  | | Monday, January 26
| | Namaste | |
| | Hey all, Bruce, Patti and I are all heading out to Kathmandu (!!) tomorrow morning, so Asialand will be on a slight hiatus. We'll be back next week with lots of pictures and stories of adventure. See you then. PS: Welcome to the world, baby Massimo! | | Thursday, January 22
| | Happy Lunar New Year! | |
| | Super cute, right? But wait, check out their socks! | |
| | Pretty snazzy. We met the Wing Wing girls as we were trolling the city with the rest of the New Year's revelers. | |
| | We made a brief attempt to get into the all-night flower market, but turned back after seeing the huge sea of humanity trying to do the same. | |
| | Joe and Naomi took good care of us at a dee-lish New Year's dinner--they even carefully inspected the food for errant animal parts! | | Tuesday, January 20
| | Kung Hei Fat Choi! | |
| | Hong Kong has been setting off fireworks every night for the past week in anticipation of Chinese New Year, which arrives on Thursday! OK my photo sucks, but YOU try to snap a photo while dangling precariously from a 27th story window! The things I do for you people!! Where is the gratitude? The fireworks are set off from 18 of the city's most famous skyscrapers. It all culminates in what is said to be a spectacular fireworks extravaganza this Friday night--which my mother (who arrives Thursday!) will be here to witness, YAY! The city is absolutely teeming with holiday merriment—kind of like Christmas, but without the Baby Jesus and crass commercialism. In fact, the traditional gift is cold, hard cash in a red envelope. And here's a neat fact you single-people readers might like to know, couples are obligated to give cash to their single friends at lunar new year's--but don't expect any red envelopes from me...Nevertheless, if you happen to be walking through Chinatown in the next few days, remember to say "Kung Hei Fat Choi," they'll know what you mean. By the way...there are over a billion people in China, but apparently, none of them ever have sex. So says Chinese government controlled CCTV, who balked at airing the insipid NBC TV show Friends: "I had thought the show focused on friendship, but after a careful preview, I found each episode had something to do with sex," Qin Mingxin of China Central Television's entertainment unit said. "The attitudes of the six close-knit young friends cannot be generally accepted by Chinese audiences yet."
It's probably good news, can you imagine a billion people with a Jennifer Aniston/Rachel shag haircut? Not the case in swingin' Hong Kong when it comes to sex, however, which frequently exhibits a more, shall we say, sophisticated approach to the harsh realities involved in the transaction. Just take a look at the personals...
Women Seeking Men: "I am pretty woman seeking money. You are well-to-do guy seeking pretty women. We are both civilized and looking for fair deal."
Sounds like the kind of girl you want to bring home to mom, no? I think she's found her match with this guy:
Men Seeking Women: "Horny French-Italian man looking for executive ladies." Period. Well, there's your girl, Cassanova. | | Thursday, January 15 | |
| | Things are getting festive as Chinese New Year approaches... | |
| | The streets are lined with Mandarin trees... | |
| | And everywhere you look is red... | |
| | ...Red... | |
| | ...RED!
The custom of burning paper at Chinese New Year is a charming one. In preparation for the celebration of the lunar new year, Chinese burn paper versions of clothes, houses, even bank notes as a way of providing gifts to ancestors and various gods in the afterlife. The custom dates back to something like 700 BC, and it's an admirable way to show respect for one's heritage. But setting fires in the stairwells of high rise apartment buildings is another matter entirely! That's why I was surprised to here the fire alarm go off in the middle of the day as I was sitting at my desk. Assuming it was a jammed elevator or some sort of drill, I ignored it for a while. But when the loud, grating buzzing did not cease, I began to wonder if I should check it out. I do live on the 27th floor afterall. I opened my door and was greeted with the unmistakable smell of smoke. Sedra sprang into full-on Lassie mode, jumping and barking and wining at the same time. She sensed danger! Which freaked me out even more. My knees shaking thinking I was caught up in some 70's disaster flick, I grabbed my purse, leashed her up and dashed out into the hallway. I opened the door to the stairwell and faced a fog of smoke. I rapidly began a descent nevertheless. There were flecks of ash in the air, moreso the lower I got. I began to suspect the source of the smoke was below me. I heard what sounded like a child's wail and then really started to freak out. But I kept going, courageous Sedra leading the way! I turned the corner a couple flights down and came face to face with the source of the wailing--a cat, perched on the shoulder of a man speaking Cantonese into a cell phone. He turned to me and read the look of panic on my face. He said, "It's paper burning, it's ok." "What?!" I shrieked, as I was not so familiar with the practice. He tilted his head in the direction of the landing on the floor below. I followed his gaze and saw a woman manning a glowing pyre of burning papers in a tin container. She looked at me through a haze of smoke and said, "It's ok, it's paper, Chinese New Year." Then added as an afterthought, "Are you going downstairs? Would you like to pass?" No, lady. I just thought the house was on fire, that's all. I took the elevator down the rest of the way to the lobby and told the doormen the source of the fire alarm. They said they knew, adding "It's ok, it's paper, Chinese New Year."
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