China-HK-2000-01-07
China-Hong Kong 2000, 2001, 2007
My tour guide was chatting away into her microphone about Feng Shui this and Yin/Yang that, and that is when I began to understand that Hong Kong life is saturated in spiritual practices and beliefs, and firmly rooted in the ancient Chinese Art of Feng Shui. She pointed out that the Bank of China had bad Feng Shui and was sending poison arrows of negative Sha Qi at the Hong Kong Bank and the swimming pool atop the hotel was putting out the fire Qi from that hotel. It was all so complicated and mysterious! "Everybody knows Hong Kong is one of the richest cities in the world," she concluded. "Some say it is because Victoria Harbor is shaped like a giant money bag. Others say it is because it sits in the belly of the dragon."
Hong Kong is the city of Feng Shui and high finance. You will dine on delicious dim sum and go Giant Buddha day tripping to Lantau Island during monsoon season. Pick up Money Toads at Man Mo Temple and toss joss sticks at Wong Tai Sin to learn your future. Don't forget to dodge the sacred black ash dropping from hanging incense coils – it doesn't come out in the wash!
My first trip in 2000 to Hong Kong and China was a culture shock not to mention my first solo trip abroad. I boldly went where I had never been before and discovered the world by myself and for myself. I returned in 2001 and then again with my family in 2007 to celebrate my 50th birthday. My mother said she could see me living in Hong Kong. I felt like that too.
In China, we got lost wandering the Hutongs of Beijing, dined at posh spots on the Bund of Shanghai, walked along the canal in the Old Town of Lijiang, climbed the Great Wall with the crowd, were amazed at the site of the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, and got lost in the Stone Forest in Kunming. We shopped at Shanghai Tang, I brought home a red dragon rug runner from the silk factory, sipped tea at the Huxinting Tea House, my Hong Kong friend Mabel designed a chop (Chinese signature reading House Whisperer) for my business, we explored the Forbidden City and Summer Palace, listened to the screeching of Peking Opera, posed with a monkey at the Black Dragon Pool, and met Naxi indigenous people in the old town of Yuhu.
Hong Kong and China illuminated my whole life, teaching me new independence, confidence,
and giving birth to a new career in Feng Shui and Chinese Metaphysics.
