I am typing this inside UA116 enroute Hong Kong to
Newark. By this time I have forgotten
some of the specifics of the trip …
This was a trip with several objectives. A primary one was to join a group of
Christians from Hong Kong to visit various organizations in China. I was asked to come along by someone I met last
year through my brother. The second
reason was that we had some family matters to take care of. Third, David and Ruby were going to be in
town from early April on, so I thought I would stick around a few days to meet
up with them. Fourth, I wanted to visit
CGST (China Graduate School of Theology) to understand a bit what they do. Fifth, Josh from Hope International would be
in Hong Kong for a few days, so we would have a chance to meet. Lastly, our family friend George L just got
out of hospital after spine surgery, so I thought I would also visit him.
Wed Mar 20. Flight
117 EWR-HKG was packed. The guy in the
middle seat is quite heavy and spilled over onto both sides. I told Anne afterwards I had about 80% of my
seat to myself. He also had a birth
defect that resulted in two thumbs on each of his hands, so I also had to avoid
staring. Despite that, the trip was
rather painless; and the plane got in quite a bit ahead of schedule. I ate at the airport, bought myself a phone
card, and then took a taxi to the Tai Po House, where I would stay during my
time in Hong Kong.
Sat Mar 23 – Tue Mar 26.
The group that visited China consisted of about ten people plus a young
lady who helped with the logistics.
While what we did was certainly legal, and our hosts complied with all
necessary regulations, I won’t be describing a lot of specifics in this blog.
In the group are four people over the age of 80: a couple
from Hong Kong who are very into doing charity work in China, a lady who has
been doing this for a long time, and another lady who flew in from the United
States – her daughter also came along. There
is this retired lawyer who is in his early fifties. A representative from a Hong Kong-based
charitable organization came. The friend
who invited me, another friend he invited, a professor from a small college in
the United States and I rounded out the group.
I told Anne this was like an opera crowd – I find myself in the younger
group. What is amazing of course was the
conditions at some of the places are not that great, and the older folks –
especially the older ladies – took it all in stride.
We visited several cities. Each city has a metropolitan population of
around 1 million people, with about 300,000 in the city proper. In addition, we also visited some of the
nearby villages. “Nearby” could mean a
90-minute bus ride. The Chinese have a
system of classifying their counties, cities, and villages. I won’t bother to describe it since I don’t
completely understand the system anyway.
We visited quite a few churches, many seating between 500
to 1000, several child care centers, and a couple of clinics, many started by
the people in the group. In addition, we
also saw some meeting points which typically could accommodate 50 to 200
people. I joked that oftentimes I felt
like I was on a European tour: after the third cathedral they all began to look
alike. To add to the analogy, these
cities are all along the same river – akin to the many capitals that line the
Danube.
Many of the cities we visited were on a high speed train
route. The trains reach a speed of 300
km/hr, taking a load off traveling time.
All three legs that we took were packed, and the conditions inside were
not the best, especially the bathrooms (so I was told by those who had to
go.) Prices were reasonable, a 90 minute
trip cost about US$30 equivalent.
There are these "Meeting Points" all over the countryside where between 50 to 200 people worship. They are looked after by staff from more established churches.
Another meeting point.
This church was designed by someone in our group.
The inside of a church.
Skyline of a typical city we visited during this trip.
The blades of this ceiling fan are wrapped in newspaper during the winter months to protect them.
The group with some of our hosts.
All the churches and meeting points have these regulations posted prominently. Most of the stipulations are of the "this is not allowed" category.
We also met with a group of blind Christians. Here they were singing a hymn. We had dinner with them later in the day.
These trains can go 300 km/hr. One hopes they are maintained better than their washrooms.
Hymn for the worship service.
Inside the ruins of an old church (about 100 years).
A church under construction.
This is one of the earliest churches procured by someone in the group. It was over 20 years ago.
Beautiful mountains of the area.
State of dining table after our lunch.
Wed Mar 27. I met
up with Josh at a TST Starbucks and chatted for about two hours, discussing
various options for Hope China. Lunch
with Tim at the Chinese Restaurant in the Cubus building. Mostly variations on traditional Chinese
dishes. Afternoon was another meeting to
take care of some family issues at Admiralty, and then it was rushing back to
Taipo for dinner and then a Hope CAB call.
