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It’s been more than a decade since I was last in HK. So much has changed
and yet so much remained the same.
- Food –
This is Heaven if you love food like me.
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The variety of authentic Chinese food here is unparalleled. (though
others told me this is because I haven’t been to Beijing yet)
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The quality of the food is unmatched. (not even Toronto restaurants can
match them)
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The sweets in the hotel buffets alone instils in me the desire to keep
going back…
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We had congee, fried Chinese noodle and chow mein in a crowded small
hole in the wall. That’s old-style!
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Even the fastfood places like 大家樂 or 美心 offers variety, acceptable quality and
reasonable prices.
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So, we ate a lot!
- Exercises –
This is a land of Fast Paces
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One of Ruth’s friends was gracious enough to allow us to live in her
place while she moved in with her mom for the 2 weeks. It’s centrally located
near MongKok.
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Transportation is convenient, but there’s a lot of walking involved
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At first, I was trying to get over both the jet-lag and the leg-lag.
Everyone walk so fast! Given my “well-rounded” physic, it took me a while to
relearn how to navigate the narrow openings in the crowds.
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We walked a lot, but I enjoyed the walk through busy Mongkok streets and
markets, looking for deals on cheap stuff. (all the while wondering how can one
avoid the illegal imitation stuff…)
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We walked a lot and that helped to balanced off the “ate a lot” part and
I actually lost a couple of pounds! … but of course, I gain those pounds back
shortly after returning to Toronto. I blame it on the Canada!
- Magnificent
City – This is the land of efficient building, and boy, there are lots and
lots of those!
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When I was here last, the Chek Lap Kok airport was not yet operational.
Now, not only is it fully operational, but all surrounding land, which used to
be rural area, are now full of tall rings of new condos. The island it is
situated on is now connected by huge bridges allowing traffic flow to all
directions.
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The HK MTR has developed numerous subway lines making it convenient for
those with no car to travel throughout HK, Kowloon and the New Territories. We
had Octopus smart cards which is very convenient.
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Buildings got taller and taller. It used to be that when one is standing
on the Peak, one can see an unparalleled view of HK. Now, the IFC II Tower is
almost as high as the Peak! Still, we enjoyed a brief morning sunshine in the Café
on top of the Peak, remembering the HK harbour as it was in our early years and
marvel at what it is today.
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Chung Tung is the new “hot” area. It is near the airport, it is the
place of the 360 cable cars, and it sports the new factory outlet mall –
Citygate outlet. We were there for a half-day whirlwind. The outlet mall was
largely disappointing, but Ruth did find some good stuff there.
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Symphony of Lights is a evening laser-light show incorporating the
commercial buildings on both sides of the Victoria harbour. We got there about
10 minutes prior to the show. Lots of tourists lined the Avenue of stars (Tsim
Sha Tsui) and it was raining with wind gusts of up to 70 km/hr. We braved the
wind and the rain to watch the ½ hr laser show. It was pretty good except the
smog and rain blocked part of the lights. I also began to develop pain in my
feet due to gout, so that was not too enjoyable.
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An Island unto its own – Cheung Chau. My former pastor Rev. David Chan
moved back to HK last sep to teach at the Alliance Bible School in Cheung Chau.
Ruth and I visited him and his wife, more on that visit later. This is the
first time that I set food on Cheung Chau. It really is a very different
atmosphere from the rest of HK. There’s little smog, no skyscrapers, no MTR.
Just a pier full of flea market style fishermen and very quiet and restful
elsewhere.
Macau.
Ok, ordinarily Macau deserves its on subtitle, it is NOT a part of HK. However,
since I only spend 1 day in Macau. It is only a blip here. First time to Macau,
it is quite different from HK. Most of the city is older style with only the
casino strip rivalling HK. My brother-in-law Rev. Pak Ping Au (more on him
later) is our tour-guide, leading us into the heart of the old city touring the
historical church buildings letting us breath in the early Christian missions
to China. This includes of course the tomb of Robert Morrison, the first
protestant missionary to China. It was a highly educational tour, and of
course, we walked until we dropped! | | |
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2008 will be a year to remember for us.
This will be the year that Ruth and I finally set foot in Germany as FT
missionaries. Projected date: end of Oct.
This is the year that I have to catch up with my Th.D. studies. Not the
least of which is to write my Latin exam for a 3rd time and pray for
the best.
This is the year that we will travel to different cities: Hong Kong,
Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and of course, across the GTA to share our vision
and to raise money. In the process, we get to meet up with our old friends.
This is the year that Ruth will leave her financial career again and
throw her lot in with me at the church.
This is the year that we will have to negotiate through the emotional “goodbyes”
with family and friends.
This is the year that we will have to settle down in a brand new
country, amid a brand new culture, learning a brand new language, serving a
brand new church, and starting a brand new spousal relationship – co-worker,
spouse 24/7.
