Mid-Autumn Festival...

This lantern shows the mascot of the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics being held in Hong Kong.

...and Hong Kong lights up its beautifully crafted lanterns again during the next 14 nights! For those who care, the Mid-Autumn-Festival is a 3.000-year-old festival based on the myth about a mischievous wife who was sentenced to life on the moon for eternity. The 15th day of the 8th lunar month (sep 25th this year) is a time to either head to the Beaches with your lanterns in tow or to the park with family & friends to gaze at the full moon, check out the shows, dances and of course the lanterns. You also gather to eat fresh fruits and mooncakes which are sent in hampers throughout the City to wish good luck to your relatives/friends and business partners.

Coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival is the unique Fire Dragon Dance in Tin Hau. "The 67-metre-long dragon is studded with thousands of burning joss sticks that at night produce an incredible spectacle of fire, smoke and dynamic fury as the dragon wends and dances through the backstreets. It's said that in 1880 a plague broke out in Tin Hau and, appearing in the dream of a village elder, Buddha instructed the villagers to light firecrackers and perform a fire dragon dance for three days and nights. Sulphur from the firecrackers dispelled the plague and the ritual has been repeated annually ever since;"

Wong Tai Sin Temple Decoration during Lantern Festival




...and these are impressions from Victoria Park






PS: To enlargen the pictures just click on them.

Batman flies through Hong Kong

It was just reported that segments of the next BATMAN (The Dark Knight) movie will be shot in Hong Kong during 9 days this november. Not only might we become lucky getting a glimpse of some of the cast like Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine or Morgan Freeman in this "remote corner" of the world, but I am sure, the frenzy will create a huge chaos for traffic and pedestrians alike. For those who have already visited, they will shoot an outdoor stunt at the IFC Mall and scenes involving the famous Peninsula Hotel in TsimShaTsui. The crew also plans on filming night views of Victoria Harbour, Central and Victoria Peak from a helicopter, some of the scenes will even feature IMAX special effects. Knowing the citizens of HK (including us) I can already picture that during this period EVERYONE will roam around the streets day and night, taking in some "stay-awake-drinks" in Lan Kwai Fong in between. Anyway looking forward to this pleasant disturbance of our daily life...I'll keep you posted.

September Haze

At the risk of sounding like a broken tape - I am sooo busy these days that I hardly get to sit down and write a Blog - sorry about that to all of you who are clicking on it regularly. Just to fill you in on what's going on, here a little excerpt:

The weather continues to be disgusting, often grey, mostly sticky and the air is so polluted that the readings break every record at the moment, you can hardly breathe and don't have a big desire to leave the house.

Saturday we went to the Foreign Correspondent Club's Charity Ball where Sergio Mendes put on a great brazilian show but - like always with these events - way too loud. We were dancing our feet off despite the crowds and I had no voice left on sunday since I was singing/yelling along to most of the tunes. The food was fantabulous and we had much more fun than I'd expected. The FCC also gave out a lot of Raffle prizes and Michael won a bordeaux cashmere scarf plus cap - no doubt he'll need it in our subtropical climate! I got my hands on some Vodka in a tube, obviously something new which you can check out under www.drinkthetube.com - just what the world needed! Sergio Mendes provided each of the 1000 guests with his latest Grammy winning album TIMELESS which I already bought last year, but hey, I consider them as the first useful X-mas gifts for the coming holiday season, be prepared!

Sunday we took a car ride around Hong Kong and by chance ended up at the Museum of Coastal Defense - the so called Lei Yue Mun Fort was built in the 1880s "to defend the eastern approach to Victoria Harbour and was the most sophisticated coastal fortification at that time. During the Japanese invasion in 1941 fierce fighting took place there and heavy casualties were inflicted. We could see various historical military structures and many military relics.

In addition we visited the permanent exhibition about "600 Years of Hong Kong's Coastal Defence" consisting of the Ming and Quing dynasties, the British period, the Japanese invasion and the period after Hong Kong's reversion to Chinese sovereignty which was really stunning and very informative.

Usually you could also get a spectacular view of Victoria Harbour and its surroundings from the top but unfortunately - the haze once again...

Monday was my first dance class after a long summer (yes, I am still dancing!)- Salsa went pretty effortless but the Cha-Cha was a bit more challenging - we already advanced with the figures and I am wondering whether we'll ever be able to dance
like this on a crowded dance floor - and with WHOM, since our dancing instructor is the only guy who "lays hand on us" so far - still, I missed it and I am glad me and my 3 pals are finally back there, it puts us in a great mood for the rest of the day! Once we've finalized the current session, we will try to get our husbands and some more friends to start stumbling along and join us in our efforts...

Tuesday the yearly AWA (American Women Association) kick-off meeting for the 2007/2008 season took place where the new board of directors, their program for the coming months and some Charities were introduced. My mission on this day was to recruit enough paddle enthusiasts to sign up for next year's AWA dragonboat which I will coach and coordinate this time. I don't know how I always manage to get myself involved in these time consuming tasks (just kidding, of course I do!) but then again I think I just have too much energy to waste it on the couch and I LOVE to organize any kind of event as everybody knows - consider it my challenge for 2007/2008 - I'll keep you posted and I am sure, complaints will follow at some point...

