for posterity's sake

Two interesting things noticed on the walk home from the train station:

1. A sparrow taking a dust bath in a dried up mud puddle (yay, the rain stopped!).

2. A man with tattoos all over his bare chest and arms riding a bike with training wheels.

hko logo

I just checked the HK observatory website to see if any new warnings were posted, and accidentally clicked on the observatory's logo, thinking it would take me back to their homepage. Instead, it took me to an explanation of their logo, which for some reason, I found amusing, and felt like sharing here:

stop and think

I'm usually one who raves about HK public transportation. It's efficient and convenient, and then of course, it makes environmental sense. But then there are times like this past Monday for instance, when all of these attributes are but a distant memory. On Monday I waited for 45 minutes for my bus. Forty-five minutes! I didn't get in line at the bus stop expecting to wait that long. It's usually just a five to ten minute wait. I made no I-will-wait-for-45-minutes-and-no-longer decisions, but somehow managed to put in that much time. At the 15 minute mark, I found myself slightly irritated. We approached 30 minutes, and slowly but surely, my annoyance tuned into fascination. How long could this bus possibly take? And then with each extra minute that I waited, the more certain I became that 1. the bus was just around the corner, and 2. if I left and attempted to take some other conveyance, I would look up just in time to see the bus speed by.

But the longer-than-usual wait did allow me some time for some bus stop photography. I snapped the photo above just minutes before the bus actually came. I like the way everything but the bus stop sign is blurry. And no, that effect was not intentional.

And here's a picture I'd been wanting to take for a long time. It's from the "stop and think" campaign (i.e. stop and think before you get a pet because they're a big responsibility, and they shouldn't be abandoned just because their cuteness has worn off). Whoever had the idea for the time-out-signaling cats and dogs was a genius.

more helpful signs featuring doraemon

I noticed this collection of escalator etiquette signs today (on an escalator I use almost daily -- how did I miss this?!). They happen to feature everyone's favorite robo-cat from the future, Doraemon (or Xiao Ding-dong, if you know him by his Chinese name). I might have to go back and take some better shots of this, because it's hard to make out his facial expressions in some of these. However, I'm pretty sure he's doing a winky-smile in the top-left sign. And I'm almost certain I see a winky-frown (just like this one) on his face on the top-right sign.

days like these

On days as beautiful as today, a HK$1.70 ride on the Star Ferry is a must. (This is my very tentative do-you-know-how-to-use-my-camera smile.) (In case you're wondering, yes, I got a hair-cut. It was originally supposed to be a trim, but the top layers kept getting shorter and shorter... and then, in the blink of an eye, they were practically bang length. Then came the horrifying realization that I had a bona fide mullet. Seriously. I'm not exaggerating. I insisted on a few more inches being taken off the back, and this is what I was left with. It wasn't really what I was wanting or expecting, but there was no fighting back tears, so that's good. I know from experience that it could've been much worse.)

Beautiful skyline and charming reclamation. Oh, and on a side note, you can barely make out the very enormous, very controversial Calvin Klein ad that has apparently been covered up in green mesh... for modesty's sake...? I can still see those tighty whities though...

We grabbed some cold Starbucks beverages and headed up to what I think must be one of the best-kept secrets in HK -- the sitting-out area off of the International Finance Center.
In case you were wondering...

peak saturday

April and I hiked up to Victoria Peak on Saturday morning, via the Central Green Trail. The weather was nice, though quite smoggy (as you can see from the photo below). In fact, I didn't notice just how hazy it was until looking at this picture now...
We had a great time though! Here we are squinting up at the camera (and sun)!

We had lunch right above the tram rails -- here's the tram making the steep climb up.

If this post seems at all familiar, it's probably because I blogged about the Central Green Trail last year when Daniel visited, here. It's actually worth comparing the photos in the posts -- the skies were much clearer in October (which is surprising considering that fall and winter are the dry season here, and usually much hazier than spring and summer...).

olympics olympics everywhere!

Here are more Beijing Olympics signs that I've noticed since my last post... they're really popping up everywhere.
Looking south on Nathan Road.
And here's a shot of the Olympic Games countdown clock in the Central MTR station. Only 104 days left!! (But I'm sure you all already knew that. You probably have your own countdown clocks at home...)

april excursion

April's back in HK for a short time, and we had a chance to get together for dinner last night. What a great evening!

