Montage!

It's the 2011 Confucian Carnival.... in 2011, just in case you missed it the first time.


From the little celebration going on in Sheung Wen. It's the Carousel of Happiness! No really... the sign says so.


More miniatures. Extremely well done. Food was a big theme.


There was a Croc store in Causeway Bay. I thought that the fur-lined and "terrain" versions were pretty hilarious.


The Lion Dance. This was about as much of the dance as we got to see. There was a huge crowd in front of us. And honestly, I only got this picture by holding my camera over my head and taking a shot. All of the seats from which you might have been able to see were reserved and the crowd we were standing in was quite large in front of us.


Lion Dance! Another lucky shot.


Elaborate advertisement for the traditional fashion show. We didn't stick around at the stage long enough to see this. There wasn't any room and no guarantee that we'd see anything. Cute bunny though.

Swarovski Crystal. They had a huge entryway in one of the malls all to themselves. They were displaying the 2011 zodiac crystals. Beautiful.




We had a good time. :)

Don't forget you can click on the photos to see a larger version! And check out our last post in case you missed the picture additions.

Confucian Carnival!!!!... sorta

So, Colin and I attended a Confucian Carnival in Causeway Bay on Sunday. It was an interesting time, though confusing at best. The CEDARS (Center of Development and Resources for Students) at HKU sent out an email to the students describing a Confucian Carnival full of Chinese culture to celebrate the New Year which will occur this week. The website for the carnival was this: https://sites.google.com/site/confuciuscarnival2011/home-english. From the website, things seem awesome! We were going to get to watch a Lion Dance and there would be people in traditional dress and there would be performances and games! It sounded exciting!

Sunday comes and Colin and I head toward the metro station to go to Causeway Bay (again you can google it), but lo and behold! Before we even get to the metro, we run into a street fair. This past weekend seems to have been the weekend for closing down the streets and filling them with vendors. I imagine the next week will be very similar to this on a larger scale. Tents were set up: some selling jade and hand-made crafts, others showing off their latest products from fungi to Kinex toys. This wet our appetites for fair time and we got on the metro to Causeway Bay.

The metro was pretty nice. I hadn't ridden it before, so I got a new experience in that. I found the trains to be nicer than most of the other metro systems I'd ridden in. Nice and clean with decently comfortable seats and line maps over the doors that showed you with blinking lights your location and connections. One of the best parts is that because we're in Hong Kong and the population is, on average, quite short so the rails, poles and hand grips from the ceiling are very reachable from my height. SO NICE! It's nice to be able to feel in control of your body and not as though you're arm is being ripped off as your body leaves the ground when the train comes to a stop (which is what happens when the hand grips are made for people at least 5 inches taller than you).


We got off of the metro and made our way into the bustling Causeway Bay district. It's a district full of brand stores and chains, characterized by large electronic billboards and, seemingly, money. I was quite drawn in by the large scale marketing ventures, enough so that I didn't actually see the little tents lined up on the street at first. Once we found the "Reception/Media reception" booth, we started figuring out the layout of the 'carnival'. The event was sponsored by the HKUGA (HKU's Graduate Association) and a few other sponsors. There were a dozen tents, half of which were set up with HKUGA information and prizes and the other half were set up for games. We went in search of games to participate in, but they were all geared toward children and required extensive knowledge of Cantonese. In fact, we couldn't read most of the signs. We did manage to get a free "New Year Banner", though the meaning of the symbols on it are still baffling us. It says "Dragon, Horse, Energy/essence, God/divine being/soul/(something undefinable and spiritual)". We're not sure how that relates to the new year, or even if it's supposed to convey a message of some kind. But we got a pretty sign made by a lady with nice cursive Chinese characters, at any rate. :)


We also got to see a few men dressed in traditional costume, but no women, unfortunately. The Lion dance and traditional fashion show were all held on a very small stage that couldn't be seen, because all of the seats (and there weren't many) were reserved and the crowd in front of the venue was impossible to see over. We tried to watch the dance for a while, but eventually gave up when people pushing through the crowd became insistent and we still couldn't see over them.

That seemed to be it. Really. The end of the festival. So Colin and I headed off into the city (in the completely wrong direction) to find a park that Colin thought he knew where it was. We got there eventually - it had been a few blocks in the other direction, but we made a nice circle around the area and got to see some steps that commemorated the Olympics and getting to see the Hong Kong Central Library, which looks like it might be the destination of one of our next outings. We eventually came to the Victoria Park which seemed to be having a giant fair of some kind. Huge crowds of people were walking along the rows of tents. It was hard to do anything but move with the flow. The first set of tents primarily sold flowers, both cut and potted. It's a huge thing for the New Year and it was absolutely gorgeous. Next we came to the food. This was unfortunately placed next to the toilets which completely obliterated any good smells that might have been coming from them and was completely off-putting. Also, most of the foods seemed to revolve around the theme of "hot dog" done in different styles with different toppings. The next few rows was full of junk, ranging from toys to entice the most ADD of children to big gigantic tiger paw mittens (which once you put on render your hands useless) to pinwheels of infinite variety to iPhone covers to random junk sellers that looked like they'd be at home in a flea market. Snack vendors graced the corner of every section. It took a while for Colin and I to be able to fight our way out of the current of people. By this time, we realized that we were only a few blocks away from the original "carnival" and wondered if they were connected. They were far enough away and with somewhat different signage, so we don't think they were the same. It was very strange.

