Taiwan Quake

A Taiwan earthquake has severely limited communications between South-East Asia and North America. Under ocean cables were damaged, and as a result, my internet is rediculously slow. They say it will take 2-3 weeks for things to return to normal, so until then I will be posting less often.

Siu Sai Wan

I realized recently that I have not posted many photos from the neighbourhood that I live in Hong Kong. It's called Siu Sai Wan, and is pretty much as far East as you can go on Hong Kong Island. If you take a boat out of the harbour going East, we're in the last big building you would see before the Ocean. Our apartment doesn't have an ocean view, rather we look at a mountain, but the prominade and other side of the building have great views.

This first picture is where we live. The building is called Island Resort. It's 60 odd stories high.



These are some boats in the bay down the road from us. It's mainly a industrial area, and this is where a lot of boats drop off their cargo. It's not very large, compared to the docks near Kowloon.



The next few are just random pictures walking around the street. It's not the most exciting place to walk around. There's mainly office buildings and industrial studios. No shopping malls! Only a few located where the main residential buildings are. Our building is on top of a mall for instance.




This is a hard-court soccer field to the side of our building. Most of the time you can just walk on and kick a ball around, but they do have many organized games that go late into the night sometimes.



This is the 6th level of out complex. It's the 'main lobby' area where you can walk around, see the pool, have a glance out over the ocean etc.



This pictures gives a good idea of how tall the buildings really are.



This is the view looking back towards central Hong Kong Island. You can't see the central district, but if you follow the harbour to the left, that's where you would get.

Jumbo!

Jumbo Floating Restaurant. It is what it says it is. Although being quite a 'jumbo' sized restaurant, the famous Hong Kong diner is not actually floating! gasp...! It has been rooted in cement for at least a few years, I'm not sure how long. It's proper name should be 'Jumbo Island Restaurant.' I don't know why they had to suppport it, maybe it's was a sinking Jumbo. Who knows.

I had heard a lot about this place called Jumbo, and I've been excited about it for the past week. It didn't even matter to me what the food was like, I just love the name, and the fact that it 'floats.' Also it is possibly the most cheesy overdecorated restaurant I've ever eaten in. It's so great! When you get to Jumbo, you actually have to take a small ferry out to Jumbo. It only took about 2 minutes, but you get to see a lot of really expensive boats on your way to Jumbo.

For dinner we ordered the 'Special Seafood' set menu, because it looked like a good variety from the menu, and it makes ordering nice and easy as the menu was also jumbo. Where we ate was on the 2nd floor of Jumbo, and we had a window seat facing towards the pier we had just taken the ferry from. I'm not sure if locals ever eat here, as it's very touristy, but the tourists sure were having fun. There was a large group at one table, and they took full advantage of the photo-op area where you could dress up in Chinese costumes and sit on a throne-like seat, in Jumbo. Me and Mai didn't do this, as it was a jumbo rip-off (you had to pay to use your own camera). Also I'm sure it would have been slightly embarrasing to the doll (who came along in the purse...)

The food was pretty good at Jumbo. Everything had seafood in it, except desert. I'm getting better at chopsticks, but slippery scallops are still a little tricky. The fish was very good, and the deep fried crab claw was very amusing. It looked like a crab was trying to crawl out of the deep fried ball, haha.

After eating, we walked around Jumbo. You can walk around the entire restaurant outside, and see the area they keep all the fish. It's very fresh, as they pull out the fish when you order it. They had someone on a microphone call out to a lady who scooped up the fish when someone from inside had ordered it. Can't get much fresher than that.



I'd highly recommend Jumbo, it's a lot of fun and the food is pretty decent, but a tad over priced. But you pay for the atmosphere as well, so it's worth it. Jumbo Jumbo Jumbo!

I said Jumbo 19 times!

mmmmmmm Testarossa

What did I happen to see just around the corner from my apartment? Oh I dunno...

Just my most favourite car ever! The Ferrari Testarossa. I love bimmers, but if I could choose any car to own I'd have to say this would be my pick. Soooooo nice. Old'skool Ferrari is classic. And at under $100K US, this would be the only Ferrari I could ever come close to owning, so it's not too crazy an idea, hahaha.

Gucci, Prada, and... LOWEPRO!

