and then there were 14 1/2.....

- nope, the above hotties that's definitely not us - if it were, we would have had a better chance to win our Dragonboat warm-up race on sunday ;-) but let me start from the beginning. After way too much japanese food with my asian friends and a loud, thundery night on saturday, I didn't get much sleep and had to drag myself out of bed early sunday morning. The temperatures hadn't cooled off a bit despite the storm and the sticky, humid air hadn't moved away. When I arrived at the beach at 9am sharp the dragons had already been fed with paper money offerings (feng-shui) but I was flabbergasted to find out, that just 14 of my "Desperate Housewives" teammates and one teenage daughter had shown up for raceday, the others were unable to make it for various reasons. I immediately was ready to hop on the next bus and crawl back into bed but of course this was not an option, sigh! As you can imagine, the outlook was quite grim - to put it mildly - knowing, we would have to compete against 7 other participating teams who not only had their 18 team members complete but also some replacements in tow which was very encouraging to us.

"Participating is Everything" the saying goes, yeah right, but when you train hard you are not very ecstatic about becoming last in the end which we perfectly managed to achieve during various weather scenarios - 1st race: burning sun and hot hot hot, we ended last - 2nd race: completely overcast and sticky, we still ended last - 3rd race: turned out to be more of a wet T-Shirt competition, not only were we dripping wet and didn't see anything upon entering the boat but also a nasty thunderstorm exploded right after our start which scared us so much that we finally beat one chinese team, hallelujah!!!! At least we wore bright, sunny yellow shirts so our hubbies could spot us through the clouds. Lesson learned out of this - for the next 3 weeks we'll better sleep on the boat and steel our muscles day and night!! To be fair, I have to mention, that the majority of the other teams looked younger in their average age and top fit and it seemed obvious to me that they are spending their days and nights either in their fitness studios or practising power/hot yoga 3 times a week.

Despite this minor setback the atmosphere during the day was terrific and it felt awesome to be part of such a traditional HK icon. Finally some facts about the Dragonboat Races:

* The race always takes place during the traditional Tuen Ng Chinese Festival (Dragonboat Festival) which this year will fall on june 19th

* it's hold in various locations throughout HK but Stanley is the biggest event and owns the largest boat rack with 43 boats

* it's an event that attracts individuals, clubs & companies, Chinese & Expatriates as participants

* this year it lists record braking entries which in numbers means a serious over-subscription of over 200 teams - last year there were 183 teams and during yesterday's warm-up race 50 boats were competing

* a team consists of 18 rowers, 1 steersman and 1 drummer, some races even allow 20 rowers. The minimum required are 12, the maximum 20 participants. There are competitions for Men, Women and Mixed Boats.

* The race course length during the warm-up's was 200 metres and during the main race it will be 270 metres - sounds like nothing to you? Believe me, it can nearly kill you if you're not super fit!!

There are easier ways to get a bun......

- still on our sightseeing mission...today we took the First Ferry to Cheung Chau which is the most densely populated of the outlying islands (22.000 residents) car-less and also known as an artist colony. It was still raining cats and dogs so we were surrounded by water all over literally. The arrival at the ferry terminal is always very picturesque because you sail through lines of bannered fishing & house boats. People usually go there on the weekends to get away from the hustle and bustle in Hong Kong - you can either enjoy the beaches, hike between the 2 hilly tips or stroll along the harbourfront and explore some pirate caves or ancient rock carvings, followed by a simple seafood meal.

The main reason we were there was to catch the decoration for the famous Bun Festival which will take place on thursday (Buddha's Birthday) in front of the Pak Tai Temple. "It's a three-day carneval with a procession of floats, lion dancers, chinese opera, etc. which attracts 1000s of visitors and was originated in the 18th century when an episode of bad luck and illness beset the island. In response, the islanders started offering lotus-paste buns to the spirits of the dead and since health and prosperity returned they decided to make the ceremony an annual event. As part of the event, three 13-metre-high (40feet) bamboo towers covered in 1000s of steamed buns (I was told 20.000 pieces in total) are erected in front of the temple and left out for three days. Taoist priests hold the requisite ceremonies to encourage the return of all the restless ghosts to the underworld. Before they come back, the spirits consume the 'essence' of the buns, while islanders and visitors eat the remains."