Another metro ride and mile-long walk and we were home again, exhausted from wandering and negotiating crowds. It wasn't as exciting as expected, but certainly not a total waste of time. We had a good time wandering the city and exploring places for future trips out that direction (including one really ridiculous looking, way overpriced "Western" sandwich shop called "Graze: Eat. Drink. Indulge." Overpriced, yes. BUT you can get a margarita there.

So, Confucian Carnival? Eh, there were a few pictures of Confucius there at the educational game table for kids, but other than that? Very confused. We're hoping that the upcoming week will show us the New Year celebrations we've been wanting to attend.

Etiquette in China? Whaaaa?

This article in BBC Online caught my eye this morning:

China sets classes in good manners for schoolchildren

Now, I know what some of you are probably thinking: "Oh, this is just more mind-control propaganda put out by the Communist Party to indoctrinate the children of the country." I have no doubt that there is probably a ton of propaganda shoved into these lessons. Even though communist ideology is fast-fading in China (if it is not already gone), is still a strong sense of nationalism that pervades anything even touched by the government. Mind you, we do that in the United States as well. A good chunk of schooling is dedicated to the indoctrination of children to mold them into "upright citizens" (to borrow a quote from Carina, "What do you think social studies classes are for?"). With this, of course, come the dangers of "group-thought", diminished creativity on the part of the individual, and the possibility of damage to the individual identity.
It also gives us a standard of interaction.

A good portion of my philosophical work is dedicated to fleshing-out Confucianism and one of its most fascinating aspects is the near-obsession (okay, it really is obsession) with human interaction on the levels of language, sympathy, and even simple courtesy. Confucius was all about this concept called "li", often glossed as ritual or propriety, which seems to embody a number of the conventions, customs, mores, and even morals of society (yes, I know how redundant that all sounds, but I make the list for the sake of clarity). It was also supposed to provide a guideline for behavior in general.

Granted, my interpretation of Confucianism is a loose, liberal one, but I think this idea of attending to li has merit. After all, if we try to coordinate our behavior to accord with the standards that are agreed upon as socially acceptable, does that not heavily reduce the odds of violent confrontation? If we are all able to communicate effectively and engage sympathetically, are we not less likely to come to blows?

Apply this thinking to China, a massive country with an even more massive population that frequently ignores any rules of custom or etiquette. By enculturating (is that a nicer word for you?) children from an early age to follow these rules of propriety, these ritual customs such as respecting your elders, it seems they will be far more likely to grow into polite, maybe even sympathetic and reasonable human beings. This logic is not so different from our own in the US, where we try to teach children "right" and "wrong" from an early age (at least we used to).

The fact is that these programs are not foreign to us and they are not foreign to China. The question is: Will these programs enable the students to extend their limited education to the rest of the world, or will it just be more rote learning?

De dread ah come c-come c-come (world domination equals world suffocation)

Hu Jintao is visiting the United States right now, talking about important things like China's currency (how it is "allegedly" kept artificially low), human rights issues (*coughTibetcough*), and North Korea (apparently no one likes kim chee). I could attempt to do some serious research and go through all of his remarks on this trip to give you a critical, possibly satirical analysis. Fortunately, the media has already keyed-in on a particularly interesting comment he has made: "We do not engage in arms races, we are not a military threat to any country. China will never seek to dominate or pursue an expansionist policy."

Now, I have frequently expressed my skepticism regarding China's leadership. Their poor record on human rights (or what the West suggests should be human rights, not that the West is off of its rocker, mind you), their plutocratic government, and their inability to really engage productively with other world cultures...these aspects have always been very off-putting to me. To top it all off, there was that wonderful slogan of "One world, one China" at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing (pronounced "Bay-jing", not "Bay-jjjing"; we are not French, people). Yeah, that was foreboding. Despite all of these warning bells, I do have to say this about President Hu's comment: I believe him.

I know it might sound crazy, but I really do believe that China is not seeking to be a force of world domination...at least not in the traditional sense. They have no good reason to pursue that kind of policy, at least on my view. Why? Well, I have put together a Top Ten List of Reasons China Will Not Seek World Domination in a form similar to a popular talk show and numerous parodies. Some of the reasons will be serious, some not so serious. I have to admit, I did not have a whole list of ten, so I had to fill it out somehow. Hopefully, this will work out...

