Lilly buzzes with cheer and excitement the month of Dec. Lilly closes from Dec. 24th through Jan. 2nd and does not allow employees to carry over vacation days. As a result, the office becomes more and more of a ghost town as the Dec. days march on. You can feel the anticipation in the air of having several days off with the benefit of knowing that everyone has it off so there will not be the dreaded mile high stack of emails and work waiting for you when you get back. I have always used up my vacation by Dec. 1st so I use Dec. as a time to get caught up and then the excitement of having the week off grips me as the month goes by.
Mostly I love spending time with family and friends (in a festive atmosphere).
Oh wait - this is a blog about Thailand....found myself reminiscing about home. Through the holiday season I found myself missing (gasp don't say it, don't say it) - cold weather (ok, I said it - but only for the holiday season), my Christmas tree, anticipation of having time off, & my family and friends. I took the advice of a friend....don't try to replicate your traditions at home but do something to celebrate. So I hung white lights on the wall, bought a Christmas tree wall hanging from the Thai Craft Fair, and stuffed a stocking full of chocolates and trinkets for both of us.
Here is how we celebrated the holidays Asian style:
Christmas Eve:
We attended the Apartment's Holiday Party. One would assume that since Thailand is a Buddhist country that Christmas decor would be absent.....wrong assumption. Bangkok was abundant with huge Christmas trees, Christmas music, decorations, and.... Thai Santas! Highlight of the night was the door prizes - large stuffed animals. There were plenty of children in attendance but oddly a group of Indian males in their twenties won several of the stuffed animals (and the grand finale mega stuffed animal). These guys had death grips on their prizes and it was very obvious they were not giving their bounty to the kids. The other highlight were these mashed potato nuggets - Colin and I both had about 8 each.
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| Our Santa for the night is the guy who works at the desk in the gym |
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| How about some Jingle Bells |
Christmas Day:
Met up with friends for a Christmas brunch at a hotel. Food was delicious as we were able to get it from two different restaurants - one with Japanese and Chinese food and one with International food. We ended up spending the day at this hotel relocating twice (waiting for the sky bar to open). We lucked out that it was a beautiful night and the hotel just happened to have a sky bar on top of their roof with gorgeous views of the city. What a perfect way to end the evening.
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| View from Sky Bar |
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| Can you pick Colin out? |
We spent four nights in Hong Kong (two nights on Hong Kong Island and two nights on Lantau Island). We spent time on Hong Kong Island, Macau Island, and Lantau Island. We had so much fun on our trip and Hong Kong surpassed both of our expectations. I had never considered visiting Hong Kong before I moved to Thailand, now I can not wait to go back. Not only were we able to enjoy city life while we were there but also found opportunities to enjoy nature and a take in a culture like no other (Hong Kong is a mix of English and Chinese and Macua is an exotic mix of Portuguese and Chinese). The weather was gorgeous.....which now that we live in Bangkok gorgeous weather means being cool and sunny (as opposed to super hot and sunny). We get excited when we are able to wear jeans and light jackets (and I get to wear my scarf).
Hong Kong Island:
Even the shuttle bus ride from the airport to our hotel was spectacular - our 45 minute ride was packed with hills and harbor views. I love cities that are hilly and surrounded by water...which is why we choose to live in Indianapolis. We arrived to our hotel at midnight and we were starving! Our hotel was in a busy neighborhood very close to Time Square in Wan Chai....an area that was less sky scrapers and more local Chinese shops. We ate at a local Chinese restaurant. Front of the building opened to the sidewalk where buckets of live fish were kept (we did not order fish). The food was delicious (I had a chicken dish with a lemon sauce and Colin ordered a beef dish with oyster sauce).
Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It became a colony of Great Britain after the First Opium War in 1942. Britain transferred sovereignty to China in 1997. Hong Kong operates under the principle of one country two systems - autonomy in all areas except defence and foreign affairs. This makes Hong Kong an easy and interesting place to visit. It is just under three hours to fly there from Bangkok and you do not need a visa. It is an interesting culture of Chinese and British and most signs are in both Cantonese and English. For example you can find Chinese markets and double decker buses; Chinese food an international food. Public transportation is incredibly easy.
