10,000 Buddhas Monastery, Hong Kong

During our last trip to Hong Kong Aimee and I visited the Monastery of Ten Thousand Buddhas. I was perplexed by the name at first; I wondered "are there really 10,000 Buddhas at this Monastery? Surely such a thing isn't possible?" Well, I discovered IT IS possible. Here's a little history lesson about the Monastery:

Built in 1957 by Reverend Yuet Kai and his disciples, the Monastery of Ten Thousand Buddhas took eight years to complete. It took an additional ten years to make the 10,000 plus gold plated ceramic Buddha statues that adorn the interior walls.

Getting to the Monastery is either extremely hard or easy depending on your point of view (and current fitness health). To reach the top you need to follow a path of 400 steps.

The path starts at this very simple and unattractive sign. Somehow, in my mind, a pylon with a sign stapled to it isn't the best way to advertise a Monastery. But ugly sign or not we ventured on.

Once you reach the main path you're greeted by thousands of Buddhas. No, these aren't the 10,000 Buddhas, those are at the top. These statues are life-sized, painted gold, and every one of them has a distinctive appearance. It's really quite amazing actually. Thousands of statues that all look different. All have different poses and expressions. Some are carrying props, some aren't. I found myself stopping every couple feet to take photos of the different ones I saw. Aimee's goal was to get to the top of the 400 steps as quickly as possible. My fascination with the statues meant I would spend several minutes taking several photos of the Buddhas only to realize I lost Aimee and would have to run after her. It was tiring, but rewarding. This photo here shows how the path was organized. Buddhas sitting on both sides. Watch the video below (bad quality and all!) for a better viewpoint of the path.



400 steps of pure excitement!

Here are some photos of my favorite Buddhas. I say the word 'favorite' loosely. It's impossible to pay attention to all of the thousands of statues and pin-point which ones are my favorite. When I say 'favorite' let's just say these are the random ones I happened to notice and took pictures of. Random or not, some of them are pretty interesting to look at. Here's a photo of my buddy, his elephant, and me!

Rows upon rows of Buddhas. The one in the foreground looks pretty relaxed doesn't he?

This one ... ah, um, yeah ... not quite sure what's going on here... moving on.

"Good morning Mr. Frog"

"Good morning to you too my jolly Buddha friend"

After a hard day of praying at the Monastery there's nothing more relaxing than to sit down on a nice comfortable ... peacock.

This guy looks like he just swallowed a bug. I like how his little dragon friend has the same expression.

I like the peaceful nature of this one.

Once your travels of the 400 steps has ended and you reach the top, you're rewarded with this beautiful courtyard. There are two levels to the Monastery; this is the first. The lower level is made up of a pagoda, two pavilions and a tower.

Looking down the center of the courtyard.

Here's a closer look of the pagoda. To get a sense of the tower's size, remember the statues are all life-sized. The pictures below are various photos taken around the lower level.

This is an exterior shot of one of the pavilons, a temple.

Inside the temple are thousands of miniture gold-plated Buddhas statues (10,000!!).

Here is a closer shot of the miniture Buddhas.

Also in the temple is the embalmed corpse of Reverend Yuet Kai (the monk who founded the monastery), covered in gold. Unfortunately, I'm not sure which of these three statues is Rev. Yuet Kai.

Leaving the lower level and starting my walk up to the upper level, the first thing I notice are the statues are now painted in brightly lit colours.

Like the golden Buddha statues leading up from the bottom these statues are placed on both sides of the path. Only 100 steps this time!

The upper level houses four large temples and a wide assortment of statues.

One of the temples, The Amita Buddha Temple, with its 45-feet tall gold-plated Amitas Buddha is the most visited tourist attraction at the Monastery.

The Amita Buddha is quite an impressive site. I wish I had a picture of me standing beside it so you can experience the massive size but unfortunately I was the only tourist up there and Aimee stayed on the lower level. No picture of me and Buddha, so sadly, Buddha had to pose alone.

Sometimes I find myself thinking thoughts that other people may or may not think. My thoughts while walking those 400 steps and passing all those gold painted Buddhas was, "who keeps these statues so clean and the gold paint so vibrant?". Well, my questions were answered: THIS GUY! From the moment we got to the top I noticed this guy adding another coat of gold paint to the statues. Aimee and I stayed at the Monastery for about 45 minutes and during that time this guy painted only two statues. Imagine being this guy and your sole job was to paint and repaint Buddha statues all day? THOUSANDS of Buddha statues? I wonder if he goes home every night seeing golden spots in his eyes?

