Ah the joys of being utterly disconnected from the Internet for a whole week or somesuch! :P Have made it safely to Hong Kong without receiving “The Inquisition” from either the Singaporean or Hong Kong immigration authorities, unlike from a certain United States of America. The week long stay in Singapore was a welcome financial rest-bite as cost of living for the whole week including hotel was only about €200! However I somehow managed to stay in Geylang, Singapore’s district of good food (there’s about 10 streets worth of food stalls and restaurants) and vice (I can’t recall the number of times I got offered massages, quite certainly with extras and services from working girls, with their pimps nearby). Now I’m in Hong Kong where things will be a bit cheaper still, though with less vice, probably.
Anyhoo, for those of you a bit more on the ball about Sinitic Culture would be aware it’s the 7th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, otherwise known as 鬼月 (Ghost Month). Today is also the 15th day of the 7th month, meaning it’s 盂蘭節 (Festival of the liberation from suffering) otherwise known as 中元節 (Festival of the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month) yet again. For Westerners whom are more acquainted with the speech of Queen Lizzy, will better know this as the “Hungry Ghosts Festival”. :P
The Gates of Hell are open during the entirity of the 7th month and the 15th is when forces of the Underworld are at their peak. I’ve already helped my aunt (uncle’s wife) in helping burn some candles, joss sticks and joss paper the night before, namely the 14th day of the 7th month. The heavens were trying to thwart such activities as since my arrival 2 days before (17th of August), Hong Kong has been inundated with bursts of very heavy showers. Nothing quite like visiting the sub-tropics in the mid-summer! ;)
That’s all from me for now, need to get back to my uncle’s for some dinner and another attempt to get their cable Internet to work properly. :D
the US obviously doesn’t want you to come and terrorize me. ;-)
:D
Comment by Brian Halacy — 21:19:57 UTC on the 21st of August, 2005
I think it’d be more accurate to say that the US Government are a bunch of paranoid Fascists, and not the bastion of “Liberty and Democracy” they’d like the World to believe. ;) & :P
Comment by Jonathan Stanley — 02:17:10 UTC on the 22nd of August, 2005