We started out with dinner at an old standby -- Taj Mahal in Chung King Mansion (a restaurant that was very popular with some of us in high school). April had never been to Chung King before, and timidly suggested it. I, of course, was thrilled to have an excuse to eat Indian food! And it wasn't even my idea!

I guess you're always your own worst critic, but I have to say, I'm not crazy about the way I look in the picture below. I thought about not posting it at all(the benefit of having your own blog -- you are free to post only flattering photos of yourself), but it was our only photo from the restaurant. Looking at this picture makes me think that I need to do one (or more) of the following:
1. get liposuction on parts of my face.
2. get a tan (real or fake).
3. get a hair cut.
4. comb my hair more frequently.
Hopefully you're looking at the lovely spread on the table (samosas, baigan bharta, seafood pulao, and rhoti), and not critiquing me or my outfit.
I love this one!! We just happened to walk by this sign that said April! How could we not take a photo?!

After we finished eating, I looked at my watch, and then on a whim we were off to the light show. Or more specifically, the Symphony of Lights, the world's largest, longest-running, daily light show... or something like that.

A blurry April with the light show in the background. I've been to the Symphony quite a few times, but always enjoy it. My favorite part is when the participating buildings get introduced individually, and then do a little small-group light-up dance together with the buildings around them. I guess you just have to see it for yourself to understand what that looks like...

After the Symphony, we wandered around near the Cultural Center and came across some Beijing 2008 promotional posters.

And some promoting the torch relay. I guess they're now calling it the "Journey of Harmony." Hehe.
And then, who did we happen to run into but my five favorite Olympic mascots, the Friendlies!!

And that was just the beginning! We soon stumbled upon a huge Friendlies exhibit on the TST promenade. I was in Friendlies heaven! That's Beibei (the whale with arms and legs) windsurfing in the foreground.
And then we noticed this interesting scene. Couldn't really figure out what Olympic sport Huanhuan and Jingjing were supposed to be demonstrating here... wrestling? Figure skating? I don't think that I have a particularly dirty mind, but even I couldn't help thinking it looked like they were up to something else... and I'm sure I'm not the first to have had this thought.

"light the passion share the dream"

The Olympic torch is coming to Hong Kong on Friday, May 2nd. We won't have school that day, so I'm debating whether or not to go out and see it. How many times does the Olympic torch pass through HK, after all? Not often, that's for sure. I think this will be the first time. (Correction: The torch has passed through HK before -- on its way to the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games)

There are lots of posters up promoting the torch relay.
The smaller version:

"Light the Passion Share the Dream." It seems like there should be some punctuation in there somewhere, doesn't it? A period, a semi-colon, or even a comma would be nice.


I guess this is more of a generic Olympics ad, but I'll post it here anyway.

hello kitty politics

Without further ado, here is the promised follow-up post. I think this whole display was called "Telford Plaza (name of the mall) X Hello Kitty." Genius. Pure genius.

Hello Kitty, My Melody, Bad Badtz-Maru and others dressed as pandas and participating in Olympic sports while climbing bamboo.

Some of the cartoon characters celebrating the Olympics above Tiananmen square (I love that Bad Badtz-Maru is Mao Zedong! Oh my!). Tiananmen is in Beijing, where the Olympics will take place, so overall, yes, this makes some sense.
My Melody and others hanging out at the Temple of Heaven. This is another Beijing landmark, so yes, also makes sense.

Bad Badtz and friends on the Great Wall (not Wheel!), China's most recognizable landmark, so yes, again, this makes sense.

So what was the fourth landmark chosen for this wonderful display? Another Beijing landmark maybe? That would make sense. Or maybe the HK skyline, since we're so proud of hosting the equestrian events? No and no -- none of the above. The fourth scene is the Potala Palace, icon of Tibet. And you might not be able to see this, but both animal characters are wearing shirts that say "China." If this is not a political statement, I do not know what is.

Children posing with a medaled Kitty.

Portraits of Kitty posing in front of various HK and Chinese landmarks in the background. Kittys-dressed-as-pandas-and-doing-Olympic-events dioramas (diving and basketball) in the foreground.
More of the same. (Dioramas featured: ping pong and gymnastics)

My Melody, the Olympic marksman (or homicidal gang-banger?). Note the Hello Kitty outlines on the bricks behind (it's all in the details!).

