31 Oct 2012 ~ Cao Dai Temple, Vietnam ~ Part II

Listening to:  Talking Heads ~ Psycho Killer (Nijmegan, Holland, 6/13/78)


Happy Halloween!

Services are held four times a day. The three principal colors of Cao Dai are yellow (for Buddhism), blue (for Taoism), and red (for Christianity), and these appear in worshippers’ robes as well as the temple.

Within the temple, males must enter on the right and females on the left.

(Sorry, these videos are a little shaky and blurry at points).

http://youtu.be/rcWSrdzwwI4

Gongs are joined in by the string instruments and harmonious chanting of the devotees.

http://youtu.be/lrkeJG9ITW8

 

 

The most important symbol is the Divine Eye, representing God, which also appears in followers’ homes. (You can see it in the below photo in the middle of the windows).  It is a left eye, because God is Yang, and Yang is the left side. It has a ying-yang symbol in the pupil.

 

29 Oct 2012 ~ Hanoi Scooters

Listening to: Youngbloods ~ Get Together (Pepperland, San Rafael, CA, 1/79)



The scooter traffic in Hanoi is very entertaining -- and a little scary -- to watch.

http://youtu.be/6Vl-clDOO98

But the kids don't seem to mind.

This girl was brave enough to sell her balloons in the middle of the action.

http://youtu.be/VXffD2YKkzQ

And she got a sale.

http://youtu.be/ffmClQK5WkA


Then the competition moved in.

When my guide offered to give me a lift on his scooter to the Literature museum, I couldn't resist.

 

Easy as a walk in the park.

 

http://youtu.be/FuZj4F690nU



26 Oct 2012 ~ Special Birthday

Listening to: Romantics ~ What I Like About You (Rookies Club, Detroit, 1/6/1979)


Happy Birthday!

Obviously this isn't the "true" birth date (the above picture is from 2004)...just the date she became part of the family...or she'd look like this....

Otherwise, once she grew feathers, she hasn't aged a bit in 9 years!

How do humans get that youth elixir?

This video was posted quite recently.

http://www.wimp.com/parrotbunny/

 I can't imagine if Skye talked to me....too hallucinogenic.

But not ruling out the option of getting a parrot once I eventually return to the USA.

23 Oct 2012 ~ Chung Yeung Festival

Listening to: Ken Stringfellow ~ Doesn't It Remind You Of Something (Danzig in the Moonlight)


Similar to Ching Ming in the spring, Chung Yeung is traditionally a day for the family to go and respect their deceased ancestors. It is also known as the Double Ninth Festival as it falls on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month.

Extended families head to ancestral graves to clean them and repaint inscriptions, and to lay out food offerings such as roast suckling pig and fruit, which are then eaten (after the spirits have consumed the spiritual element of the food).

Also Chongyang Cake is popular.

And incense sticks are burned.

 

It’s also a day to hit the trail, as the holiday has traditional roots in the "going up the mountain".
The story goes that during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) there appeared a devil of plague in the Ruhe River. A kid named Heng Jing was taught by an old Taoist how to defeat this plague.

The priest told the boy that the devil would come back on the 9th of September and told him to go back and save the village. He did this by telling them to go climb up a mountain, then while the villagers were safe he tricked the plague devil with some strong Chinese wine made of Chrysanthemum flowers and killed him.

To protect against danger, it is still customary to climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum wine, and wear the zhuyu (茱萸) plant, which is a species of dogwood known Japanese cornelian cherry, as is considered to have cleansing qualities to air out houses and cure illnesses.

21 Oct 2012 ~ Moth

Listening to: Mike Coykendall ~ The Hippie Girl


I think this is would fall in the moth species.

I checked the Moths of Hong Kong Website and found similar, but the names are not listed and I didn't find any picture of the underbelly.

Thanks for visiting me, moth!

17 Oct 2012 ~ Cao Dai Temple, Vietnam ~ Part I

Listening to:  John Brown's Body ~ Picking Up


Just 60 miles northwest of Ho Chi Minh City is the Great Temple or Holy See, or as it is more commonly known, the Cao Dai Temple.

Cao Dai is a syncretist Vietnamese religious movement that incorporates aspect of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and even Catholicism.

Caodaists believe that all religions are the same in principle. Followers strive for inner peace and harmony in the world and try to gain religious merit and avoid bad karma. Cao Dai encourages obedience to the three duties (those between king and citizen, father and child, husband and wife) and five virtues (humanity, obligation, civility, knowledge, reliability) of Confucianism.

