Shenzhen

Shenzhen, one of China's largest cities, sits right across the border from Hong Kong. It takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there by train from my apartment.

It's an interesting place and there's a lot to tell, even after a short day-trip like I took. I'm just posting this photo for now because it was the first time that I'd seen live poultry and game in the same cage waiting for their respective destinies inside the restaurant. It's normal in Hong Kong for restaurants to keep boxes and aquariums outside full of all sorts of sea life, but chicken and rabbits? No.

Thai Boxing

I went to a Thai boxing event a couple of weeks ago. This shot is the opening ceremony where the fighters lined up behind their respective flags. The fighters were mostly Hong Kongers, mainland Chinese, Thai, and Australians. I think there was also one or two Japanese and a British guy thrown in the mix, but I don't even think the British guy got to participate in the opening lineup.

Some of the fights were pretty good, but I left after I had seen eight. There were still three left and I heard from a friend that I missed two knockouts in the last two fights, but I am a little bit skeptical since there were only a couple of knockdowns in the first eight and not one single fight-ending knockout.

Smallest weight class was 54 kg and the largest was 78 kg...so no heavyweights were in the ring, although the guys in the 78 kg class were kind of monstrous. During that fight, the British guy caught an Australian so cleanly with an uppercut to the mouth that the Aussie walked around punch-drunk for about 10 seconds at the end of round two trying to find his corner. Surprisingly the Aussie came back and wailed on the Brit all throughout the last three rounds and won the decision. Never give up.

NEW APARTMENT!!!!!!

Finally....I moved. Sad to say goodbye to my old roomie, but I had to get out of there. I didn't want to use my blog as a forum to complain, but I was having problems with my old place. List of negative aspects:

1. Big red fire hose mounted on the wall: this was not a negative in itself, but the fact that it couldn't be taken down and used just made it feel like an unsightly, dusty, heap of garbage.

2. Dust: vacuuming three times per week was not enough to beat it; the dust earned me an asthma diagnosis - something I hadn't had to deal with since I was about 7.

3. Phantom Karaoke Bar: like the fire hose, I wouldn't hate it so much if I could engage with it. There was a karaoke bar that only seemed to be open on Sunday during the afternoon and early evening. I don't know if it was in my building or in a nearby building, but the noise traveled cleanly through my walls, making the aftermath of Saturday night all the more hellish. Worst of all, it's not uncommon for karaoke enthusiasts to believe that they can sing Whitney Houston songs. It is very uncommon to hear a singer who can perform a Whitney Houston song.

4. Wing Lok Street's bizarre animal product vendors: although I still live on Wing Lok street, I'm not bombarded with dried sea creatures and their odors as soon as I hit the street. There's some pretty funky stuff on my new block too, but it doesn't match the Wing Lok-Cleverly intersection's cramped, chaotic, dried goods market.

5. Lack of a view: in my new apartment, I can look in the space between two aircon units and get a glimpse of the sky. Impossible in the old apartment. Also, the window was streetside on a very hectic street.

6. Toilet and shower in the same place: I will never understand this.

7. Mirror at belly-button level: on second thought, it was a really good workout to hold a 5-minute squat and shave.

Oh well...I'll miss the old Wing Lok apartment even though there were so many reasons to hate it.

And They're Off!

Happy Valley is the place to be on Wednesday nights for expats in Hong Kong. Everyone is there at the Hong Kong Jockey Club for the races.

This week was my first week and I arrived late and missed the first four races, but I don't think I missed much. The grounds are pretty nice...about the same standards as a newish professional ballpark in the US and entry fee is only $10 hkd (barely a buck).

I think that I picked a good week to try it out since the Hong Kong Jockey Club celebrates Oktoberfest for a couple of weeks in October. This means that you can get a solid attempt at German food and swill it down with pretty good beer. Food and drink were relatively inexpensive, in fact. Another bonus was the on-stage drinking contest between the 6th and the 7th. The winner took home 5000 hkd and even the last place contestant got a grand.