Proof that it's not just children posing with these things...

jackie, and other highlights from this day

It's been an interesting Saturday. Here are some of today's highlights:

• We're in the middle of a typhoon signal 3, complete with the kind of wind and rain that sees you drenched immediately after stepping outside, regardless of whether or not you are carrying an umbrella. But I left the house this morning anyway...

• I recorded some monologues for an ESL website that some friends are putting together. I've been exposed to a large number of ridiculously bad English listening exercises in my lifetime, so I can tell you with some confidence that these do not fall into that category. I might be a little biased, but I think they're pretty good. I will be sure to share the link to the website once it's up and running, so that you can listen to me introduce myself as Millie Smith from Boston (I thought about trying to do the accent, but in the end chose comprehensibility over authenticity). The recording was done in Kowloon Bay, so after finishing up, and having lunch with everyone...

• I went to Megabox (I was already in Kowloon Bay, so how could I not?). My favorite (read: only) Hong Kong (Australian) craft store, Spotlight, was having a sale, so although I didn't really need anything, I felt compelled to go and check out the deals. The sale was less than spectacular, and I left with only a few skeins of yarn.
  

• After all the shopping, I decided it was time for a break, so got a latte and a slice of dulce de leche cheesecake at the Cheesecake Cafe. It was as good as it looks.

• While enjoying my cheesecake, I tried to zone out the California Fitness promotional event that was going on nearby. I'm actually quite surprised by how easy it's become for me to ignore blaring techno music, shrill nasal voices shouting over loud-speakers, and the like. I might have heard Jackie Chan's name a few times in the shouting, but didn't think anything of it. He's been the California Fitness poster boy for a while now, so I wasn't surprised at the name-dropping. But then I happened to look up from my cheesecake just in time to see Jackie himself going up the escalator. Just like that. Unfortunately, I had no time to get my camera out -- otherwise, maybe I'd have proof of the sighting. I thought briefly about running out and following him, but he had quite the entourage with him, and then there's the fact that I would have had to leave my cheesecake, which would have been down-right unthinkable. I guess I should point out that although Jackie calls HK home, and probably spends a good deal of his time here, I don't run into him often. In fact, my only other Jackie sighting was in Virginia, when he spoke at William and Mary (on a tangent, I attended that event decked out in everything HK that I owned, hoping that Jackie would notice me, but he didn't).

• While heading back to the train station (through another mall), I noticed some very interesting Beijing Olympics decorations. There were no Friendlies (don't get your hopes up), but what there was was possibly more amusing. Think along the lines of Japanese cartoon characters (1) dressed as a certain charismatic Chinese species, (2) participating in Olympic events, all the while (3) making strong political statements. Stay tuned for my next post -- complete with photos!
  

great wall of hk

I'm sending this postcard to a friend (who used to live in HK and knows that the city is nowhere near the Great Wall of China) as a joke, and am hoping that it doesn't further any pre-existing geographical ignorance among those who might see it.
So, I wonder why they produce and sell this postcard in Hong Kong. Admittedly, it's pretty hard to find here -- I've only ever seen these at the Temple Street night market -- so was it an accident? Has it been reprinted as a joke?

Any other hypotheses?

k is for knitting and kcr

As soon as there's even the slightest chill in the air, something within me needs to knit. I say "slightest chill" because, though the past few days have been cold by HK standards, today was actually quite warm. But none-the-less, I found myself wrapped up with jeans, a jacket, and even a scarf. These are the moments that I feel like a true HK person. It might be summer weather, but hey, it's December -- I need a scarf!
But I digress. I started knitting a scarf the other day (scarves are pretty much all I ever knit... excepting two hats that I made years ago), and am almost done with it, thanks to my recent unprecedented desire to knit. Today, for example, I brought my knitting to a CH.A.T. (CHurch Awareness Time... should really be C.A.T., but don't get me started), to coffee with a friend, and even had to take it out while sitting on the train going home. It's funny, knitting on the train. I found quite a few women in various places in the train staring intently at me. I doubt they were admiring my scarf (I don't aim for perfection in knitting -- I actually like a few flaws), so I assume that they were probably knitters too, and probably critiquing my speed and/or tension. Or else they were just mesmerized by the regular clink clink of my needles. Or else they were shocked by the gargantuan size of my needles. They bear a resemblance to super-sized crayons.

