To Do, or Not To Do
Welcome to my random musings about the world, on a weekly-to-occasional basis.
Where we are: We’re in Brunei, which is on the island of Borneo. Borneo is divided between Malaysia and Indonesia, with this tiny little outpost in the north that is Brunei. By 10 o’clock on our first morning here, we had seen crocodiles, proboscis monkeys, and … Starbucks. We’re staying in a Radisson in the downtown area of the capital, and I can see monkeys (not the proboscis variety, which are known here as ‘big nose monkeys’) from our hotel room window. So if you ask me why we went to Brunei, just know that my answer will probably be: because monkeys.
To Do, or Not To Do
We were in Hong Kong for two weeks. During that time, I went to see a Yayoi Kusama exhibit (fabulous). We took the bus to the top of Victoria Peak, had a coffee, enjoyed the view, then walked all the way down (gave me a backache). We had lunch with a friend (hours of gabbing). I attempted (and failed) to find a pair of golf shoes that Toby wanted me to bring him. I replaced my backpack with one that has a strap to hook it onto the handle of my suitcase (it only took me three years to find the perfect one, and now, after six weeks of use, I think it might not be perfect). We sampled many egg tarts, several mince tarts, and a couple of fabulously over-the-top chocolate chip cookies (massive cookies seem to be wildly popular all over Asia at the moment). We ate dumplings and/or noodles almost every day. We ate dim sum in random restaurants that we stumbled across as we were walking down the street. Overall, they were two really delicious weeks.
When I write it all out like that, it kind of feels like we did a lot of things, but they were mostly food and shopping. Two days before we got ready to leave, I started feeling kind of bad about what a lazy tourist I am, and wondered if I should go see a temple, or maybe another museum, but I really didn’t want to.
So on our last full day, while I was scarfing down one last plate of mushroom dumplings and feeling sad about leaving, Lee did a bit of googling, then proposed an adventure. Because his adventures usually turn out to be fun for both of us (mine, honestly, are usually just fun for me, and he tolerates—all the yarn shops), I said sure, and we headed out.
Our destination was the ferry port, where we boarded a random boat for a random island we had never heard of: Peng Chau.
After a 45-minute ride, we disembarked on a small, car-free, but fully inhabited island. We wandered through dim, narrow alleyways, so tight you could touch both sides at once. We peered up at balconies over our heads, and into windows at ‘street’ level. We studied the apartment blocks, wondering if there were any units on Airbnb, if any were nicer than what we could see, and if we might enjoy a month on this random little spot. We found a wooded walking trail that skirted up and over a hill, with views back toward the city. Posters advertising ‘green burial’ piqued our curiosity, and we wandered into the island’s cemetery—a columbarium, actually, with evidence of recent (open-air) cremations. I was glad we had missed seeing that process.
Then we wandered back to the dock, and managed to jump on a city-bound ferry just before it pulled away.
A more ‘normal’ traveler would never consider giving up an afternoon to serendipity, and I understand the pull to see the famous sights and eat in the highly-ranked restaurants. But I can also say with some confidence that eventually, the museums and cathedrals and fancy meals of a fully-packed ‘vacation’ begin to run together in my mind.
I can say with equal confidence that I will never forget the sight of that cremation platform, just sitting there, surrounded by ashes, in the middle of the cemetery in those peaceful woods. That was an insight into Hong Kong life—and death—that I couldn’t have gotten without some serendipity.
Take care,
Lisa
P.S. Thanks for reading, and feel free to share. If you have feedback, I’d love to hear it. And if someone forwarded this to you, thank them for me, and go to https://bookwoman.com/ to subscribe.