#10) One against all: Look at the facts, China does not have many real friends in the world. Associates? Yes. Friends? Not so much. In this day and age waging a single-handed war on the rest of the world would be madness and, frankly, no one is going to ally with China. "What about the Russians?" some might ask. Look, mate, the Russians have been trying to take over the world since its founding. Do you think they want to let someone else get in on their shtick?

#9) Past failures: China gave us Sunzi. Sunzi gave us The Art of War. The Art of War gave us the idea that war should be avoided at all costs. Yeah, you heard me: avoid war when possible. Do you know what has happened when China has engaged in war in the past? Well, for starters, I can tell you that the wars were usually civil ones and the internal strife that followed was almost never worth the war. The fact of the matter is that China, even post-World War II China, is well aware of the futility of expansionist campaigns. Do you know what happened when China was first unified? It fell apart after one generation! That was just the territory (part of the territory, in fact) that would become China. Can you imagine trying to control the whole world by such means? Neither can I.

#8) Protectionist policies: China has very little interest in "the outside world", and by outside world I mean anything not China. China wants to enrich itself; China wants to maintain unity (especially after centuries of division); China wants to be China. Sure, these wants are mostly limited to the small section of the population in charge of the country, but that is just the way they roll. China loves to get tributes from its neighbors, but it does not want to reign over them.

#7) China lacks military might: Seriously, they do. China might be a giant land mass with an inconceivably large population, but its military is nowhere near on par with, say, that of the United States and its allies (I hate to phrase it like that, but I really know more about the USA than other countries). To give you an idea, I post the following link to what I think of as an "optimistic account" of China's combat ability: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/22/think_again_chinas_military

#6) A lack of good soldiers: We cannot all be Yao Ming, and I am not even sure someone of his stature would be military material. Granted, in the modern military you do not need to be seven feet tall and capable of lifting three hundred pounds to be a terror on the battlefield. You just need to be able to push a button and launch a missile (so, essentially, you are okay to fight so long as you are not a paraplegic, sorry fellows). At the same time, I think there is something to be said about having a military composed of trained, fit, dedicated soldiers...and I am sincerely doubtful that China's military possesses this kind of mentality. Long past are the times of Dian Wei, Guan Yu, Gan Ning, and even the brilliant Zhuge Liang. Again, warfare has also changed extensively since that time, but as long as there are armies there will always be a need for good soldiers.

#5) There is no China: This one might seem bizarre, but allow me to explain. "China" is a term that refers to two concepts - the geographical mass and the government in Beijing. The China that does the talking is Beijing, the rest of China is largely...just...there. The fact is that most of China is pretty much shafted to the point that it might as well not be part of the region governed by Beijing. Do you remember city bosses? Robber barons? My understanding is that most regions are more like this, and the farther you get from cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the worse it gets. Ironically, it makes you question how unified China really is.

#4) Language crisis: My bread and butter. Part of successful world domination is to get everyone else speaking your language, thinking your thoughts, kowtowing to your gods, etc. Enter China, a country that has had numerous language crises over its history (go watch Hero if you want to learn more about an example), ultimately seeking to solve the problem with modern Mandarin. How well has that worked? Well, for one, it seems debatable what even constitutes literacy in China, especially since their system is character-based, rather than alphabetic. Some suggest that knowledge of as few as 1500 characters constitutes literacy. Rubbish. Chinese literacy skyrocketed after the second World War (according to reported statistics), but it is questionable as to whose standards this literacy is measured. I will not even go into the difficulty of translating between Mandarin and Cantonese, let alone English. If the Chinese have a hard time translating their language across regions, how hard will it be for the rest of the world?

#3) Legitimacy: China is not stupid. China knows that any attempt to impose its rule on others will likely lead to discontent not only from the conquered but also from those within China for a number of reasons. Economically, empire building is not feasible. How do you build and maintain your much-expanded nation without draining yourself dry? Even with bolstered resources, it would probably be a difficult endeavor. Not only that, you have to worry about those pesky Confucians and Daoists who keep telling you that what you are doing is either inhumane or just plain silly! Frankly, it just does not work out. You end up masquerading as a great empire, and we know how the Chinese hate actors.

#2) No need: China can get everything it wants without ever turning to forceful coercion. China wants countries like the USA healthy because the USA is an investment...same with so much of the rest of the world. For all of the land it covers, China's diversity of resources is still pretty limited and, although we love to import from them, they also love to import from us. The fact of the matter is that China does not want any more responsibility in the world than the responsibility of building itself up. China owns so much of the USA's debt as it stands that it might as well own the USA...but China does not WANT to own the USA, it just wants the fruits of the USA's labor. Pretty sweet deal...if you are a higher-up in China's plutocracy, at least.

