I still think Hong Kong is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It's really a few islands sitting on a beautiful harbor with many other islands out in the distance. Lush tropical mountains tower behind and around it. Boats flow in and out and around the harbor in a beautiful zen-like way. From up high in a building you watch this zen movement every day and it's absolutely mesmerizing and calming. It's actually one of my favorite activities here, just sitting up high, having jasmine tea, and watching the boats down in the harbor.
The mass of people that live here in this small space is one of the most dense in the world. I think a colleague of Econ Man said it was about 18 million people. Whether this is correct or not I don't know, but it's still more people in one city than live in the Southern California region. I think that's about 16 million people. But for a dense Asian city it's really just amazing.
Hong Kong also has one of the largest ports in the world. The port is visible from the city and almost engulfs it. It's elegant in its continuity of freighters and boxed and cranes that reach into the sky like steel skeletons of space age robotic creatures.
Today, our last day in Hong Kong, we wanted to take the ferry across from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. As a former jeweler, I was in search of a good deal on real jade. I'd done my research and was hunting down some reputable dealers that tourists wouldn't normally frequent, so the prices would be better. Avoiding the Jade Market altogether (it's for tourists and full of fakes) I headed to a street just beyond it, where bathroom-sized store fronts welcome you in Mandarin. They put their best wares in the front window--those that cost the most. Econ Man and I had already decided on a firm price, given quality sought and the exchange rate. I knew what I was looking for, I just had to seek it out. I parused through a few shops, but alighted on one where I found a few bangles I liked.
So, there's a lot to know about jade--in particular, Jadeite, the rarer Burmese jade. It's also called imperial jade. I could actually fill this blog with so much info on authentic jade it would probably make your head spin. But I'll spare you and send you out into the world of Google if you are really interested in learning about authentic jadeite's characteristics. For now I'll say we sent about half an hour bargaining--via the language of calculator--over a good deal for both the seller and us. The great thing about this operation is that it's a husband and wife team. She's primarily the salesperson and he's the sourcer and craftsman. They showed pictures of him in a magazine sourcing raw jade from Burma. The Burmese government keeps a tight rope on exports to make sure what leaves the country and calls itself Burmese jadeite is in fact the real thing. Anyway, he brought out a raw piece of lavender jade he was making into a bracelet. It's stone carving at its best, and I think Declan enjoyed seeing how the process begins. Each bracelet is made out of one piece of stone. They really are unique one of a kind pieces. And as a former stone carver I love that it's actually carved out of the stone like a sculpture would be. Econ Man is a great negotiator, so I left this hard work to him. And I think we worked out a mutually beneficial price. I think the craftsman felt valued for his work, and we felt we got a great deal. All's well that ends well.
So to refresh our weary children we made our way to a Japanese chain fast food eatery where we had simple Japanese fare in a no-fuss environment. And, of course, as usual, Tess was center stage, waving at everyone and saying Hi and Bye in her funny little baby Southern drawl. And,of course, everyone was amused by her. She can really draw a crowd of followers!
From there we walked back to the Kowloon Pier and picked up the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong.
When we returned some serious swimming was in order. Econ Man took the boys for a few hours and I stayed in the room with Tess and worked on the blog. It can be difficult to find time to write when you've got three kids and you're on the go all the time. Econ Man returned to say that Declan had made two Chinese friends while swimming. They didn't speak English, so it was a friendship of mutual play. The father of these boys realized Econ Man as the father of our boys, and for whatever reason decided that because Declan had made friends with his boys he wanted to ask Econ Man and all of us to dinner. Of course, the man spoke no English either, so he was using more pantomime than words to convey his wish to take us to dinner. It was very kind and Econ Man made sure he understood this. But told him we already had dinner plans--which we did. But I'm afraid we'd have need an interpreter to sit with us at dinner just so we wouldn't have been eating, staring at one another. It would have been humorous.
For dinner we went to central Hong Kong to eat at Indochine-- a small Vietnamese French restaurant reminiscent of the French colonial era in Vietnam. This, of course, gave me homeschool opportunity time to share with Declan a little of Vietnam's history in the colonial wars, and our own US involvement in the history of that country. We had already discussed HK's lengthy British history, but this gave opportunity to help him understand other European involvement in other Asian countries.
And, of course, to me the food here was delicious. Our kids loved it, too. And it was a great way to end our time in Hong Kong. We returned back to the hotel to pack up and get the kids to bed. But not before one last look out our window to the skyline around us. Just beautiful.
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Location:Hong Kong
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