Tram Run

Originally, I had planned to run along the northern waterfront on Hong Kong Island, along the Victoria Harbour.  It offers good views.  But I have done that many times already, so the prospect wasn’t too exciting.  

When I got off the MTR at Kennedy Town, on a whim, I decided to run along the tram line, from the western end in Kennedy Town, and see how far I could go.  Perhaps all the way to Shau Ki Wan? I wasn’t really confident I could do that anymore. 

I remember living in three different places in Kennedy Town, when I was small, before finishing primary school.  Two of them brick houses and one an apartment block.  All demolished now.  But Sai Wan Estate has been there as long as I can remember, where some of my friends lived, through which I passed many many times, is still there.  There used to be a library at the periphery of the estate, where I started developing my reading habit.  I am still grateful, to the people who used to run the library.

The tram used to run along the water front between Kennedy Town and Central.  On one side of the tracks were storehouses, for rice and other food stuff.  Coolies would carry sacks of rice from the boats into the storehouses, balancing precariously on very narrow planks between the boats and the shore.  Then they have to cross the tracks to get into the warehouse.  

Near Sai Ying Pun MTR station, artists have painted very attractive murals on the walls of old buildings.  The place has been cleaned up and is now much more pleasant than I remember.  

On and around Charter Street in Central, busy street parties.  This being Sunday, the usual day off for migrant workers.  Perhaps the Rugby event also contributed to it. 

On Canal Street in Wanchai, old ladies “beating villains” for a fee.  Some of the clients seem to be Mainlanders.  A sign of the times, perhaps?

Near Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, interesting manhole covers.  

In Victoria Park, dancers were practicing.  Amazing skills.

In North Point, what looked like the skeleton of a pre-historic dinosaur was actually the skeleton of an old theatre.  I did watch some movies there, but cannot remember what those were.  What is going to happen to the building now?

Around North Point Terminus, the tram has to fight its way among taxies, cars, delivery carts, and of course, people.  It does not always win. 

In Quarry Bay, I could not resist the urge to visit the “Monster Building”.  As far as I can tell, it acquired the name not because the building looked like a monster, or was somehow monstrous.  But because some photographs of it became the inspiration for the setting of some science fiction movie, in which gigantic humanoid machines appeared. Or something of that sort. 

Finally, arrived at the terminus in Shau Ki Wan.  I remember the loop at which the tram turns around.  

During Chinese New Year, we used to come here to visit an old relative, many many decades ago.  Nothing remains now, except for the loop.  Even the trams look quite different. 

 

Mongolian Ger

The Mongolian ger (tent) is quite distinctive, and ubiquitous in and around Ulaanbaatar.  

They all have the same shape.  I was told there are two common sizes: big and small.  The structure is essentially the same.  

I decided to make my own, a miniature one.  Using coffee stirrers and toothpicks. It is structurally similar but not exactly the same.  But hopefully, close enough in shape.  

Salesians in Mongolia

The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) is a Catholic order founded by Don Bosco in Turin, in 1859.  They have a clear, specific purpose - to help the poor youths during the Industrial Revolution.  They have since grown into a global organization with a strong presence in many many countries, including Mongolia.  

Initially I wasn’t sure whether there are Salesians in Mongolia.  My good friend, Father George, a Salesian priest from India who is now based in Rome, confirmed that there are, and provided me with some leads, even though he does not know them.  Starting with those leads, I did some digging through the Internet of my own, and cold called them.  They turned out to be very friendly.  That is partly because I graduated from Aberdeen Technical School （ATS）n Hong Kong, a Salesian school.  And there is a priest in Ulaanbaatar from Hong Kong!

The Salesians run Don Bosco Technical School in the east of Ulaanbaatar, right next to the cathedral.  Don Bosco in UB is run with the same philosophy as ATS in Hong Kong. It offers practical skills alongside a regular secondary school curriculum.  At ATS,  in the 1970s, we were taught woodworking, hand tools, basic machines such as lathes ad drilling machines, technical drawing, and a choice between mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. Don Bosco at UB offers secretarial training, welding, electrical engineering, automobile engineering, etc.  

Just like my old school, they have a library, sports training, and other extra-curricular activities.  I felt so much at home at Don Bosco.  Next to the school, the Salesians also run an orphanage and a community center, offering many types of services as appropriate.  

