hong kong

Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade China Trip 2009

Hong Kong and Home Again

We took a taxi to the train station and as soon as we walked inside we just kind of hoped we would figure out where we needed to go. Tom spotted the ticket window and just then a mute man came up to us with the offer to help. He took one of those heavy suitcases which really helped, we got our tickets and he took us to where we needed to go. I have a great belief that if someone really wants to work and have a job, they will be resourceful enough to do so, and this man was a perfect example. And of course we gratefully rewarded him. We got our tickets with only a few minutes to spare before the train left, and found our seats and headed for Hong Kong.
Chinese trains are excellent transportation for long distance. The trip was a little under 2 hours and the scenery was fascinating. We went from urban life in Guangzhou to rural countryside. Every green area had crops growing, from banana trees to vegetables to rice. The rice paddies with the workers in their cone shaped coolie hats could have come out of the past, doing their work the way they have for centuries.
We arrived in Hong Kong, and the first impression was even more people and activity than we had experienced in China. We had never been in a city where the driving is on the other side of the road, and with all the traffic and feeling like we were on the "wrong" side, the drive to hotel was a wild ride.
The "tone" of the language was a big change, too. In Beijing, Mandarin is spoken with rolling r's, and in Guangzhou the main language is Cantonese, with Mandarin also spoken. The language of Hong Kong is sing song and melodic.

We stayed at another Novotel, and on a floor that was recently renovated and the room looked new. And so small! We could barely get our luggage inside. The staff was wonderful. I had read in customer reviews of Novotel that the staff was not pleasant, but that wasn't our experience at either of them. The first problem we encountered was that our flight from Hong Kong to Chicago was delayed two hours and we would miss our connecting flight so we couldn't check in online and needed to call United Airlines customer service to arrange our connecting flight to Orlando. The concierge called until he contacted the correct person and we were able to change the flight.

Open meat market

We stayed on Nathan Street in the heart of Kowloon, and walked around until we found a restaurant and ate a strange and delicious lunch, then walked around some more, and headed to the jade market. For years, I have had customers tell me that they had a jade bangle they purchased in Hong Kong and paid a lot for it and felt it had high value and then were perplexed when they bought a Ying Yu Jade bangle because the jade seemed so different. I thought perhaps the jade from Hong Kong was a truly wonderful kind of jade, of great quality that I somehow have been unable to get for myself. But after visiting the jade market, the answer is that the jade sold there is the worst quality I have ever seen in a jade market. One of the reasons I love jade is the energy, the natural qi of the jade, and the jade in the jade market was "bu qi", pretty bad. I touched only two pieces that looked natural. And I saw many foreigners, Westerners buying these jades, paying really high prices for this awful stuff. I wanted so badly to enlighten them…. SO I thought perhaps the jewelry stores had better jade. And some do have true imperial jade in 22 k gold, but how to tell if it's real and natural imperial jade? Most of it just didn't really "feel" like it was natural, and if China is the country of knock-offs, then Hong Kong is the mother and father of all knock offs and fakes, so I was not tempted in the least to find a Hong Kong piece of jade.

Duck heads

The night market is also fascinating, and you can get really attractive knock offs at great prices. In Guangzhou I purchased a rain coat and a handbag, fakes, but extremely stylish and well made, and I love the handbag I bought for only $20 USD. I had been looking for one like it for the trip, but wasn't willing to pay $400, so am thrilled with mine. There were a lot of people buying, the prices were good, but there was really nothing I wanted to buy. I wanted to have my fortune told by a Hong Kong fortune teller

So I wandered through all the stalls until I found someone that I felt "connected" with for a palm reading. The choices were limited because of course it had to be an English speaker. The man I chose looked about my age, and he had me write my first name and date of birth, and told me he was also Ox, but the younger ox, although he looked older than me. Maybe fortune telling is tough work! Anyway, he was quite right on about most of what he told me, and he amazingly showed on my palm the age I stopped working for other people and Ying Yu Jade became my only business, and told me I would work 2-3 more years, then retire, live a long life. And I agree, that is the plan!

The restaurant we ate at had pictures of the foods, mine turned out to be lamb chops with curry sauce on mashed potatoes, quite yummy, and paired with a lemony limey frosty something to drink, a good combination of yin and yang

Homeward Bound

We were on the elevator with a family from Australia who were getting ready for their tour of Hong Kong. The woman immediately noticed my jade bangle and commented and asked if I had purchased it in Hong Kong, to which I did reply that she needs to be very careful about buying jade in Hong Kong, and don't buy it at the jade market. I have many Australian customers, who love jade, and do go to Hong Kong for vacation and jade shopping, and hoped she would find really good jade and not buy something truly terrible and wear it thinking it was good jade. If you wear jade for health, and think you are wearing a good jade and you're wearing a dyed or fake jade, then you are not going to accomplish the good qi exchange you are hoping for

After a quite good breakfast, we still had time before we left for the airport because our flight was delayed 2-3 hours. There were no parks to play tai chi, and the floor we were on was long and quite deserted, so I stood by the window of the 11th floor overlooking the city, and did qigong, then my tai chi form in the hall. I didn't realize I had attracted a crowd until I closed the form, several Asian people watching. Asian people are often very in tune to qi and do activities that keep their qi flowing smoothly throughout the day. My qigong teacher calls it "24 hours do qigong", and you can see it in some people, the way they move throughout the day.

Hong Kong view from hotel window

The Hong Kong airport is huge, and easy to find your way around, and lots of shops and restaurant, very modern and user friendly, in fact moreso than most USA airports I have been in. And yes, our flight was delayed almost three hours. Since we couldn't check in online, we didn't have the opportunity to upgrade to business class again.

It's great to be home again. China is an adventure, "yin and yang", as is everything in life. If you go to China, I recommend taking tours with experienced tour guides for your first trip. It's a good introduction, and then if you return to China, you can be more independent and see what you want to see, do what you want to do

This will be our final trip to the Guangzhou area. I bought pearls, crystals and other Chinese made items here, but because of the Lantos law prohibiting jadeite to the USA, there is really no reason to go to the jade markets if you can't buy anything. It's so frustrating to see all the gorgeous jade and know it can't go to USA and some other countries that prohibit it.

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