Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery

The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is one of the coolest things to see in Hong Kong.  Located in Sha Tin (out in the New Territories), the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is hidden behind an office building with only a spray painted wooden sign to show you the way.  Once you find your way there and get to the entrance you will need to watch out for fake monks.  Entry into the Monastery is free, but there are men, dressed like monks, who hang out by the entrance trying to con people into giving them money.  They seem friendly, but if you stop to shake their hands, they will try to give you jewelry and then will ask for money for the jewelry.  Best option, ignore them and keep walking.  Second option, if you find yourself somehow wearing jewelry they have given you, take it off and give it back to them without giving them any money. 

Once you get past the fakers, you begin the climb.  I'm not sure how many steps it is to get to the top, but it's a lot.  Luckily, there are plenty of benches you can rest on along the way.  I like to get to the Monastery early (it opens at 9 am), that way it's cooler and there are not as many people walking up and down the steps.  As you climb, you might be tempted to start counting the Buddhas lining the stairs.  Feel free to do so, but the name Ten Thousand Buddhas comes from the main worship Hall at the top of the Monastery.  Strangely, there are over twelve thousand Buddhas in the main worship Hall, but I guess they liked the way Ten Thousand Buddhas sounded.

Keep climbing, you're almost there.

Trust me, you can make it.

At least the view on the walk up is interesting

 

Yes, there are a lot of stairs.

You made it!

Everything about this place is beautiful.  The view of Sha Tin is breathtaking, the dense forest the Monastery is nestled in is amazing.  There's a pretty good vegetarian restaurant at the top, so you can refuel before heading back down.  When I went with my sister, we saw several monkeys around the Monastery.  They were really cute, but at one point some of them raided a woman's purse and stole a bag of chips! 

View from the top

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (but it still feels like September)

The past three weeks I got to play tour guide to my sister, her two friends, and my parents.  My sister and her friends came over  the week of Thanksgiving (we celebrated by eating hamburger sliders).  My parents came at the beginning of December and just left a few days ago.  I might need to spend an entire week in bed recuperating.  I wore my fitbit everyday and we were putting in some serious mileage.  So if you want to visit Hong Kong and have me show you around (which, who wouldn't?!?!?) get prepared to dust off those old walking shoes!!

One of the great things about Hong Kong is the shopping.  Are you looking for $9 pants with elephants on them? Hong Kong's got loads of options.  Or are you looking for something a little higher end?  Just drop by one of the 5 or 6 MASSIVE Louis Vuitton stores around the island.  The street markets are always fun because you get to see a little of everything and you can haggle until you lose your voice.  There are several street markets throughout Hong Kong, but I will give you a low down on the ones we visited.

1. Jade Market: The Jade Market is in Kowloon and sells mostly (you guessed it) jade.  Going here is fun because you can get great jewelry for really cheap.  Not all of the jade sold here is real, so if you're looking to buy a really high quality piece of jade jewelry, head to a jeweler.  I try to never pay more than half the original asking price for stuff here.  Sellers can get a little pushy, but don't be afraid to just walk away.

2. Ladies Market: The Ladies Market has plenty to offer everyone, men included.  It's located in Mong Kok, one of most dense places on Earth.  This market has lots of clothes, purses, wallets, and jewelry. Make sure you bring your haggling skills to this market, it's half the fun.  If someone won't give you the price you want for something, just walk away and head to another stall.  Everything you see at this market is going to be sold by more than one vendor.  Just keep haggling with different vendors until you get the price you want.

3. Temple Street Night Market: This market is located near the Jade Market and might be the most interesting of all the markets.  The stalls reminded us of what you would find at an American garage sale on the last day before everything is taken off to be donated.  We saw tables full of extension cords, reading glasses, and socks.  The best parts of this market were the outside karaoke bars (basically a mic, a bucket of beer, and some plastic chairs) and an entire street of palm and face readers.  I've never heard of a face reader, but I might go back and test it out.

4. Stanley Market: Located on the southern side of the island, the Stanley Market has lots of clothing, bedding, and jewelry.  Getting to the market gives you a great view of Hong Kong Island.  You will pass by a few beaches and some really fancy apartments.  You can also grab a bite to eat while looking out at the ocean.

5. Cat Alley: This is the smallest market and it's only two minutes from my apartment.  Cat Alley has lots of antiques and some really nice knick knacks.  Getting something with your Chinese zodiac is quick and (fairly) painless here.

Here are a few pictures from when my parents were in town.  In the next few posts, I'll post more pictures and talk about some of the sights we saw and let you know which ones we loved and which ones we loved more!

My mother and I at Ozone, the tallest rooftop bar.  It's at the Ritz-Carlton and is on the 118th floor!