Well, I think I'm done with gushing over my love for knitting. But if you'll let me go back to the topic of trains for a minute, here's a sight that won't be around for long:


The KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway) has been bought out by the MTR (Mass Transit Railway), and the switch took place today. All indoor KCR signs have been covered up with the MTR symbol, so I was surprised to see that the KCR logos on the large outdoor signs were still in tact. I don't think they'll be around for much longer though.

The KCR has been in operation for almost a century (as opposed to the MTR which opened in the late 70's and early 80's), so it's quite a nostalgic time for those, like myself, who have taken the train for most of their lives. The merger will mean cheaper fairs though.

I'm not sure if I'll ever quite get used to the name change. I can see myself, years from now, saying "KCR" and hearing some youngster ask in response, "KCR?! What's that?"

saturday evening wanderings

I'm feeling more than a little ridiculous right now. I planned to go hear a lecture tonight ("Amusing Ourselves to Death: Freedom for Youth from a Culture of Narcissism" by Marva Dawn of Regent College), and would be there now if I wasn't so very locationally-challenged. I found myself walking back and forth all over Wanchai, wondering "Have I really lived here most of my life?" Somehow I still managed to make it to my destination about 10 minutes early. But that's when I noticed locked doors and dark windows, quite the contrast to the busy church facility that I was picturing. See, I had walked myself over to the English-speaking Methodist church, when the actual locale of the talk was the [plain old] Methodist church. Both are in Wanchai, and the irony of the whole thing is that in my wanderings, I came in very close proximity to the correct church. I guess I could have walked myself back over to the right place -- being late wouldn't have been such a horrible thing --but I decided that I'd had my fill of walking for the day. So instead, I determined that I'd head in the direction of the home-bound bus, but was secretly hoping that I'd come across a coffee shop first. Consequently, I now find myself sitting in a Pacific Coffee, sipping a hot-chocolate (I already had a coffee this evening, and don't trust myself to have another).

I don't share this story in the hopes that you, dear reader, will feel pity for me. There are much worse things than coffee shops and warm chocolate beverages. And what makes me even less pitiable is that I have a book with me that I happen to be quite engrossed in at the moment: Bury the Chains: The British Stuggle to Abolish Slavery (if you click on that you'll find that for some reason the sub-heading is different on the American version). It's nice to be reading again -- for some reason it's been some months since I've been able to really get into a book. And this one is amazing (there's a reason it was a National Book Award finalist!). Very inspirational. I'd been interested in learning more about William Wilberforce, the British abolitionist, for while. And then on Thursday, after watching Amazing Grace , decided that I had to go to Page One immediately to find a book about him. I guess this book isn't exactly the Wilberforce biography I was looking for -- it's actually much better! It tells the stories of all of the key abolition figures, how they influenced each other and were finally able to bring about change. Anyway, I've still got a lot to read, so I'll save any further discussion of the book for a later post. Oh, and I guess I've been on this public computer for quite a while and should probably give someone else a turn...

sunday fun-day

As mentioned previously, I had a fun time showing Daniel around during his stop in HK. I always like having friends visit. Besides enjoying the opportunity to catch up, I also relish the chance to do all the touristy things that I don't do too often (though, I'll admit that I have been to the HK Symphony of Lights 4 times in the last month...). I didn't really take any photos on Saturday, but here are some of the highlights from Sunday.

Dim sum with Kai and Sal. Thankfully Daniel was taking a hiatus from vegetarianism during his trip to China... otherwise he would've missed out on the char sui bao.
After filling our bellies, we headed over to HK island and then to the Peak via the Central Green Trail. I've got to say that I love the Central Green Trail -- it's beautiful! Imagine winding through a rain forest while still in remarkably close proximity to all the Central sky scrapers -- it's really quite surreal! You also come across some interesting colonial buildings. Here's a marker for Victoria hospital ("for women and children" -- love that!), which is now a swanky apartment complex.

A view from the trail.

Another view. You can just barely make out the tram tracks below.

When we got to the top, we walked around the new Peak mall for a while, and then finally made our way towards the Sky Terrace. We opted to forgo the experience when we realized that we'd have to pay $20 for the view. Quite ridiculous when you consider that we had the exact same view for free while hiking up...

After descending from the peak and grabbing a bite of dinner, we walked around Central, and then eventually headed back to the Star Ferry.

A couple of my favorite buildings... out of focus...

... and in focus.

Some blurry night shots taken from the ferry. Try not to get sea sick...