DISCLAIMER: This blog post contains images of mating butterflies, drunken pigeons and bare breasted buddhas. If you have a problem with this, you might be better off looking at something else  . Don’t email me to complain, don’t visit my blog anymore because I might post things like this again.

Last photos of Hong Kong before I move you on to Malaysia ;) One of the days we did a wonderful morning hike …we took one of those little beaner busses out to our starting point and it started off with loads of stairs…

on top we met those guys…that made my day. Afterwards it went through more forresty areas..which had bigger butterflies that liked to fly right at you. They also looked as if they had cowboy chaps on and would carry away little children…that was about all the exciting wildlife we saw..but nonetheless it was a wonderful hike.

One night we went for a fancy dinner at Hutong – it was soooo good

Besides …one dish…which fortunately came right in the beginning of the menu – so I could get over it quick ;)

Yes…the drunken pigeons. When they were served…heads on…I actually wished that I was drunk  LOL. I tried to convince myself that looks are not everything…it is the inner qualities that count. Well I tried and I can assure you …not in this case. Drunken Pigeons…been there, done that, don’t have to try ever ever again.

My favorite dish for overall experience (taste and visual appearance) was the so called “Red Lantern” deep-fried soft shell crabs served in a basket of red chillies. Then the lid was lifted my eyes started watering. And the first two crabs hurt as it was sooo hot…after the crabs aired out a bit it was no problem anymore.

This was followed by a couple more delicious highlights. And the bathroom must have been one of the most beautiful restaurant bathrooms I have ever seen – the whole place was just beautiful – just too dark to take a photo ;)

The day after this we actually went to Malaysia- but on our way back to the U.S. we had another 1/2 day stay over in Hong Kong and we went to the Big Buddha

and they weren’t kidding when they said “Big Buddha”

Speaking of big…I have never seen incense this big!

Breathing got a bit heard though

Again the temple fascinated me. The colors, the details…I hope I do not bore you with those pictures but …

it was just beautiful – left and right

and also up

and below

and that was it…Hong Kong. In a couple days I will show some photos from Kuala Lumpur and the Workshops in Malaysia.

I am wishing you an amazing start into the week!

Nat

Nat

Some more photos of my stay in Hong Kong. If you missed the first part- you can find it here.

We went to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. 430 steps towards the monastery .

Flanked on both sides by Buddhas in different poses and with different face expressions.

Pretty impressive..don’t you think?

The funny thing is …the buddhas outside are not the ones that gave the monastery the name.

12 Thousand+ mini buddhas in one of the temples are responsible for the name. (no photos allowed)

I loved stopping and looking at all those different buddhas. This one reminded me of a very close friend ;) She tends to make this expression every time you want to shoot a photo of her.

We were accompanied by monkeys that jumped around like crazy- all photos of them are blurry – such a monkey business ;)

The closer to the top we came the more elaborate the statues became. I wish I could read the signs – I wonder if they reveal names of them or meanings.

What strikes me most are the colors and the patterns. Just looking at this makes me happy- the colors so bold and so many details.

I loved those little pavillions.

This place was actually built in 1949 and is not really a monastery because no monks are living here. But it seems as a lot of celebrations were going on there.

It was well worth a visit and funny enough it wasn’t part of our travel guide… I would make it part of my personal travel guide. It is a bit hard to find, kind of like…ride to the end of the world , exit, follow this and that street, go to the street with the parking house and just go left up a beaten path that looks as if it leads to a dumpster…and then it doesn’t ;)

I would also recommend an early part of the day… good thing I have been working out a lot lately but the humidity and heat is making the hike up a bit hard.

After this we made our way to the Chi Lin Nunnery. Or lovingly called Chilling Nunnery by us.

While strolling around the temple we could hear the nuns – yes they were actually living there – chanting in a hall – the sound was carried throughout the temple – which was just amazing. We later saw them coming out but I referred from snapping photos. It felt not right.

In front of the Nunnery is the Nan Lian Garden – again an oasis in the middle of high risers. I love how the garden was laid out. Lot’s of small details again

and an awesome rock garden…with interesting signs. I have to admit I didn’t have the idea before I saw the sign…It made me wanna try it ;) I did not – no worries.