Don't Drink The Water

"Don't Drink The Water"

That's what they always say. Who are they? Well, everyone really. They tell you every time you travel to not drink the water. Especially in certain countries. The Philippines, unfortunately, is one of those countries.

"Don't drink the water", "Stay away from the water", "Don't brush your teeth with the water", "Don't go close to the water", "Drink bottled water - NOT tap water", "Don't have the ice that's WATER!", "HEY YOU, STOP DRINKING THE DAMN WATER!!!"

Well, I don't know how it happened; maybe since I've lived in the Philippines for so long I've gotten relaxed about the whole thing. Maybe I've gotten sloppy. But eariler this week I did the most evil of evil things: I drank the water. Now, I won't go into the disgusting, painful and messy details of my water drinking endeavor but I will say this: these last three days are 3 days I've lost forever. I'll never get those days back. One glass of water was one powerful potion of evil. I've lost 3 days, you could lose more ... so the next time someone tells you not to drink the water: BLOODY WELL LISTEN.

Okay, that's my rant for the day; you can get back to your lives...





And oh, by the way...

...Don't drink the water!

Macau

On our way back to the Philippines from our Vancouver Christmas holiday we stopped off in Hong Kong. We were flying a new airline called Oasis Hong Kong. Although they call it a 'budget airline' Aimee and I were actually impressed. 'Budget' generally means 'cheap price' because there's 'no food' and 'no frills' but in the case of Oasis, the price is cheaper than most international airlines but you still get the food and comfort. As a passenger you even get your own personal TV to watch. Not even Philippine Airlines offers that and they charge so much more. The only real downside to Oasis is they have very limited flight destinations: Hong Kong, London and Vancouver only. So to get all the way back to the Philippines we had to purchase a Hong Kong to Manila ticket from another airline. Even so, it ended up being cheaper than flying Philippine Airlines direct from Vancouver to Manila.

Since we were in Hong Kong we decide to visit some of the family we have living there. Our Aunts offered to take us to Macau for the day. Macau is an hour ferry ride from Hong Kong.

The Macau Special Administrative Region, commonly known as Macau or Macao, is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province in the north and facing the South China Sea in the east and south. The territory has thriving industries such as textiles, electronics and toys, and a notable tourist industry that boasts a wide range of hotels, resorts, stadiums, restaurants and casinos.

Macau was both the oldest and the last European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on December 20, 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer. Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defence and foreign affairs, while Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, immigration policy, and delegates to international organisations and events.

I've been to Macau once before several years ago. If you're looking to add more stamps to your passport a day in Macau is an easy way to accomplish this. When you enter Hong Kong you get a stamp. When you leave Hong Kong to board the ferry to Macau to get an exit stamp from Hong Kong. When you arrive in Macau you receive an entry stamp for Macau. Once your day is complete in Macau, you go through immigration and get a Macau exit stamp. Obviously, once you arrive back on Hong Kong land you get another entry stamp. Wow! One day, a possible 5 stamps! All for an hour ferry ride!

When Aimee and I were last in Macau several years back we joined a bus tour that took us around to all the main sites. Macau is an interesting combination of Chinese and Portuguese architecture and culture. The last time we were there though, there was really only one or two main casinos to go to. Now, with the Amercian investers coming in, Macau is starting to look like the Las Vegas of Asia. 'Starting to look like'?? IT IS the Las Vegas of Asia!! Like Vegas Macau has an MGM Grand casino as well as The Venetian. I've been to The Venetian in Vegas and this one in Macau looks indentical. It's almost as if they've used the same blue prints.

We stayed in Macau for several hours. During that time we gambled, lost money, ate dinner (Portuguese food), then travelled back to Hong Kong.

After a few more days in Hong Kong we hopped on a plane, and now, we're back in the Philippines. The blog is Pinoy once again!

One of many of the Portuguese-styled street in Macau.

Another example of European-style architecture. It's easy to forget you're standing in China and not Portugal.

Me and my Macau Clan. Or maybe I should call us The Macau Gambling Clan?

Christmas Day 2007

I'm finally blogging about our Christmas Day!

Aimee and I hosted Christmas Day dinner this year (and last year for that matter) at our house in Richmond. We cooked most of the food but our family brought some too. It was a great day. It was the first time in years that all of my Grandfather's kids (my mom and her siblings) were together for Christmas. It was also the first time ever (that I can remember) that we had a white Christmas. I define 'white Christmas' when it's actually snowing outside on Christmas Day. Obviously, since this was Vancouver, it started to rain later on in the evening but at least we had a little snow! Here are a few photos taken throughout the evening.

