The grand tour

Another highlight of my trip: eating dim sum with my Aunt Rebecca. We ate shark's fin soup while she laughed hysterically remembering the time that my mom and dad came to visit and drank milk with lunch, "just like baby!!!!!"



After lunch, we went on a tour of empty restaurants and bars in high places, looking to see which one had the best view. This picture was taken in the hallway in a rooftop bar in Tsim Sha Tsui. Aunt Rebecca always gives the best small gifts, which is how I ended up going home with "Glaring Bright" pink lipgloss and a big box of dried noodle packets in my suitcase. They remind me of the time I was living in a village/tiny city in northern China and my white grandma sent me a care package full of ramen noodle packages.

Hong Kong wants you to know how clean it is.

Hong Kong and Singapore are two of the cleanest cities I've ever been in, but they also rival each other for the sheer number and topics covered when it comes to PSAs. Warnings about dengue fever are how I learned that mosquitos are attracted to dark colors, and that hoarding will lead to your entire house burning down while you stand in your dim, crowded living room yelling "Aiya! Aiya!" and cradling your stubbed toe.

Things you don't need to be afraid of anymore: holding the handrail, pushing elevator buttons, or touching door handles.





The second picture was taken in an elevator while on a tour of empty restaurants with great views with one of my aunties. I was stopped when I tried to take a picture of another handle that was sanitized eight times a day. Eight times!

Hong Kong Superstar Tutors

A few weeks before I left on my recent trip to Asia, a friend told me about the superstar tutors of Hong Kong. (Then when I saw that Slate reported on it, I knew I was years behind the curve.) I didn't realize just how pervasive the phenomenon was though, until I got to HK, stepped into the train and then out, and took all of these photos within a 5 minute stretch.









I've always heard that the best way to learn a language is to get a girl/boyfriend, but in lieu of that I guess a major "idol" crush will do just fine.

I don't know if you can make it out on the picture, but Joseph Li is "often held up as Exam Prophet." I think it's gone to his head though. Head/hair.

Collect skin

I was checking store locations for Giordano Concepts (and G2000 for Raymond's slim man workwear) and came across this jaunty man in his U GUT I GUT t-shirt. And then I noticed the word bubbles behind him and thought ... WTF! Collect skin! Sounds so gory! A friend theorized that it might mean 'to high five.' I was picturing something more Austin Powers.

Luckily, Urban Dictionary translated for me. It means 'sau pei'!!! Now it all becomes clear, right? That means 'shut up' in Cantonese slang! I know that phrase in Cantonese but I never read or wrote it, or even thought about translating it. When I first went to Hong Kong, there were all kinds of phrases that I learned, used, and never dissected. Cantonese slang is famous for being extensive, pervasive, and quick to change. 'Pok gai' goes from 'fall on the street', to 'I hope you die on the street' to 'bastard' in a matter of weeks!

The Validity of Chinese Traditions

China's a big country, so it makes sense that there would be variations in holiday traditions, but every New Year I feel like each of my friends has a different idea of how to celebrate the holiday. I just told Rosa that I've cursed myself by washing my hair this morning and she had no idea what I was talking about. (BTW I find that link so funny because really, the answer to any question about the reason behind any Chinese tradition is that it's lucky or unlucky.)

So I want to start a conversation, and please leave me a comment about this. I'm going to write down some of the traditions I know and have been observing (or forced to observe) since birth. Tell me yours, and let me know if you've never heard of mine!

1. Hongbao



A friend was just telling me about how one of his friends always got her hongbao put under her pillow after she slept on New Year's night, like a Hongbao Fairy. He said he made fun of her till she cried (so cruel) because obvs no one ever sleeps on the hongbao. But in my family, we get the hongbao (red pocket) full of massive wads of ca$h (ok, 20 bucks) the night before and put it under our pillows to sleep. My mom is from Hong Kong and none of my mainland friends had ever done that before. You?

2. Lion dances



I love being in Hong Kong for New Year because you can go to the big fancy malls and see lions dancing and spitting lettuce all over the floor! I forgot why that happens but obviously (see above) it has to do with luck, and probably a pun on the word vegetable (cai). I rarely saw that happen in mainland China, but I did see it once or twice in the south, right next to Hong Kong. Is it a Cantonese thing?

3. Hair washing and showering



I can't seem to find the pics I took of the larger part of the hairdresser's in China, but this is a (rather old) pic of me on the bed where you get your hair washed/scalp massaged/body massaged all at once. It's awesome!

Back to the larger point: you're not supposed to wash your hair or even shower on New Year Day because you'll be washing away the luck bestowed upon you. This isn't one I observed as a kid; I learned it while living in the mainland. My Taiwanese friends seem not to do it either. Is this something people give up when they get to the US, because Americans are crazy about showering? Seriously, Americans love to clean themselves. I'm going to go out on a limb here and admit something personal: in the winter, I often shower every other day.

4. New Year foods



Here's my old students, Viv and Helen, chopping celery to make dumplings!

In my family, we just ate something sort of Chinese for New Year because we were in a tiny town in TN and didn't really have access to Chinese foods or ingredients (or the will to use American ingredients and go through the time and effort of creating Chinese delicacies from them). When I went to the village in the mainland to teach, my students told me that it's tradition to eat dumplings, and it's also tradition to hide a coin in one of them and whoever finds it has extra luck. That seems especially unlucky to me though, biting into a dumpling and finding a coin (and breaking a tooth, and losing a filling, etc).

5. Teacher's Day

I can't find anything on this, but when I was studying in Hong Kong, our Chinese teacher invited us to her house on a specific day of New Year because that was the teacher's day. I've not heard about that since! But I know that each day following New Year has some significance, like one day you go see your teacher, one day you go see your friends, etc. Anyone else know about that? What's the schedule?

6. Get a new outfit!



My favorite tradition! There are MAJOR sales on clothes before the New Year because you're supposed to get a whole new outfit to start the year off fresh! I couldn't find a pic of a sale so I will treat you to this picture of Calvin Klein's window display in Hong Kong for the year of the chicken. I think it gets the point across. But again, not everyone has heard of this tradition, and I didn't know about it until I went to HK. Maybe parents want to hide it from their American-born kids so they don't have to pony up for new clothes?

There might be more, but lunch break is over. Things I miss most: the HK light show, fireworks going off at all hours every day for two weeks, the general good mood, the flower market. Leave me a comment about your traditions, or argue with mine! I'll fight you!