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...

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.

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...

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

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

China Earthquake

The death tole has now reached 12,000, and is suspected to jump even higher. I can't even imagine what it must be like in the hardest hit regions. It is sad so many of the deaths are children, trapped in their schools and ultimately crushed by the same roofs that provided them education. If any good can come from this tradgedy, it will be the rebuilding and hopefully second look at building codes, especially schools.

Neoguri

Edit: It fizzled, although we has some nice black rain for awhile.

HK's first encounter with a typhoon seems to be fizzling. Tropical Storm Neoguri is about 200km away and it's getting slightly closer, but has made landfall and is degrading

It's not that I want to witness massive destruction or anything, but I really want to see a Typhoon! I've been here almost 2 years and nothing. Every time I go away seems to be when they hit. The drainage ditches have turned into nice little waterfalls on the hill behind my apartment, so that's kind of nice.

Ng Tung Chai Waterfall - Tai Mo Shan Park

There are many small waterfalls in HK, but Ng Tung Chai is supposed to be the biggest in the country park of Tai Mo Shan. It also gets some of the most rain in HK. After getting lost in the small village of Ng Tung Chai, we finally found the start of the trail up to the waterfalls. Maybe it's because I can't read Chinese, but I'm pretty sure the trail was not very well marked in the village. I was expecting it to be jam packed because it was Sunday, but the trail was quite dead. There are 4 waterfalls in all, and it took about 1.5 hours of hiking/stopping/photos/eating to get to the top. If you were just hiking up it would probably only take 30 minutes if you were quick. The 4th waterfall is also 'closed' due to a landslide, but the trail remains marked with a warning to proceed at one's own risk. Having hiked in the Rockies in a snowstorm or two, I'm pretty sure it would not have been to bad, but we didn't go past the 3rd as we were already sweating too much. The picture above is from the 2nd/Middle waterfall. Also I saw a nice green snake trying to hide. It freaked Mai out, but I remember reading somewhere that there are not any poisonous snakes in HK, except for pets who have been let out in the wild maybe. There were many small lizards, and birds everywhere who are very noisy. All in all a great place to hike, but it does take awhile to get there from HK Island. It was very hot and humid, but lots of shade. The rain makes the trail very slippery, but the waterfall gets bigger after a nice rainfall. Bring lots of water!

Directions: Find your way to Tai Po Market MTR station. From there, the bus 64K will take you to Ng Tung Chai. Most of the buses now have electronic displays of the upcoming stops in Cantonese and English so that is very helpful. I believe it was the 18th stop. Once off the bus, follow the small windy paved road (about 20m from the bus stop) up the hill to the town of Ng Tung Chai. The hiking trail is on the right hand side of the road walking up from the highway. It may be marked but not in English. The trail is paved up until a large temple/shrine. Past the shrine there is a map showing the two trails up to the waterfalls. It would be nice if this map was at the bottom of the hill! If you get lost, draw a picture of a waterfall and I'm sure someone will point you in the right direction.

Hong Kong Hikes

Lately I've had a bit of the hiking bug. There's so many places in Hong Kong worth exploring I feel as if I haven't even seen most of the New Territories. During the Easter holiday, we went hiking in Sai Kung, out towards the eastern shoreline to a place called Tai Long Wan. This is a picture just up the hill from Sai Wan Beach. I also posted more photos of the area on my photoblog as well.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to another area in the NTs, close to Tai Po. It's called Tai Mo Shan country park, and it's home to the tallest peak in Hong Kong. It's not big by mountain standards, but there is frost there quite often. I'm hoping we can find the place called Ng Tung Chai waterfalls. They're supposed to the best, and some of the only, waterfalls in HK.

SARS II - Official Press Release

"
Education Bureau announcement on school closure
*************************************************

In order to prevent the spread of influenza in school campus, the Education Bureau announced that all kindergartens, kindergartens cum child care centres, primary schools and special schools will begin the Easter holiday starting from March 13 up to 28.

