Lost in Vancouver?

I may not be lost, but I have moved. It's strange to believe that I have been back in Canada for almost a month now. The scenery in Vancouver isn't that different than Hong Kong but it is much cleaner as you would imagine.

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Lamaze GOLD! Live in Hong Kong!

Eric Lamaze has just won Canada's third gold medal of the Beijing Olympic Games!

In Hong Kong!

Not only did he win the gold, but he did it on his final jump, competed in a jump off showdown with the favored Swede, and all this under the T3 Typhoon warning signal! How good is that!?

Visitors have said the horse jumping venue was great, but it's being torn down as it was only temporary. A good thing too, as one of the strongest typhoons since 1999 is approaching to rip everything to shreds!

Good job Eric!

p.s. I still think horse jumping is a lame Olympic event...

China Biased?! Really????

It would be really nice if some of the athletes in Beijing would actually step up and complain about the judging at the games instead of just talking about it afterwards.

2 Canadians were robbed of wins. The men's trampoline gold should have gone to a Canadian, but I guess we should have expected he was only going to get silver, because a Chinese athlete was in the final. Many of the Chinese fans were also complaining that the bronze medalist from China should have won gold instead. Also one of the taekwondo medal favorites from Canada got screwed by Chinese favoritism (the judge). Had she won, she would have faced a Chinese athlete in the next round, and kicked her ass. Can't have that happening in Beijing, not good for national interests...

Canada should just rig the entire winter games in Vancouver and see if anyone complains.

Worst Commentary EVER!

Last night was the highly anticipate match between USA and China in men's basketball. Of course the US went on to totally smash China in a pretty lazy effort. I wonder if anyone will really challenge them this year.

Anyway, the best/worst part of the game was the garbage spewing from the mouths of the two Pearl TV commentators. (Pearl TV is one of HK's local channels) It's kind of hard to describe, it's one of those 'you had to be there' moments. The commentary was so bad, I can't give it justice by bitching about it. It sucked. It blooooowed. It was garbage. Total waste of breath...etc...etc...etc.

I can't believe these guys are actually being paid to talk. They should be paid to shut up. Two drunken Aussies in Wan Chai would do a better job than those two did last night. If was GAAAAAAAAAWD AWFUL!

They were much worse in the moment, but here are some zingers from last night,

"There's something about Carmello Anthony...he just makes me...uncomfortable." Thanks for letting us know you racist.

"You know why, it's physcological, he looks a lot like Alan Iverson." So you think he's a goon also, thanks for letting us know you racist.

"I wish they wouldn't have so many tatoos." Thanks for letting us know you racist.

"Chris Wade plays for Miami, he is also from there." It's Dwayne Wade, and he's not from Miami.

"Yao Ming looks like he sprained his foot. Yup he's hurt his foot. I think he's hurt his foot." Um, why is he walking perfectly fine then.

There's so much more I can't go on, it makes me angry/laugh too hard. The fact Pearl TV cut out numerous bits of the game because they were late getting back from commercial also didn't help. Next game I think I will watch on the Chinese channel.

Ya, it was THAT bad!

Hong Kong Summer! (Finally)

After a month of rain in June it felt like it would never stop. It finally has, and the weather has been hot and mostly clear. Last week we had the highest pollution ever recorded in HK, but that was a typhoon blew everything from Taiwan this way. Other than that mostly blue skies. As I look out the window now I am reminded of the next typhoon as it's been raining all day.

This is Tai Long Wan. The nicest place in Hong Kong, maybe all of China. The only way in is by boat or foot, and it's never crowded. The water and sand are amazing. The water is nicer than Cancun.
Not many boats were crowding this stretch as we hiked down.
One of the many flowers in full bloom along the hike.
To get to the tiny village you have to brave this pathetic looking footbridge, which didn't break by the way.
Hiroki managed to capture one of the small crabs that run along the sand.This was another area of Sai Kung we went to on a junk boat trip. Taking a boat is much nicer than hiking in, and at the end of the day when you're tired you can enjoy the sail back to HK Island.You are free to jump off the boat and swim. Not much danger of sharks as there are constantly boats and jet skis moving about.

Brain Freeze

Oh how I miss the tingling sensation. Running from the car in blizzard-like conditions, stepping into the local 7-11. And not just any 7-11, it had to be the one in Westwood. What city you ask? Do I really need to tell you?

WINNIPEG!

If there's one thing I miss about this town, it's the Slurpee. Virtually uncontested, Winnipeg has now been crowned the world Slurpee champion for the 9th straight year. Those pretenders in Calgary are trying to come close, but it's only the ex-peggers who are shifting the scale.

It has now been at least 3 years since I have had an ice-cold Slurpee in -35 degree weather. I miss Canada...

