On our way back to the MTR station, we realized we had completely missed a traditional Hong Kong Cemetery that sat back behind tall concrete walls and climbed steeply up the hill. We were a bit hesitant to enter, as we had no idea what the policy was on visitors and pictures. Because of the lack of land for burying the dead in Hong Kong, there is a 7 year time limit after which time the person loses their spot and must be moved or cremated. There were multiple grave stones, one after the other, going up the hill as well as multiple columbarium, where the ashes of loved ones are stored. It was interesting to see that each person had an individual picture posted where their ashes were placed in the columbarium. Apparently, there is quite a debate about Hong Kong’s need for more columbarium, but no one wants it near them!
Next, we found ourselves walking up and down the streets of the flower, bird, fish, and jade markets. It was amazing smelling and seeing shop after shop of beautiful bunches of roses, carnations, hydrangeas, orchids, lilies, and even sunflowers as well as decorative baskets and figurines made of flower petals. The fish market had aquariums filled with fish in addition to small individual plastic baggies (similar to what you would see at a carnival in the US) of fish. Gold fish seemed to be the most popular because many Asians believe they bring good luck, but there were beta and other tropical fish too. Several shops also sold turtles, frogs, and lizards. Since it was getting to be evening, the Temple night market was also starting to get set up. This market sold everything from electronics and other gadgets to clothes, purses, art, and jewelry. I found myself a nice Jimmy Choo handbag with a big flower on the front, but decided not to get it yet in case I found something else I liked better. Here are some pictures from the different markets:
Flowers in the flower market
Fish in a bag
Unfortunately, we missed the bird market, but we did have a chance to briefly swing through the jade market. It was a female’s jewelry paradise! There were probably about one-hundred small stands within one tented area with all kinds of beautiful jewelry and not just jade pieces. Of course I found several things that I liked, but I knew that I couldn’t spend too much time gawking since I had the two boys with me! Each of the vendors wanted me to come see their merchandise. I found a beautiful jade necklace, but the lady wanted $80 Hong Kong dollars for it. I talked to her for several minutes while I tried on the necklace, showed it to Kenneth, and made my best effort to get a better price! I told her I would pay $50, and she said “no.” Then she wanted me to get 2 necklaces for $150, and I said “no.” I countered, saying I would buy 2 for $100, and she said “no.” Finally after about 5-10 minutes of haggling back and forth with her, I could tell the boys were getting antsy and wanted to go so I just thought I would come back another day. Just as I started to catch up with the boys, the lady called me back and said that she would take $40 for the necklace! I was really excited about my great deal, but at the same time I felt a bit guilty because the lady seemed so defeated that she had not gotten more money out of us.
We were getting hungry, so we made our way near the Kowloon southern coast for dinner. Several places were already booked up, so we went to Shakey’s for a quick dinner so we could make it to the 8 o’clock light show. We arrived at the viewing area for the light show about 30 seconds before it was over, but we were not too disappointed as they have a show every day of the week since it is so popular. From what we did see, it was quite spectacular with the skyscrapers and other buildings on Hong Kong Island lighting up with various colors at different times and coordinated with music. What a day!
NOTE: Batman fans will recognize the tall building as the building Batman jumped off in the Dark Knight
I thought that building looked familiar!
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