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| By Justin |
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| By Justin |
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| By Justin |
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| By Justin |
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Day Trip
Justin and I just returned from a day trip to the island Cheung Chau (May 10 marks Buddah's birthday, which means I had the day off). What a lovely and tiring day it was for us! We left this afternoon on the ferry from pier 4 at Central Piers and arrived to find a very busy and celebratory Cheung Chau. The main street, which faces the harbor (see pictures) was PACKED with people. We could barley move anywhere. Music from the not-too-far-off festival and various dragon dance drums (I don't know the offical name for this dance, which they seem to perform at every Chinese festival. A man--or in many cases boys--steps into a giant dragon puppet and dances to the beat of a little percussion band around him. Pictures below) filled the hot, humid, kind-of stinky/fishy air.
I don't feel like going through all the details of our trouble navigating through the crowd, so just imagine a people packed shoulder to should in 90 degree weather with 70% humidity and everyone pushing and poking you in the eye with their open umbrellas. That's what we had to get through. After managing to find our way out of the mess we rounded the designated festival area and came to find quite streets, and low rise apartments decorated with laundry lines filled wrinkly t-shits and baggy, shapeless pants that all elderly people seem to wear.
From here, we found our way to the beaches. The first once we found was covered in filth. I popped a squat on this one and then we continued along. Further down the coast we found our way to the "Mini Great Wall," which we walked. This winding uphill path paved in stones and delineated by a fun little wall took us to clear air and good island views. Unfortunately, it didn't take us to this "Italian Beach" Justin told me he read about and wanted to visit. The wall dead-ended much to Justin's dismay. We turned around to go back and came to a split, I suggested we go up but Justin didn't want to risk another dead-end so we returned the way we came.
We walked and walked and walked all day around the entire perimeter of the Island determined to find this Italian beach. We walked up and down and over and under and finally came to a sign that blocked the path said, "DANGER," path under construction. We could not continue any more and Justin admitted defeat only to find out two minutes later, thanks to his iPhone, that the beach was indeed up that little path off the Wall.
A scrappy little boat captained by a scary Chinese lady who only seemed to know how to communicate by yelling very loudly ferried us back to our starting spot. We (rather, I) ate a quick meal and wandered back to the ferry. The line for the ferry was literally the longest line I have ever been in. It had to be a half mile long. It moved along quickly though and we headed back to Hong Kong tired and happy and ordered pizza and are now watching tv.
Pictures on the next post. My comp is way to slow right now!
I don't feel like going through all the details of our trouble navigating through the crowd, so just imagine a people packed shoulder to should in 90 degree weather with 70% humidity and everyone pushing and poking you in the eye with their open umbrellas. That's what we had to get through. After managing to find our way out of the mess we rounded the designated festival area and came to find quite streets, and low rise apartments decorated with laundry lines filled wrinkly t-shits and baggy, shapeless pants that all elderly people seem to wear.
From here, we found our way to the beaches. The first once we found was covered in filth. I popped a squat on this one and then we continued along. Further down the coast we found our way to the "Mini Great Wall," which we walked. This winding uphill path paved in stones and delineated by a fun little wall took us to clear air and good island views. Unfortunately, it didn't take us to this "Italian Beach" Justin told me he read about and wanted to visit. The wall dead-ended much to Justin's dismay. We turned around to go back and came to a split, I suggested we go up but Justin didn't want to risk another dead-end so we returned the way we came.
We walked and walked and walked all day around the entire perimeter of the Island determined to find this Italian beach. We walked up and down and over and under and finally came to a sign that blocked the path said, "DANGER," path under construction. We could not continue any more and Justin admitted defeat only to find out two minutes later, thanks to his iPhone, that the beach was indeed up that little path off the Wall.
A scrappy little boat captained by a scary Chinese lady who only seemed to know how to communicate by yelling very loudly ferried us back to our starting spot. We (rather, I) ate a quick meal and wandered back to the ferry. The line for the ferry was literally the longest line I have ever been in. It had to be a half mile long. It moved along quickly though and we headed back to Hong Kong tired and happy and ordered pizza and are now watching tv.
