Hong Kong

We’ve been to Hong Kong before and enjoyed walking the Ladies Market, Stanley's Market, Victoria Peak, and the light show at night. Mary isn't feeling very well, so we decided not to go into town on Sunday. There have been protests here for more than 7 months, initially against a law allowing people to be extradited to China and now for something closer to a democracy. We were told to avoid wearing black or white, the protest colors, and to stay away from government buildings. No one encountered the protests. The news is also talking about a new virus that seems to be occurring in Wuhan, China.

Hong Kong is primarily Buddhist, followed by Catholic and Christian. Education is free through high school and mandatory for 12 years. University costs about $1000/mo. Kindergarten is subsidized for 2 years. 95% of the population uses the government health care system, which costs $20 copays for a doctor visit and $20/day for a hospital stay. 5% of your pay goes into your retirement plan (the employer pays another 5% too). Income tax is a flat 6.5% of your salary. But the government makes most of their income from a 0.3% transaction fee on stock trades since the Hong Kong market is the third largest stock market in the world. In addition they have a 0.5% real estate transaction fee. Only 1 in 10 people have a car because parking is so expensive, averaging $600/mo. Housing costs are about 40% of your salary, unless you qualify for subsidized housing. Unemployment is 2.9%. A key value here is “Follow the System”, evidenced in the queues waiting for the buses.

Hong Kong Harbor at night

Today I took a tour to Lantau Island. Of the 8 million people in Hong Kong, only 400,000 live on Lantau Island, even though it is almost half of the land area. There are strict environmental laws preserving this island as mostly forested mountains. For example only 50 cars a day are permitted to enter the remote parts of the island and we had to transfer buses to use a more environmentally friendly bus on the island.

Tai O village

Our first stop was Chong Sa Beach, meaning “long sand”, the longest beach in Hong Kong. Then onto Tai O fishing village. Here we saw lots of dried fish, especially dried fish bladders. Next to our bus we came upon a temporary building to be used for the Chinese Opera during the upcoming New Year’s celebration. Strolling the streets we visited the Kwan Tai Temple used for to pray for good fishing.

Giant Buddha

From the fishing village we climbed the mountainside to the Po-Lin monastery and the Giant Buddha, the largest sitting Buddha in the world. Built between 1993 and 1996 out of 1300 copper pieces. The face of 4 pieces had to be transferred by truck because of the weight. They couldn't make all the sharp corners so a crane would transfer the piece between trucks at the corners. We had a vegetarian lunch and then visited a recreated village loaded with shops and restaurants. This entire site seems to have been created to attract tourists.

Po-Ling Monastery

Our local entertainment that night was Cy Leo, a world class harmonica player. He was accompanied with a superb pianist, bass guitar, and drummer. A number of his original compositions were about the protests in Hong Kong including “Angel’s and Devils".