I loved these areas paved with these neatly stacked stones. Awesome texture and so interesting to look at.

Hope you enjoyed the monastery-nunnery tour in Hong Kong. Tomorrow some projects but then there will be more ;)

Have a Chilling Day ;)

hugs

nat

Nat

I just came back from my workshop trip to Malaysia. I stopped for a couple of days in Hong Kong before the workshops and had a couple of days of sight seeing in Kuala Lumpur. It was so much fun and I learned heaps. Plus – I am so inspired by this whole trip. You know what this means, right? Photos…be aware…there are loads for the next days :)

The first thing I noticed was the unbelievable amount of signs

Making this the “City of Lights” at night – sorry Paris- you are just not bright enough ;)

See the little bus? These little beaners seat 16 peeps and were fun to ride…

the more important a sign is…the smaller it appears…or so I think ;)

Most signs were in English and Chinese but signs like this made me realize how important visual hints are when you cannot decipher the writing. Actually…I don’t even know half of the terms of the stuff on the sign in English – so I might be actually better off in China when going to a hardware store…LOL

Speaking of public transportation – Hong Kong must have one of the best public transportations I have ever seen as a European. (sorry America…you are a very developing country when it comes to public transportation!). Not only little beaner busses, but also huge modern public transportation busses, these fun trams and a subway system that was the best ever. Every 3 minutes a subway, clean, safe, fast and CHEAP aka Dirt Cheap. Speaking for a longer trip for about 10 US-Cents. And you can pay with your Metro aka Octopus Card in Grocery Shops like in the one below

Which makes you scratch your head…because of the sign. But oh WELL

Significant is also the amount of high risers in Hong Kong. You will find clusters of 12-13 high risers 40 stories high and then all of a sudden you have a pocket with old houses or gems like this beautiful temple built in 1847 – the Man Mo Temple.

It was a beautiful temple with a lot to see especially when looking up. Like these wish lanterns

or these incense coils – the light coming through the roof made it all the more serene. And calm places were really needed as visual and commercial overflow was getting us hard :) I know a lot of my online friends were excited for me that I was going to Hong Kong mainly because of the Shopping. Well…to be honest… that wasn’t my thing. And not because I do not like to shop – oh no ;)  It was a parade of super expensive no-real bargain show-off stuff. Name any designer label and you find one of their stores there. I am not very keen on brand fashion, and everyone tried to up-sell and and looking at things was not possible since you were hassled down right away and almost forced to buy. On top after being approached 1 Million times on the main shopping streets if I want to buy a fake Rolex or a nice handbag which was rather stressful, I turned into a total anti-shopping person during our stay in Hong Kong. No worries though – that changed in Malaysia  ;)

Besides public transportation – food was pretty cheap too – and so we ate a lot of very good, yummie soups and dim sum .

In fact we sometimes had dim sum for breakfast, lunch and dinner…and the worst thing is…I am craving it today.

Of course a visit to the Hong Museum of Art was on the to do list. Besides a wonderful permanent exhibition of Calligraphy and Ancient Chinese Watercolor Art (no photos aloud) there was an amazing special exhibition “Ju Ming – Sculpting the Living World” .

Most impressive were Ju Mings sculptures made out of bronze, stainless steel, painted wood, foam rubber and cast bronze.

The sculptures are showing a collection of little moments in modern life.

I love how the pose and just some little carves in the face can express so much.

I loved how spacious the museum was….giving each piece of art a lot of space – even in the water color and calligraphy exhibition. It made the art really stand for itself and you were able to focus just on the one piece. I also loved the fact that calligraphy was received as an art form and the exhibition was rather big on it too. The water color paintings dating hundreds of years ago were just stunning and since some of the techniques used were translated in english I wish I would have had more time to take it all in.

If you made it to here…wow ;) You will be rewarded with even more photos in a couple days – LOL. I will try to mix it up with some project posts and other stuff so you don’t get too bored ;)

Have an amazing day

Nat

Nat