Day of the dead

Now that I’ve had some time to bond with my new laptop (read: spend hours upon hours transferring files and installing software), I’m finally getting around to posting about my trip to the Hong Kong cemetery, as promised in my last post.

In the cab rides between central Hong Kong and Steph and Peter’s place in Happy Valley, I kept noticing a seemingly endless cemetery across from the racetrack. I’ve always liked cemeteries for some reason, and in Hong Kong they are particularly interesting because of the hilly terrain. So I set out earlier this week to satisfy my curiosity.

Entering the cemetery felt like entering a lush park, with gorgeous trees, fountains and even a stream. The cemetary stretches endlessly up the hill – when I finally reached the top, I could see over the top of the Happy Valley racetrack, which is at least eight stories high.

It was particularly interesting checking out the headstones around the cemetery, which was founded in 1845. It seemed that at least half the graves were for people who died in their twenties.

I couldn’t find any official information on how many people are buried there, but I would guess it’s easily in the thousands, especially if you include the adjacent Jewish, Muslim and Catholic cemeteries.

On a separate note, I’m now in the Bangkok airport, and will depart shortly for New Delhi to begin my volunteer program. Thanks again to everyone who has helped support me both financially and emotionally on this adventure!