Good Idea, at the Time...: Aberdeen and the floating resturant

Yesterday was one of those days that didn't quite click together, I think the energy in Western is off or something because every time I set foot in that area things start to quickly careen downhill. Once it started to rain, I realized me trying to tromp around in cold dank weather was probably not the most productive thing to do on 7 hours of sleep. So I hiked over to East Tsim Tsa Chui and looked the history museum. It was quite the nifty little place, they spent something like $98 million HK to put it together, and it had some pretty fantastic dioramas of Hong Kong folk life and imperial rule (both Chinese and English). The part on the Japanese invasion was interesting as well, I don't know if the Japanese were significant easier on Honk Kong than they were on the north, but it was a fairly mild review of suffering under Japan. The final room on the handover was pretty hilarious, its preceded by the 1960's and there's zero mention of the cultural revolution and Hong Kong's role in receiving refugees (as well as bodies from down the Pearl river, according to some sources). There is, however, a firework laden video about how great it is to be returned to the motherland. I saw this on the same day there was a city protest against China's decision to withhold democracy until at least 2017, when they'll decide if Hong Kong is "ready" again. Brilliant.

Today was much more of an adventure. I grabbed a bus in central for Aberdeen, a small-ish neighborhood on the other side of Hong Kong Island. I was curious about the remaining sampan (small boat fisherman) activity that still goes on in the area, but my main focus was on the cemetery there. Good Grief did I get enough lions out of that place. It made the Happy Valley cemetery look like a kiddie pool. At first I thought it was a Taoist cemetery, but the gate at the very top of the hill (which I didn't see until I was on the bus back) said it was Christian. You could have fooled me, there were incense burners and guardian lions all over the place. I found one cross the entire time I was there, but so many tomb guardians I stopped taking photos of all of them and just focused on the exceptional pieces. What's interesting now is how it compares to the Catholic Happy Valley cemetery, how much license people are given in terms of ancestral worship in local practice. We'll see.

I poked around the harbor a bit, and had an extremely over priced cup of coffee in the incredibly tacky Jumbo floating restaurant, just for the hell of it. Tomorrow I'll put up a couple of photos, it is Klassy with a capital K.

This isn't mine, but you get the idea.

The area was beautiful and so much quieter than the rest of the city, especially Mon Kok. The bay is lined with actual working fishermen, although the idea that they eat what comes out of the river is a little disturbing, considering what goes into the river. I got to stop into a little wet market, all those little legs wiggling and gills flapping.There were even cages of very uncomfortable looking frogs. I don't know if its better or worse that Americans have generally no idea where their food comes from. The other day I saw a PSA illustrating how to avoid Avian flu, and part of it is don't touch your chickens when you buy them. Actual, flapping chickens. I thought that wouldn't be too common, even here, but then I saw a butcher up the street from my hotel with live chickens and, surprisingly, quail. So I guess danger is closer than you think.

Taking the bus there and back was really fun, its nice to get out of the well-worn paths and try something new. I'm starting to look forward to going home, but with only a week left, I don't have time to feel sorry for myself.

The city is starting to gear up for Chinese New Year, the Christmas decorations were taken down last week,and now I'm seeing red lanterns.