ching ming holiday

today is ching ming holiday. one of the 2 holidays that people in hk remember their dearly departed. the other is cheung yeung, which falls on october, i think. it's the same as all soul's, all saint's day in pinas. hongkongers offer prayers and food to their dead. and when i say food, i mean, suckling pig or roast pig. a kilo i think of this cost around 400hkd. higher than previous prices. but as they said, this is a non-issue for them as this comes only once (or twice) a year.

the cemeteries are usually located atop a mountain or somewhere on higher ground as they believe that the closer they are to the heavens, the easier for the souls to move on. the view from our office is facing the cemetery and it's even higher than a 20-storey building. i'm not sure if there are buried bodies there or just the ashes. no idea.

high-tech mausoleum
saw in the news that in guangzhou, china -- to avoid getting the ashes of another dead person, they devised a small chestbox with microchips inside. you just need to scan it through the reader and wallah it displays the information. no more fighting over whose remains are who. ASTIG!