#1) The Chinese do not care: It really just boils down to that, no one really cares. World domination is too much work. Not only that, there is no real point to it as referenced in point #2. For that matter, how do you think the majority of Chinese feel? They may well not even know about the possibility of world domination because they care so little! Why extend your concerns beyond what you do during your own day? World domination? Pfft, I would rather just nap.

*Cough, cough* The sickly emerges

As "Lewis" has pointed out, I've been a bit under the weather of late. This started a few days ago and has slowly escalated into major pains that leave me in the mood to do little moving about the city. Needless to say we've been "meditating" in our apartment (which mostly amounts to me reading while Colin works on his thesis) for most of the last few days.

As to this "Culture of Obliviousness" I find this to be both accurate in some cases and exaggerated in many others. While you do find little old ladies that take up the narrowest part of the sidewalk only to seem to physically widen as the sidewalk does too, these are not the only pedestrians that move about Hong Kong. It seems that with age comes reduced speed in Hong Kong, but there are plenty of younger people trying to move their way through the city streets and sidewalks. Yes, the streets. As many of the sidewalks are too narrow for the sheer mass of people trying to move along them, people move out into the streets.

I find that the majority of people walking along do not completely ignore that you're another living, moving human being, but in their rush to get by and past you, there is a dehumanizing element of becoming an obstacle. I tend to think of it more like a video game in which you have to move through groups of obstacles to get to the finish line. Kinda like Frogger: People wait at the stop lights until there is an "appropriate" break in the traffic (sometimes this is a green light for them to walk and sometimes just a lack of trucks coming fast enough), then they bolt. After they have successfully crossed one set of streets (often jaywalking), they then have to negotiate the crowd that comes next: when to hop on the faster moving lily pads (when to get in the row of people passing the little old lady with a cane) or when to get on the back of a turtle going in the opposite direction in hopes of cutting back and saving time (walking the wrong way up on the street side of the barrier in hopes of crossing at the next break rather than missing it while trying to cross two corners to get to the designated cross walk).

I'm not really one to play this Frogger game: I'm still too distracted by my interest in the people doing the negotiating. As a people watcher, this city is fascinating if not overwhelming. There is an element of truth in what Colin says: there is a level on which individuals ignore the mass in general - the people become traffic barriers, pylons, gateways, etc in the path to your next desired location. On the other hand, I tend to see it more like this: as people move through the city they engage in very specific and chosen social interactions. They talk to the man selling dried sea cucumber and argue with him about the price; they speak to the person that they're traveling with to the grocery store; they ignore completely the woman that they give the money to for their buns (unless she is pulling out hot ones and they want the one she has in her tongs); they make eye contact with the person that is walking around the little old lady with the cane. It is interesting to see someone actively observe you do this, only to see them do it themselves. People choose specific social negotiations and leave the rest as unacknowledged negotiations of movement and space.

I think this, all in all, can be quite understandable. I think that in a city in which the population density is as high as it is here, it can be completely overwhelming to deal with the sheer amount of people that you could/would/do pass on the streets. While some of the people choose to take the time they're going to take and everyone else be damned (Colin's zone-out theory), some seem to acknowledge the large shifting masses of people as individual moving units that they become a part of and jump ship from as it is beneficial to negotiate the actual physical streets of Hong Kong. This isn't socially opportunistic, but practically so.

On a more visual level, it's like watching interacting schools of fish. Fascinating. My only problem is that I'm often distracted by individual faces in the crowd still - seeing the new variations of face that there are to see. The diversity is amazing here.

But that is another post...

Testing, One, Two, Check...Check, Check...

Nǐ men hǎo. Carina is a bit under the weather today (blessedly it just seems to be sinus pain), so I will be filling in for her this Monday morning. I know most of our readers already know who I am, but Mom always said I should introduce myself in things like this:

My name is Colin, and I put the "Lewis" in "Lewis and Clark." With the bad joke out of the way, I am the main reason we are out here in Hong Kong. Well, more specifically, my studies are the reason we are out here in Hong Kong. For those unaware, I am a philosopher and, unlike the grand majority of my colleagues, my interests include classical Chinese philosophy. A few years ago I wrote an undergraduate thesis pertaining to the interest in semantics that features in Confucianism. It was a good start, but I need more training in classical Chinese philosophy so I can back my points up (and do they ever need backing up!). Accordingly, I applied to the graduate school with the best program in classical Chinese philosophy that also had a decently well-rounded department. Who would have thought it would be in Hong Kong? ...Oh, right, everyone...

