Visiting Hong Kong and Macao

Hong Kong and Macao are like sister cities. Today both are part

of China but for many years Hong Kong was an English colony and Macao was a Portuguese colony.  Hong Kong is very prosperous with many huge skyscrapers.    We like to say Hong Kong is where people make money and Macao is where they go to spend it.  Today Macao is the “Las Vegas of Asia.” They have many casinos including sister casinos to the ones in Las Vegas. The ones in Macao are bigger. In fact the Venetian Macao is the largest casino in the world and one of the world’s largest hotels.

During our visit both cities were decorated for Chinese New Year which starts on Jan. 31. It is a celebration that goes on for many days and it like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter all rolled into one.  Each year is represented by one of 12 animals. The New Year will be the Year of the Horse. People born in the Year of the Horse are said to be warm hearted, intelligent and full of energy. Even though they use our western calendar, according to the ancient Chinese calendar it is the year 4712. Emperor Huang-di invented the calendar in 2637 BC.

“Kung hei fat choy” is the traditional New Year greeting, it means,

“Wishing you success and prosperity.”  To get ready for New Year’s people go to the Flower Market.  Flowers are an important part of Chinese New Year and instead of a Christmas tree they have a small tangerine tree. Tangerines are a symbol of good luck because the word for tangerine in Chinese has the same sound as "luck."  Everything has a special meaning.  Chinese New Year’s Eve is like our Thanksgiving.  The whole family gets together for a huge meal but fish is the most important food because the Chinese word for fish sounds like the word for abundance.  This is the time it is traditional to give children red envelopes with money inside.  These are called lai see envelopes which means “lucky.” There are many special celebrations with the start of the new year including the Lion Dance, parades and fireworks. 

There are always so many things to do in Hong Kong.  After a long flight to Asia from the United States we like to go for a walk in the park and beautiful Hong Kong Park was close to our hotel. The park has a tea museum, ponds, an aviary, fountains and other interesting things. 

It is easy to travel between Hong Kong and Macao. We took a fast ferry from Hong Kong and we were in Macao in one hour. There are many ferries every day.  The ferry is a lot like an airplane with food service and televisions to watch.  It is not possible to walk outside while the ferry is moving. 

In Macao we stayed at a small hotel that was part of a college that prepares students to work in hotels and restaurants. The hotel is called a pousada which is a Portuguese word for small hotel. It had little inside patios with Portuguese tile decorations. While we were there we learned to make a Macanese recipe called Shrimp and Rice Vermicelli Soup. Macanese food is a combination of Macao and Portuguese food.  They say it is Portuguese cooking methods using Asian ingredients. Chef John told us it is important to taste-test.  If it is too fishy then just add water. And, if you like hot spicy food, then just add a bit more red peppers. We like learning about different cultures.

Gung hi fat choy! Happy Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is like our Christmas, New Year, and birthday celebrations all rolled into one. Even though the people in Hong Kong use our western calendar, everyone knows that January 23 is the start of the Year of the Dragon, 4710! Also, people in Hong Kong, which is part of China, know their birth sign. People born in the Year of the Dragon are thought to be interested in the world around them and are said to be brave and love life. A lot of the decorations for Chinese New Year are red because red is a symbol of happiness and good luck.

In Chinese culture things often have more than one meaning. In the Marriott Hotel where we stayed there were no numbers with “4” in them so there is no 4th floor, no 14th floor! The number four in the Chinese language sounds very similar to the word for “death” so they don’t like the number four. However, the Marriott is an American chain hotel so there is no Floor 13 because Americans think 13 is an unlucky number.

Several islands make up Hong Kong. Most parts are very crowded. They have many high-rise apartment buildings with 40 stories high or more. But one of Hong Kong’s islands, Lantau Island, is called “The Lung of Hong Kong” because it is mainly tree covered. There are some huge high-rise buildings in one area but mostly it is covered with trees. One of the reasons we stayed on the island was to visit the largest sitting bronze Buddha. The Buddha with the lotus flower base upon which he is sitting is over 100 feet high. Buddha is holding one hand out to give the blessing of fearlessness. His other hand points down giving the blessing of wisdom. The Buddha is on top of a hill and many people take a trail up the hill. It takes about three hours. However, they have a cable car that has a great view when it is not cloudy and it only takes 25 minutes. We took the cable car. From the hilltop there are 240 steps up the Buddha. Near the Buddha is the Po Lin Monastery. Many people in Asia belong to the Buddhist religion based on the teachings of Buddha. The monastery is very colorful. People bring offerings of flowers and fruit that they put in front of the statue. While we were there a young girl was saying her prayers but first she had lit an incense stick as an offering. It smelled very nice. In some religions people light candles.

