Fairytale Wedding
A fairytale wedding can take place anywhere and you don’t always have to invite Mickey or Minnie. Everyone has his or her own interpretation of a fairytale wedding. I have just been to one, last Saturday.
As it happens, that Saturday was the first sunny weekend in Hong Kong in recent months. It seems like someone answered the prayers for balmy sunny weather on the wedding day. The sun came out to smile and shine on the couple and all those present. The main characters of the fairytale – the prince and princess – looked gorgeous, just like models in a wedding magazine. There was no over-the-top white or gold tuxedo or long unmanageable wedding gown. The prince and the princess dressed in suitably tropical styles, a linen suit for the man and a cream-coloured silk dress for his bride – perfect style and colour scheme for a beach wedding. Yes, the setting of the fairytale was on a sandy beach. They hired a junk and took all the guests to a quiet beach on an island in Sai Kung. The beach is so beautiful and reminded me of Thailand. So we don’t need to fly away to search for natural beauty – there are many hidden gems in Hong Kong if you are in the mood to discover them.
The ceremony was short and very sweet. The couple wrote their own vows – they truly meant what they promised each other. We signed the marriage certificate standing on the beach. At the end of the ceremony, as a Jewish wedding tradition, the groom broke a glass by hitting it against a rock. Someone wrapped the glass in a towel to contain the broken glass – no littering, and also to protect the groom from a visit to casualty! The breaking of glass symbolises that perfection is relative to imperfection. It is also a reminder that even in times of great joy that there is sadness and that life will bring sadness as well as joy.
The wedding party continued on the junk accompanied by gourmet food and wine. It was a hearty feast appropriate to any fairytale kingdom. Then, time to cut the wedding cake. Guests asked the couple to make a wish, and the groom said, “If this isn’t a dream come true, what is?” This is not a rehearsed conversation; the groom spoke from his heart. I recommend any fairytale story book to include this line; it’s sensationally beautiful. As a tradition, the couple gave speeches. Many tears were shed because everyone was so genuinely happy for the union of such a good relationship. I also shed my first tear in my professional capacity as a civil celebrant.
On our return journey back to the harbour, everyone was relaxed and many fell asleep on the upper deck of the junk, including the bride and groom. I have never seen married couples so unstressed at their wedding, it was so natural and a pleasure to see what a wedding day can be like when all the fuss is removed. That is what I saw as the fairytale moment – being content, happy, relaxed and totally enjoying themselves and the good company of family and friends around them.
It wasn’t just a happy ending, it’s also a happy beginning. I wish the prince and princess will live happily ever after!
阿聯酋(6) – Chasing numbers
In the movie “Up in the air”, George Clooney wanted to accumulate airline mileage for the sake of earning 10 million miles. In real life, there is a website www.mosttraveledpeople.com for people to claim themselves to have travelled to the most places out of the 872 countries and territories recognised by them. I can’t guess the motive of those people who have travelled over 800 countries, apart from travelling for the sake of country count. Closer to home, many people chase the number of friends on Facebook. How many of them are really friends in the true sense?
I don’t chase numbers, I travel because I enjoy it. I don’t mind revisiting nice countries even though the trip wouldn’t increase my country count. Travelling shouldn’t be about numbers however, I made an exception on my recent trip to the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE borders with Oman. The boundaries of the two countries are not very clear cut with pockets of Oman surrounded by the UAE in many regions. In some places, in order to travel to certain destinations in the UAE, the road runs right through Oman. This is great for increasing country count, because people can claim themselves to have physically been to Oman by driving through 20 km of highway, even though they might not set foot on the ground. The tricky thing is, many car hire companies prohibit their cars to enter Oman without separate additional insurance, or at all. This restricts the movement and the choice of destination somehow. If one is unlucky enough to encounter an accident on the Omani stretch of road, uninsured, it can cause a major problem and will be very costly.
We are law abiding citizens and didn’t risk driving to Oman, especially knowing that the UAE and Oman have the world’s second and third highest number of road deaths annually. But it is so tempting to cross the border when we are so tantalisingly close. Quick fact – Oman and Brunei are the only two sultanates in the world. I just had this fetish to visit both of them. Don’t ask me why other than for the sake of it!
