Going to Stanley with Mom

My mom’s beach of choice along the southern shore of Hong Kong Island is Stanley. Rain came as we were waiting for the minibus. Both my mom had I had our umbrellas with us. I try to carry one with me all the time. Showers in Hong Kong have been unpredictable, unlike rain in the Bay Area, which the weather forecast is largely able to predict down to the hour.

The ride to the beach gave us vistas of a couple other beaches. The rain stopped and the sky opened up. We walked through Stanley Market on our last trip. I decided to get off at the mall this time, to get down to the water more easily on elevators and escalators. There was a colonial building called Murray House between the mall and the water, next to a hill covered with trees. The Chinese name for Stanley is 赤柱 cek³ cyu⁵ or “red pillar.” I’d like to come back in spring, to see if there are any red-flowered cotton trees, which may have given the area their name.

Mom was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. She was sweating profusely, though she persevered. We went down to the waterfront, looked at the row boats, motor boats and buoys, stopped to play with some dogs and noticed a path to a Taoist temple we’d never been to before. I was worried about mosquitoes as soon as I saw the trees on both sides of the path. I associate them with moisture, shade and the heat and humidity of the Signal 1 typhoon which was visiting that day. Our curiousity got the better of us and we started down the path to the temple, feeding mosquitoes along the way.

A sign told us 潮州 Chiu Chow/Chaozhou fishermen used to fish here. The temple was closed by the time we got there. Neither the temple nor the well next to it looked very old. The building and murals were brightly colored and seemed to cater to tourists. The walk was long and very good exercise. My mom can muster a lot of strength to do the activities she likes. Next on our list are the Botanical Zoological Gardens and Ocean Park.

I’m still visiting my mom at least every other day. Yesterday, I stopped by briefly and gave her three quarters of a small wheel of brie, about 90g. She ate it all. The food at her nursing home is not bad at all. What she seems to want is variety. As far as I know, I’m the only person who can convince her to take off her dentures at night. She’s said she sometimes forgets to put them back on in the morning. I’ve asked the nurses to make sure she has her dentures on when the staff serve breakfast.