From the fragrant harbour...

Pictures from the Hong Kong and an excerpt from You are a Tree

Dear Friends,

Happy Saturday! After a 14 hour and twenty minute flight, I write to you from London, jet lagged but happy. Those of you who guessed that I was in Hong Kong were correct! Hong Kong literally means the fragrant harbour, a beautiful name for a city. The quote I shared in last week’s post was from the luxurious, heart breaking film In the Mood for Love, made by the influential Hong Kong film maker Wong Kar Wai which I watched while writing You are a Tree. And I watched his The Grandmaster on the plane in preparation for the trip. The picture of me in the last post is near one of the beautiful trees overlooking the Victoria Harbour. There is so much to remember and to miss from the last few weeks, but I thought I’d share a few highlights from Hong Kong in pictures.

Hong Kong is a strikingly beautiful city, steep hills crowded on an island, the curving streets wound tightly on the intense inclines contrasted with the tall, straight sky high buildings.

The view from the top of Victoria Peak.

We ate so. much. good. food! Dim sum, noodles, marinated goose, congee, and fresh, fresh fruit. One of my favourite experiences: the tea restaurant! Which is something like a diner, featuring Hong Kong milk tea: strong black tea brewed through egg shells with sweetened condensed milk and French toast.

This tiny tea restaurant is something of an institution— always a line out the door.

Another intriguing and enjoyable experience was discovering this tea stand called Being and Tea in a mall that was named after Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time. We got chatting to the owner who had in fact majored in philosophy, and his wife worked in whisky and wine. They curate tea with their experience in both philosophy and wine and whisky tasting. The iced tea is made with tea ice cubes that are in the shape of bears which keeps the ice from diluting the tea. Very nice.

We visited 聖士提反堂 St Stephen’s Church, the first Chinese speaking church in Hong Kong. While wondering through the church, we saw this beautiful stained glass, recently restored, from the original campus. It is beautiful and features a passage from the stoning of Saint Stephen in Classical Chinese (Acts 7:59–60a). I noted that it looked like it was done in the style of the Arts and Craft movement, from the likes of Morris. Imagine my delight (and smug scholarly gratification) when I spotted the signature on the bottom right of the second picture…

The streets of Hong Kong are colourful, steep, sometimes opulent, and always interesting. I was also struck how many grand trees stretch their branches out in the most densely urban and concrete places, their roots clinging to walls and pavements. A new image in my mind of thriving as a tree in unexpected places.

From the street markets near Hollywood road. I got myself one.

This grumpy cat kept excellent guard.

We got to stay a bit longer than we were expecting and still managed to feel like we hadn’t had out fill when we finished. After landing yesterday, dropping off things, and showering, a sped off on the underground to attend the Ekstasis Inkwell event in London. Amongst other poets, musicians, artists, and essayists. I got to share a passage from You are a Tree. The experience made me realise how rare it is to watch people react to one’s writing in real time. And I must admit, it was rather fun to watch people laugh at my little jokes. I thought I’d share it here for all of you who have preordered. I hope to share more soon.

Please don’t share the file. As a reminder, Until the release of You are a Tree on February 20th, I will continue to give a month of free subscription to anyone who pre-orders the book. You can claim that by pre-ordering the book and sending me screenshot of your receipt via email. You can simply press reply to this email or reach me at: thejoynessthebrave[at]gmail.com.

Signing off for now. Hope you are all well!

Joy

Excerpt of You are a Tree below…