During the non-prearranged period of school holiday, these school campus will remain open. Students could go to school as usual, if necessary.
*************************************************
"

"Could" go to school?

I absolutely agree with the first statement, but what the hell are they thinking in the second sentence. What exactly does this mean? Are kids still allowed to go to classes? Who decides if it is necessary? What does necessary entail? As long as they're not dead children are fit for classes? Until they drop dead it's OK to show up in class and infect everyone else? Good call morons...

WHMIS Would love this city!

I have made fun of people being constantly sick in this city before, but this is ridiculous. Hong Kong has just moved up from being a petri-dish full of coughing and sneezing zombies to a full blown quarantine-ready state of sickness. This movie has a title:

SARS II

I like how if you look at it quickly it looks like Star Wars.

Seriously though, Hong Kong is entering flu season, but it's not all fun and games. 3 children have already died from what the government is calling "mysterious flu-like symptoms." Hmmm, I've heard that before....SARS! That's exactly how they describe it in every single program, poster, ad etc. etc. etc. documenting the events of 2003. I guess they could also call the movie, 4 Years Later. Not to make light of people dieing, this really did happen, I'm not joking about that point. All 3 kids were under the age of 7 and thankfully none of them were from my school.

Luckily my workplace prides itself on having only slightly sickly kids walking around. Most of their teeth are not black, and they all generally know how to wash their hands and not eat their own boogers. Based on my jobs last year, this is only the case in about 5% of HK kindergartens. We have been instructed by the Gov. to start a three month program where we make the parents take their kids temperatures every day for 3 month...sounds like SARS. Also we have a nice fresh full supply of face masks for everyone, one size fits all...sounds like SARS.

Personally my throat is only half swollen shut at the moment. The 50% of it that allows air to still pass through seems to feel alright. My head only feels like 1/4 of the brick it did yesterday, and my joints are slowly recovering. Whether this is due to the post rugby match drinking or 'mysterious flu-like symptoms' is tbd. Maybe I should submit myself to government health officials prodding.

...Sounds like SARS...

Sai Wan Beach- Sai Kung Country Park

A few weeks ago I hiked to this beach in the Sai Kung East Country park. The area is known for being one of the most natural and clean areas in Hong Kong. The water on the beach is actually clear! The day I went was slightly hazy, but you could tell the air was much cleaner than somewhere closer to HK Island. It took quite awhile to hike into this particular beach, but there is also a road that I will know to take a taxi next time. Also close to this beach is the Tai Long Wan stretch of beaches. I didn't make it there this time, but I hope to go back soon. It is supposed to be the nicest beach in Hong Kong and least crowded. It takes about 1-2 hours to hike into depending on how you go. I don't recommend climbing over the hills to get there, it takes a good 3 hours as I found out.

Indoor Heater

This just in from the Hong Kong Observatory,

"Make sure heaters are safe before use, and place them away
from any combustibles. Do not light fires indoors as a
means to keep warm."

Damnit!

Adventures in Mold

I really really miss one thing about living in Calgary. NO mold whatsoever! No bugs, no allergies, no mess at all. When you live in the cleanest city on Earth for 5 years and then come to Hong Kong, it's a bit of a shock. I thought I had avoided the dirtier side of HK quite well the past year.5

I was wrong...

We flip the mattress about every 2-4 weeks depending on if I remember or not. As advised by the manufacturer IKEASS you really only need to do this every 2-3 months. Boy I'm glad I didn't wait that long. It had only been about 3-4 weeks since the last flip, but in that time a nice patch of mold had decided to take up residence underneath the matress. "Ewwwwwww!" = Mai's exact words.

At first I had no clue as to how this happened. I flip it regularly, it's not dirty, it was clean when I last flipped it, we don't sweat THAT much, and I have a mattress pad as well. Also this just happens to be the dry time of the year. It's been raining a little but not that much. It is way more humid in the summer. Still the bottom of the mattress was damp and moldy. Hoooooray!