It's pretty exciting even if you don't have money on the line!!

Junk Trip

Not drugs and not garbage, junk means a junk boat...which means a 20-40 person pleasure craft that people rent out to spend an afternoon enjoying the sun and water.

I went on a trip last Saturday. We left around noon and got back eight hours later. In the meantime, we cruised out west from the Central Piers on Hong Kong Island to a pretty large cove between Repulse Bay and the backside of Stanley.

The weather and the water were great. Warm day, hot sun, and water temperature was, as the French kept saying, very fresh. The organizer, Phoenix Chang, was super-prepared and overstocked. Phoenix bought a catered-lunch package from Cafe de Coral, which had curry, bolognaise, and a bunch of Chinese snacks that I'd never tried before.

Hopefully the weather stays warm enough for another trip later on, but I've yet to see signs of the Indian summer that is rumored to take Hong Kong back to July-level temperatures.

*I only took one picture on the trip (photo of Ocean Park from the boat) because everyone else had cameras. I'll post some as they get 'published' on facebook.

"Yo Blair"

Former British P.M. Tony Blair on China in the WSJ...stunning statistics.

Sidewalk Safety

Riding the MTR, you will hear announcements about preventing the spread of bacteria by not touching your mouth, eyes, or nose. A speaker installed over the escalators and signs constantly remind you that you should stand still with your hand on the railing while riding. Out on the street, jaywalking is sometimes ticketed...many people will not walk across the street against the signal.

This assiduos society harbors one dangerous environment that refuses to yield to better rules. That environment is the Hong Kong sidewalk.

The photo at right is a platform on scaffolding. Two things are unusual about it: (1) its bottom is about 6'3" above the concrete and (2) the ends of the po

les are, in some cases, angled & pointy. Because I am not quite that tall, I narrowly dodged inadvertently scalping myself on this man-made hazard one Saturday afternoon on Queens Road Central.

Take a look at the next photo. There is a sign 'hanging' from the side of a building whose weight appears to rest on a ladder. Wait, a ladder that has a bucket on top of it. Don't worry though. There's a cone on one side of it so that no one accidentally knocks the ladder loose, causing a tumble.

I should note that these are both obviously private works and not public works. In fact, public works projects usually look pretty well managed. Although the gates and barricades separating work space from safe space provide a much smaller buffer zone than I'm used to, I understand the necessity in a city where every inch of the pavement is used...even in ideal conditions.

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UPDATE: had to include this shot of stacked plywood that was being hauled up and over a pedestrian street in the middle of the day. Dangerous!!

Ads

Don't be alarmed but I commercialized my blog. Haha. Well, actually it's just sort of an experiment because I doubt that much money will come from the ad revenue that the 8 people who read the blog will generate. I'll keep track of how much I make and probably just use it as a 'beer fund' to share with my friends when I get back the US anyways.

PRC Turns 60 - Part III

I meant to sneak this in to one of the other posts, but just wanted to sound off a little bit more on the topic of China turning 60 from an American's perspective.

All of the papers wrote about the event. I even had the chance to watch some of the coverage on television and I was very impressed by the spectacle. One interesting, if a little paranoid, article came from the Wall Street Journal regarding the display of arms in the Beijing parade. In particular they discussed an anti-ship missile that the author suggested was designed for the purpose of keeping outsider naval forces (the US) from defending against a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Another notable perspective on the anniversary was the South China Morning Post's article about the exclusivity of the parade. The New York Times informed me of the difficulty of training and selection of participants in the parade, which was ultimately an astonishing display of choreography and organization. NYT also wrote about the many disappointed tourists who were instructed to stay in their hotel rooms because police were barricading off many of Beijing's streets. SCMP went into deeper detail about the brutal facts of the party's policy regarding the parade. SCMP's headline basically said that the celebration was only for a select few. Elite members of Chinese politics were invited, but the average person was excluded and even barricaded from getting near the parade. SCMP quoted a 14-year old Chinese boy who wanted to become a photographer and take photos of the event, but could not see anything from the place where he could stand as an uninvited spectator.