Anyway, after much negotiation, debate, and revision of plans, I have finally settled with my Master's thesis topic which, although not as ambitious as I had originally hoped, should still prove a valuable contribution to the field and to my future project (PhD dissertation material saved? Check!). This thesis is going to be about "lǐ", a term that is often glossed as "ritual" but means a lot more than that according to Confucianism. The Confucians use the term to encapsulate almost all social conventions, from how low you bow to your emperor to what color underwear you wear on Tuesday, and believe that studying and adhering to lǐ (to a degree) is the key to instantiating social order and one's own sense of contentedness.

Why am I telling you all of this? It is because I intend to provide the occasional philosophical spin for this blog. Philosophy is, after all, the main reason for us being in Hong Kong. I might as well provide a little, right?

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT suggesting that Carina's posts lack an intellectual, insightful edge or are in any way shallow or vapid. I am just trying to make my unique contribution, really!

So for today's post I want to give you guys a little something special. It is a concept I discussed in my old journal of events in Hong Kong (http://colinl.livejournal.com/), but one that could always bear a little more fleshing-out: Hong Kong's "Culture of Obliviousness". Mind you, the term is not my own but one that my adviser, Chris Fraser, coined in our aforementioned conversation (re: "Academics"). It really does fit the situation, though.

Here is your picture: An island 80.5 square kilometers in size (you can walk around that in a day) with a population of almost 1.3 million. This puts population density at 16,390 per square kilometer and THAT is assuming an even distribution of the population (and do you think people live on those mountain parks?). Needless to say, this place is considerably cramped and, with the inexplicably narrow sidewalks, even given the compactness of things, it makes getting around a major pain. Place two Caucasians on the street here and watch with peels of laughter as they try to navigate the Yellow Sea (yes, I know, it is a horrible joke but PLEASE do not take offense to it; just have a sense of humor). The point is that getting around here is pretty tricky...and made all the trickier by the fact that no one really seems to acknowledge anyone else.

You may be asking: What do you mean, "no one really seems to acknowledge anyone else"? What I mean is that, even on the limited sidewalk space here, people seldom seem aware of how much room they are taking up, whether they are walking with or against the flow of pedestrians, and even if they are in the middle of the sidewalk. That is to say that, unlike the USA, there is no sidewalk etiquette in Hong Kong (bizarre given China's alleged devotion to Confucian ideals). As a result, you never have a guaranteed pedestrian passing lane and you are inevitably going to be stuck behind a little old lady who, against all odds, takes up the entire sidewalk with her bags and meandering steps. Couple that with the fact that most people walk with their heads down around here and you have a recipe for disaster.

Now, mind you, there is some rationale behind this way of doing things: You are ALWAYS around people here, so you have to have some way of giving yourself "me time". I imagine that this way of walking as if you were just navigating objects in the world and not people allows one a sort of mental privacy or zen state that we in the West would simply seek out but locking ourselves away in meditation (which is why I spend time in my apartment). This, of course, is not a viable option in Hong Kong, so people do the next best thing by zoning out.

Unfortunately, in essentially severing your ties from a shared reality you are basically dehumanizing others and also putting yourself in quite a dilemma by not acknowledging that human beings have a propensity for seemingly random action. Do you really want to pretend I am a stone in your path when I am charging ahead at almost 20 kilometers per hour? I assure you, it is a bad idea.

If it were limited to the sidewalks, it might not be so bad. This culture, however, extends to almost all aspects of life, even government. I am going to stop here for the day but, in my next entry, I will detail the problems of Hong Kong's hyper-capitalist system and how the Culture of Obliviousness further complicates Hong Kong's Economy of Renters.

Hasta luego!

The Derby West

As yesterday was Friday and we went out a bit and had a good time. We decided to go out for lunch, so we tried a new place called The Derby West. I thought it would be more of an Aussie bar, but when we got inside it was a little surprising. There was a tiny bar and many small tables. We got the "lunch set" which included the soup of the day and garlic bread, your choice of entree, a side and a drink. The soup was a thick stew with bok choy and carrots with tomato/beef based broth. It was WONDERFUL! The garlic bread tasted really good with it too. Colin got a mixed green salad with smoked salmon and I got the New Zealand sirloin with fries. The salad came with a fish sauce vinaigrette (yum) and the steak came with steamed veggies and a nice gravy. Colin ordered the orange juice, which didn't sound appetizing with my meal, but I wish that I had after ordering the "tea drink". It was a milky drink made from a powder. Not what I was expecting at all. It was a bit chalky, but after having received hot tea in the other restaurant, I assumed that it would be brewed, but apparently not. The meal was very nice, though a bit out of our budget as something we do frequently, but it was a nice change.

