Chinese New Year

I just got back from something really fun. I have to tell the whole evening's story, though.

Rachel and I went to see 27 Dresses. What a fun movie! I also bought us tickets to see Sweeney Todd. I'd ordered the tickets online, and paid for a student ticket for Rachel, so I was just a wee bit concerned when she told me on the bus that she'd left her student id at home. Never mind, I thought, we'll pay the difference if necessary.

After 27 Dresses, we went around through the front again, and I gave the attendant our tickets. Suddenly, there were about four guys in suits. One of them said, "We need to see your legal document."
"Oh dear. You see, my daughter left her student ID at home. But she is only fourteen, and she's in Grade 9 at the international school where I teach."
"You have to be eighteen to see this film. It's level three."

Our mouths dropped. After deciding there wasn't anything else for us to see that late, we accepted a refund. We went to the IFC mall to have a hot chocolate. The MTR was basically deserted, which is very unusual. At the IFC mall, we went to Le Petit Paris, which was empty. The waiter asked us to sit at the bar. Once again, I pointed out that my daughter was only fourteen - was that okay? Oh yes, they assured me. So, it seemed to work out that since I couldn't get my fourteen year old into an 18+ movie, I took her to a bar..... We had hot chocolates and tarte aux poires. Quite yummy.

The waiter told me that the place was so deserted because on the eve of Chinese New Year, everyone stays at home with their family. I have never seen anywhere so deserted in my life. On the way home, in the bus, we saw a procession at Stanley, going along the pavement, consisting of about a dozen monks in orange at the front, then about a hundred in brown and black. They knelt on the ground every once in a while, and sang. There was a large group of people behind them.

When we got back to Stanley, there was clearly something going on at the Tin Hau temple, so Rachel and I went to look. There was lion dancing, and tons of incense, and quite a few people bringing fruit, flowers and offerings to the temple. Rachel went home, but I was intrigued by some distant chanting, so I set off by myself for the Kwun Yum temple, up on the hill. It was quite amazing. There I found the monks, and a hundred or so other people. They were singing, some with songbooks, and praying, and waving incense. There was a very old monk in particularly colourful robes who seemed to be leading, in the middle. After the singin, which was beautiful, the lion dancers performed again. At one stage, the main lion dancer was atop a pole, about four metres off the ground. The drums kept going the whole time I was there. There were tons of fruit and flowers laid around the temple, and people lit dozens of incense sticks. The air was thick and heady.

People had wooden boards and cushions which looked as if they'd be used for kneeling, but I'd missed that part. I noticed that I was the only westerner there in the whole group of a couple of hundred people. Nobody seemed to mind. When I left, just after twelve, there were still many people arriving, with bags of goodies to offer. People were greeting each other happily, giving out lai see (small packets with money or chocolates) and there was a large cafe-type building next to the temple which I thought they might be going to use. No sign of any alcohol anywhere - a bit different from New Year's Eve in Australia!

I couldn't help but notice that there were lots of young people there. I've been pondering why there are no gangs of teenagers anywhere I go, in Hong Kong. It is quite safe for Rachel to get a bus home from Central late at night, and today Hugo caught a bus to Ocean Park to meet a friend. It is really safe here. It struck me tonight that maybe the young people here are really involved in their culture. There were plenty of them, in their trendy clothes, at the temple, and they seemed interested and involved. Maybe that safeguards them from wandering aimlessly, looking for trouble. It's such a fun culture. Who wouldn't want to lion dance?

Kung hei fat choy!