SCMP also reported on the use of iodine pellets scattered throughout the atmosphere above Beijing before the parade because of looming rain clouds. On the ground, someone launches a missile that carries the pellets. At the proper location, an explosion occurs, spreading out the iodine pellets and they clear up clouds to prevent rain. They were used before the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics.

Another SCMP article discussed the Mao-suit that Chinese leader Hu Jintao wore. At previous National Day celebrations and military parades, Hu Jintao's predecessors had worn suits like the one that Chairman Mao always appeared in. SCMP interpreted the ritual as showing fidelity to founding values. Maybe it's not a bad idea for the highest politicians of the US to dress up as a Founding Father on Independence Day, although it is difficult to think of possible matches.

Reading and watching the events, one cannot help but be intimidated by China's power. Although I would not self-describe as a fan of American hegemony, the WSJ article especially reminds us that this moment in time witnesses the world order changing. Most of all, China is intimidating because it creates an era of uncertainty. Perhaps something better will come out of it, but at this point, no one knows.

Slideshow: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/10/01/world/20091001-CHINA_index.html

PRC Turns 60 - Part II

MOONCAKES!! Part II is the story of my humble celebration. Although I enjoyed the fireworks, reflecting on China's sixtieth birthday was not really as joyous an occasion for me as I'm sure it was for the Chinese. Nevertheless, I decided to partake in the autumnal custom of eating a mooncake. If you haven't clicked on the link already, do it and you'll get a lot of information that seems correct as far as I can tell.

Mooncake adverts are postered all over the MTR stations now, featuring quasi-western looking Chinese models and diagrams of anatomy of a mooncake. I read in a foodie column in a local magazine that each one of these little bombs packs 800 calories...quite a lot for something about half the size of a donut.

On my way back from the fireworks, I purchased two two-packs. They were cold and the vendor packed them in an insulated bag for the trip home. When I got home, I eagerly teared it open and dug into it. It was pretty delicious, but I thought that it reminded me of raw cookie dough. I became suspicious and later learned that mooncakes should be baked before consumption. Although I felt kind of dumb for doing this, I also learned that most foreigners who introduce themselves to mooncakes do the same thing...and that they mostly think that eating them raw is actually the proper way until instructed otherwise.

I was lucky because the one that I ate was filled with strawberry jam. The vendor helped me pick out two packs and I think she purposefully steered me towards the sweet, jelly desserts rather than the savory flavors that might have shocked me on the first bite.

Don't they look great in that picture though?

PRC Turns 60

October 1 is National Day in China. This was covered by every major newspaper and from many different angles.

The photo to the right is a picture of the fireworks over Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. One of the faculty members commented the next day that he was left unimpressed by the spectacle. South China Morning Post reported that Hong Kong spent $400,000 USD on the show.

Truthfully, I wasn't very impressed by the fireworks either, but this might be due to my vantage point and expectations. Because I don't have class on Thursdays, the national holiday didn't really open up any extra time in my schedule and I spent the day like a normal Thursday, cleaning up whatever assignment I didn't read for my classes earlier in the week and getting ready for Friday's class. So, I left home a few minutes before the show started and simply walked out to the harbor between Sheung Wan and Central. I soon learned that the fireworks were to originate in Wan Chai, maybe 1.5 miles away. As you can see from the photo, the fireworks just barely cleared the treetops visible in the foreground. The distance was even more obvious from the sound. I think that the sound is equally important for the effect of a good show but the distance created a lag that lessened the power of the fireworks. I'm sure that it was great if you were right underneath.

Considering China to be the land of fireworks, I thought that this would be an absolute blowout fireworks show, making anything that I had ever seen on the Fourth of July seem like child's play. The show was a steady stream of shots with a slightly ramped up tempo for the grand finale. However, I was definitely impressed during the grand finale when fireworks were being sent that spelled out "China" and "sixty" in Chinese. I recognized one Chinese characters, but a local told me what the others meant.