For once, we found our destination without complication. Actually, getting lost would have required some skill. We rode the MTR for three stops. We looked out the window at the station. We saw the pagoda.
Inside: crocodile!
We followed the map and five minutes later ended up here. In someone's driveway. We realized we must not have been following the map correctly. So we turned around to face the lady waving and shouting and gesturing in the correct direction.
A pond!
The Old Well. Filled with nasty water and litter. Also, the grate lifts open, but we threw pebbles in and determined that the water wasn't very deep. Probably because people keep throwing pebbles in.
Then we crossed a grassy field--had forgotten what that felt like--to arrive at the shrine of the Earth god. The little table in front held lots of awesome little statues.
Like this one.
Off to the side we discovered a pile of trash containing several broken heads and headless bodies, cups filled with ashes and incense, colorful ceramic shards, red cardboard plaques with Chinese characters, and a disgruntled bee.After the bee settled down we rummaged for souvenirs. One of my friends found me what looks like a snowglobe minus the water and glitter. Inside are a gold plastic buddha sitting on a lotus and tiny plastic quarters (even inscribed with "E Pluribus Unum") and British coins of some sort. A friend told me the characters on the outside of the globe say something about a nice person having a happy life. I can't remember exactly.
Later, walking towards some ancestral halls, we spotted a ribbon-covered car containing a bride and groom in traditional wedding clothes. So we followed it around and for several minutes stood awkwardly in their driveway debating whether or not to ask for a photograph. We were spotted by one of the guests, who welcomed us closer and asked the groom, who said yes. The bride was busy inside the house. However, because I need some photographs to share when I return, you'll have to content yourself with this one, where the groom is that red and gold speck in the background.
Next we turned around and went to the traditional market behind us. We bought fried noodles, chicken congee (it's like porridge), and red bean soup. The lady couldn't speak any English, but my friends could speak some Chinese-- so we managed to get three spoons for the congee instead of three bowls of congee. She wondered about the dirty souvenirs we'd found and we tried explaining they'd been thrown away next to the shrine. I'm not sure if she understood, but she gave us a plastic bag to keep them in. She kept talking, but I understood only two words of the conversation--the word for "England" (was I from England?) and "America" (no, she's from America). She kept asking which state I came from, maybe hoping I'd say the name of someplace she knew. Sometimes she'd look straight at me when she asked a question, and I thought maybe if I concentrated hard enough I'd suddenly understand. Nope. We wanted our picture taken with her, but she absolutely refused. Also, she likes the Korean dramas.
I remembered to photograph the delicious red bean soup just in time!
This was the door inside one of the study halls, I think. So many of the doors along the trail had these awesome guards painted on them.
Here is the view from the public washroom. There were artificial birds hanging from the ceiling and sparkling clean sinks. And, as you can see, a circular entranceway. All in all, quite impressive.
In the shop across from the restrooms: dried snakes!
Also, dried turtles and a ceiling fan.
Inside the temple, the next stop on the heritage trail. It looked like the garbage bags contained lots and lots of paper. In this room there were also two paintings of a utopia, several bicycles, and a heap of stuff. And I'm not just using "stuff" because I can't remember the contents of the pile; this stuff epitomized "stuff." Like if someone had asked me, "What does the word, 'stuff' mean?" I could have turned and pointed.
We walked and walked some more, past the bright white trees I would have touched if I hadn't noticed the pesticide warning sign--it didn't contain any amusing illustrations, so it would have been easy to overlook. Then up a long hill to the gallery.
The gallery was converted from the former police station. It contained a bed, baby high-chair, wedding headress, darts for use in martial arts, Oh! And did you know people used to gamble on cricket fights? At first I saw the word "cricket" and thought England, but that didn't make sense with what I was looking at: tiny ceramic bowls (one with a cricket painted inside), a few wispy feathers attached to a stick, and several wooden containers.
The view from outside the gallery. All those cement structures along the left are tombs. That long gray line in the background is train tracks. And those pointy triangles way way in the back are mountains.
You mean it's not a crocodile after all?? Bummer.
Dragons are cool too, though.
I suppose.
We finished up at a time too early for dinner. So we continued the adventure!
To Ching Chung Koon!
This restaurant served us particularly small sushi, but salmon in any quantity is fine by me.
We also ordered this stew-type thing with an egg plopped on top. And I learned the most awesomely fantastic way to break apart wooden chopsticks.
We concluded the evening with a trip to the Park N Shop. That red and white rectangular stack in the background consists of tiny bottles of yogurt. Only I'm not convinced it's real yogurt, because clearly they don't need to be refrigerated.
Later, walking towards some ancestral halls, we spotted a ribbon-covered car containing a bride and groom in traditional wedding clothes. So we followed it around and for several minutes stood awkwardly in their driveway debating whether or not to ask for a photograph. We were spotted by one of the guests, who welcomed us closer and asked the groom, who said yes. The bride was busy inside the house. However, because I need some photographs to share when I return, you'll have to content yourself with this one, where the groom is that red and gold speck in the background.
