SUNDAY: Semi-Dignified Farewell

Yesterday I dragged myself up Lantau Peak to scatter the ashes of a dear friend who died in April. It really made me admire even more those brave souls who participated in the Moontrekker thing last month.

They climbed THREE of these monsters (yes, I know, only 943 meters or whatever so not exactly the Himalayas, but steep!) in the dark. I thought it was bad enough with the fog, at times so thick I could only see the path right under my feet, and the vertical climb on big rocks. Kudos to the Moontrekkers. Me, for every step I asked myself why? Why? why would anyone do this for any other reason than ‘because it’s so good when it stops’? The Moontrekkers even paid to do it.

Me, I did it because I had promised. And it wasn’t so bad. It was just… boring and unpleasant. (I think a walk should be, above all, pleasant.) But then we got to the top and and the fog lifted for a minute and the sun came out

and my friend’s ashes were scattered over the hillside. And I thought I was lucky to be alive and that it, like Shakespeare said, really is the question.

四月 (Sei yuet – 4th month/April)
鳳凰山 (Fung Wong Saan – Phoenix Mountain/Lantau Peak)
行山 (Haang saan – walk mountain/hiking)
沙士比亞 (Sa Si Bei Ah – Shakespeare)

By the way! All along the path were rocks with this writing:

CY ha toi – (C.Y. (Leung) down/off platform – C.Y. Leung Step Down). But that’s not real Cantonese. It should be CY 落台 (lok toi)！落 is the Cantonese for the verb to descend, like 落雨 (luk yu – fall rain). NOT 下雨 (ha yu) which is Mandarin.