Today I accompanied Mai and her mother on their shopping trip. Mai's mom is in town for the weekend, and from what she says Beijing isn't much fun, so they had to shop shop shop while in Hong Kong. As much as looking at purses all day (and some occasional clothing) doesn't really inerest me usually, I decided to tag along as it's Christmas, and I had no other family or friends in town to do anything more productive with. We went for lunch at a nice and quiet Italian restaurant in Causeway Bay. This was unusual as almost everyone in Hong Kong speaks ridiculously loud. You can often here people at least 100metres away and they're only talking to their friend beside them. So this was a nice change.

My title emplies the trendy upscale bags seen in malls around HK, but I had my camera bag with me, I thought it very high-end, haha. I paid only a fraction of what these other bags go for. I'd rather buy a lot of beer, or a new camera lens.

Only a couple more day(s) until Christmas, depending on what part of the globe you are from. I'm getting excited. Today I even bought some Canadian steak for our Christmas dinner. I wasn't about to buy a $1200 turkey. The Maple-Leaf beef wasn't exactly cheap, but it'll be better than any cow from China that's for sure. Mmmmmm...

Holidays!

Hooray! I am on holidays as of Wednesday (Dec20th) afternoon, and I don't go back until January 2nd. Being a teacher has its perks. So far, it has been nice to sleep in and enjoy doing nothing. It is almost Christmas, and for a change I don't have any last minute shopping to do. Which is nice because I don't really want to go shopping in the madness that is Hong Kong malls. For some reason, my building seems to add more decorations every day, the lobby has become quite an intense overload of Christmas shlock. I can't even imagine what they do for Chinese New Year. The plans for Christmas this year aren't too crazy. I am really looking forward to Christmas eve, as I have booked a table at the famous 'Jumbo' restaurant! Hahaha. Just the name means it has to be good. The other awesome thing? It's a floating boat! To get to the restaurant, you need to take a small boat, hehehe. I can't wait, even if the food is bad, I'll be happy, because we're eating dinner on a floating boat. (I hope it isn't as bad as the floating casino)

On Christmas morning, Mai and I will be opening the presents sent from my family back in Canada. This also marks the first time I will not be with my immediate family for Christmas. I did spend one Christmas in Mexico, but that was a family vacation. It is not as warm in Hong Kong as Mexico, so I can sort of imagine snow and all that regular Christmas stuff. I really don't miss the -30 degree weather though.

Also I bought a new webcam a few weeks ago, so I am capable of video messaging, which is so much nicer than long distance phone bills. Free = nice. Skype is the best program out there from what I can tell, as it costs nothing, and the voice over has no delay (messenger does) plus the video seems to be pretty good as well. Hooray for the internet!

Dragon Lust

I ordered this awesome t-shirt about 2 weeks ago. I have since received it in the mail, and it is frickin cool! It's from a Hong Kong based company, and they ship anywhere in the world for very cheap. Really high-quality shirt too. I haven't washed it yet, hope the print doesn't wear off. More cool shirts at gmtee.com

Wong Tai Sin

Every Wednesday and Friday I walk by this temple on my way to school. Other than what it was called, I didn't know what Wong Tai Sin Temple was or even how big it was. Today I decided after 3 months to finally take a peak. It is actually a pretty cool place. Usually I find stuff like this to be typical 'touristy stuff', but the temple was anything but. There was no question I was the only white guy in the place, and probably the only one who spoke English. For the middle of the week it was quite crowded, more than I usually noticed. The temple consists of a few buildings and some nice gardens. Today there were hundreds of people burning incense with many people holding bundles of up to 20 sticks at a time. They would place the bundles in various spots (little hut-like structures) and many of them were focusing on the main alters of the temple. I don't know yet if this was a special day/week, if it has anything to do with Christmas(likely not) or most likely something to do with New Year's or the season changing. Usually there will be a few people burning incense, when you get off the MTR there are street vendors selling them, but today seemed unique with the large crowds. The oddest thing I saw was a man carrying a full sized pig on a wooden board, wrapped in red celophane. He was taking it towards the main temple. I must find out why...

More pictures >>> here.

Update: 10 Seconds on Google Reveals.....