We read some guidebooks and found the perfect destination on the east coast of the UAE. Dibba is a little town governed by 2 emirates and 1 sultanate, Sharjah, Fujairah, and Oman. People and car can freely move across different parts of Dibba. Bingo! We drove there, parked our car and walked towards the border. The border guards were friendly and nice and told us we could drive across. We said we only wanted to walk across to the other side, which looks identical to the UAE side. The guards must think we were crazy foreigners. We walked across the border, “ding”, our country count has gone up. We took a few pictures and satisfactorily walked back to the UAE, claiming we have been to a new country! It’s the shortest visit in a country for us, ever!
I feel a bit shallow and silly to chase the country count like this, but at least I am not sad enough to pin it on the Facebook apps and tell everyone how many cities I have been to.
阿聯酋(5) – Time is money
時間就是金錢，一般都是形容做事要efficient。今次我去杜拜，就剛剛相反。直航機要成萬蚊，經廣州轉機只需$3700（未計稅機票只是$2200，超抵！），兩個人可以摼成萬蚊。我的時間不值得咁貴，所以就決定坐中國南方航空，花多三小時去廣州轉機。
來回一共四程機，每一班機都delay。根本上個schedule time擺明就是錯的。明明就算不delay，照計飛行時間都比schedule要遲成個鐘，都唔知航空公司點攪。好在我没有安排人接機，錯schedule不受影響。
在香港出發班機delay令轉機時間好緊迫。如果miss了去杜拜班機的話，要在廣州過夜等第二日班機呀。我們已經在香港拿了boarding pass，一抵達廣州就快步走去找轉機的channel。但轉機的通道没有開放，一定要經Passport Control入境，没有其它選擇。我出示登機証話要轉機，個immigration officer二話不說就收了我的回鄉証和登機証，叫我們在外面等，一等就十幾分鐘，都唔知道果個行得好慢的官員拿了我們的証件消失了去邊同做乜。眼見去杜拜班機只有十幾分鐘就起飛，心急死人。後來有兩個南方航空的小姐來同我們一齊等，話會帶我們趕機。終於都等到取回証件，登機証上多了個吸印。我們跑去登機，因為還有其它轉機的乘客都delay，我們還是趕得上。好彩！至於點解轉機要先入境，登機証點解要吸印，吸印又點解要用咁長時間，就永遠成為一個不解之謎。
以前我坐過好多次南方航空的短途機，都ＯＫ。今次第一次坐它的長途機，知道不會有individual screen entertainment，只有古老式從天花頂吊個電視仔下來播電影，我就有備而戰，帶定雜誌entertain自己。怕飛機餐難食會肚餓，就帶定snacks。不過好在飛機餐質素ＯＫ，不成問題。
空姐的服務欠佳，同人講嘢時粗聲粗氣，好似乘客上機麻煩到她要她工作，欠了她一樣。I wonder，咁唔想服務人，何苦加入服務性行業呢？有個old jokes話bad airline的meal只有兩個選擇：take it or leave it。飛機餐只serve牛肉，坐在我後面的印度人話自己印度敎不吃牛肉，點解會没有option。個空姐一點sympathy都没有，反而鬧他訂機票時點解唔講明，然後提出了一個很新穎的option：take it and not eat it。我啞晒！
回程時在廣州轉機等登機証吸印，等了三十分鐘。我們没有怨言，因為這extra time and hassle，我們摼了成萬蚊。比我再揀，我都會揀轉機。心理上，摼了的錢可以買到去Fiji的機票。飛廣州送斐濟，聽落幾咁著數！
阿聯酋(4) – Food and drink
Food and drink in the United Arab Emirates is very good, much better than I expected. Dubai is awash with expensive exquisite restaurants. Many world renowned chefs like Gary Rhodes and Gordon Ramsay have opened restaurants in Dubai. The reason is simple – there is money to be made. They can charge any price. The oil rich Emiratis, deprived expats and big spender tourists are willing to pay big money for luxuries. I didn’t have much time in Dubai and didn’t have a chance or the urge to visit one of the top expensive restaurants. Hong Kong is a gourmet paradise which makes us hard to impress. I’d rather save my opportunities for food that is harder to find in Hong Kong.