 

Drinking beer at Ozone

 

Afternoon tea at the Ritz-Carlton

 

 

Surviving Hong Kong, Lesson One

Do you remember that game, Tetris?  Well, every time you walk outside in Hong Kong, you are basically playing a live version of that game.  Walking on the street, inside a MTR station, and trying to squeeze onto a train, the rules of Tetris apply.  You're constantly trying to fit into a small, awkward space.  And if you mess up, a taxi runs over your foot or the train door closes on your face. 

 

The intersection of Staunton and Aberdeen

 



I'm sure this picture doesn't paint a proper picture of how important the principles of Tetris are on the streets of Hong Kong, but this is a spot right by my apartment.  It's the intersection of two one way streets, which street has the right-of-way seems to depend on the time of day.  And there are always people, including myself, trying to weave in and out of the cars.  It was one of these times, when I was trying to weave around three cars all trying to be first in line, that I remembered the game Tetris.  You're just trying to find the quickest way to fit in between the cars before they try to run you over.  But, after a few days, you'll learn how to dart in and out of traffic like a pro!

In other news, Art and I went to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery the other weekend.

The walk up to the Monastery is lined with Buddhas

 

I told Art to keep track of all the Buddhas we passed, to make sure there really were 10,000, but he lost count...

 

Until next time!

Singapore Trip

At the end of September, we went to Singapore for a long weekend.  The best part of the trip was meeting up with some great friends from home.  We only got to spend the day with them, but it helped ease some of our homesickness.  The city is incredibly clean and safe, but the weather is hot and humid.  Just an FYI, during the month of September Indonesian famers burn their farms, creating a haze that travels all the way to Singapore.  The haze was really bad a few of the days we were there, but we survived!

Gardens by the Bay was an awesome place, we went there at night with our friends and went to a bar on top of a tree (the views were amazing)!  Art and I went back on our last day to tour the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest, I would recommend a stop here for anyone visiting Singapore.

We also toured Fort Canning Park, also known as the Forbidden Hill because it was once home to Singaporean ancestral kings.  The English used the land as a residence for the governor and then as a fort. 

No trip would be complete without a visit to at least one museum, so we went to the National Museum of Singapore. 

Marina Bay Sands, a hotel with a roof top bar and roof top infinity pool.  The pool is for hotel guests only, but we did go to the observation deck near the bar.

Laksa soup at the food village inside East Coast Park.

  

Bike rentals at East Coast Park.

The Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay.

Celebration of Chrysanthemums in the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay. 

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.  We only had time to run in on the day we were leaving, but it has 6 floors of artwork and historic artifacts that you can tour for free.  If we make it back to Singapore, we will be going back here for sure!

It was soo awesome getting to see friends from home halfway across the world!

Want to Visit the Philippines?

Here's a little advice if you ever want to visit the Philippines.

Things to bring:

1. White Gold (a.k.a. toilet paper).  There is very little toilet paper available, even at restaurants.  Also, don't flush your toilet paper, you'll need to throw it away in the trash can (usually) provided in the stall.  If the toilet doesn't flush and there's a bucket with water in it in the stall with you, you somehow are supposed to use the water to flush the toilet.  (Seems easy enough, but it might not be).  Also, don't be surprised if there's no soap in the bathroom.

 2. Hand wipes, face wipes, body wipes, any kind of wipes you can get your hands on.  You will sweat, and then continue sweating until you have fallen asleep in your sweat.  If you can't stand feeling dirty or grimy, you might have a hard time enjoying yourself.

3. Excitement over tiny, cute planes and finally getting to walk on the airport tarmac (or apron, if you want to use the technical term). 

 

 

4. Sense of adventure.

 

(This is what happens when a bag is abandoned at the airport in Manila, it's just roped off)

 

 

But, it's worth it.

View from Mount Tapyas

 



 Lastly, here's a Philippines edition of Odd Store Names:

Oops Chicken, a Korean restaurant that offers fried chicken tossed in various sauces.  Although it's an odd name, it was tasty! 

Philippines Trip

We took a trip to the Philippines last week to celebrate Art turning 30.

Happy birthday old man!

We flew into Manila last Tuesday and were planning to fly to Coron, off of Palawan, the next day.  That flight got canceled, so we stayed another night in Manila and were on the island by 8:30 Thursday morning.  Thursday and Friday we hired private boats to take us around to some of the great beaches and snorkeling sites.  We stopped at Malkaouya Island, Banana Island, Cauayan, Twin Lagoons, Kayangan Lake, Banual Beach, and Siete Picados.  The water was crystal clear and warm.  Lunch was prepared onboard both days for us.