Haha! I feel somewhat silly. According to most sites, this is one of the biggest temples in all of Hong Kong. And I walk by it every week and didn't know it's significance. Wow, funny stuff. I guess a lot of mainland Chinese people hold the temple in really high-regard, and the incense burning has to do with connecting to the spirits (I sorta knew that) Here's some proper info:

"Wong Tai Sin Temple, a Taoist temple established in 1921, is one of the most famous temples in Hong Kong. It is also renowned among overseas Chinese in Southern Asia, Europe, and America.

Wong Tai Sin Temple is named after Wong Chuping. When Wong Chuping was 15, he began to follow Taoism. Forty years later, he achieved enlightenment and became immortal. People called him Wong Tai Sin from then on. It is said that he punishes evils, heals the wounded, and rescues the dying. The influence of Wong Tai Sin spread from Guangdong Province to Hong Kong in the early 20th century. With his mercy and his power, he is said to grant whatever is requested."

That would explain all the kneeling and begging.

"Wong Tai Sin Temple is known for its fortune-telling. The fortune sticks (or lots) in Wong Tai Sin Temple are very accurate. Many people who visit the temple come to have their fortunes told. Generally, worshippers entreat the fate of the same year. They light worship sticks, kneel before the main altar, make a wish, and shake a bamboo cylinder containing fortune sticks until one falls out."

Cool. I saw so many people doing this, and had no idea what they were doing. It looked like a game of sorts.

"The stick is exchanged for a piece of paper bearing the same number, and the soothsayer then interprets the fortune on the paper for the worshipper. Wong Tai Sin has many worshippers in Hong Kong, so the joss sticks and candles burn exuberantly all year round, especially during the Chinese Lunar New Year and Wong Tai Sin's birthday - the 23rd day of the eighth lunar month."

Hmmm, this doesn't explain why so busy today, but I guess it is a tourist spot, so maybe it is because of Christmas and the New Year. (Not Chinese New Year Yet)

"Wong Tai Sin Temple is also called Sik Sik Yuen. The architecture of Wong Tai Sin Temple is in the traditional Chinese temple style: grand red pillars, a magnificent golden roof adorned with blue friezes, yellow latticework, and resplendent multi-colored carvings. Aside from the Daxiong-baodian or Grand Hall, Sansheng Hall and the Good Wish Garden are also worth seeing. Also at the temple are the Nine Dragon Wall--a replica of the renowned Nine Dragon Wall in Beijing, and the Good Wish Garden - a miniature copy of Beijing's Summer Palace."

Hmmm, I didn't see this, I'll have to go back.

"Additionally, Wong Tai Sin Temple is the only temple that offers facilities for wedding ceremonies in Hong Kong."

Hahahaha. Of course! It's Hong Kong. Well that was a cool history lesson. Maybe I should find things out a little sooner so I know what's around me. That's the problem with Hong Kong. The goverment is so dead set on distroying it's history, that any that remains is usually hidden quite well behind some large skyscrape or a shopping mall. This temple, by the way, is right on top of an MTR station (that means they either moved the temple, or the MTR was built under it) and a mall is across the road... sigh...

Source:Travel China Guide

Ocean Park

Ocean Park - Sunday December 17th.

Mai and I finally decided to go to Ocean Park. We had been planning on going for about 2 months now, but never got around to it, and Mai's friends bailed so we had no one to go with. Except the doll...

For +12ish, it sure was cold outside. The sun was shining as well. Oh what's that?! Oh wow! It's blue sky! I thought I'd never see that in Hong Kong. Actually this is the south side of Hong Kong Island, so it doesn't mean the other side was nice and pollution free. Anyway, back to OP.

The land on which the park is built is almost all on the side(s) of a mountain. It makes for a very cool cable car ride up to the main level, where all the good rides are, as well as dolphins and such. We didn't see the dolphins, but while they were having a show, the park was quite empty so ride lines were short. The best ride was easily the roller coaster. They have two, but the one that goes upside down 3 times was more fun. I used my PanasonicD-Crap to take a short video. It's pretty low res, but I'll see if I can post it before too long. What also makes this roller coaster cool is that it is on the downslope of the mountain. At parts you feel like you're going to fall down the hill. Mai almost lost her shades, but nothing else fell off.