Every year we not only celebrate Christmas but we celebrate my Grandfather's birthday. When I was younger I used to get confused why we were opening Christmas gifts but all the elders of the family where singing 'Happy Birthday'. For years I thought my family were insane until I realized it's possible to have Christmas and a bithday fall on the same day. This photo shows my Grandpa with his birthday cake as well as my niece. If you think my niece's expression is that of a little girl about to scream her head off in tears you're probably right. You see, my niece also has a birthday in December so as soon as December arrives every year she just assumes every cake she sees is hers. So when my Grandpa blew out the candles she freaked. I guess she felt she was getting robbed of the birthday cake candle blowing experience. But like most kids, did she stay mad long....?

She stayed mad for maybe 20 seconds. As you can tell by this photo her moods change rather quickly.

I stole this photo from my brother-in-law's blog. All smiles on Christmas day!

Here's Aimee and our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We did have a larger tree in the other room but for some odd reason I only took this photo. Maybe this is why I'm not a wedding photographer; I'll probably forget to take pictures of the bride and groom.

Here we have my niece and my cousin.

And finally, the only other photo I took that night: my Uncle, Aunt, Mom and Dad. I think the total lack of photos is due to the fact Aimee and I were playing hosts. We spent so much time playing the role of good hosts that there really wasn't any time for picture taking. Oh wait, I did take one other photo...

This is the saddest photo ever! This is the photo I took after all our guests left. Christmas Day 2007 is officially over! It's even more depressing that our guests weren't curdious enough to close our gate. How rude! As payback I'll give them less rum in their eggnog next Christmas!

Happy 2008 Blog Buddies!

Whistler Ziptrek

On arrival back to Vancouver Aimee and I each had a list of things we wanted to do and see. Obviously seeing friends and family were the top of that list. Other things on the list included drinking the local beers I miss and Aimee was craving the bellini cocktail from Milestones Restaurant. Also, we both were oddly craving veggie burgers since it's difficult to find them in Manila. But beyond the family, friends and food plans we decided a trip to Whistler for a little skiing was also in order. Once we got there, however, we altered our skiing plans to something called 'ziptrekking'.

Ziptrek is 10 ziplines spanning over 2.4 kms and 8,100' across the Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains. Your starting point is near the top of Whistler Mountain and each zipline you attach yourself to zips/speeds you closer down the mountain towards Whistler Village.

Here's Aimee and her motley crew of ziptrekkers.



Our friend attempts the first Ziptrek.



Now it's Aimee's turn to bravely go where no Filipino has gone before (maybe!).



Aimee's zipline brings her to the other side.



Finally it's my turn. I'm the one using the camera so obviously this is my point of view.

Each zipline brought us closer and closer to Whistler Village. The final zipline was the most fun. On this line we were allowed to be strapped in upsidedown if we wanted. I chose upsidedown obviously. I unfortunately don't have a photo of this but picture in your mind an inverted cross zipping across a wire down a mountain. That was me. The last 20 seconds of this zipline went over a ski hill. Imagine yourself skiing happily down a mountain when suddenly an upsidedown man zips over you. Would this frighten you? Confuse you? Or shock you to the point where you stop watching where you're going and smash into another skier. Well, some unfortunate skier did just that. Kenn flies passed him upsidedown and WHAM, he smacks into another skier. I found myself laughing at this until I reached the end of the zipline and the breaks where applied. The unfortunate thing about the way they strapped you in upsidedown is there's one strap that went between your legs. The brakes were applied and this strap tightened up. You can use your imagination with the rest of this but I bet the skier who crashed because of me felt it was good karma when I squealed like a pig in pain. Damn karma, it always comes back to bite you in the butt.

Meow Supplies

You may remember a blog from the past about cat supplies - or the lack thereof - here in the Philippines. I have been able to locate a few necessary supplies for our kitty but for the most part, the pet supplies in Canada are far superior to the ones you find here (I'm sorry to admit that Philippines ... really I am. I love you and all but it's the truth). So during my three week Christmas holiday in Vancouver I stocked up on as many cat supplies as I could find. Not only did I buy almost a year's supply of cat food (no, you can't find her brand name here; and yes, she's spoiled), but I also bought play things, scratching posts, vitamins, and pills, powders and creams for illnesses she may, or may not acquire in the future. That's right! I bought medication for presently nonexisting diseases - how's that for cat owner insanity? With all these supplies I'm wondering if I should open up my own pet supplies store. A store dedicated to the well-being of cats only (hey, there are stores here specifically dedicated to dogs; shouldn't cats get there time in the spotlight too?). Although, if I do that, poor Daphne (yes, my cat's name in Daphne) will have to share her supplies with the tiny Filipino cats I see hanging out everywhere. Hmmmm, sharing or hoarding, sharing or hoarding? I'll ask Daphne!

