thinking things of hunters and kings -

Mmm. Back from Hong Kong, dizzy-dancing whirl of colour and foreign words and foods and waters and intriguing side streets that it was, particularly at Christmastime; the island isn't a place that I could live permanently, if only because the weather was perfect in December, so the heat of the summer months would be disastrous!

I'd missed the ability to walk everywhere; in three days, I walked most of the Island and a healthy part of Kowloon, interrupting that with short stints on double-decker buses, trams and outdoor escalators (!) and the MTR metro system - which was fantastic, if terribly packed. I got a kick out of how each station was colour-coded ; my 'home base,' Wan Chai, had lime green floors, grates, and the walls were tiled in varying shades of green - it was new enough that it looked edgy and modern as opposed to nauseating. Other stations were golden, crimson, bluebell... it made it almost impossible to get off at the wrong station, that's for sure!

The whole island felt young. Edgy. Vibrant. Affluent. And so you need to be, if you're there for longer than a short visit; the Causeway Bay area apparently has the second highest rent/square foot rate in the world, right after NYC's Fifth Avenue!

But I was happy with my handful of days, and the ability to walk around with just a light coat on my arm was fantastic. As was the botanical garden; I think I spent an entire afternoon wandering through its paths and marveling at all the different orchids and bromeliads and palms and other, native plants. As cool as it was to see the animals in the zoological part of the gardens - hornbills have to have some of the most character out of all the animals I've ever seen; the one that I watched for a while was hilarious - and the facility is known for its good work with endangered animals... ah. I like zoos. They can be educational, and if nothing else they make the animals *real,* not just an illustration, which is immensely important, but it's tough to see anything caged in.

...yeah, yeah, bleeding heart. Tell me something I don't know. ^_~

Not my first green Christmas, but certainly my warmest! I took in the Festival of Lights that night, during which hotels and skyscrapers on either side of HK Harbour light up their faces with Christmas scenes and patterns, and shoot spotlights from their roof in time to different songs - definitely surreal, and probably plays havoc for aircraft in the area, but it was fantastic, and the excited shouts of the kids who were watching the show beside me ... it just felt like Christmas.

Lots of Christmas carolers, and on Christmas morning, I joined in - in my wanderings, I'd discovered St. John's Cathedral, which was holding a family carol service. I have a soft spot for carols that's about a mile wide (with the exception of "Last Christmas," which does not count. If I hear it/have to sing it one more time... ahaha) so of course I went. The children's choir sang some carols in Cantonese and then we joined them later in English - very cool, and symbolic of how multilingual HK is. Probably the best example of this was on the trains, where young people would change from Cantonese to English and back in the same sentence. Very, very cool. I was definitely a little envious, but my J!studies have been going slower than I'd like. Hopefully with the rest of my holidays being really quiet, I'll have a chance to buckle down.

In the meanwhile, happiest of happy holidays to you, whoever you happen to be. Take care, and stay warm. ♥

- pilgrim, where's your head at ; are you payin' the birds to sing -

...it's Christmas?

Or will be soon; I think the lack of snow is throwing my holiday radar for a loop. As did celebrating Christmas in November during my mom's visit... I even had a little tree to decorate; my first year without a real tree. I miss it - perhaps not environmentally sound, despite that they're farmed, but Christmas in my headspace needs a real tree - the smell of spruce, the needles everywhere, the month when it's the centre of the house.

...it sounds utopian. And maybe it was; maybe it wasn't.

Still, the trees and stations have all been lit up in my corner of Japan, which is a nice touch; as the days grow ever shorter, the light is a touch of brilliance.

Regardless of twinkling lights, it was surreal to hear the same terrible arrangement of Christmas carols I remember from days of working in a mall today (and I heard those so many times that I could still probably sing them in the same off-key warble.) But hearing some of my students sing bits of Christmas carols is... endearing. I'm a great sap. And need a lesson plan for tomorrow!

...a poor sap, by the end of this month; parties and presents and holidays all call. And (provided no adventures like those of my Kyoto trip transpire) - off to Hong Kong for four days in just over a week! It'll be a good change of pace and scenery; now to plan what to do.

Not that I think it's done there, but no shark swimming! I heard enough scary shark stories tonight to scare me off of that for a good while. Adrenaline's one thing, but I happen to like my limbs. ^_~