After that we bought a few house items. I got my own pair of flip flops for wearing around the apartment, since there is an ocean that is our kitchen floor from our leaky/torn washing machine hose. Supposedly it'll get fixed this weekend. We also bought a ceramic knife, which should be sharp - as knives are supposed to be. This means I won't have to try to clean another chicken with a butcher's knife. YAY! The last thing we got for the apartment is a nice soft bath mat. It's nicer than the cold floor and soft. We're also hoping it'll help keep our floor cleaner by catching most of what comes in the door on our feet from the rest of the apartment.

After making our purchases, we went to the mall to walk around. It is interesting - there are a few "kindergartens" there, which I assume are child care facilities, but ones that particularly teach art or math or English. I also got to see the large grocery store that was the top floor of the building. It seemed pretty nice. It's got more variety than most of the other Wellcome stores around the neighborhoods and you can buy in a decent size of bulk. I also really liked the toy store and wanted to search for some art supplies there, but didn't get a good chance to look for them. We might take a walk back down that direction today.

It was a pretty good day and the culinary excitement has led me to another venture today: risotto. Dinner should be an interesting affair.

:)

Academics

It's been nice to participate in a few academic ventures this week.

On Tuesday, Colin and I attended a lecture on modernity, ethnocentrism and intimacy hosted by the sociology department. The lecturer was visiting from York to check up on one of her field teams, who was interviewing the Hong Kong participants of her study (while her home team did the UK half of the study). It sounded like an interesting study, but the lecturer spent the majority of the time talking about the current discussion of modernity.

Ahhh, semantics... it gets us all in the end.

Today, I got to really meet Chris, Colin's adviser. It went better than I originally expected. I tend to put my foot in my mouth, academically, at the worst possible moments, but our conversation today was quite nice. Chris was warm and social, though still demonstrating a wide knowledge of his field. This may have been a bit put on, but this is the way of academia. He has a good sense of humor and is well tempered in his communications. I think he is a good adviser for Colin. We spent part of the time talking about the city and his fiance. He mentioned that there was a cheap skating rink in Kowloon that I hope to visit. At any rate, the visit was good and I hope to have more like it.

I originally intended to write much more on these topics, but it is getting to bedtime here and we're both sleepy. I'll do my best to extend my discussions at a later time.

Goodnight!

A day of bumps and bruises (and some bleeding too)

Yesterday was not an easy one.

Before we left, I bought new shoes that were comfy enough to walk in (I thought) and nice enough to wear with a dress. Colin took me up to the university with the plan of grocery shopping after. It started out alright, but as we walked on the shoes began to rub in all of those little places shoes do (back of the heel, across the toes). I thought, "Alright, it's going to blister a little, but they'll break in." Right. So we walked around, the shoes getting more painful as we went. After an hour at the university, Colin started heading in the direction of the grocery store, which was away from the apartment and I threw in the towel and insisted on walking back to the apartment first. By the time I got there I was bleeding and needed some basic first aid... won't be wearing those again for a while. They'll need lots and lots of breaking in before I go for any kind of extended walking in them.

After the first aid was taken care of, we decided to start marinading our orange chicken *yum* and take a break before heading back out. This turned into an almost all day break, as I hit my head pretty hard on the wall next to our bed when attempting to sit (I'm so graceful). After lots of eye watering, dizziness and Colin worrying that I'd managed to give myself a concussion, we got the chicken marinading and then went out long enough to get acetaminophen (here called Panadol - which comes in several interesting varieties:plain, with caffeine, with bicarbonate, etc). The rest of the day consisted of Colin watching carefully that I didn't manage to hurt myself anymore, eating orange chicken and veggie-noodle soup, watching movies and napping.

We also rearranged the room a bit. Got a nice wooden-slat rug/mat on the floor so it's not so cold, clean linens and the rest of the luggage put away. It's starting to look nice. :)


Oh - other than the back of my head being a little sore today, I am fine! DO NOT WORRY. I'm just a little ballerina over here. I promise to pick up a jade disk for balance and luck.

Co Authoring

Just to let everyone know. Colin may write some entries of the blog. Perhaps you'll get interesting dual perspectives on our adventures. :)

A new flavor/smell around every corner

I got my first real meal in Hong Kong yesterday. But I'm getting ahead of myself already.

Smell - Smelling is one of our most fascinating senses. It's the one that is probably most closely linked to memory and has quite a bit to do with taste as well. Anyone who has ever walked into a room in which a turkey was roasting, in which there was a large pool, or that contained horse manure knows that breathing with your mouth open can be a delightful or dangerous affair. This is the way of Hong Kong. As I step out of the apartment, much in the way of sounds and sights hit me, but the smell has an impact. The first step usually smells like city. I can't explain that one, but it's normal, run of the mill city. The next bit of the block usually smells like bakery. This is mostly because Colin and I go out early (6ish) and the bakeries are opening up to feed people on their way to work/exercise or on their way home from work/exercise.

Then all of a sudden the invisible clouds hit you.