Pictures on the next post. My comp is way to slow right now!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Roaches
We have a small cockroach problem. Its quite scary. They creep around in the dark and are seriously large bugs. Justin did some research and discovered that they also tend to carry salmonella and other nasty stuff around. Our apartment is a tidy little place (so the problem really isn't our fault!) but we live one the first floor above a vacant space that was a restaurant just months ago. An exterminator came today and sprayed the place before things got ::BAD::
In other news, I am learning more cantonese! My vocabulary is pretty hilarious/random. It includes the words for garbage, garbage can, "thank you," "excuse me," troublesome, stupid, good morning, "you are", enough, toilet...I think that's it. Working on my numbers...and pronunciation. Everyone laughs at me when I try to say anything in Cantonese. I'm sure I sound ridiculous.
In other news, I am learning more cantonese! My vocabulary is pretty hilarious/random. It includes the words for garbage, garbage can, "thank you," "excuse me," troublesome, stupid, good morning, "you are", enough, toilet...I think that's it. Working on my numbers...and pronunciation. Everyone laughs at me when I try to say anything in Cantonese. I'm sure I sound ridiculous.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Hong Kong Rugby 7's
Debauchery of all debauchery.
Litre beers and (yes!) bloody maries. No rules really. Hilarious.
Some chants included:
"Stand up if you hate the French."
"Who's the wanker on the phone?!" (Haha, Alicia, you are!)
Something else on the subway about why Jesus can't play rugby that I'm not going to write in the fear that I might offend one of you.
Beyond that, I will let the pictures (what little I have :( )speak for themselves.
Litre beers and (yes!) bloody maries. No rules really. Hilarious.
Some chants included:
"Stand up if you hate the French."
"Who's the wanker on the phone?!" (Haha, Alicia, you are!)
Something else on the subway about why Jesus can't play rugby that I'm not going to write in the fear that I might offend one of you.
Beyond that, I will let the pictures (what little I have :( )speak for themselves.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Today is the last day of Chinese New Year. Sad its over. I had no idea what a big deal it is.
I ate dim sum with VERO people in Wanchai on Wednesday afternoon(yum yum) and visited the flower bazaar that night. Talk about a crowd. Once there you have no option but to be moved with the sea of people around you. I felt a bit like a herded cattle being bombarded with shouts from groups of chinese students selling silly things to raise money for their schools and various charities.
Ihad Thurday day off from work. Justin and I celebrated with beers (him) and Bloody Maries (me) by the sea in Stanley, our first time there. The weather was perfect, even a bit hot in the sun! That night we hit the parade in Tsim Sha Tsui. It was crowded but still fun and I even managed to get up front at the end.
Last night I helped VERO throw a CNY celebration. Our lounge faces Kowloon and looks over the water, so we have a perfect place for watching the fireworks. AMAZING fireworks show! They had little bunny face fireworks (it is now the Year of the Rabbit) and these really cool sparkly fireworks that I enjoyed enormously. The party was a great success and quite manageable. I even had time to go out afterwards!
While out at Hong Kong's "only African bar" I spoke with a Mexican man (so many different nationalities, haha) who told me he left home to travel the world due to the fact that Mexico is too dangerous to live in. He told me of his kidnapping (from which he escaped) and explained that the Mexican drug cartels control so much of the country that no matter where you go, what you do or who you talk to there is always a threat of being robbed, beaten, killed or kidnapped...I'm sorry for the digression, I just felt the need to retell the story.
Anyways! Happy new year. Hung Hei Fat Choi. I was born in the year of the Rabbit so I look forward to the coming year. Hell, I even got a red packet with $50 in it. Starting off alright;)
Will post pictures as soon I upload them.
Now, he wasn't saying all this to give a bad face to his home country or even give an opinion. He was just speaking plainly of what Mexico is and has become over the last decade.
I ate dim sum with VERO people in Wanchai on Wednesday afternoon(yum yum) and visited the flower bazaar that night. Talk about a crowd. Once there you have no option but to be moved with the sea of people around you. I felt a bit like a herded cattle being bombarded with shouts from groups of chinese students selling silly things to raise money for their schools and various charities.
