Mongolia, again

I am in Mongolia, again, for the second time this year.  When we came in March, it was still quite cold.  The ground was covered with snow and ice.  This time, one can see what grassland looks like.  

In March, we came for the first time, to look for possible sites and partners for service-learning projects.  Some leads, initially looking promising, turned out not particularly suitable  While others, initially fraught with uncertainties, turned out much more positive after an initial meeting.  Such is life in service-learning.  This is not the first time that it has happened.  This is also partly why international service-learning is so challenging.  It says a lot that we have come this far.  

So we are here again. This time we have a much better idea what we are looking for, and where we might find them. 

However, we are also facing additional, unexpected challenges.  Some projects that have been planned for this summer may not be able to take place as planned.  So we are looking for backup sites for them.  And Mongolia is one of the potential sites for one of the teams involved.  That has created complications. 

By the way, two small teams from Rehabilitation Sciences came on the same plane.  Tomorrow they set off to small towns 6 and 9 hours by bus from Ulaanbataar.  They are led by experienced teachers and are in high spirits.  We are sure they will do well and make us proud.  

Life is never dull in service-learning at PolyU.  

A Corner in Hung Hom

When I snapped this photo, I just felt that the large number of people scattered on the staircase at a usually-quiet corner of Hung Hom makes an interesting composition.  I was making a run, and continued on without thinking much about that snapshot. 

Only much later, when I was tidying up the photos, then I realised that something was happening.  It was probably nothing serious.  The moment probably passed quickly in a few seconds.  Subsequently, everybody probably returned to their interrupted conversations, or whatever they were doing earlier.  Just like the way I continued with my run.  

But for a second, attention was drawn to a woman climbing the stairs. I tried to figure out what happened to the woman, but couldn’t really figured out what it was.  Perhaps it was nothing.  But the posture of the people  around her showed concern.  

I do hope that the incident means that people do care about each other.  That we do look out for each other.  That thought makes me like Hong Kong just a little better. 

The Salar People 撒拉族

We had a chance to get to know the Salar people in XunHua 循化 Salar Autonomous County in QingHai province.  

They are a Turkic minority in China who speaks Salar, a Turkic language of the Oghuz sub-branch. There are currently approximately 150,000 of them in north-western China.  

According to their tradition, they originated from around the Samarkand area, in present day Uzbekistan, in central Asia. They moved to China during the Yuan dynasty to escape from some trouble at home.  They wandered around in north-western China and eventually settled somewhere around present day north east Qinghai.  

They brought with them a copy of the Koran, which is now 800 years old, preserved in a museum.  

Nearby is the Camel Spring.  The story says that a camel got lost when they arrived at Xunhua.  They later found the camel at a spring, where the water and soil matched those at home.  Hence they decided to settle there.  

The land happened to be in a valley between mountains to the north and the south.  With the Yellow River runs through the valley from the west to the east. 

In a private museum built by one of their industrialists, we found a physical terrain model of the land.  

There is also a 100 year old mosque and a tower.  Both in the Chinese architectural style, which is common for old mosques in China.  

We are quite intrigued by the place, the people and their enthusiasm in preserving their culture.  We have since met with quite a number of people from the local community, government officials, university professors, school headmasters and teachers, private enthusiasts and anyone who are willing to speak with us. 

After much discussions, we are now planning to put together a project involving the participation from our students and teachers, local university professors and students, local schools with their students and teachers, and local museums.  The project will likely involve the application of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, computer games, and digital human technologies.  The contents will be the Salar history, culture, language, stories and personalities.  PolyU will probably focus on the technology, local universities will focus on the story, and the school children will be involved in creating, testing and improving the game-based storytelling.  It is hugely challenging, and also a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see the project in action. 

QingHai Snacks

We went to Qinghai twice already this year, to check out possible sites and partners for service-learning projects.  It looks really promising.  And we are quite excited about sending teams of students here. 

In the meantime, we are also learning a lot about the local culture, particularly the food culture.  In one afternoon,, we went to a local walking street, where there are dozens and dozens of eateries and street vendors selling all kinds of ethnic snacks and street food.  

There are these highland barley 青稞.  A kind of grain that grows well in the high altitude of the Tibetan highland.  It can be eaten as a grain, ground into flour to make noodles and cake, fermented to make beer and liquor, ...

The famous yak’s 氂牛 tasty meat. 

Buttered tea 酥油茶.  It is salty rather than sweet.   There are also yogurt and other related drinks and dessert.  

Goji berries 枸杞.  Red as well as black. 

Stuffed lamb 羊腸 small intestines. Quite tasty but spicy. 

Apricots.  …  And a lot more.  

After a while, I noticed something unusual.  At first, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  Then I realised that there are no garbage cans.  There we’re also no garbage on the street.  Even around the street vendors selling snacks.  They all come in containers, don’t they?  What happens to all the garbage?  Finally, when we were leaving, we found garbage cans at the end of the street.  It is quite amazing, and impressive.  That the place is so clean and tidy.  I have to take my hat off, to the local people. 

My Articulated Cat

My articulated cat is made of palm leaves, coffee stirrers and toothpicks.  

11 pieces are made from the spine of a palm leaf.  

These are the skull, jaw, paws, end of tail, …

32 pieces are made from coffee stirrers. 

These are the arms and legs, tail, neck, …

25 pieces are made from tooth picks.  

These are the articulated joints: jaw, wrists, ankles, …

Roasted Chestnuts

At the cornet of the Flower Market in Mongkok yesterday, I ran into a vendor selling some of my favourite street foods in Hong Kong. This time I bought some roasted peanuts. 

But they also have roasted chestnuts. 

Sweet potatoes. Another of my favourites. 

Quail eggs.  Gingko nuts.  Macadamia nuts. 

If you are interested, you’d better burry up.  The weather is heating up.  The vendors will be taking a break in a few days. You will have to wait until many months later, towards the end of the year, to find them on the streets again. 

Fat Palm

The hollow of a very fat hand.  

With extremely short fingers.

Bouncing on two loops of copper wire.

A palm made of palm. 

#SChanPalmArt