If you've read my last entry you know that Hong Kong is home to large flocks of mechanical geese (ship loading cranes) who bob up and down as they eat. Imagine one of these giants, opening its large mouth and exhaling a giant sulfurous (but invisible) cloud of gas. They don't really do this. In fact, I doubt they have little exhaust at all, but this is the image I get, because yesterday morning as Colin and strolled along the edge of the water, looking through the smog/fog cloud between us and Kowloon (type it in your google map folks), I opened my mouth to talk and got a mouth and nose full of sulfur. It was like taking a shower from the well back in Wilmington. Rotten eggs. But then two and a half breaths later we were back to normal city/dock smell. This happens all over the city. One minute your mouth is watering at the smell of a custard bun at the bakery and the next your smelling sewage.

Then you walk through the dried "marine products" market. AKA dried fish, starfish, squid, eel - you name something from the ocean that you can eat (or possibly that you think you shouldn't eat) and they've got it. Most internet forums or guides to Hong Kong will warn you: IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE STRONG SMELLS DO NOT ENTER THIS AREA OF THE MARKETS. It's a bit overstated, to be honest. It's not that bad. I mean, you don't want to go walking around with your mouth open all over the city, but really? The city doesn't smell that bad. It's not always pleasant, but it's also got it's good sides - bakeries and restaurants are enough to leave your mouth watering as you pass.

So, to the meal. Colin and I had yet to really make it to a full meal until yesterday. He promised me we'd stay awake long enough to have one, so we did. We had bakery buns for breakfast (yummy custard, and ham and egg in delicious fresh baked rolls), then went to Central. We came back to the apartment and did things there for a while, but then got hungry, so we went back out. We went to a restaurant that Colin has been to before once. It was quite nice. We sat down and were given the special English version of the menu and served hot tea. In the US you're served ice water, but they never serve a cold drink here (apparently) so instead of water they serve tea. Also much of the menu had a form of soup or a broth served as part of the meal. Colin pointed out that as hot as it normally is around here, people need to keep hydrated so they keep the liquids coming. As is customary in the US with water, we were served our tea at no charge and received a second glass when we were done.

Colin got noodles in oyster sauce with bbq pork and I got "Chinese rice" with bbq pork and egg. I thought this like be like pork fried rice, where they mix the egg in with it and fry it up, but I was mistaken. The woman brought me a large plate of white rice with pork and three over-medium fried eggs on top. My favorite way. It was delicious. Breaking the egg yolks into the rice was surprisingly good and the bbq pork was delicious, if a little gristly for my liking.

On the way back, I got to smell the other kind of shop that is second most frequent around our apartment (second to bakeries) - the meat shops. Now, it's not as bad as a slaughter house as we might think of them in the US. It's not an enclosed space, so there's plenty of air movement and it doesn't stagnate. In fact, yesterday at whatever ridiculously early time we left, I got to see them loading the whole pigs off the trucks and into the meat shops. By 7 or 8 am, there is not much of this sight left, as the pigs are mostly butchered by then and much of the meat is hanging and ready to be sold for the day. For those of you who've never smelled a butchery, it's not tinny like blood, but not the smell you get when opening a vacuum sealed pack of ground beef either. It's heavy and meaty and a little more moist than that. It's also not cold. I have been surprised (when prepared again by internet guides about what areas to avoid for strong smells) that this smell is as unoffensive as it is. I guess I just was never as bothered. At any rate, once I start learning to order food from people who only speak Cantonese and my sign language is coming along, I look forward to getting some fresh meat from the markets for cooking.

It's almost 5 and Colin will be back soon. It's time to get up and get started for the day.

I hope everyone is well.

Arriving in Hong Kong

I suppose I'll start this journal with my first impressions of Hong Kong (because no one wants to hear about the 15 hour plane ride, at the end of which two small children decided that screaming things in multiple languages at the top of their lungs and then laughing maniacally was funny).

After getting through immigration (which succinctly lacked excitement after being told that they'd throw me out and put me back on a plane without a visa or future travel plans - no such thing!), getting our baggage (which Mr. Lewis had already done as it took him a fifth of the time it too me to get through immigration) and exchanging money (at a surprisingly good exchange rate), we exited the Hong Kong International Airport into the bus terminal. The airport is on Lantau Island, which lies very close to Hong Kong Island. After buying a ticket, something Colin insisted I do myself (as he seems to with all transactions that I'd like to make), we boarded a bus with all of our luggage and settled in for a 30 minute ride to Sai Ying Pun and the apartment.