We also visited the Tai O fishing village which is similar to the way people lived on Hong Kong a couple hundred years ago. Today Hong Kong is very modern except for a few traditional fishing villages. In the fishing village we walked through the fish market where people were buying fresh fish. There was also a lot of dried fish. Before people had electricity and refrigerators drying fish was the best way to save it. All they had to do was to add water to the fish and they could make soup or other meals from the fish. We like to try new foods. At our hotel they had a special soup on the menu - Seahorse Soup. The broth was very light tasting but it was a bit strange to see the seahorse floating in our soup! There are so many new things to see and to experience when we travel.

Learning About Chinese Culture

Kung hei fat choy! That is the way we wish people “Happy Chinese New Year.” Chinese New Year is like our Christmas, New Year, and birthday celebrations all rolled into one. Our calendar is based on the sun whereas the Chinese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. Even though they use our western calendar, everyone in Hong Kong knows it is the Year of the Tiger, 4708! This year Chinese New Year is February 14, Valentine’s Day. They say it is a day of Double Happiness.

We always learn many interesting things when we are in Hong Kong. We stayed at the InterContinental Hotel and each morning we got up early – before daybreak and met Master William Ng by the outdoor swimming pool to do Tai Chi. We like doing Tai Chi. It is an exercise with slow-moving, ballet-like movements designed to promote good physical and mental health. First we would bow and greet Master William and then do breathing exercises followed by Tai Chi movements. The movements have names that are associated with nature like Flying Eagle, Parting the Clouds, and Rowing in the Middle of the Ocean. When the exercises were finished we meditated by closing our eyes and imaging a waterfalls slowly pouring down on our head washing away all our aches, pains, and troubled thoughts. We like Tai Chi better than exercises that leave us sweaty! When we were done with Tai Chi we felt cool, calm, refreshed and energized ready to enjoy Hong Kong, one of the most modern and tourist friendly cities in the world.

Even though the city is very modern there are many ways to learn about traditional Chinese culture. The Hong Kong Tourist Board offers free classes for visitors. We signed up for Chinese Cake-making Class. We went to the Wing Wah Cake Shop where Master Chiu and Master Fung taught us to make Wife Cakes. We thought that Wife Cakes were made by wives but we learned that is not the case. It seems that long ago a wife sold herself as a servant to get money to pay for medical treatments for her father-in-law. Her husband was sad but impressed by her sacrifice he created Wife Cakes and sold them in the market. They were very popular so he was able to earn enough money to buy back his wife. We think everyone lived happy ever after.

The skyscrapers of Hong Kong line both sides of Victoria Harbor. The harbor is one of the best in the world so it is very busy. About 10,000 boats use the harbor every day. While most of the boats are very modern we went for a sail on a traditional boat called a junk. The ride is also offered by the Hong Kong Tourist Board. Junks are wooden boats with colorful red sails that were used by Chinese fisherman. The boat named Duk Ling is the last authentic sailing junk in Hong Kong. On the junk we could see all the tall buildings of Hong Kong. The average tall building is 40 stories and each level has an average of ten apartments with each apartment averaging four occupants. Can you figure out how many people live in a typical apartment building?

There are so many interesting things to learn. We wish we had more time in Hong Kong so we could learn more about Chinese culture.

Ni hao from Hong Kong

Ni hao! That’s how we say "hello" in Hong Kong. It sounds like "knee how." Many people speak English because Hong Kong was an English colony just like the United States. In 1997 it became part of China, again. Hong Kong is a city of skyscrapers and can be expensive but there are many free things to do. One free place to visit is the Law Uk Folk Museum, which is a 200-year-old house. It gave us an idea what life was like in Hong Kong before it became one of the most modern cities in the world. The original owner, whose last name was Law, moved to the area and built the house in the 1700s when the area was farmland. They would be surprised to see all the tall buildings surrounding their house today. We thought it was interesting that they had some things similar to what we have today like a walker with wheels for toddlers and a cradle hanging from the ceiling that they could swing gently to rock the baby to sleep. There must have been a lot of mosquitoes because they had mosquito netting around the bed. Even though the city is one of tall buildings they have some very nice parks. One of our favorites is Hong Kong Park, which has an aviary, a lily pond, and several waterfalls.