The most hyped event is the bun competition where people scramble to reach the luckiest buns at the top of the pile. Therefore they're climbing up a fourth, even higher bamboo tower, while throwing the collected buns in a basket which they carry on their back. This year this tower consists of 8.000 plastic buns which was considered more hygienic but lead to an uproar within the residents. When we passed by today everyone was busy cleaning and threading buns and re-attaching them to the towers. Due to heavy rainfalls during the last couple of days the bun decoration disintegrated and needed to be replaced - a real slavery job as we could watch, see for yourself...

Panda's at Ocean Park

- another Blog which is very cute is the one of Hong Kong's new Panda cubs which I've mentioned before. Paste http://www.oceanpark.com.hk/panda/index.html

Mount Everest Expedition

- a quick note - there's a live Blog about a current Mount Everest Expedition which is very interesting. Click either on "Blogs I like" or paste http://www.ueverest.com/

Sam Tung Uk Museum

Last wednesday Hermine and I joined the American Women Association for an organized tour to Tsuen Wan/New Territories to explore a traditional Hakka walled village which has been restored in 1987 and converted into a museum. It's supposed to be a typical example of a Hakka dwelling and has managed to retain its original architectural features. It was founded by a Clan who settled in Hong Kong in the 18th century and did host around 50 people who were all related. The main economic activities back then were cutting hay and making incense powder. The most interesting thing for me to see was a ceramic pillow which people used to sleep on in former times - imagine the comfort level :-(
By the way, my friend and I were approached by a chinese couple from the Mainland who asked us with various gestures whether we would be willing to pose for pictures with them since they never had seen anyone with blonde hair and no woman as tall as me - at least I got a fun shot too out of it, so it pays off to stand out sometimes ;-)

Journey of Enlightenment

- and once again I am busy exploring the area, this time with my friend Hermine from Munich. Recently we took the Ngong Ping Skyrail which glides about 25 minutes uphill, starting at Tung Chung Bay giving some spectacular 360 degree panoramic views of the hilly area of the North Lantau Country Park, Chek Lap Kok Airport, the South China Sea and the Ngong Ping Plateau. On a clear day it's breathtaking and the sight of Big Buddha (the biggest sitting Buddha in the world) approaching once you get closer to the terminal is fantastic. A small disappointment to me personally was that once on top, where the village supposedly showcases traditional chinese architectural design, you'll find brandnew souvenir shops, food outlets of all kinds and A STARBUCKS - everybody who knows me also is aware of how addicted I am to great coffee and especially Starbucks, but it's somewhat depressing that these megachains get permission to enter even the last picturesque corners of the world - it kills my sense of fun and adventure if you come across the same things, no matter where you are traveling to - in this case you would have expected some traditional teahouses...ok, enough ranting already and - of course we got a coffee, guilty as charged :-), a hypocrite, I'll admit it willingly!

While sitting around we got to talk to a lovely lady from the UK and somehow became involved in the subject of traveling - she mentioned her first visit to the States and I was astonished to hear, that the first State she traveled to was Kenntucky... which lead to my prompt reply "why on earth would someone pick Kenntucky of all the interesting States one could chose from, for a brief visit to the US, if not for the Kenntucky Derby"? Turned out she and her hubby went to a bluegrass concert and blablabla....the reason I am mentioning this episode at all is - about 15 minutes later while exiting a store, a tourist couple lined up in front of me asking: "Tell us, what do you have against Kenntucky, what's so wrong with Kenntucky?" Obviously they overheard my generally low voice ;-) from the neighbour table while we were sipping our coffee - I was already prepared to take a beating from some fanatic patriots defending their homestate but lucky me, they were from the UK and Brunei and just wanted to chat, what a relief......that's normal in Asia, people just talking to each other, being very extroverted and sharing adventures and stories....

Needles to say that we spent a lovely couple of hours climbing up the stairs to Big Buddha and ending the trip with a visit to the famous Po Lin Monastery where we got to try some free vegetarian cusisine, which was a pretty lousy experience to say the least. By the way, Lantau is bigger than Hong Kong Island, is largely undeveloped (ca. 45.000 residents) and more than 50% was designated as a country park. But it's unique for great hikes, nice beaches and of course Disneyland and the airport.