The Tram and the Japanese Tour Guide

OK, so I wrote a post about the fabulous weekend we had and it has pics to describe it, but the pics won't download for some reason. I keep trying, but nothing will come up. Therefore, you will get another tidbit until I can load them:)

The Tram and the Tour Guide.
When Ashlynn started her first year of school I was delighted to have the privilege of taking her to school. This was in Hong Kong and her school was located at The Peak. The most convenient and fast way for us to get there was via tram, straight up the mountain. So every morning we would walk a couple of blocks to the small path which led to the MacDonnell Road tram stop. Along the way we would pass the trash ladies taking out the accumulated trash from all of the high-rises , where they would deposit it in heaps along the road, and the trash diggers who would be pawing through it all looking for anything fixable or salvageable that they could try to sell or give to family members. One old man had a little stand on the road and he would always squeeze every bag listening for the crunch of a soda can to recycle. Then as we turned up the step the aroma of “the stinky stairs” would hit. These were the stairs that every dog in the neighborhood used as a bathroom. It was forbidden to fall on these stairs as your hands and everything else would have to be thoroughly scrubbed and sanitized before they would ever again be considered clean.
Now, the tram itself is a huge tourist attraction. Everyday thousands of people are transported up and down. The views are spectacular and it truly is a fun experience to be going at such a steep incline, in a boxcar, and realize that the buildings themselves look like they going perpendicular to you; like they are going to slide or break off. Also, there is always a point when you are going up and the tram clears the tree line where, if the pollution isn’t too bad, you suddenly come upon a view of the entire Hong Kong skyline, Victoria harbor and across from that you can see the Kowloon skyline as well. It is truly breathtaking.
Yet, it only took us a couple weeks of riding before we forgot to look and appreciate what we had. The tram became another chore in the routine of our day and we didn’t stop to think about its beauty. Most often we would be talking about the coming day or perhaps a dog (usually a small, little guy named George) we had seen on the stinky stairs. That was when the Japanese tour guide came along. He started bring on the tourists’ once or twice a week. This guy got a kick out of going into the aisle at the steepest point and demonstrating, using the angle of his body, just how steep it really was. Well, as soon as he would step into the aisle the entire group would gasp and his smug smile would be appreciated by all as they took pictures and clapped. I loved it.
Every group loved it. Then, as soon as we would cross the treeline he would point, like a proud father, at the beauty of the view. It was great. It taught me to always look at things with fresh eyes. So many times we fall into a pattern and get used to the present, forgetting to open the box and appreciate the contents. Life is about the opening the box and inhaling the aroma even if you already know what it smells like.