After getting off of Lantau and passing onto Hong Kong Island by way of a raised super highway that reminded me of spaghetti (if spaghetti were in the movie "Honey, I shrunk the kids"), I caught my first glimpse of the docks and the cityscape behind them. Loading machines took the shapes of large geese, some of which had their heads down into the feeding troughs that were ships laden with cargo; others had their heads up, nothing being loaded to or from the crowded docks along their necks. The city rose up behind these giant metal avian creatures, their size telling of their dinosaurian lineage, but still being dwarfed by the sky scrapers behind them. This of course will mostly be because of the landscape of the island. The ports are all much lower in altitude than the Mid Levels and peaks of Hong Kong island, but it made an impression.

Stepping off of the bus, I looked up and saw my first real sky scrapers (as I've never been to New York). All of the buildings seemed narrow and crowded together with even narrower alleyways in between each. I was strongly reminded of the movie Brazil, particularly the dream scene in which Jonathan Price's character has grown golden wings and flies through the sky scrapers. We lugged our baggage a block and a half to the apartment and took the also narrow stairway up 9 flights of stairs into a dark apartment.

The apartment is larger than Colin spoke of and not bad at all. For those of you reading that have ever been to Europe, it is the size of normal apartments there. Our room is about the size of Nina's room that I slept in when we were in Naples. It is about 6 feet at its widest and two feet at its narrowest (at the door). There are cabinets that provide us with plenty of space and a small twin-size, but nice springy mattress that rests on the floor. The corner desk is nearly clean on top and the shelving underneath well-used, as is Colin's way.

We briefly checked email before trying to sleep for a bit that first evening. We got in about 9:30pm local time.

We got up about 5:30am. Colin went for his run and I got a shower (after a fun time with the electric water heater - a note to the wise: let them heat up for more than 10 minutes). We lounged for a bit and went out to see the city mid morning. Colin took me along his running path and I got my first taste of baozi.

The bakeries here are wonderful! It reminded me a little of the fare that I would get in the bakeries in the mornings in Athens on the way to class. Instead of Tiropita, however, baozi was on the menu. They're little meat and veggie dumplings that are steam cooked and served hot. Delicious.

We walked down to the park and saw all of the people exercising and taking part of group events. There was a tent set up in a little amphitheater, where they were singing Cantonese versions of American songs (I'm pretty sure I hear "Top of the World", but no longer by the Carpenters). In one of the grassy areas a group of women were all putting on loose, pale pink costumes of some kind and getting out fans. As we watched they started practicing for a performance for whatever event was going on in the park that day. I saw a man that looked almost exactly like Mr. Taylor (one of the members at the gym back home), but much taller doing Tai Chi in the park. It was fascinating to watch the flow of it all.

What I liked best was a group of men that were practicing or performing some kind of martial art in a synchronized routine. What I liked best about them was that the group was mostly composed of men with and also led by a man with Down Syndrome. It was fascinating to watch them perform with great skill the intricate movements with a subtlety that would be highly unexpected of them elsewhere in the US. This group and other groups of people with Down Syndrome seemed to be there for the event. It was so nice to see them not being undervalued and being pushed to do things that they were more than capable of doing. I feel like we don't see "special education" children or adults being treated this way in the US and it was refreshing and revitalizing to me. I took a few pictures. I'll see about posting them later.

After our walk to the park we browsed in some stores, looking at home goods and flowers, then came back to the neighborhood for our grocery shopping. We got chicken, oranges and soy sauce to make Orange Chicken (thank you Sarah). When we got home, we were tired and laid down to rest for an hour before starting dinner.

When we awoke, it was 10pm and we gave up on trying to get up at that late hour. I woke back up at about 1am, but Colin slept until about 3:30. Ahhh, changing time zones. So much fun.

After the normal shower and run, we left at 6:15 this morning. As it is Sunday here there wasn't much open, but we walked up to Central, where the Western Amenities can be found. We walked along the edge of the water to get there. It was quite pretty as the sun came up. There where several little park areas for children in which the elderly were doing their morning exercise routines. As the sky lightened there was light fog over the bay and we could see through it to Kowloon (the major western/business district in the New Territories aka Mainland area). We walked through a mall, though most of the shops were closed at this time on a Sunday. At 7 when few shops that that do open started to raise their shutters, we purchased me an Octopus card. This is essentially a city transport/money card. You put money on it (like a debit card) and then swipe it when you get on buses/metro/etc to pay for fair. It's also come to be used in some shops, like the 7Elevens (they're EVERYWHERE - often right next to each other, which is just strange), grocery stores and the like.

After wandering in Central for a bit, we came back and finished getting the groceries we've been needing and are now back at the apartment. It's been interesting. The smells were not as bad as I was led to believe, nor is the as hard or the room as small. The island is really much smaller than I originally imagined and it has only taken us several hours to make our to the places we've gone because I insist on stopping and looking at things and moving slowly so I can see what's in shops. All it all, it's quite cozy, if you can call a large city cozy. Our corner of the island is, at any rate.