Daphne says hoarding. Sorry Pinoy Cats, this Canuck Cat doesn't want to share!

Driving

I just got back from driving myself to a haircut. In normal driving conditions the time frame from home to salon should only take 10 minutes. But since the Philippines doesn't understand the term 'normal driving conditions' this haircut adventure can take - and has taken - close to an hour in the past. I'm happy to announce that today's haircut drive was the 'normal driving condition' time of 10 minutes. 2008 is looking good so far!

Speaking of driving I'm reminded about a thought I had when I hopped into our rental car in Vancouver. I wondered to myself what my driving skills were going to be like back in Canada. You see, my 4 months in the Philippines has twisted my driving skills into something that can only be called Filipino Chaos. Within 4 months I drive like 'they' do: I cut people off. I swerve in and out of lanes. Swerve? Forget the lanes, who needs lanes? I drive between lanes while I swerve. I'll even drive towrds incoming traffic. I drive at night without my lights on. I honk my car horn for no apparent reason. I'll switch lanes without using my turn signal or when I do use it, I'll leave it on for a few blocks just to annoy people. The worse thing? I caught myself driving without a seatbelt. These are bad bad things - at least in the land of the Canucks. Here in Pinoy World it's considered acceptable. So considering my new unique driving style I was wondering if I'd have issues once I got on the road in Vancouver. The conclusion? I'm happy to announce that my driving style is alot like my "Pause" and "Play" analogy from before. When in the Philippines my "Philippine Driving Switch" is clicked into the 'ON' position. And when I'm in Canada my 'Canadian Driving Switch" is clicked into the 'ON' position as well. Thankfully these two ON switches cannot be switched at the same time. I do fear, however, that the day may come when I get the switches mixed up. A Canadian driving style in the Philippines would leave me stranded on the side of the road with my turn signal flashing in the hope someone will let me in. They won't; I would be stuck there forever. My Philippine driving style in Canada would leave me, well, pennyless once I paid for all the traffic violation tickets. In either case, stranded or pennyless, I prefer to keep the two driving worlds separated.

Philippine Christmas Talent Show

I wrote a previous blog about a talent show I had to judge. Just so you get a sense of the crazy performances I was forced to watch, take a look at this video:













These crazy big heads won! All bow and appreciate the Mighty Pinoy Big Heads (I discovered later that they were actually girls in the costumes; I guess that would make them the PINAY Big Heads!).

Pause Button

Well, I'm back! Back in Manila that is! I've been away for three weeks; did you miss me? I was back in Vancouver! I had every intension of continuing my blog writing while in Vancouver but without internet (we cancelled our internet before moving to Manila and sadly none of our neighbours were 'nice' enough to offer an unsecure wireless network for us to 'borrow') the blog writing was impossible. So for the next few days (or weeks, depending on my motivation) I'm going to write about my brief three weeks back in Canada.

But for now, I want to write about an observation I found myself pondering while there. The main question I pondered? Quite simply, "has 4 months in the Philippines changed me?".

I first came up with this question while sitting in the Milestones restaurant on Robson Street sipping back a Granville Island lager (how many Vancouver references can I throw into this blog?). From my vantage point in the restaurant I could see the good old Vancouver folk rushing on the street below trying to finish their last minute Christmas shopping. How different am I from them now I wondered? I must be different in some way. Any experience in life that takes you outside of your comfort zone must change you in some way. Has the 4 months changed me? In an answer, why yes, it has changed me. But how exactly? Well ... that's the part I can't answer. Can anyone really analyze their personality to the point where they know the profound impact every experience has on them? I can't. I know my time in the Philippines has made me a stronger person but how so, I have no idea. But I can tell you this, changes in me or not, it's amazing how after 4 months away from Vancouver I find myself restarting that life like the 4 months never existed. It's like I have two lives: a Vancouver life and a Manila Life. While in Manila my life here has its "Play" button pressed but once I leave the "Pause" button gets used. Once I'm back in Vancouver it's the same thing, "Pause" and "Play" buttons. Each place gives me unique experiences that alter who I am but it's easy to live in both worlds independently. So when I left Vancouver after Christmas I pressed the Pause button. Today I landed back in Manila and I pressed the Play button. I know it's an odd analogy but it seems to be what life it like for me now: Two worlds, and two lives loosely connected.

So now that I've freaked you out with all this psychology nonsense I'll get back back to my normal blogs. The Kenniverse has officially returned!