My team was in Mongolia looking for potential sites and partners for service-learning.  We are so impressed by the Salesians.  They are truly dedicated to education, formal and otherwise, for the youths.  What they offer are very practical and effective.  The students who do well in academics can proceed to further studies at universities.  Otherwise they will have the skills that will help them find a job, and develop a career.  

We are also deeply impressed by the Salesians themselves.  They came from Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam, Croatia, East Timor, Guatemala, Africa, …  Some have been in Mongolia for decades and have no plans to go back to where they came from.  For them, Mongolia is home. The priests and brothers have given up marriage and private property.  

They remind me of Brother K, who taught me at ATS in the 1970s.  He came originally from Holland.  He is now 100 years old, and continues to live in Hong Kong.  One of his former students is living with him, to take care of him, in an apartment the student rents for the purpose.  

Such dedication! Such impact! How can one not admire them?  Naturally, we are trying to find a way to work with them.  Do not be surprise when we appear in Mongolia again. 

ChingMing - Easter

This year ChingMing Festival and Easter happen to be the same day.  This happens rather infrequently. I cannot recall it happening before, as far as I can remember.  In fact, Hong Kong is probably one of the few places in the world where ChingMing and Easter are both public holidays.  In most other places people generally take only one of them seriously, if at all.  It is a good time for us Chinese Christians to contemplate the two conceptions of death (and life) - the Chinese perspective versus the Christian one.  

At ChingMing, we Chinese pay respect to the dead.  We send them things: money, clothes, amenities, food, …  By burning papier mache versions of things that the dead may need in the underworld.  We hope that they will “live” comfortably and bless the living.  Until such time when the dead can ascend into a better world - which we cannot be sure whether it will happen, and when.  We recognise that there is suffering, that we may have done bad things; that we can be redeemed by praying and doing good deeds.  That is my understanding of the world view behind the customs and practice. This world view is actually not just limited to the Chinese.  Many other civilisations seem to have similar beliefs.  

On the other hand, we Christians believe that the evil and the resultant suffering in the world is so great that we cannot redeem ourselves.  Praying and doing good deeds is not enough.  Good Friday reminds us that great sacrifice from one who is without sin is needed to redeem the world from the evil and suffering.  Easter reminds us that only God can raise us from death, completing the redemption.

The Chinese perspective represents natural human aspirations and what humans can possibly strive to do. While the Christian perspective represents what is possible with intervention from the supernatural.  Many people insist that the physical world is all there is. That the supernatural does not exist. Hence there is no possibility of redemption by the supernatural.  To me, a strictly physical world view is lacking in imagination and unnecessarily self-restricting.  It does not lead to hope.  A world (as bad as ours is) that is without hope is miserable indeed.   It is one I do not wish to live in. I am glad we can learn from the wisdon of both the Chinese and Christian perspectives.  

Mongolia, then and now

Mongolia today is a huge country in land mass, roughly three times the size of France, or France, Germany and Spain added together.  Yet it has only 3.5 million people, just about half of the population in Hong Kong.  

At the time of Genghis Khan, about 800 years ago, Mongolia ruled a gigantic empire stretching from Korea to Eastern Europe, covering the land of ~40 modern day countries.  He is without a doubt the most famous Mongolian ever.  His name is ubiquitous in the country. For example, the airport for the capital, Ulaanbaatar, is called Chinggis Khan International Airport. 

That is also the reason why there is a gigantic (40 meter tall) stainless steel statue of him, on a horse, 54 kilometres east of Ulaanbaatar. It is said to be the largest equestrian statue in the world.  It is visible over the terrain from a long distance away.  

Up close, his huge, stern face was very impressive indeed.  

Mongolians were distinguished by their horsemanship, mobility, fighting skills, organisation, and more.  Yet their horses are surprisingly small.  Today, relatively few Mongolians remain nomadic herders.  Most have moved to the city.  

Much of their treasure remain in the land.  It is said there are 32 million sheep, 30 million goats, 4.7 million cattle, 4.2 million horses, and 0.5 million camels.  Their camels have 2 humps, different from those in Arabia.  Mongolia produces one third of the world’s cashmere.  

While we were checking out hotels for possible accommodation for our students for future projects, I found an unusual map on the wall of one of the hotels.  Special symbols mark where specific minerals can be found: gold, copper, silver, iron, tungsten, uranium, coal, petroleum, etc.  

Apparently, many hotels cater especially for travellers who come for the mineral businesses.  One of those we visited was said to offer special entailment.  I am sure I don’t know what that means.