Hiking (and academics) in Hong Kong: Mid-Autumn Festival!

Happy Mid-Autumn festival! Last night Kat and I ventured out into the city to watch a fire dragon walk and see a lantern display. We spent some quality time milling in a crowd filled with the excited buzz that comes with holiday celebrations. We rubbed shoulders with couples taking selflies, walked by clumps of Europeans clutching beers, became jealous of the toddlers perched on their father's shoulders (who clearly had the best view in the crowd, but were too entertained by the glowsticks in their hands to pay any attention to the outside world), and generally craned our necks to see the Dragon.

Lanterns in Victoria's park which Kat and I visited after the dragon walk.

More lanterns and lights! There were lights strung up all over the park with lantern displays scattered around below. Quite romantic. We found several couples enjoying the ambiance.

Finally the Fire Dragon's walk began. We could tell because suddenly the air in front of us was filled with arms and smart phone screens. We had our pick of screens through which to watch the dragon. What a selection of choices! We had the classic iPhone, the samsung, even a few DSLR cameras. But the best part of the dragon that the smartphones couldn't capture was the smell of incense that filled the air. The dragon was stuck with hundreds of burning incense sticks that left a fiery trail of smoke and smell in their wake as the dragon raced by.

Happy to have seen the dragon, albeit only barely through the gaps in outstretched arms, Kat and I began to weave our way out through the crowd. Then began one of the oddest conglomerations of cultures I have ever witnessed.

"Are those bagpipes?"

Slowly rising over the noise of the crowd came the strains of scottish bagpipes. Kat and I gaped at each other. There, marching down the path that the fire dragon had just taken was a troupe of musicians playing the bagpipes. I even recognized the tune, Amazing Grace. How… interesting.

Kat and I taking a stellar selfie on the iPhone at the lantern display

Part of the skyline across the harbor.

Another highlight of this week was our school tour of Hong Kong. We spend Sunday wandering around bits of the city seeing the sights, taking pictures, and generally being tourists. Best part of the day for me: learning to count to ten in Cantonese. It took me the better part of the afternoon to get all the numbers straight in my head (ten whole numbers is a lot to keep track of) but once my friend taught me a little ditty to sing them to I was a pro. I spend the rest of the afternoon and evening contentedly singing the numbers to myself under my breath. I felt five again and it felt great.