Hong Kong Skyline

Jamie's Lantern

Jamie came home the other night after being out with Auntie Jing on a Mid Autumn lantern shopping trip.I could hear the screams of joy even before he reached the door.Once inside he excitedly showed us his inflatable "chinese super hero lantern".
But something was wrong, during the manufacturers haste to mass produce these "modern" lanterns they have forgotten to consult anyone on appropriate tunes to install in them.
So we all went out later that night with Jamie proudly parading his new lantern to the tune of "Jingle Bells'.

Mid Autumn Festival

It's Mid Autumn Festival here which means lots of Mooncakes and Lanterns and a long weekend for some, not for me.
Below is an explanation of the festival.

Each year on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, the Chinese celebrate what is — outside Lunar New Year — the biggest event of the year: the Mid-Autumn Festival.
It’s a time of reunions, where families get together to feast and snack on mooncakes.
Mooncakes symbolise the full moon, and the most famous legend associated with them dates back to 1368AD. In the 14th century, China had been overrun by Mongols. The Chinese used mooncakes to hide messages with plans for rebellion. The Mongols, who did not eat mooncakes, were unaware of the subterfuge. Families were told to eat the cakes on the day of the festival, and the revolt began.
A traditional mooncake is filled with lotus seed paste with a salty egg yolk in the center, which represents the moon; today’s cakes are made with many other fillings. They are high in calories and therefore are cut into quarters to be shared.
Another tradition in the eve of the festival has come to be known as the Lantern Festival. Children will carry lanterns of birds, animals, dragons, or many other shapes.
One legend behind the Lantern Festival suggests the Jade Emperor of Heaven was angry at a town that had killed his favourite goose. He was intent on destroying the town in a firestorm, but a kind fairy warned the town-folk to light lanterns on the day of retribution. When the Emperor looked down from Heaven, it appeared the town was ablaze; he decided not to destroy it, satisfied the goose had been avenged. Since that time, people celebrated their escape from vengeance by lighting lanterns on the anniversary of that day.
Other traditions go along with the day, such as lion dances and in some places, fireworks.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most colourful and fun events of the year.

Disneyland Opens

Hong Kong Disneyland has finally opened it's door's to the paying public. According to the new's last night all went well on the first day open, numbers were down on what was expected but are sure to increase nearer the weekend with many mainlanders already booked.

We are setting our sights on a visit to Disney in the new year. Can't honestly say I'm holding my breath but as it's now on my doorstep I should at least make the effort. I'm sure Jamie will love it, but then again I remember when I was very young having my hand shaken and being hugged by an eight foot tall Baloo (jungle book) at a cinema, and I was terrified.

As you can see I have included a couple of pictures of the before and after of Penny's Bay where Disneyland is. This is what Hong Kong is good at (reclamation) and is a concern to many as Victoria Harbour shrinks in size each year.

Views of Hong Kong

Kindergarten-Day Two

A few more pictures of Jamie in his School uniform.

First Day at Kindergarten.

Well,today was Jamie's first day at kindergarten.I unfortunately missed taking him there as I was working, but I'm off for a couple of day's now so Im on school duty tommorrow.Janicel and her sister took him this morning.I think they were teaching him to raise his hand before they left the house by the pictures they took.
All was well when they got their, some other kid's were crying their eye's out and Jamie was asking "why the little kid's crying" only for Janicel to be told on her return that he had cried himself for an hour after she left.
When I got home I was excitedly presented with a school bag and homework!
I had been warned about this and found it hard to accept that a 3 year old would have homework, so I checked it out only to find a piece of paper with a drawing of a man with a spoon and chopsticks looking over an empty plate.His homework was to draw grains of rice on the plate for the hungry man, so after dinner we all sat down and Jamie procceded to fill the man's plate with large and small pencil marks, enough to feed an army I might add.
So homework was easy.I suppose I should enjoy it now as in a few years it won't just be grain's of rice.

Hong Kong at Night

View of the harbour at night.

Not long now.........

Six week's to go and we still can't think of a name.I have suggested name's, both boy's and girl's but they just do not sound right.Anyway, I will keep trawling through the baby name website's looking for something that we both like.Jamie is starting Pre-School next week, Monday to Friday 9am-12pm so that should take up some of the endless energy that he has.Not sure how he will find being left alone with strange people for the first few day's, but I'm pretty sure he will make friends quickly.
We have tried to explain that very soon he will have a brother or sister,he seem's to understand and has even offered to share his bath with "ading" (filipino for younger sibling).He love's speaking to, hugging and watching "it" move around inside Janicel, which can look like something out of Alien at times,quite scary.We were out last week on a buggy hunt,will it be a local model (made in china) which nearly turned me into the hunchback of Notre Dame when Jamie was a baby or a european model that will keep me in the upright position for a couple of years.I never considered buggy handle height before becoming a father but am nearly an authority on the subject after a few years of purchasing the wrong buggies and numerous tubes of Deep Heat.
Weather fine,very hot and hazy,80-92 degrees F.

Janicel & Jamie at Deepwater Bay,July 2005.