I moved it to the living room to let it dry out. Once dry I thought I could unzip the mattress and clean the cover. The zipper was completely jammed and the pull thing was broken off. Weird, I have never even looked at it. I thought, "Woohoo! Manufacturing defect, I can return it! Yay no more mold! Lucky me!."

WRONG!

I went to IKEA today to claim that the mattress was faulty due to the broken zipper (not my problem it also happened to be moldy) and therefore I could not clean it so the mattress would be wrecked through no fault of my own. NO I didn't tell them it had mold on it. So the 12 year old working at IKEASS proceeded to call his manager - this took 10 minutes - to ask if he could give me a new mattress with a working zipper. According to them, zippers are not part of the mattress therefore not covered under the mattress 25 year warranty. "How the heck am I supposed to clean it!" was my thought. What I said was the zipper is part of the mattress, the cover and foam are sold as one unit, why isn't it covered?

I got no answer.

They told me to take a picture of the damage and send it to the global IKEASS inquiry email. So in maybe 100 years they'll get to my email and reply, sorry, we can't open jpeg images over 1KB, please send again. Then another 100 years will pass and I'll be told that I'm already dead so I can't claim the warranty. Woooooo!

So now I'm stuck with a mattress that I cannot clean unless I break the zipper. Ok I already broke the zipper, so I can clean it, sort of.

I tried cleaning the cover with the shower by blasting hot water and detergent on it. This sort of worked but the stains from the mold are still there. I'm hoping that I used enough disinfectant to kill the patch of mold that was there. The actual foam inside seems to be perfectly fine, so if the mold gets worse I will have to ask IKEASS for a new cover. For now the stained one hangs drying.

After all of this I'm still angry about why the bed was moldy in the first place. The mold only shows up in the portions of the bed where the most weight is applied. I did some googling and discovered that our "convienently" designed bed was really just another word for "floor" and by being totally flat with no air to go under the mattress, we were doomed from the start. Awesome... So because of 3 small shelves and an empty storage area we have a bed that grows mold no matter what we do.

The only solution is to turn the mattress every 1-2 days so it can dry totally from any moisture created by our weight causing a moisture barrier when it's cold and damp outside. Awesome...

I hate moisture barriers...

Advice: Don't buy beds from IKEASS, don't buy a bed without a frame, and don't put a mattress on a flat surface.

It's Effoooing Cold!

The locals pronounce the letter 'F' as 'effoo.' Does the title make sense now?

Last night we walked down to the grocery store and I could actually see my breath! It was crystalizing right before my eyes. Children are wearing tuques and mittens, and some Chinese kids at the school are wearing up to six layers. Most of the Japanese kids are still wearing shorts. The one Canadian kid is walking around in his underwear it's so hot.

Despite what the kids may or may not think, it's freeeeeeeeezing! My wimpy little heater cannot keep up. Our laundry is practically freezing solid on the line, and it takes two days to dry compared to the usual one. Washing your hands is like rinsing with ice water, which is actually beneficial at this time as my hand is still sore from rugby - the ice helps the pain.

Next week is the beginning of Chinese New Year. The year of the rat should be funny when all the gross little creatures come out and go belly up by freezing to death on the street. It's somewhat hard to tell if it is the year of the rat, the mouse, or the year of Mickey Mouse. I'm sure Disney is playing it up to rake in some extra cash. Speaking of Disney, one of my kids skipped class to go to the theme park today, and they just happened to be greeted with the coldest day of the year.

That'll teach her.

Cool Runnings 2

Hong Kong has been chosen as the host city to film the second film based on the highly successful Cool Runnings, originally filmed in Calgary.

Local legislators and officials have chosen the Peak as the primary spot to stage the bobsled run, with the steep decline providing a gravity defying drop to the finish.