1 Month to go!

Only one month to go until the Olympics, yet all I hear from various news sources is bad news. Nothing positive whatsoever. China seems to be on everyone's naughty lists again. Prove me wrong! Find something positive!

"A Canadian businessman has been fined $1.9 million and sentenced to 20 years in jail in China, two years after he was detained on fraud charges, his lawyers have confirmed."

Wow, just going to China gets you 2 years in jail, without a sentence. And what good will $2mill do? China is already taking away 20 years of a possibly innocent man's life, they need money as well?

Chinese Embassy Dumping

I found this image rather funny. It's from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa. It shows a man dumping cinder blocks into the Rideau River, amongst other waste. I'm well aware many other people dump waste where they are not supposed to, but considering their less than stellar image internationally, you would think the Chinese might try a little harder. All this says to me is that they don't care about their image, and they don't even think about it.

Most likely the man in this picture and his supervisor have already been fired. Has the mess been cleaned up?

Happy Swimming!

"The Environmental Protection Department has rated water quality at five beaches 'good', 23 'fair' and five 'poor' for this weekend."

...roll eyes...

Only 5 were rated good!? I thought all beaches in Hong Kong were good.

...roll eyes...

...roll eyes...

Oh wait, there's more fine print...

"Seven gazetted beaches - Anglers', Approach, Ting Kau, Casam, Gemini, Hoi Mei Wan and Lido - are closed to swimmers year-round because of poor water quality. People should not swim at these beaches."

Ah, that makes more sense. People 'should not' swim. They don't include the nasty beaches in their headlines. Any beach named 'Lido' should be a dead give away not to swim!

People in Hong Kong 'should not' do many things, this doesn't stop them. Maybe a nice fancy MTR announcement would help...

...roll eyes...

Got Dry Heat?

Hong Kong had a new record 1,346mm of rain in June. That's only about, oh 54 inches! A lot of that actually happened on one day. We had over 150mm in one hour alone a few weeks ago.

Despite the nice pressure wash, HK is still nice and dirty and dusty. Gotta love those diesel buses...

Oh no Canada!

While thinking about Canada (it's almost Canada Day) I came up with a bunch of reasons why I don't feel the need to move back in any rush. Today I was reminded of one major reason...

Rogers sucks!

Well, maybe that's unfair to point out just one company... THEY ALL SUCK! (cellular providers in Canada that is).

One look at their price structure for the new iPhone (i standing for 'i am a piece of crap') made my eyes roll more than once. The cheapest plan is $60 CDN! And all you get is 150 minutes! Are you joking!? It's a phone! And it doesn't even do things that many other phones already can. What exactly is so special about this magical device? Pretty much every phone manufacturer in Asia already has a phone that does what the iPhone does plus more. They also cost a heck of a lot less.

There's so much BS about how Canada is too small a market so everyone has to pay more for everything. I thought we were one of the richest countries in the world? Where's all that money going?

Anyone who buys an iPhone (thus signing up for a 3 year contract) is a fool.

p.s. Did I mention I get 1400 minutes for the equivalent of about $10CDN per month? In Hong Kong, that's a ripoff.

Lamma Island

Last weekend I went to Lamma Island with a few co-workers. The plan for the day was to be lazy and sit in the sun. The +33 sun. Fun! We rented an umbrella on the main beach to keep from melting. Other than sitting on the main beach, which is hardly worth mentioning as a beach as it is ridiculously filthy, there are a few other things to do on Lamma.The main ''attraction" would have to be the big wind turbine. You can walk right up to it and feel it vibrate as it spins wildy out of control. Actually it stops when the wind is too strong. Also from the top of the hill where the turbine sits is a good view of the rear-side of HK Island. Please note the blue sky, it does not happen often. (usually only after 2 weeks of solid rain)Here is a list of things you can't do on Lamma. About all you're permitted to do is sit on your ass and be quiet. Oh feel free to clean up after all the dirty hippies though. (Lamma is known as Hippie Town by some HKers)Walking up the path to the turbine we saw this funny leaf which looked like it was floating/dancing in the air. Turns out it was caught in a huge spider web spun by one of the many gigantic spiders that inhabit this part of the island.

Storm? Did somebody sneeze?

My first signal 8 storm has come and gone. I couldn't be less impressed. It was barely windy outside, there was less rain than almost everyday the last two weeks, and nothing flew past my window! There weren't even any downed trees in my area. The only things that fell over in Hong Kong were badly planted trees or poorly erected scaffolding. BIG surprise.

I ended up having to go into work for the afternoon. It was pretty relaxed as most people strolled in at different times and there weren't any children.