Also in the park we saw some sharks, lots of people taking pictures of sharks, and some people taking pictures of people taking pictures of sharks. All in all, lots of cameras. Other rides we went on were the swings, the big tower turning thing, the 'abys' freefall, a big ship that Mai floated on (haha), and the cool train roller coaster that really felt like it was going to fall apart. The last ride we went on was not so smart, as it was a water-plunge coaster. Ya, I got wet. Mai got more wet, haha. Her boots filled with water, and we were both really cold.

So we treked back up the escaltor (stood idily) and returned to the main entrance to see the jelly fish! Wow, for a tiny little rubbery creature, they sure are cool. We waited in line quute long, but it was worth it. It was like a night club for jelly fish. Very cool. We missed out seeing the panda, as he looked like he was sleeping in his den.

Ocean Park was fun, but it might have been more enjoyable if it was warmer. I might not go out of my way to make sure I went here on a shorter trip to Hong Kong, but if you're staying awhile I would give it a try. The roller coasters and jelly fish are worth it.

CRAP ROLL

Mai beat me to it, but I spotted this spelling error. Unfortunately it lived up to its name.

I'm Going to Guam!

Well I'm on the flight list at least.

Details here >>>

Mongkok Funnies

-Thanks for the warning. I'll grab an umbrella.




-Battle of the NBA superstars for Mongkok street supremacy!



"I like the brown one, no maybe the green one. It matches my hat."

-Good to know HK city workers are just as lazy as every other country.

3 out of 4 teachers recommend "Pin the Tail on the Reindeer"

Today was a relatively amusing day at school. The kindergarten I'm at Tuesdays was having a big meeting of all the local kindergarten principals. I was told to be extra good. Haha. My principal said to play games all day with the kids and make them happy. Just ignore the English part of English teaching I guess. So I decided to play......?

PIN THE TAIL ON THE REINDEER!

Oh what a funny game when played with little kids who don't understand up and down, or left and right. The past 3! weeks I've been trying to teach them directions as lead-up to this game. Only one class remembered how to say up and down etc. We played anyway. I even made it extra safe by laminating the picture of the reindeer so they wouldn't get paper cuts and was guiding the student trying to place the tail. All was fun and games, until..... Ms. "Someone shit in my cornflakes today" teacher roared her disapproving self at me. The first 3 classes who played the game were fine. No one died. Not even a minor abrasion. So I thought that the last class, my K3 class, the BEST class in the best school out of all the schools I teach, could handle it. Well, they could, but Captain Bringdown said she didn't feel 'safe enough' to put a warm cozy felt bag over the student's head to blindfold them. The kids loved it. They couldn't care less if they couldn't see. That's kind of the point of the game dumbass. Oh well. I told all the kids we couldn't play because their teacher said no. hehehehe. I'm always Mr. Niceguy. Always. Now they don't like her, and they love me even more. Mwaahahahahaha.

Here's my lobby

Well the 2nd lobby actually. I have to go through security on the 1st floor to get to this lobby. The one here is on the 6th floor. There are 9? towers in our complex, but every 2 towers have their own lobby on the 6th floor. Needless to say, it's quite devine, heh heh, but for a few thousand residents I guess the rent can pay for stuff like this. There's even a piano playing Christmas tunes all by itself. For everyone who has been asking...YES! they do Christmas here. They do it over the top. Wait until you see the pictures of the skyline all Santa-ed up.

Don't spill any water!

I had a very funny realization the other day while riding the bus home. There are many similarities between various aspects of my life. It has to do with multiples. Most of my work involves teaching groups of 12 or more little rascals otherwise known as students. It got me thinking. Where have I seen such hijinx and mayhem before....? hmmmmmm...?



GREMLINS!

Hahahahahahaha. That makes me laugh. Seriously though - I would much rather deal with homicidal little green slimey frog-like creatures, than Gremlins, sometimes. (catch that?)



They just sit there...waiting...until you turn your back. Than wam! The worst part is they think it's funny to constantly hit the big tall dude in the back of the legs. Grrrr. I usually just pick them up and hold them upside down until they say sorry. But all they do is laugh. Then because they like being picked up and twirled so much, they do naughty things on purpose! I need to be more mean...

Roots is Bling-Bling in HK

$480HKD for a Roots hoodie?!?!?! You gotta be kidding me. These things used to be like $20 in Canada. Maybe they are a bit more now, but I'm pretty sure they're not $70 CDN. If they are, Roots you have sold your soul. Still can't believe I actually saw this here, and it wasn't just the hoodie, there is an entire Roots store in TST. This is surprising for HK, seeings how Roots isn't exactly high fashion, and it is rarely hoodie weather. It did dip down to about 18 degrees for a couple days, brrrrrrr.