Cao Dai's pantheon of saints includes such diverse figures as the Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, and the Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen. These are honored at Cao Dai temples, along with ancestors.

Constructed between 1933 and 1955, the Great Temple of Cao Dai closely resembles a Christian cathedral in its architecture - two square towers, a long central nave with upper gallery, and side aisles.

16 Oct 2012 ~ More Skye Antics

Listening to:   Accoustic All Stars ~ Nine Pound Hammer (Hickory, NC, 10/13/95)


Skye is keeping me entertained.

As I've mentioned before, her favorite pasttime is knocking items to the floor so I pick them again.

Well, I got a little tired of that, so I secured a box to the cage.

Here she is trying to figure out how to knock it off.


http://youtu.be/0SBLQlecDzA

http://youtu.be/SAr34MT4hz8

http://youtu.be/GLNyY4e9-Z0

10 Oct 2012 ~ New(ish) HK Office

Listening to: Phil Lesh & Friends ~ I Am The Walrus (2/17/2012, First Bank Center, Boston, MA)


Happy Birthday!

 

 

Workday HK got a new office last month. I'm just usually at my customer site, so I don't spend a lot of time there. (Has anyone googled Workday lately?)

 

It's still in Times Square, just on the 15th floor. We have an official sign, but no receptionist yet.

 

 

 

Meeting rooms and area to hang out. Not sure what the high tables are for, perhaps happy hour?

 



 



The view from by desk isn't so bad, especially on a clear day.

We even have a glimpse of Happy Valley Racetrack. I haven't been, but racing season is starting up, so I'd like to go for the experience (compare to the Kentucky Derby track). 



6 Oct 2012 ~ Test Your Palate

Listening to:  Adele ~ Someone Like You (Paradiso, Amsterdam, 4/8/2011)


The Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition occurred the past few days. I went to the opening night of "Test Your Palate". Guests get to taste all the ones that were part of the competition for the day...over 200 bottles were on the table.

The regions for the tasting included Italy, Spain, Turkey and New Zealand.

If we pick the winners of any category we get a case of wine. Winners to be announced November.

 

 

3 October 2012 ~ Lantern Festival

Listening to: Amy Winehouse ~ Cupid (Tempodrom, Berlin, 10/15/2007)



The Lantern Festival is another aspect of the Mid-Autumn Festival.


Chinese Lanterns are more than just decorations. Since 250 B.C. they have silently spoken of births, deaths, social status and approaching danger.

Banned during the Cultural Revolution, today they have resumed their place as honored guests at ceremonies and festivals.  The placement and color of lanterns serve as a vital communication link in the communities. For example, since red suggest vitality and energy at its maximum state, a red lantern placed outside a doorway tells of a birth or marriage.  Traditional ones are made of paper. Round fan fold ones are the basic ones while fruit and animal shaped lanterns like rabbit, fish, butterfly and star fruit shaped ones are for children. Candles are used to light up the lanterns traditionally but modern safety concern has brought battery powered plastic cartoon characters. I thought I would see a lot of lanterns out and about, but I did not. Here are some adults.  

And a dad (not sure if it's his, but I did not see any children with him).

 

 

I did spot a few people walking.

 

http://youtu.be/-Rn2rm7wHUQ

 

http://youtu.be/gfoD77NSiEc

 

This woman on the metro train didn't even go for a lantern. 

 

1 Oct 2012 ~ Mid-Autumn Festival

Listening to: Chaka Khan ~ I Feel For You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObjLb6ElTvs

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

It is the Mid Autumn Festival.

There are many tales about the origin of the holiday, but one of the most well-known tales is based on the origin of mooncakes and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty in the 14th Century. According to the traditional story, during the Yuan Dynasty, when China was ruled by Mongolia, the leaders from the preceding Sung Dynasty were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule and decided to rebel. The leaders of the rebellion ordered the making of special cakes during the Moon Festival and put a message into each mooncake with details of the attack. On the night of Moon Festival, they overthrew the government and successfully established the Ming Dynasty.

Today, mooncakes are eaten to reminiscence the story of the rebellion. Traditional mooncakes are made of ground lotus and egg yolk, but nowadays there are more and more innovative mooncake flavors and designs.  Here's an example I found via google.

In addition to savoring mooncakes and traditional foods, there are lantern carnivals and fire dragon dances.

I went to the Fire Dragon Dance last night.

 

 

On the way home I ran into 2 of my co-workers at a local pub.