Karaoke, anyone?

I have now truly been initiated into Asian culture by attending a karaoke video night. Too funny -- and lots of fun for someone who loves to sing when she's driving the highways alone.

One of my colleagues invited me to a karaoke night to celebrate her birthday -- no matter that she's 20-something and I'm not. I thought, what the heck, and went along. It turned out to be five twenty-somethings (or maybe one or two were past 30, don't know for sure) and me. 

They ushered us into a room with vinyl-covered sofas along three walls, a large square table for food in the middle and a big video screen on the fourth wall. It reminded me of a basement rec room from the '50s or '60s, complete with potato chips to snack on! We even had our own washroom.

Two free soft drinks per person were part of the admission price, but lo and behold, one of the guys had brought a bottle of vodka in his backpack. So, there we were, sipping spiked fruit punch and singing along to music videos! It has been a while since I've spiked anything ... likely not since university! No matter. When in Hong Kong ... .

The drill is this: You select the language you'd like to appear on the screen (surprise -- we chose English over Cantonese or Mandarin), go through an alphabetized list of performers (solo or group) and create a playlist; then you're ready to rock and roll -- or sing the blues or rap or whatever. The video plays, the words light up on the screen and you have handheld microphones to allow you to sing along at top volume. (Yes, the rooms are soundproof!)

It was a blast! None of us was into solo performance -- perhaps not drunk enough -- so we sang as a group. I must say, most popular music is not too complex, because I was easily able to pick up the tunes of the songs I didn't know and chime right in. Yes, that was I, singing Californication and rapping with Eminem! But we also sang the Beatles, Queen, Celine and, as I mentioned on Facebook, Neil Diamond. Who knew twenty-somethings were so versatile?

As night turned to early morning, Kristin's boyfriend surprised her with a birthday cake, and we found a video of a Happy Birthday song in Thai to make the occasion complete.

It was such a kick that I hope there will be an opportunity to do it again. Just in case, I'm going to practice my Gangnam style moves!

Street Scene

A city’s street life offers clues to its personality, and in Hong Kong, the lively streets constantly remind me that this city is a vibrant mixture of the old and the new.

Much of the vibrancy comes from the people. Hong Kong is a densely populated place, and day or night, there are people on the streets. They’re coming and going to work, restaurants, clubs, the gym, the malls … but it’s rare to walk down a street without company.  And the constant use helps make the streets safe at all hours.

When I walk the streets of Hong Kong, I love looking for things that I wouldn’t see wandering in Toronto. It’s nice to know that as global as the world has become, there are still differences and oddities.

One constant on the streets of Hong Kong is the hand trolleys. Trucks aren’t the only means of moving commercial goods here. People push carts loaded with bags of rice or boxes or whatever. Sometimes they stick to the sidewalk, but other times, they share the road with the vehicles, which makes for an interesting mix – and a need for patience.

The sidewalk – or occasionally the street – also becomes a venue for drying goods. I now live in a neighbourhood full of stores that sell dried seafood for cooking and dried items to make medicines. It’s not unusual to walk along and see baskets of fish or seaweed set on the concrete to bleach in the heat and sun. Since these shops generally have open doorways and sidewalk displays, the proprietors can keep an eye on their merchandise and the drying goods simultaneously.

 

In Toronto, road construction is a constant during the summertime. Here in Hong Kong, it’s building construction and renovation that is ever present. But don’t look for safety harnesses and metal scaffolding. The material of choice is bamboo, the poles lashed together. Yesterday, I looked up to see two men balancing on poles high above my head as they put together a scaffold. Apparently, bamboo is very strong – thank heavens.

A few blocks away from my apartment is a square created by the intersection of a couple of streets and a lane or two. In walking to the subway at noon, I’ve noticed that one of the stores outside the square has a booth for demonstrations. Each weekday as I pass, there is a salesperson wearing a microphone, hawking anything from shoe inserts to cooking utensils. Invariably, I chuckle; it’s so reminiscent of those crazy TV ads offering Ginsu knives or other kitchen paraphernalia, only $19.95 – and if you order now, you’ll get two!

 

The square even offers unexpected entertainment. Last week, a large Buddhist shrine popped up to celebrate an occasion that I couldn’t decipher, given my limited Chinese. It was elaborate, all red and gold and statuary, with offerings of food and incense. One afternoon, there was a monk offering blessings; the next evening, a quintet featuring traditional Chinese instruments entertained. The following night, it was gone.

So, I expect the unexpected and enjoy the endless variation. Toto, I’m definitely not in Kansas ... or Toronto ... or New Jersey.

Lantern Light

I returned to Hong Kong just in time for the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, an annual celebration of the full moon in autumn that seeks a good harvest for the coming year. In today’s urban Hong Kong, the tradition remains, even though crops are nowhere to be seen.

This year, the lunar-driven festivities coincided with China National Day, giving people a rare four-day weekend. As usual in this shopping mecca, it meant that malls were jammed on Monday and Tuesday!

 

This year’s celebration in Hong Kong was marred by a ferry collision, taking the lives of almost 40 people who were on a cruise to see the fireworks in Victoria Harbour. It was a sad ending to a weekend of pleasure.

Most Hong Kongers, however, had a much more benign holiday.  There is an ages-old tradition of parading with lit lanterns, reminiscent of the moon, and on Sunday evening, the park near my apartment was full of light. The government has urged people not to follow the old tradition of using lanterns lit with real candles, so the effect was different than it would have been 100 years ago. Instead, people used neon light sticks to create 3-D decorations, and the park shone with multicoloured slashes of light. I did see a number of traditionally designed lanterns, made of silk, but they, too, had LEDs or lightbulbs inside. Some of the families picnicking on the grass adhered to tradition; lighting candles set in metal containers to contain any flames or melted wax.  

It’s a family holiday, and it was charming to see families out together to enjoy the occasion.

On Monday, I made my way to Tai Hang, a village of old that has long since been incorporated into the Tin Hau area of the city. Legend states that the villagers fought off the bubonic plague by performing a  fire-dragon dance, so the residents stage dance to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. I arrived to the sonorous sounds of an Asian drum and joined the throng lining the streets. Soon, there was a parade of men carrying silk lanterns on poles, escorted by young girls dressed in traditional silk jackets and pants, wearing embroidered headdresses and carrying lotus-shaped lanterns.

 

The anticipation built and built, and finally, we were treated to the sight of the fire dragon, a 67-metre-long snakelike creature with a dragon’s head, carried on poles spaced along its length. Its spine was covered with hundreds and hundreds of sticks of lit incense, creating the fire. The men carrying the dragon danced along the street, edging towards the crowds and dipping the dragon scarily. Spectators like me loved it!