Food Fun

TOP 10 THINGS not to be eaten with chopsticks:

1. pizza
2. uncut meat on the bone
3. whole oranges (I don't know how they do it)
4. soup (spoonsticks?)
5. cheeseburgers
6. non-sticky rice
7. salad (it's too damned slippery)
8. spaghetti (see above)
9. steak (it's designed to be eaten with a big knife!)
10. french fries

Yes, some people eat all the above with chopsticks sometimes. It's just zany. Some I can see being easier than others, but not for me. Also plastic chopsticks are absolutely terrible. And they aren't even traditional, so I need not worry about offending anyone. I'm getting better, but I still prefer the good ol' knife and fork. It's miles easier. If someone who has been using c-sticks their whole life picked up a k and f, they'd have a heck of a lot better go at it than someone who had grown up with k and f trying to use c-sticks for the first time.

Today's recommendation: Knife and fork (go eat a big-ass Canada steak for me (the ones here are tiny))

A TST Story

Today Mai and I went to TST, aka Tsim Sha Tsui. TST is probably one of the busiest and most well known tourist areas in Hong Kong. It is actually on the Kowloon side of HK, right across from Central/Wan Chai on HKIsland. This would make it North-West of where I live. Anyway enough of that mumbo-jumbo.

The trip started off not so well with Mai getting mad at me for not making her toast for breakfast. She gradually got cheerier as she played with her creepydoll and got ready to go. We took the express bus to the Wan Chai ferry-pier where, guess what?!, I embarked on my first ever ferry ride in Hong Kong! It has been 3 months since I've been here, but being the slowest means of transport, I really hadn't ever felt the urge to take a ferry during my work hours, and usually we just take the subway across the harbour. Well today was a nice hazy lazy Sunday, so we took the Star Ferry. It's like 100 years old (not the boat) but the company, and it's the cheapest means of getting across, only $2.2 (about 30 cents CDN). The ride only takes about 5 minutes, but you do have to wait longer than anything else. Mai and I got a window seat, and I attempted to take some photos out the window, but a combination of hazyness and dirty window made for not the ideal situation (good excuse mr photo).

Upon docking in TST, I noticed a very large Swedish vessel parked down the seaside. Turns out it was a Swedish replica of some really old boat. It was pretty cool, but there was a gazzillion people around it so I didn't ask Mai to go for a closer look, as it was shopping time. We went inside the Ocean Terminal, which is a really long mall for Hong Kong (most malls are tall and thing) with lots of little stores almost like a market, but with local and international brands etc. According to Mai's site it's a big department store. Mai bought some tough girl boots, I got a present for her sister, and we also did some wandering and looking. We went to a greasy burger joint in the food court, mmmmm.

From there we went to Nathan Road, which is possibly the best place to be called 'Boss' by at least 20 Indians (what? they're from India) all saying they can get you a suit or a leather jacket for HKD$100. Ya right, high quality I bet. Still it's kind of fun somewhat like the markets in Mexico I remember. Just ignore them and yur fine. We walked down Nathan Road a bit more, then turned to the MTR to go to Mongkok. Why Mongkok again? Because it is possibly the best place ever to shop for everything and anything. My quest, to find a smaller camera bag. Why? Because the luggage I drag around weighs a good tonne loaded up. I need something smaller for just my camera and the basic lens (I say basic because the new lens I'm buying makes the one I have look like garbage). We wandered into Man Shing Photo Supplies. In my search on the net, this was one of the most respected and well known places for giving good deals and not ripping you off with fake shite or grey market stuff. I ended up going with the Lowepro Toploader 65AW. A very nice pro bag, made for SLR's that a slightly large with an average lens. With the new telephoto I'm getting it won't fit, but that's what I have the above mentioned suitcase for.

I got my Camera bag. Woohoo. Something's missing? Yes of course, I'm shopping with Mai and she hasn't bought anything yet in Mongkok (rather I haven't bought her anything yet). The following would make my past associates at Saneal Cameras laugh, but I enjoyed it.