I read in the travel guides that real Arab food is hard to get outside of local home. Actually, for the time that we were there, we didn’t get any Arab food. Our idea of Middle Eastern food such as kebabs, hummus, is actually Lebanese food, which for some reason is also described as Arabian food. I got confused because all along I thought these are two entirely different places. Anyway, we had a few Lebanese meals which all proved to be very satisfying. Juicy kebabs are freshly grilled with very nice exotic spices. There is unlimited supply of freshly baked hot pita bread – real pièce de résistance. It’s sooooooo soft and good. Food usually comes with a platter of fresh salad, all vegetables uncut. I suppose this keeps it fresh and makes it easier to recycle any unused vegetables. Quite environmental and economical when you think about it. [click title for more]
阿聯酋(3) – The old and the real
杜拜是一個modern city under construction，去到新發展的地區，每一座建築物上面都有一枝吊臂，成個Dubai Marina以南就像一個大地盤。不過，Dubai不只是閃耀的all new things，也有舊的real的一面。
The Creek兩岸的Deira and Burj Dubai是old areas，街道narrow，人多車多，很多外勞都住在這兒。街上最多的shop是外幣找換店，工人滙錢回鄉。在Dubai的外勞來自Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka等較貧窮國家，一個月人工才US$160，跟暴發的阿拉伯人相比真是天淵之別。
Deira有幾個具阿拉伯特式的市集（英文叫souq），gold souq，spice souq。很可惜舊區泊車位嚴重不足，我們等了成個鐘頭都泊不到車，所以放棄了入去souq內行行，只能駛車經過時望入去gold souq內，看到有很多金舖，勁金。[click title for more]
阿聯酋(2) – Desert Safari
去杜拜一個必玩highlight就是去沙漠。去沙漠的group tour琳琳種種，最多人去的是半日desert safari。下午三四點在hotel pick-up，四驅車開到距離市區三四十分鐘車程的沙漠。四周只見橙黃色的沙丘，是我心目中典型的desert view。車輛稍經調節後，就開始第一個活動dune bashing。四驅車在沙丘上片來片去，像没有軌道的過山車，好刺激呀！Dune bashing完後就繼續開車去desert camp，可以看日落，騎駱駝行個圈映相，試穿亞拉伯男白女黑的長袍，畫下手腳紋身henna，同大鳥falcon合照，食下亞拉伯水煙。這些都是為tourist而設的小玩意，而不是真的culture。接着是BBQ dinner，belly dance表演。表演完會關燈幾分鐘，讓人看看星星。這個program晚晚都接待成百人，位位收US$60，都幾好賺。[click title for more]
阿聯酋(1) – 杜拜之最
這個Easter holiday去了阿聯酋五日四夜，濃縮地去了很多地方，好好玩。阿聯酋由七個酋長國組成，此行我去了三個酋長國，還去了鄰國阿曼。行程聽落仲緊凑過香港旅行團，但又出奇地輕鬆relaxing。
行程重點當然是杜拜。杜拜是全球歷史上build up得最快的city。在1970年前那兒只是一遍沙漠，人民在荒漠中追逐水草，過着艱苦的生活。發現石油令阿聯酋變得極其富有，而杜拜就是洗錢的大花筒。Quote出來他們花費的金錢，是史無前例的天文數字。樣樣都要最好最大最浮誇。遊客在市面上看不到recession的景象，依然一切都very glitsy and glamourous。
最高－全球最高的建築物Burj Khalifa，140層樓高， 124樓是全球最高的viewing platform，叫At the Top，二月才開幕，我當然要上去看看。整個坐lift的experience好high class，有介紹整座building的construction phases，背後的 high tech，exhibition interactive，very interesting。那部勁快的super lift，一分鐘就去到124樓。踏出viewing platform，哇！所有下面五六十層高的高樓大厦，變得好矮好矮，very surreal。摩天大厦有一個新的definition。人在高處，咩都要試下。我就特地試了在124樓去toilet的感覺。哈，跟在地面的感覺是一樣！ [click title to read]