Chinese New Year is a REALLY big event. It has been like going through all the build-up for Christmas all over again. The stores are decorated and the crowds are huge. I thought Costco was always busy but when I went this week, I found out what busy was really all about. I waited in line just to get up to the meat counter. The meat counter here is just as big as any Costco store in the US.

Sunday was (I think) the day that the Kitchen god leaves his place behind your stove and reports to your ancestors in heaven. I am glad that I don't believe in kitchen gods. What pressure that would be. Would I then always have to be happy while I cook? And what about all the times I use convenience foods and just jazz them up a little bit. Would I get reported to the ancestors for being lazy?

The actual New Year celebration doesn't actually begin until this weekend, but just like in America, the holiday parties have been in full swing over the past week or so. Mark's company held their party in a banquet hall. There were 5 or 6 other parties going on at the same time as ours, in different rooms. It was all about the food and drink, congratulations for a job well done over the past year and wishes for a prosperous next year.

The end of the New Year celebrations doesn't actually happen until the end of the month. There is a Lantern Festival marking the end. So enjoy the next 10 days and happy year of the Pig.

Last weekend we traveled to HongKong. Mark was there for business, me for fun. Sometimes being a "trailing spouse" isn't so bad even though I don't like the moniker.

Mark was in the mood for a back to nature weekend and I didn't realize that HongKong had so many natural areas. I was only acquainted with it as a modern bustling city. It is actually a series of mountainous islands. HongKong the city is everything one would expect. It was modern and convenient. English is still commonly spoken but the Chinese undercurrent is very strong. But HongKong is on a mountain and as you went up the mountain, the city remained behind. We walked for a couple of hours around Victoria Peak, a mountain above the city and ran into very few other people. That was surprising since the tram station near the summit was very crowded. Unfortunately, although we could hear the city and the harbour below, the air quality was so bad that our view of the city was very hazy. The next day we went to Lamma island. It was not developed so we could better see what the area was like when there were a series of fishing villages where the glass skyscrapers now stand. Lamma island has two port that are served by ferry service. We landed in one port town, a quaint village really and then hiked over the mountain to the other port. A replica floating fishing village was open for tourists and there were several restaurants, but little else. Except for the electrical generating plant at one port and the cement plant at the other, the island was strongly rural. But even pristine areas do not escape the ravages of the pollution. We could not see across the harbor to the other islands. The sky above us was cloudless and blue but to the north the horizon was just brown haze.
Our hotel was in Kowloon, which is directly across the harbour from the financial district of HongKong. After dark, the lights on all the buildings went on and a magical display of colored lights began. The magnitude of the display was such that you could only appreciate it from afar.

HongKong is not a dirty industrial city but just to the north, heavy industry abounds. I am told that all the large cities are choked by a similar haze. I am glad that Taiwan has actively taken steps to curb some of the air pollution. What we experienced in HongKong was so much worse than anything we say living in the Los Angeles area during the 90's.