I don't mind getting a day of for the weather, but I would much rather get a day off for when I really need it. Like when I'm sick. Even if say, the day before, I was hacking and coughing and practically dieing at work, I would still need to hobble down the hill outside for 20 minutes and go wait to see a doctor on my day off to prove I was sick. Within this 20 minute walk who knows how many people one could infect with their cold. How many other sick people would I run into and make my infection worse!

If anything, Hong Kong will be wiped off the map by a fast spreading virus, not a wimpy typhoon. Everyone in HK has a crap immune system because of the pollution, and half the people I see are constantly sick in some way. I have yet to make it through a day without one of my students coughing on another student.

Gotta love HK...

p.s. Fengshen you sucked.

Bring It On FENGSHEN!

***UPDATE - ***
8:30am
Fengshen, you are such a snooze. I slept very well last night, and didn't even hear the wind. Signal 8 is still in force, so no work today! Can't see any branches on the ground out my window. Only 2 drops of water inside, no major leaks.

11:18pm
Fengshen is now only a few hours away! And it's been upped to a T8! Woohoo! Now it just has to hang around for awhile and make all the hard workers of Hong Kong happy. Notice how it's making a direct turn towards HK! Yes!

6:00pm
'Typhoon' Fengshen has now been down-graded to a wimpy tropical storm, but it is still possible to raise a Typhoon 8 signal, which would mean I don't have to go to work tomorrow! I'm hoping for a nice strong Eastern wind to push it back on target for HK. The weather remains less than impressive in HK, only a little rain until now, pah!

Macau Rugby 10's - The Mud Bowl

All Chickens Must Die!

It seems all chickens are slated for death after a recent outbreak of bird-flu in Hong Kong. The funny thing is you don't hear anyone complaining about gas prices in Hong Kong, they are complaining about pork and chicken prices.

The whole bird flu thing isn't really a surprise considering you can still buy live chickens at market. I will continue to buy all my meat from an indoor air conditioned supermarket and cook the crap out of it when I get home.

Lots of Rain

"In Hong Kong, the average rainfall for June is 376mm.

This year that much rain fell in just one day: about eight hours in a non-stop downpour. The city ground to a halt as flooding swamped streets and landslides brought down mud and rocks.

Two people were killed when a 20-tonne section of retaining wall gave way onto a hillside hut in which they were sleeping. More than 420mm of rain fell on Tung Chung and 300mm on Mui Wo on Lantau Island, while Sheung Wan on Hong Kong Island received 320mm. Sha Tin was hit with 200mm in the same period.

The North Lantau Highway was blocked by waterfalls, and more than 400 flights were delayed, with 14 cancelled.

The Hong Kong Observatory said the deluge set a new record for hourly rainfall (since records began in 1884): 145.5 mm between 8am and 9am. The previous mark was 115.1mm in July 2006."

"The water was waist-deep in low-lying Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan - a flooding black spot. Water cascaded into dried-seafood shops.
Firemen rescued people trapped aboard minibuses that broke down in 70cm deep water in Wan Chai, and carried people through a river of water coursing down Tai Hang Road.
In Pok Fu Lam village, 38 people were evacuated when their homes flooded. Boys ... and a ... woman needed hospital treatment for scratches and bruising after rocks and mud washed into their house.
A newspaper vendor in Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, said the area suddenly flooded at 6.30am. "The water came very fast. It was flooded within five minutes. There was thigh-deep water.
On Hill Road in Western, a flight of steps turned into a waterfall as rain cascaded down it. A tram was derailed when sand and gravel was washed onto the tracks in Des Voeux Road West."

text from > -bigwhiteguy.com

Hong Kong International Art Fair 08

HK's biggest art event of the year took place a couple of weeks ago. It was a mass gathering of over 100 galleries from something like 20 countries. The work for sale ranged in variety, with prices anywhere from $7K - $250million HKD. This wasn't your average art sale.

We saw many familiar works, as well as a lot of new things coming out of China I had never looked at. This was my first actual 'art fair' and I have to say I don't think it's the best way to sell art that's for sure. It was fun to look, but the quantity and variety would turn off most first time art buyers. I suppose that's what the private VIP opening was for, the people with real money.

Culture Club Gallery

Friday night I discovered this nice-relaxed atmosphere club in Soho. My co-workers had been there before, and had always said how cool it was. The place is quite unique in Hong Kong. Not many bars are very chilled out and quiet, and they are usually all crammed. We were the only ones inside for about 3 hours. The music is interesting, but not so loud you need to shout at anyone to communicate.

The other neat thing about this place is that it functions as a small art gallery as well. There were black and white prints lining the walls. All in all a great place, great atmosphere, and it's not too expensive either.

...and the wine kept coming.