Ihad Thurday day off from work. Justin and I celebrated with beers (him) and Bloody Maries (me) by the sea in Stanley, our first time there. The weather was perfect, even a bit hot in the sun! That night we hit the parade in Tsim Sha Tsui. It was crowded but still fun and I even managed to get up front at the end.
Last night I helped VERO throw a CNY celebration. Our lounge faces Kowloon and looks over the water, so we have a perfect place for watching the fireworks. AMAZING fireworks show! They had little bunny face fireworks (it is now the Year of the Rabbit) and these really cool sparkly fireworks that I enjoyed enormously. The party was a great success and quite manageable. I even had time to go out afterwards!
While out at Hong Kong's "only African bar" I spoke with a Mexican man (so many different nationalities, haha) who told me he left home to travel the world due to the fact that Mexico is too dangerous to live in. He told me of his kidnapping (from which he escaped) and explained that the Mexican drug cartels control so much of the country that no matter where you go, what you do or who you talk to there is always a threat of being robbed, beaten, killed or kidnapped...I'm sorry for the digression, I just felt the need to retell the story.
Anyways! Happy new year. Hung Hei Fat Choi. I was born in the year of the Rabbit so I look forward to the coming year. Hell, I even got a red packet with $50 in it. Starting off alright;)
Will post pictures as soon I upload them.
Now, he wasn't saying all this to give a bad face to his home country or even give an opinion. He was just speaking plainly of what Mexico is and has become over the last decade.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Doubtful
The other day I had a conversation with a friend here about Hong Kong's fashion scene and culture. We had just finished our first day at Hong Kong Fashion Week and were feeling a bit disappointed by what we saw. Our conversation let me feeling even more blue.
Basically, my friend, a native Hong Konger, said that Hong Kong people have very little fashion sense of their own. She explained that everyone in Hong Kong is a slave to big trends and exercise very little free will when it comes to dressing. I disagreed and pointed out that people here dress in extreme ways that people in the U.S., for example, would never dare to try. She came back with the point that when everyone dresses like this it looses its impact and appeal. I understood her point but still, I disagree.
I recently saw a straight guy wearing a long skirt and I swear it looked good on him. It suited him in a way that I never thought these male skirts and kilts that Marc Jacobs brought to the fashion world would. He made it seem natural.
A great number of men here sport purses. They, like the skirted man, look cool and stylish toting these "feminine" looks.
Women here rock short, edgy haircuts like nobody's business and walk with ease through the streets in footwear that most couldn't dream of actually wearing.
I have caught on to a certain self-deprecating attitude in many locals here that I sensed in my friend when she spoke of Hong Kong and its fashion scene. She pitted fashion from the West against that of the East and explained that the West's is much more sophisticated and unique. Perhaps this is true, but whatever the case may be I think people here have much more courage when it comes to wearing the outrageous stuff than those back home. If this isn't indicative of a strong fashion culture, I'm not sure what is.
Basically, my friend, a native Hong Konger, said that Hong Kong people have very little fashion sense of their own. She explained that everyone in Hong Kong is a slave to big trends and exercise very little free will when it comes to dressing. I disagreed and pointed out that people here dress in extreme ways that people in the U.S., for example, would never dare to try. She came back with the point that when everyone dresses like this it looses its impact and appeal. I understood her point but still, I disagree.
I recently saw a straight guy wearing a long skirt and I swear it looked good on him. It suited him in a way that I never thought these male skirts and kilts that Marc Jacobs brought to the fashion world would. He made it seem natural.
A great number of men here sport purses. They, like the skirted man, look cool and stylish toting these "feminine" looks.
Women here rock short, edgy haircuts like nobody's business and walk with ease through the streets in footwear that most couldn't dream of actually wearing.
I have caught on to a certain self-deprecating attitude in many locals here that I sensed in my friend when she spoke of Hong Kong and its fashion scene. She pitted fashion from the West against that of the East and explained that the West's is much more sophisticated and unique. Perhaps this is true, but whatever the case may be I think people here have much more courage when it comes to wearing the outrageous stuff than those back home. If this isn't indicative of a strong fashion culture, I'm not sure what is.
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