Xinxing
Preparation for my cousin’s wedding lunch banquet in his old village home. 40 tables, 8-10 guests per table. Dinner and lunch the day before consisted of the organs and less tasty food. Dinner after consisted of the extra uncooked food. Plastic bags provided with every meal for take away. Nothing is wasted.
Waterfall Bay
Look up and there is the Peak’s Bel-Air skyscraper, turn around left and there is an old Beach Defence Unit (Pillbox 006 and Lyon Light), turn around right and there is a small shrine of gods, look backwards and there is a container ship passing a small motor-less fishing boat. Hong Kong in one breath; Snippets of nature neighbouring with sky-high development, modern life peppered with wartime history and intertwined with old traditions, grand ambitions sailing alongside reminders of its humble fishing village origins.
Wa Fu
The locals have created their own open air swimming pool on the coast. Minimalist design and minimal maintenance costs. Steps and handrail enables easy access in and out of the South China Sea, a covered 3-walled enclosure with a freshwater hole provides a scenic one person changing and shower area.
And as for the swimming clubhouse, it has a coastline garden filled with never-ending statues watching over those taking a dip.
Labrang Monastery
3km kora, 1174 prayer wheels. If each of these were linked up to a generator, would that be enough electricity to power the city?
3km kora, repeated prostration. If every movement was collected in their hand and knee pads, would that be enough energy to power their homes?
Tongde
Last year I met Klaas who runs AmdoCraft (See post “Craft for Change”). This year I returned to stay with one of the Tibetan families he works with. After Zigdo proudly shows us some of the Amdo products his family makes, explaining the difference between good and bad quality felt, we watched the ladies spin wool thread and weave. Already owning and using several of their bags that have been woven in this way, I suddenly discovered a new appreciation for them. Their traditional weaving method is time laborious but fascinatingly simple in its set-up with the correct knowledge. You cannot help but get a warm homely feeling as found metal rods, wooden sticks and plastic pipes are configured together to create beautifully woven lengths of fabric.
Ulaanbaatar
When is a dress more than just a dress?
When it takes a day browsing Moron’s black market to select 2 beautiful and complementary fabrics. When you travel with this fabric to the next city in search of a tailor to transform it into a traditional del with a modern twist. When you spend an evening at the tailors flicking through photographs, mixing and matching elements, discussing without a common spoken language in what direction you would like the design to go. When you return a week later for 2 afternoons of fittings, finishing, and last minute adjustments.
As modern wardrobes overflow with ready-made clothing, has it become too easy to own clothes? Cheap easily accesible clothing is what drives the underpaid child labour industry. Maybe we need to start investing more effort and thought into clothing purchases. It may be time for more dresses to be more than just a dress.
Dulaankhaan
Boldbaatar runs one of the three remaining traditional bow and arrow (num sum) workshops in Mongolia. Custom-designed and hand-created, he uses old working methods to manipulate a mixture of traditional and modern materials. Admittedly, I felt a twinge of disappointment when my eye wandered from the beautiful carved horn onto the green nylon rope. Was this development of combining natural and synthetic materials a decision made to save on time and cost, or was it to improve performance?
There is no denying that despite the addition of the synthetic, these num sums hold the mystic of an old Mongolian craft. I just hope that the modern world does not dilute too much of that magic.
Peng Chau
No cars, no shopping malls, no artificial frozen yoghurt fads. This island village is only half an hour by ferry from Hong Kong island, what a difference some distance by seawater makes.
Long Dong, Taiwan
A higher perspective
Shaoguan
Harnessing sun power to preserve food and intensify flavour.