Next we turned around and went to the traditional market behind us. We bought fried noodles, chicken congee (it's like porridge), and red bean soup. The lady couldn't speak any English, but my friends could speak some Chinese-- so we managed to get three spoons for the congee instead of three bowls of congee. She wondered about the dirty souvenirs we'd found and we tried explaining they'd been thrown away next to the shrine. I'm not sure if she understood, but she gave us a plastic bag to keep them in. She kept talking, but I understood only two words of the conversation--the word for "England" (was I from England?) and "America" (no, she's from America). She kept asking which state I came from, maybe hoping I'd say the name of someplace she knew. Sometimes she'd look straight at me when she asked a question, and I thought maybe if I concentrated hard enough I'd suddenly understand. Nope. We wanted our picture taken with her, but she absolutely refused. Also, she likes the Korean dramas.
I remembered to photograph the delicious red bean soup just in time!
This was the door inside one of the study halls, I think. So many of the doors along the trail had these awesome guards painted on them.
Here is the view from the public washroom. There were artificial birds hanging from the ceiling and sparkling clean sinks. And, as you can see, a circular entranceway. All in all, quite impressive.
In the shop across from the restrooms: dried snakes!Also, dried turtles and a ceiling fan.
Inside the temple, the next stop on the heritage trail. It looked like the garbage bags contained lots and lots of paper. In this room there were also two paintings of a utopia, several bicycles, and a heap of stuff. And I'm not just using "stuff" because I can't remember the contents of the pile; this stuff epitomized "stuff." Like if someone had asked me, "What does the word, 'stuff' mean?" I could have turned and pointed.
We walked and walked some more, past the bright white trees I would have touched if I hadn't noticed the pesticide warning sign--it didn't contain any amusing illustrations, so it would have been easy to overlook. Then up a long hill to the gallery.
The gallery was converted from the former police station. It contained a bed, baby high-chair, wedding headress, darts for use in martial arts, Oh! And did you know people used to gamble on cricket fights? At first I saw the word "cricket" and thought England, but that didn't make sense with what I was looking at: tiny ceramic bowls (one with a cricket painted inside), a few wispy feathers attached to a stick, and several wooden containers.
The view from outside the gallery. All those cement structures along the left are tombs. That long gray line in the background is train tracks. And those pointy triangles way way in the back are mountains.
You mean it's not a crocodile after all?? Bummer.Dragons are cool too, though.
I suppose.
We finished up at a time too early for dinner. So we continued the adventure!To Ching Chung Koon!
Remember, remember? That temple in Tuen Mun I tried finding ages ago! It's really easy to find if you take the light rail (and it would have been easier if we hadn't missed our stop. luckily the stations are spaced close enough together that we could just follow the tracks. sort of. because at first when we tried following the tracks we became trapped in a garden, but after we'd backtracked and crossed to the other side of the tracks we were ok). The light rail has truly amazing "mind the gap" stickers on its windows. It looks like the stick figure is leaping into the gap. Maybe belly flopping. The picture came out dark and blurry, though. Also, the light rail is amazing because in addition to regular seats it has semi-seats--these slanted boards that you can sort of sit/stand against to rest a little while not consuming as much space as if you were sitting in a genuine yello plastic seat.
Ching Chung Koon temple contained:
Ching Chung Koon temple contained:
- bonsai trees with (relatively) large ceramic figures. some creepy. some friendly
- a tree filled with birds. really really really loud birds
- the miniature model of utopia featured above
- a man who wouldn't allow me to accidentally squeeze past a statue into a roped off area (short story short, I didn't see the ropes)
We tried to find the restaurant with the large sushi that I'd eaten at before.
After some wandering and map-staring and calling of people...we found it! Quite on accident, however, because the person I called was giving me directions to a different sushi place--the one with genuinely large sushi--not the one I'd been to before that I thought was the large sushi place but I guess might only be medium sized. Anyway, the hostess couldn't tell us how long the wait was and after learning we were not number 88, but 98, we walked five paces to the left to another sushi place.
After some wandering and map-staring and calling of people...we found it! Quite on accident, however, because the person I called was giving me directions to a different sushi place--the one with genuinely large sushi--not the one I'd been to before that I thought was the large sushi place but I guess might only be medium sized. Anyway, the hostess couldn't tell us how long the wait was and after learning we were not number 88, but 98, we walked five paces to the left to another sushi place.
This restaurant served us particularly small sushi, but salmon in any quantity is fine by me.We also ordered this stew-type thing with an egg plopped on top. And I learned the most awesomely fantastic way to break apart wooden chopsticks.
We concluded the evening with a trip to the Park N Shop. That red and white rectangular stack in the background consists of tiny bottles of yogurt. Only I'm not convinced it's real yogurt, because clearly they don't need to be refrigerated.
No comments:
Post a Comment