Wednesday was the 1st official AWA hike of the season and I decided to participate since I am a bit out of shape because there is not much you can do physically during these hot summers in SE Asia - plus, I need to set a good example for the next months, building up strength, uahhhh - we hiked along the Dragon's Back, one of the most beloved hikes in HK with magnificent views over the beaches of Shek O and Big Wave Bay (on the South Side of HK)- luckily I didn't have to regret it in the end, I was worried I'd suffocate in that sticky air, temps are still in the high 80s (32 Grad). Of course we rewarded ourselves with a superb traditional chinese lunch and a long dip in the sea afterwards - life as a housewife can be good at times ;-)

Gota sign off now, will write again in a couple of days, so long and cheerio!

Airbus A 380 in Hong Kong

View from Victoria Peak to watch the A380 which is on a round-the world promotional tour flying low (304m above the water) over the western part of HK Island approaching Victoria Harbour yesterday.
Foto Source: South China Morning Post

"Future Shopping and Gambling on Steroids" - The Cotai Strip in Macau

Yesterday we had a Farewell Party to attend in Macau which was nearly made impossible to reach - the only ferries we were able to still book were leaving at 2:45pm to Macau coming back at 12:30am - the reason for the crazyness?
Here's what I've read and heard -

Besides the existing casinos and the 11-months-old Wynn Macau, the 3000-suite Venetian Macao Resort Hotel which is the world's biggest casino and the 2nd largest building by floor area worldwide opened it's doors this week. It's located on the so called Cotai Strip which originates from combining the names of the surrounding islands of Coloane and Taipa and will host 350 shops of which 160 are open so far. Every major international luxury brand will have a presence on the Strip in the near future since the chinese customer is considered the highest spending tourist on retail (outside of his country) in the world - Chinese people just love to shop.

The frantic pace of hotel development on the Strip will result in more than 20.000 rooms in more than 10 Las Vegas-style luxury resorts with nearly 3.000 gambling tables being available by 2009/2010. I heard that the Convention Centre in the Venetian is already fully booked for the coming 2 years and I am sure it'll become a huge competitor for the HK Exhibition & Convention Centre. The hotel will boast a 2-level Buddha Bar, a pool big enough to water-ski in and - of course - a 1.800 seat theatre for a permanent, new Cirque de Soleil show plus a 15.000-seat indoor arena that puts anything in HK to shame. In October the NBA's Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers are expected followed by a match between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras in november which was completely sold out within days.

Next door the Four Seasons, the InterContinental, Shangri-La, Traders, Sheraton & St. Regis, Hilton, Conrad, Fairmont & Raffles, Ritz-Carlton, Macau Studio City Hotel AND a Playboy Mansion are currently under construction, each with 100ds of more upscale shops AND malls - each of the properties will be connected by elevated walkways and footbridges to assure smooth traffic...and then there are of course the other casinos on the Macau Peninsula itself... Official forecasts predict that Macau can expect an annual 40 million arrivals by 2010.

W O W - but will these projects be able to fulfill the high expectations of Macau investors and where do they get enough bilingual, well-trained staff to keep up the standards of 5* and 6* hotels? Maybe I should return to my original professional roots, like this I could monitor the developments with my own eyes.

...and where does that leave the old native macanese families who have to put up with such a zoo in the future - after all, for many years they were used to living mostly simple lives in a peaceful, sleepy fishing village with one small casino for the locals - the Lisboa...

Home Sweet Home

although I was wondering whether I was really back in HK at first - while starring out of our kitchen window after our return I saw one of the construction workers right next to our building standing on top of the deserted construction platform, throwing his shoes from his feet, carefully emptying his pant pockets, unrolling a small carpet and getting ready for his prayers in the direction of Mecca - never seen this happening in the middle of a construction site before...

...hey there, just checking in - hope everyone had a fantabulous summer and isn't caught up too much in the daily life duties already - our trip to Munich was as turbulent as always, apologies to those I haven't called but I was really busy, more on that in private emails if anybody is curious...after having lived in the States for 8 years and now in Hong Kong since nearly 2 years, Germany seems more and more like "toy land" upon arrival - the ride to my hometown takes me about an hour from the airport and passing through small villages, seeing the countryside and the mountains flying by in the distance, everything seems so peaceful and in order but also rather smallish in comparison to NYC or HK - I wonder whether one day Germany will serve as a gigantic holiday Spa for tourists visiting from overcrowded countries like China and India in search of a little crispy clear air and some peaceful picturesque nature? Anyway, we enjoyed it as much as always and had a good time. In the meantime we also managed to put the jetlag behind us and sleepless nights sitting on the balcony while munching on german gummibaer's are in the past.

Fall seems to become very busy with classes, trips and visitors pouring in but I'll make time to keep on telling you what's going on in HK, promised....ciao for today...