Busy Busy Bloggers

It's been quite the whirlwind past few weeks for us. First, Marc had a business trip to Shanghai and I went with him to do some sightseeing while he was working hard. Then, when we got back, we had one day in Hong Kong to unpack, get laundry done, repack and, oh yea, attend Mid-Autumn Festivities. Then, we went to Thailand for a vacation. We went to Ko Tao, a laid-back island known for its world class diving, for the first 2 days. Then, we went to Ko Samui where we went elephant trekking and took a side trip to Ang Thong National Park (where The Beach was filmed). Finally, we spent a whirlwind day in Bangkok.

I've got a ton of stories from Shanghai and Thailand so I'll break them up so you don't get overwhelmed. The pictures, however, are another story. I know many of you are patiently waiting for them, but Mr. Trigger Finger over here took over 400 pictures of Shanghai and Thailand, so I'm having to weed through those and delete a gaggle of pictures, plus caption them all. Any of you wondering what to get us for Christmas might want to think about a bigger memory card for our camera, I'm just saying...

You may be wondering why we took 2 trips so close to each other. The Shanghai trip was business, of course, but Thailand was a real vacation. See, these Hong Kong people are smart, they get the British Christian holidays as well as the Chinese holidays. In total, there are about 20 public holidays! September 25th was Mid-Autumn Festival (although in reality it lasts for 2 weeks) and Marc got Wednesday, the Day after Mid-Autumn Festival, off. Then, another public holiday, National Day (for China) fell on the next Monday, October 1st. So, if he just took 2 vacation days (Thursday and Friday), then he had a 6 day weekend!

During Mid-Autumn Festival, according to the Hong Kong Culture and Tourism Board, "Hong Kong pays homage to the Harvest Moon with a spectacular 15-day Mid-Autumn Lantern Celebration filled with excitement and colour as families and friends gather to eat mooncakes and bask in the glow of the golden orb. This heart-warming celebration is a wonderful blend of ancient Chinese fable, beautifully crafted lanterns, scrumptious food and fun for everyone."

For about a month prior, everyone puts out lanterns in storefronts and even our apartment lobby and gym had a dozen lanterns up. We couldn't lag behind, so I went to the Chinese store and pointed/haggled with the old Chinese lady to get these:

The middle one is a goldfish and the others are just pink and orange lanterns. They even came with little battery powered lights but the battery ran out because I forgot to turn them off one night before going to bed. Hey, at least they weren't lit by candles like the traditional lanterns!

When we got back from Shanghai, there were several Mid-Autumn Festival activities going on, even though the main Hong Kong carnival would occur when we were in Thailand. Since we were pressed on time, we just went to the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance. The residents of Tai Hang (a section of town on Hong Kong island) prepare a 67 meter long dragon and stick thousands of incense sticks on it, parading it through the streets of their neighborhood. I took a video:

It was awesome, our first Chinese Festival! Unfortunately, we couldn't take really good pictures because every single person in Hong Kong was in Tai Hang taking pictures of the same thing. We are in an Asian country after all and if it moves, you must take a picture of it. Heck, even if it doesn't move, you take a picture of it while posing in front of it making the peace sign with your fingers.

Then, we went to Victoria Park where the whole park was set up for the Mid-Autumn Festival carnival the next day. There were thousands of lanterns strung up and big lantern scenes depicting different Chinese customs and minorities. The lantern scenes were really elaborate and it made me wish that we could stay and go to the carnival but as it turned out, we had an awesome time in Thailand. Maybe if we are around next year, we'll go see what all the fuss is about. I'm betting they have delicious carnival food like deep-fried fish heads and play games like Pin the Tail on the Gweilo.*

*Gweilo - Chinese slang for a Western male, translates literally as ghost (or pale) fellow, but implies a ghost or devil. Once a derogatory or vulgar term, referring to a Westerner's pale skin, it is not a generic expression devoid of denigration. Think "gringo" but nicer.