Mai has been asking/bugging/reminding me of this Blythe doll she really wants. And it just so happens it is Christmas soon. I had pretty much made up my mind that I would probably get it for her. We both went into this mallish building that had lots of doll/toy/generally cool stuff, which she goes to weekly now apparantly with her new obession. The doll she wanted was $1500! I bit much for a doll, but not to crazy in terms of how much I was willing to spend on her xmas gift. But I wasn't gonna buy it today for that price. A few stores later, we saw the same doll for quite a bit less. Wow a lot cheaper, must be a good deal. Mai looked at it, and was sure it was real, and looked like she wanted to take it home. I took a business card from the store, and was pretty sure I'd come back and get it for her. Well as we were walking out he sorta convinced me to get it today, in case they sold out which was a good chance as there were only 2 left and it's busy as hell in Mongkok all the time, not to mention XMAS. So I got some money, and said OK, I'll get it today. What's that's you ask? She knows what she's getting for Xmas? Ya it's kind of spoiling the fun, but she doesn't mind, and now I know she'll like it. Here comes the fun part.

Mai had told me she saw the same doll on the Japanese website for $700HKD. Sooooo, I went in with the intention of not payin more than $900 for it. At first I was nice, I told the sales dude that we had seen it a lot cheaper, and would they go any lower.

"Fixed Price" he said.

Pfffffff, nothing is fixed price in China, I thought to myself, and it's not like it's a diamond. So I got a little bit more assertive. I offered him $900, which he kindof laughed at. I said "why not? It's $700 in Japan, there's no way you pad anything close to $999, why not?"

"Fixed Price"

Hmmmm, this guy wasn't budging. I pulled $950 out of my wallet and said here, here's my money give me the doll.

"Sorry, $999"

Man, this guy sucks. I argued with him a bit more, asked if the owner was around, called them bad sales people etc. etc. Had a little more fun.

"Fixed price."

BAHHHHHHHH! Oh well, I paid it, but not without a fight. Now I'm all done shopping, no more spending money. I enjoyed my little "talk" with Mr Tightwallet, and it reminded me of my days as a sales associate at the camera shop in Calgary. It's all about the B.S. hahaha.

23 days early! Wooootie woo woo

Best thing ever = Finishing Christmas shopping almost 1 month in advance. I'm all done! Wooohoo yeahhahah! It feels good. Now all I have to do is fork over the bag of money to ship it to Winnipeg. I need to find a new box to put all my gifts in, which I'm hoping will not be too hard (soon to be famous last words).

Mai and I went to some pretty cool shops today. I wanted to get my family some 'authentic' Chinese stuff (at least authentic looking), you know, things they don't have in the 'Peg. I think I managed well, we even checked out the world's longest escalator. It wasn't quite what I thought it would be, it's actually sections that are all called one, so it's not all one piece. Speaking of escalators, most malls here have wildy amusing ways of getting people up the floors. Check out the photoblog to have a look at some pics from Millenium City 5 APM mall. It's a 7 floor shopping mall with many cool stores.

Tomorrow Mai and I are off to a "photoshoot." I'd try to be serious about it, but we're going to take pictures of her new obsession, creepy dolls. mwaahahaha. We'll be going to TST, the famous tourist area Tsim Sai Tsui? and we're gonna take the ferry across the harbour, which I have not done yet!

Anyway, merry merry shopping is done Christmas!

2 cool fur Skool

I'm such a good teacher, so amazing in fact, such and awe inspiring native speaker of English - that I've been told I'm too nice.

Screw You!

If the kids happen to find me more fun and enjoy things with me more than their regular teacher, maaaybe it's because their normal teachers are mean and nasty and terrible. Ya sure, maybe we spend more time laughing than being productive, but if I can put a smile on a kids face within their regularly miserable days sometimes, so be it. Yes most of the time their other teachers are nice (sort of) but some of the things they get upset about and yell about are rediculous. What's even worse, if when I'm teaching a lesson and the other teachers come in and discipline the kids for doing stuff I could care less about if they did. In my class! Who's the teacher? I am! For the most part, the kids find me so intriguing they pay attention to some extent. I really don't see the point of me being 'meaner' to them. They all think I'm a big clown anyway. The schools have basically asked me to act like a big dumb clown and do nothing but play games and talk like a 2 year old, so why the sudden change in tone. I'm too nice?!?!? Shove it...