have made my day."

Raye's too.

We'd bought our tickets in advance but it didn't save much time. The line to get in was long and there was a security check. Once inside, we picked up our goody bag of coupons and marketing literature and began making the rounds.

The room was blaring with Bollywood hit songs and there was a huge stage at the front with a subcontinental fashion show. I found it particularly interesting that the designer and models were from Pakistan. Looking around at the various booths, I realized that both Pakistan and India were represented. Apparently, combination of event-scale economics and the emphasis on cross-cultural harmony that is very much part of Singapore made this possible. And by the way, there were plenty of fans there from Malaysia and Indonesia who'd come in for the weekend. We were part of a crowd of about 10,000 people (according to the newspaper).

In addition to the main stage, there was an autograph stage, a cooking show demonstration stage (for Sanjeev Kapoor) a travel services area, a food court, and lots (and lots) of booths. The merchants covered just about everything one might imagine: clothing, jewelry, spice mixtures, those mouth cleansing seeds and stuff you get at Indian restaurants (more varieties than I've ever seen), astrologers, martrimonial services, ayurvedic medicines and treatments, and cultural newspapers.

It was wonderful walking around and taking a look. And we weren't alone: we saw a handful of other "out-of-demographic" folks making the rounds.

The various celebrities from Zee TV were making appearances (to the delight of the crowd) and signing autographs. However it became clear that the Bollywood King was going to be the very last person to come out and -- as interesting as it all was -- that would have meant spending the entire day there. So we took our leave from the carnival, happy with yet another interesting experience.

Birthday Weekend in Singapore

Here are a couple of photos from Paul's birthday weekend. Raye returned from the US around midnight on Friday night. Saturday night we went out to dinner again at Banana Leaf Apolo. It is in the middle of Deepavali season so everything there was beautifully lighted and very busy. We stopped by a specialty market, the cultural equivalent of a Hanukkah (or Christmas) shopping bazaar. We'll have more about Deepavali in a future post.

On Sunday, we were invited to a brunch hosted by one of the members of the UHC, the progressive Jewish congregation here with which we've affiliated. It was a wonderful chance to enjoy some lox & bagels (and many, many other wonderful treats). It was a great mix of people with ages ranging from early 20's to seniors, and geographical homes from Argentina to the USA to the UK to South Africa, to Israel. (The Israeli ambassador to Singapore was one of the guests.)

One of the non-culinary treats was listening to our host play the piano with an impromptu accompaniment by one of the students from the local music conservatory.



Monday morning meant back to work but not without the traditional breakfast in bed. Dinner was at home, with marinated leg of lamb using our favorite recipe. It's expensive here (and there's only two of us) so we bought a slice of the leg. Raye sacrificed greatly (i.e. her sense of smell) and surprised Paul by buying a durian for dessert.

It was delicious and wonderfully creamy. However, like a fine cigar, it had to be enjoyed outdoors on the patio.

Another noteworthy event of the day: Raye passed her written exam and earned her Singapore drivers license. (Now all we need to do is get a car...)

The Istana Open House

October 1 was a public holiday in Singapore in observance of Hari Raya Puasa, the end of the month of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar. Called Eid ul-Fitr in other cultures, the name used here is the Malay term. It means Celebration Day of Fasting.

To help commemorate the day, the official residence of the President of Singapore held an open house. Called The Istana (Malay for "palace"), it is the local equivalent of the White House. Except for 5 days each year, the place is buttoned up like Ft. Knox, so this was an opportunity not to be missed.

Admission to the grounds was free to Singaporeans and permanent residents. Foreigners paid $1. The optional tour inside the actual building was an extra $2. All admission proceeds and revenues from the sale of Istana-branded souvenirs go to the Community Chest charity. Pretty neat idea.

We didn't have the run of the place of course. There were armed guards everywhere and the activity was centered around the fairway of the 9-hole golf course. The gardens are beautiful and provided plenty of photo opportunities. Some families were having mini-picnics on the grounds.

The tour in the building was interesting and unfortunately, no photos were allowed. Some nice paintings and figurines (gifts presented to the President and Prime Minister) were on display. Among these was a nice collection of decorative animals which were very similar to ones that Raye had in our kitchen back in Plano. We got to see the rooms used for State receptions and other official functions. You can read more about the building itself on the official Istana web site. The open house link has some photos of what's inside.



The next public holiday is October 27 for the Hindu holiday of Deepavali (also called Diwali) -- the Festival of Lights.