To learn more about life in Hong Kong we went to the Hong Kong Museum of History. On Wednesdays most of the museums are free. We were surprised to learn that before Columbus sailed to America, a Chinese captain, Zheng He, led seven voyages that made it all the way to the Red Sea near Egypt. His ships were much bigger than any other ship at that time. They were called Treasure Ships because they brought back many interesting items. The amazing Treasure Ships were over 400 feet long and 165 feet wide. Zheng’s voyage consisted of 62 vessels and 27,800 sailors. Columbus sailed with three small ships, the largest, the Santa Maria was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide and his entire crew numbered 90. I wonder how the world would be different if the Chinese had "discovered" America. For several reasons after the death of Zheng He the Chinese stopped exploring. The museum had many interesting things to see and learn about Chinese culture. Next to the History Museum is the Science Museum where there were many children enjoying the hands on exhibits. We could have been in any science museum in the United States.

One day we took a free tour called Cantonese Opera Appreciation Class. Cantonese opera is unique Chinese art form that started more than 700 years ago. We learned that the voices are so high pitched because it made it easier for people to hear them in the time before microphones. We love the artistic face makeup on the actors and learned that it made it possible for people in the back of the crowds to see facial expressions. The opera groups would travel by boat from village to village. Thousands of people would come to see their performances.

We love Chinese food, especially dim sum, which means "little hearts." They come in such small portions so we can try many different kinds. Chef Wah at the Peninsula Hotel taught us how to make dim sum. We found making the neat little packages of dim sum more difficult than it looks. Like everything else it takes practice. Chef Wah makes 400 a day and has been doing it for many years. Hong Kong is a amazing with many skyscrapers but it is still possible to experience the heritage of the the people.

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

Kung hei fat choy! Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is an exciting time in Hong Kong. It is like our Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year celebrations all rolled into one. Our calendar is based on the sun whereas the Chinese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. Even though they use our western calendar, everyone in Hong Kong knows it is in the Chinese calendar. It is cool because the years have animal names. When many people consider the year to be 2006 the Chinese people know it is 4704, the Year of the Dog; February 18, 2007 will be New Year’s Day 4705 the Year of the Boar.

Hong Kong is a city of modern skyscrapers. Many of the buildings have huge neon holiday decorations on the entire side that faces the water. Some of the buildings are 30 stories high!

"Kung hei fat choy" is the traditional New Year greeting; it means, "Wishing you success and prosperity." To get ready for the New Year people go to the Flower Market. While we were shopping in the Flower Market we made friends with Vivian Tse (5 years old) and her sister Katie (3 years old). They both speak English. Like many parents in Hong Kong, they send their children to English language preschool because they feel it is necessary to know both Chinese and English. Flowers are an important part of Chinese New Year. We are standing with our new friends in front of tangerine trees. The tangerine tree can be compared with our Christmas tree. Tangerines are a symbol of good luck because the word for tangerine in Chinese has the same sound as the Chinese word for "luck." Everything has a special meaning. The most common flower for Chinese New Year’s is the narcissus. If it blossoms on New Year’s day, it is believed to indicate good fortune.

Lunar New Year’s Eve is a like our Thanksgiving. The whole family gets together for a huge meal but fish is the most important food because the Chinese word for fish sounds like the word for abundance. This is the time it is traditional to give children red envelopes with money inside. These are called lai see envelopes which means "lucky."

New Year’s morning, the Langham Hotel had a Lion Dance in the lobby to bring good luck and happiness in the New Year. The Lion (two people in a lion costume) danced around to the beat of the drums and clanging of the symbols. In the lobby pieces of lettuce were hanging from the high ceiling, lettuce sounds like money in Chinese. The dragon had to stand on his back legs and jump up to reach it. The Lion Dance was very loud, exciting, and included some acrobatic movements. The Lion Dance has been popular for over 1000 years.

At night we went to the parade where there were performers doing dance routines and a lot of floats, even one from Las Vegas, and one from Disney Land. The newest Disney Land will opened in 2006. The parade was very colorful and exciting. The next night we joined thousands of people along the waterfront to watch the amazing fireworks. We think New Year’s is an exciting time in everyone’s country.