A rather busy day.
Thur Mar 28. I had
arranged for Josh to meet up with Winnie W of the Hong Kong Christian
Council to share the respective activities of the two organizations. Winnie also got us to meet with Rev. Po who
heads up that organization. Afterwards
Josh and I got drenched by the torrential rain.
This turned out to be the last time I saw Josh on this trip, their son
ran a rather high fever and they eventually had to take him to the 24-hour
clinic of The Hong Kong Sanitorium Hospital Friday night. Things turned out okay, but I can understand
the anxiety of young, first-time parents.
Fri Mar 29.
Despite having been a Special Administrative Region of China since 1997,
Hong Kong still observes Good Friday and Easter Monday. I would find myself mostly idle during these
four days. Since April 4 would be
another public holiday (a day Chinese traditionally use to visit their ancestors’
graves), people could have a 10-day break by taking three days of vacation, and
many do so. Nonetheless, the shopping
malls and restaurants continue to be crowded.
Sat Mar 30. This
was another busy day. First I went to
Jimmy’s Kitchen in Central to meet with Eric whom I met during our Norway trip
in January. He had some suggestions on
microfinance enterprises that he wanted to share with me. After picking up some strawberries and nuts
at City Super as gifts, I visited George, who had spine surgery a couple of
weeks ago to fix a herniated disc. He was
wearing a heavy torso brace, and still had some tenderness in his legs and feet. Dinner was back on Hong Kong Isalnd with my
niece Alyson at Crowne Plaza Chinese Restaurant.
Sun Mar 31. I set out
for a long walk along the Lam Chuen and Tai Po Rivers. I saw a signpost of Lin Au and followed it to
the (same) old school house I visited recently.
The rain cut the walk short, to a little over 4 miles. Still quite pleasant.
Mon Apr 1. I went
out for a 4-mile jog in the morning.
Today was the first day during this trip that I saw the sun, only
glimpses of it at that. Other than
getting wet a few times, I didn’t really mind. Most of my winter exercise (and I had been a
bit lazy) was on an elliptical machine, so I rediscovered some of my
muscles. Ruby didn’t make the trip, so I
had dinner only with David. He knew
about this restaurant at the City University, which is near the Kowloon Tong
Station. It served very reasonably
priced food. We had two small appetizer
dishes and three main dishes for a total of about US$40. The main dishes were all “hakka-style,”
including stuffed tofu and pork belly with taro.
Tue Apr 2. This
morning I had an appointment with Rev. Carver Yu of CGST. I was surprised at how pleasant the campus
environment is. It was also interesting
that among CGST’s neighbors are the local Mormon Temple and a residence with a
prominent Thai Buddhist shrine. He also
gave me a couple of books published by the staff.
I then met up with David for lunch at Queen’s Café in
Festival Walk. We then went to Kwun Tong
to meet Mrs. Au, who has been the sole “employee” of church.com.hk for over ten
years – she gets paid when the budget allows it, otherwise she works as a
volunteer. The website has access to
over 10,000 sermons.
Dinner was with Kashi, her sister Ellen, Ellen’s daughter
Pat and son-in-law Bosco, their two children Ashley and Leo at a Festival Walk
Restaurant. And they brought along two
maids. I didn’t know Kashi’s relatives,
but David and Ruby know them quite well.
Wed 4/3. Lunch with Tim at Alba in the
Cubus building. It is a European fusion
restaurant: tapas for appetizer, French lamb for the main course, and tiramitsu
for dessert. Alyson joined us after her
morning classes at Chinese University, and we had only time with her for her
appetizer. It was then off to Hong Kong
Club to see Elaine for tea, Larry was also there. By the time I got done with some errands
(buying flowers for Anne’s mom’s birthday and getting some photocopies made) it
was close to dinner time. I bought some
take-out food and ate with Alyson – Tim having to leave for the recording
studio right after work.
Thu 4/4. Taxi
pickup at 7:30 am. Being a public
holiday, trip took only 40 or so minutes.
Kenneth and Anna were also flying out (to Europe) at this time, so we
chatted for a little bit before we boarded our respective flights.
This was another packed flight, and there was initially someone
in the middle seat. She moved after her
husband found two adjoining seats. I
hope I can take advantage of the extra room.
