Hong Kong

So anyway…

It’s another hot and humid day in SP. Storm clouds are gathering in the northeast, where they’ll rumble around for hours, before dumping their load on us sometime tonight. Probably about tea time, when we’re thinking of going out on the bike.

We’re not alone in the house anymore. We have a maid. Well ok, strictly speaking she’s Thobrani and Sharifah’s maid, but since they don’t live here, she’s effectively our maid. This is all good, you may be thinking. But since we neither need nor want a maid, and since this means that technically we’re no longer house sitting, we’re now wondering how long we’ll be here. Not that we’re being forced to leave or anything – quite the opposite – just that there doesn’t seem any point staying when we’re no longer contributing.

But back to Hong Kong…

It’s our first time here, but most of you have probably stopped over at some point. Ten days probably isn’t long enough to gain any earth-shattering insights about the place, so this is really just an excuse to post some photos.

The Mong Kok bird markets…


…are just around the corner from the flower markets…



…which are just down the road from the goldfish markets.

So yeah… it’s a pretty compact place. Which is good. Tourist-wise.

And bad. Congestion-wise.

In March, most days are like this.



Or this.

But if you’re lucky, you’ll get one like this.



Or this.

The 300,000 or so Indonesian and Filipino maids mostly hang out on the streets on their days off.



Or anywhere out of the rain really.

While some of the teenagers they look after, get up to some pretty… unusual stuff.



But everyone needs a hobby.



They take other things pretty seriously here too. Like hygiene.



And shopping.

Music.



Bonsai anyone?



Hopefully you guys have a decent broadband connection, because we ended up with a ton of photos. Even in the miserable cold and gray skies, it’s an incredibly photogenic place.

Although you wouldn’t want to drive there.



But the public transport is fantastic, so mostly you don’t need to.



There are even quiet places you can escape the crowds.

But you can never really escape the skyscrapers.

They are what they are.



And seem a part of everything that goes on. Public…



…or private.



And even though the winter weather is miserable (and seemingly most of the population), the hotel room cramped, noisy and freezing cold, it’s still a great place to visit.

But we have another appointment with Malaysia, where both the weather and the smiles are warm...

The Big Day Out

The bus pulls up outside the school. Packing it with children and food will relieve some of the tension which has built up in the last half an hour. The Major has chucked a bit of a tanty over what the teachers are wearing, so we’re all looking at each other and rolling our eyes, while he stomps around the playground having a vent at anyone unlucky enough to be in range.

This is all pretty normal, so no one is fazed, and pretty soon we’re on our way to Taiping. It’s grey and drizzling, but this is also normal (Taiping is the wettest town in Malaysia), and will clear up later in the morning. However it’s a bit odd to be sitting with a bunch of rowdy teachers up the front of a school bus, with a bunch of well-behaved kids minding their own business down the back. Positively weird.



In fact, apart from the odd toilet situation, today will be almost completely uneventful. So completely unlike any school trip either of us can remember, we wonder why anyone would get too stressed about it. The kids aren’t noisy, they don’t fight with each other, they don’t taunt the animals, they don’t taunt the public, they don’t chuck stuff around the bus, at each other or passing motorists, they don’t wander off on their own, they don’t get busted smoking weed or having sex in the loos, they don’t deface public property, they don’t whine, or sit around sulking all day texting their boyfriends. Yes they’re special needs, but c’mon… Compared to normal kids they’re little angels.



The teachers on the other hand…

Tickets are free for everyone, part of the zoo’s yearly public service. And after filing off the bus, through the turnstiles and onto the ride, military style, we hurtle around the zoo, “safari style”, for about half an hour.

“Hey look, was that a …?” “Check out the…” “I’m sure I saw a …” Lion, tiger, zebra, leopard, elephant, rhino, chimpanzee, camel, cassowary, ostrich, python… it’s all a blur. And so we get off and wander around, “homo-erectus style”, instead.

Lucas promises not to take photos of anyone standing next to a gorilla, but when Aleif decides he wants to imitate one…

Some of the crowd appreciate his talent.

Some don’t.

A monkey.

Another monkey.

After the obligatory class photo, we slowly make our way back to the bus. It’s obviously lunch time, as the teachers are all grumbling about being hungry.

But this isn’t just any day out, it’s a Malaysian day out. Which means unpacking and distributing enough food to feed an average sized town.

The irrepressible Aleif. Fed and watered.

Threseni. Four feet of cuteness.

No day out would be complete without a trip to the museum, although at least one of us admits to being, on the whole, bored senseless by them.

This little guy seems to be pointing out that it's time to go. No wait... he's just obsessed with his watch.

Selemat jalanTaiping…

Thaipusam

People do some pretty wacky stuff during a full moon. You can read all about Thaipusam here.



Walking through the crowded streets of normally sleepy Sungai Petani, we’re a bit surprised there are so many people here. Let alone Indians (or Sri Lankans for that matter – we can never tell the difference).



Possibly there are a few ring-ins up for the weekend; you can get away with more if you’re splitting town in a day or two.



Some of the… whatever you call the guys getting the piercings… devotees? are playing it pretty cool.



Yet with others you can see the pain on their faces, and they seem to be struggling to keep it together.



Can’t say we’re seeing much dancing, or trancing.



Some give it a go, but the crowd makes it pretty difficult. It’s a wonder no one gets whacked by one of these spinning…. kavadi things.



The pain endured is supposedly all about earning merit, but to us, for some of these pincushions it seems to be a bit of an ego trip. Like the harder they strain against the ropes, the more they’re demonstrating their…. what? Balls? Interestingly there’s also a lot of swaggering going on by the general male population. And the girls are all dressed to kill.



You make up your own minds, but to us Hindu culture all seems to boil down to one thing.



You see it in their films. You see it in their temples. You see it in their festivals. It’s all about sex. No wonder the Indian population has topped a billion.



There’s nothing titillating about the piercings though. That’s a big piece of metal to be dragging through your cheeks.



Oh well. Til next year then…