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The Toilet Bar: Dragonflies vs. Wasps
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2010/11/dragonflies-vs-wasps.html
Dragonflies vs. Wasps. Is it my imagination, or are we experiencing a particularly long and tempestuous dragonfly season? Wasps, too, have been invading my room for the past few days. Even with windows and doors shut tight, I'll enter to find four or five orange wasps tapping at the glass, trying to find a way out. How did they get in? Yet when it comes down to it, which one would I willingly kill? In the rare case of a stubborn or belligerent wasp, unwilling to follow instinct or instruction toward the ...
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The Toilet Bar: Dry Rain
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2009/08/dry-rain.html
It's been raining so hard and so often that the sky must have used up all its water. That's why there's none left in the garden hose. Most of the time nothing collects in the pool other than some rotten leaves fallen from surrounding trees. But when there's a deluge caused by a heavy rainstorm, sand and silt and pebbles wash down the steep mountain gorge, fill the pool and block the drain with hard, heavy debris. Ironically, after prolonged heavy rain, Wang Tong suffers a water shortage. 15 August, 2009.
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The Toilet Bar: The Ghost Tree
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2010/07/ghost-tree.html
The Ghost Tree is under threat. I'm not sure how it got that name, but that's what local people have always called it. It's a rubber tree, at least 50 years old and possibly much older, located at the entrance to Wang Tong Village. It's a magnificent multiple cascade of roots and trunks, towering over the village like the Lord of Trees. No single photo can capture its majesty. That was the first lie. Those were the wrong words to say to the world's most fanatic plantaholic. My wife's response is unre...
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The Toilet Bar: Roadblock
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2010/06/roadblock.html
The water buffaloes are back. Though their timing might have been a little better. My wife nearly missed the morning ferry because, as you can see, they didn't leave much room to squeeze past with a bicycle. A few dings of her bell, a couple friendly calls of "Psshh! All contents ©. Tuesday, June 15, 2010. 15 June, 2010. We used to have one on Lamma about 15 years ago - sorely missed. Youre welcome to ship some over here if you get too many! 16 June, 2010. 20 June, 2010. 27 June, 2010. Subscribe to: Post...
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The Toilet Bar: Rock Duty
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2010/08/rock-duty.html
The denizens of Wang Tong hunkered down and waited. On the third day of blistering hot sun, Maribel, our gardener, reported some flowers beginning to wilt and our long beans shriveling up. My wife was one of the "wait for someone else to dig" faction, but I knew that I would never hear the end of it if her Zinnias turned to dust. Urgent action was necessary. Gaby and Maribel dig in. As we cleared out rough sand, pebbles, fist-sized rocks, and a few golf balls (the Discovery Bay golf course is way on top ...
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The Toilet Bar: The Starfruit Orchard
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2010/02/starfruit-orchard.html
The trees remain, dropping hundreds of fruit throughout the fall and winter, left to sit on the ground and rot. What an appalling waste, you think. Until you take one home, cut a slice and pop it into your mouth. Ptui! Ends I hope that the starfruit orchard manages to dodge that fate for another thirty years. All contents ©. Tuesday, February 23, 2010. 24 February, 2010. Bitter though these fruits be, your description of them is sweet indeed - or perhaps all small villages share a common problem: on whic...
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The Toilet Bar: No longer welcome
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-longer-welcome.html
Irony of all ironies is a sign which boasts credit for putting up the sign above it. And now they prepare to remove the only useful. Sign in the village, the only one which actually identifies us by name (in Chinese). Is this really just about a wooden pole which lacks a permit? Welcome to Wang Tong only until 10 March 2010. After that day, enter at your own risk. All contents ©. Sunday, March 07, 2010. 10 March, 2010. 10 March, 2010. 11 March, 2010. I think the secondary purpose of the tree database is ...
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The Toilet Bar: Happy Tiger Year
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2010/02/happy-tiger-year.html
The red banners on our gate were composed and painted for us by a well-known calligrapher from Cheung Chau, a neighboring island. As any Chinese person can tell, my wife's and my Chinese names are incorporated into the auspicious phrase (a tradition I never heard of until yesterday! Right) ".beauty and truthfulness radiate from your being . Or something like that. Anyway, it's good. Happy Chinese New Year. Keep your dogs on a leash. All contents ©. Sunday, February 14, 2010. 23 February, 2010. 169; Larry...
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The Toilet Bar: Death of a Tree
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-of-tree.html
Death of a Tree. I regret to report the sad news of the death of an old and stately tree. It's called a rose apple, though I don't recall ever seeing any fruit. It's a gorgeous creature, a muscular tangle of fibrous trunks and branches overhanging an abandoned house and, incidentally, is located directly across the footpath from the entrance to my house. Local people in Mui Wo aren't much better. Trees are simply overgrown weeds. Trees cause mosquitos. Yes, cause. But can't they just treat it? Okay, so w...
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The Toilet Bar: Wang Tong Prison
http://toiletbar.blogspot.com/2010/06/wang-tong-prison.html
How do I explain three months away, when I've been here all along? Was the removal of the ill-fated Welcome. Sign, the day after the deadline ran out, a signal to everybody to please shut up? Maybe in a way it was. Them You wouldn't say that about most village locals, unless it's Ah-Po chasing birds out of her vegetable patch. When you think about it, that Welcome. Sign was entirely out of character. It could have been a boundary which blends in with the surroundings, like a bamboo trellis or something w...