Journey to Siete Picados

Siete Picados

 

Kayangan Lake

Kayangan Lake

 

Lunch for the birthday boy at Banual Beach

 

Before the trip, we got a GoPro.  We had some issues with it (all user related) so we only got a few videos from the second day.  Here's our first YouTube video, mostly taken at Cauayan.  And, yes, Art picked the music.

Sydney, part II

 As a lover of all things museum, while in Sydney I fit in as many as I could.  Maybe four museums in one day doesn't sound like a dream to you, but YOU'RE WRONG!  Most of the museums I went to had interactive sections, mostly geared towards children, but could be enjoyed by kids of all ages.  The Australian Museum basically had an entire floor devoted to hands on activities, including lots of skeletons I (I mean kids) could play with. 

The Australian Museum

 

My personal favorite museum was the Sydney Museum.  Located where the original Government House once stood, the Sydney Museum gave a great overarching history of Sydney.  The Hyde Park Barracks Museum was another great stop on my museum tour.  A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this museum highlights the early days of English settlement in Sydney. 

 

Hyde Park Barracks Museum



 

Interior View of the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, highlighting the evolution of the building

 

Also in Hyde Park is the stunning ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Memorial.  Originally dedicated to those who gave their lives in the First World War, it has since been rededicated to all members of the Australian and New Zealand Armed Forces. 

 

Interior of ANZAC Memorial

 

Hyde Park or, in my mind, a sign that Harry Potter has been to Sydney

 

 

More photo highlights of the trip

 

Fort Denison

 



New South Wales State Library

 

Royal Botanic Gardens

 

The Zoo

 

View from the Ferry

View from the Ferry

 

 

 

Signing off with these sweet whales that, try as I might, would not fit in my suitcase.  Until next time Sydney!

 



 

 

 

 

  
  

Sydney, part I

So Art had to travel to Sydney for business and I naturally had to go with him.  The city is amazing, I loved how there was a mix of historic and modern buildings in the city center.

The first day I checked out Darling Harbour, where the Sydney Aquarium and the Australian National Maritime Museum are. 

Darling Harbour (Australian National Maritime Museum on the left)

HMAS Vampire, Australian National Maritime Museum

Australian National Maritime Museum

 

 

I also went to Paddy's Market.  It's a huge building with tons of vendors, selling everything from clothes to food.  The Chinese Garden of Friendship was close, so I walked through it as well.  The garden was beautiful and I saw two weddings taking place.

 

Paddy's Market

 

Chinese Garden of Friendship

 

The highlight of my trip was the Sydney Opera House.  I took a guided tour and got to go inside some of the concert halls.  I'm not sure I had ever thought about how the building was constructed, but I was shocked/amazed when I saw it was concrete.  The history of this building is unbelievable.  In 1957, before construction began, estimations for the building were it would take 3 years and $7 million dollars to build.  In reality, it took 14 years and $102 million dollars to complete the Opera House.

 

View of the Sydney Opera House from the Royal Botanic Gardens

Inside of Sydney Opera House

Inside of Sydney Opera House

 

 

I'll have more on Sydney in my next post.  But before signing off, I have a special Sydney edition of Odd Store Names.

 

I spied this odd clothing store in a few shopping centers in Sydney.  The clothes were pretty cute, but were they sewn together, or just glued together?  We'll never know... 

 



A quick update for my fans!

I know it's been a while, so here's a really quick update for September. 

We started the month off in Taipei, Taiwan.  The flight was only about an hour and half from Hong Kong, so you can't beat that!  Taipei is big into street food, there's always someone selling something off a grill on almost every corner at almost any time of day.  We went to a night market that was basically a giant outside food court.  There were some very questionable things being consumed, but we stuck to things we could recognize. 

Yum, meat on a stick!

We went to the Taipei Zoo one day.  Not only was the actual zoo giant, the animal enclosures were all really large.  The highlight of the zoo was, of course, the panda.  We got to his enclosure right when he was getting up for the day, so he was being really active.  He was walking around searching for bamboo to snack on and was climbing on the trees and everything.  Soo cute!

Entrance to the Taipei Zoo

Panda doing his thing, snacking on snacks

Another awesome part of the trip was when we visited the natural sulfur springs.  Getting to the springs is really easy, just jump on the train and in about 20 minutes, you're there!  You can go to a public spring, or go to any number of hotels and rent a private room with a hot tub for a few hours.  This was really relaxing and a nice break from running around all day.

Our sulfur springs hot tub

 

Something we noticed about Taipei that we thought was strange was the fact that there were no trash cans on the streets.  That might not sound strange, but the weird part was there was NO litter on the streets.  Not even after a Friday or Saturday night.  We saw people walking around eating and drinking, but could not figure out what they were doing with their trash.   

 

Signing off with a view of Taipei from a gondola ride at the zoo!