Lots
of challenges. But I’m sure there will be lots to remember about 2008. | | |
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Just returned from 2 weeks in HK. It was a tiring but wonderful trip. Met
up with old Wpg friends whom I haven't seen for over 10 yrs! Here are my
thoughts:
1. How unique are the friendships that were forged when we were
young! I lived in Wpg for 9 yrs, of which only 3 yrs were spent with the
Smyrna fellowship. Therefore, our friendship was built in only 3 yrs. It's been
17 yrs since we have parted, and yet, when we meet again, however briefly, it
seems like we have never left! We are friends, brothers and sisters in Christ
forever! 2. Faith is tested through fire Wpg was the place where
most of us formed our Christian beginnings. The fellowship time was great, we
have pure hearts for God and we form dreams of the future. However, it is
in the past yrs that our faith has been tested. It is tested in the good times,
(when my career was going really well, I forgot my dreams of being missionary
and of serving God and our people), it is tested in bad times, (when we are
unemployed, when our relationships fail, when we are pressed by the demands of
life, we may doubt, we may complain, we may drift away). Yet, I have no doubt
that the faith which were formed in our youth can only be proven to be true
through these trials and temptations. 3. The future is waiting for
us We may have tough times with life, with family and with faith in the
past, or we may have a smooth ride in our life. Whichever is the case, Paul
admonishes us: "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining
toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God
has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Phi 3:13b-14) It is not the
past that matters now, it is the future. I have a feeling that the next 10-20
yrs of our lives will be the defining moments of our entire life. The past with
its joys and pains can either be stumbling blocks that hinder us or stepping
stones which enable us to press on toward the prize for which God has called
us. Therefore, we need to pray for one another more than ever before. I
am guilty of not keeping in touch with my friends in the past. I will commit to
writing more emails and blogs and praying for
each of them. May God make use of us all as we journey heavenward. | | |
| Recently I read an interesting story from George Foreman’s biographical book God in My Corner:
George Forman was a
big, tough and mean heavyweight champion in the 70’s. He’s famous for
his knockout victories over Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. He’s even more
famous for losing an improbably fight to Muhammad Ali when Ali used the
“Rope-a-dope” on him. After that monumental lost, Forman was never the
same fighter. Then in 1976, he had a miraculous conversion experience
and quit boxing to be a pastor in Houston Texas.
In the 80’s Foreman
came back to boxing at the brand old age of 38. He completed his
improbable comeback with a knockout victory over Moore to recapture the
Heavyweight title at the age of 45. What’s equally amazing to his
comeback was his changed demeanour. Gone was the mean and tough
Foreman. The new Foreman is fat and happy all the time. Indeed an all
around nice guy, or is he?
According to Foreman,
during his comeback, after he lost his 12 round bout to Evander
Holyfield he and his wife went to an IHOP to eat everything he starved
for – pancakes and syrup, bacon, eggs, sausage, orange juice…
While they were having
their meal, a fan came up and asked for his autograph. George was tired
and hungry, he didn’t want to be interrupted. So, he told the fan to
wait till after the meal. As the fan walked away disappointed,
Foreman’s wife Mary preached the message that George would never
forget: “Look, George. Everybody thinks you’re the nicest guy in the
world because you’re smiling in all those commercials. But you wouldn’t
stop eating for fifteen seconds to sign an autograph for that man. You’
can’t treat people like that. So you either be the nicest guy, or don’t be! But don’t pretend to be one person and act like another!”
Big George
learned his lesson, he asked the fan to come back and signed his
autograph for him rightaway! What about us? Who are we when no one’s
looking? | | |
| Just returned from 2 weeks in Germany, and enjoyed our first ever Christmas (Weinacht) in Germany! Here are some events, thoughts, happenings...
Helplessness
2nd day of my trip, talked to the girl whom Ruth and I met in June 06. She had severe depression then, it has deteriorated into bipolar now...Long periods of time of anti-depressants but without corresponding counselling help allowed her condition to deteriorate. She has been in and out of the hospital during the past 18 months. She was visibly shifting from very HIGH to very low. Only a few days later, she was admitted to the hospital again, and when Ruth and I went to visit her, she was sleeping, the effect of the drugs kicked in. She spent the Christmas and New Years in the mental hospital while the rest of us celebrated...her prospects are not good: only drugs but no counselling. Her German isn't good enough for counselling by German counsellors and there is only 1 Chinese counsellor recently set up in hamburg, 2 hours travel from where she is...She probably won't be able to finish her degree in Germany...Her family, who had borrowed large amount of money to send her to Germany probably can't accept her returning without finishing a degree and has no prospects of returning the money...She is helpless, perhaps hopeless? I know that as a Christian, we can always hope in God. But this Christmas, this girl needs a miracle!
Homesickness
We went to 3 towns and participated in 3 Christmas celebrations. In each town, we met with recently arrived students (from China). They arrived in Sep and in 3 months time, they have learned the harsh reality of Germany. They are lonely, they are struggling with German, they have not many friends if any, they miss home, some of them can't cook, don't know how to live on their own, many of them cry every night in their homesickness. Thankfully, for them, there is hope! coming to the Christian Christmas celebrations really help them to be rejuvenated. They make some new friends, they can speak their native language, they find out that they are not alone, there is a God who cares.
Christian hospitality
We learned that Christian hospitality goes a looonnnggg way! When we visited Rev. Ng of Hamburg on Christmas day, he hosted 40 single chinese students in his house for Christmas dinner. In a game we played, where each person draws a simple question from the bag and tells their story, quite a few said this is the best Christmas they enjoyed because this is the only Christmas in Germany when they don't have to feel lonely, isolated and deserted.
Weinachtmarkt
Germany may be a post-Christian nation, but they celebrate Christmas as a cultural event. Every christmas, there are these weinachtmarkt (Christmas market) sprang up in every town and city. All are more or less the same: booths selling trinkets and food. Gluwein (some kind of Christmas wine), fried potatoes and 1/2 meter long sausages!
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