Woke up early on Friday to get an early start on exploring Hong Kong. First destination is the tram ride up the peak of Hong Kong. Our hotel is only a 7 minute walk from the subway so we used it often.
The tram ride was a blast and very steep. It originally opened in 1888 and climbs up to the Peak on a single cable. The ride was a blast and the climb steep. The views of Hong Kong and the harbor were magnificent. The Peak is green with trees and we took advantage of the fresh air and scenic landscape to hike further up to the peak and the Victoria Peak Gardens for a couple of hours. Lunch at the Peak Overlook Restaurant gazing out at the views (sitting outdoors under heaters - what a nice change from Bangkok!).
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| View from the Peak |
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| Tram |
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| Hiking Trail on the Peak |
Took the Tram down and decided to explore some of the neighborhoods on Hong Kong Island. Eventually found the series of escalators that travel uphill 2,598feet through several neighborhoods. This was a great opportunity to take in some of the neighborhoods and street scenes, the neighborhoods had unique and interesting personalities. We saw a street lined with several interesting bars and decided to stop off for a drink in a neighborhood called SOHO. This would end up being one of our favorite neighborhoods. We walked around and explored some of the shops (selling Chinese antiques) and the alleys lined with Chinese markets. Jumped back on the escalator to continue exploring.
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| View from escalator |
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| SOHO |
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| Chinese Market |
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| Supposedly this building (on left) has bad feng shui |
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| Colonial building |
That night we took an one hour harbor cruise to enjoy the lights of the buildings on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Island. Being Christmas time we had the added delight of Christmas lights. We finished the evening back at SOHO for an elegant Italian dinner.
Saturday we took the Turbojet (high speed ferry) to Macau island. Similar to Hong Kong, Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR). Macau had been a colony of Portugal for 400 years. Portugal handed Macau back to China in 1999. There are areas of Macau that feel very European, especially the town square. Macau seems to have more Portuguese architecture than Hong Kong has British. Macau Island is also known for gambling and casinos. However, we did not gamble. We took a rickshaw tour of the town with a stop at a Chinese Monastery called A-Ma Temple. I had never been to a Chinese temple and was in awe. A-Ma Temple was built in 1488 and was dedicated to Matsu - Goddess of seafarers and fisherman. We stopped the rickshaw tour at the towns square called Largo do Senado. We could have been in Europe (at least until you wondered through the alleys - which had Chinese shops). We toured the Ruinas de Sao Paulo which was the front wall of a cathedral (built by the Portuguese, the rest devoured by fire). Very impressive. Ate dinner at a Portuguese restaurant and then headed back to catch our ferry.
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| Casinos |
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| A Ma Chinese Temple |
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| Incense burners |
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| Largo do Senado - town square Macau Island |
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| Ruinas de Sao Paulo |
The adventure continues on Sunday as we explore Lantau Island. We take the ferry from Hong Kong Island to Lantau Island (part of Hong Kong) - Mui O (town). Our hotel is right on the beach and is only a 10 minute walk from the ferry. Lantau Island is a definite change from Hong Kong.... quiet, laid back, very green. The major transportation on Lantau seems to be bicycles. It appears that people who prefer the more quieter life live on this side of Lantau, ride their bike to the ferry and commute 50 minutes to Hong Kong on the ferry.
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| Mui-O Beach (near our hotel) |
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| Our Hotel on Lantau Island |
The 85 foot bronze Buddha was definitely a site worth seeing, as was the Po Lin Monastery. The Monastery had beautiful murals and was very colorful.
The Giant Buddha:
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| Bodhisattva |
Pin Lo Monastery:
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| You can see the Big Buddha |
So now I want to know.....Colin, when can I go back?
