Good-byes

Today started quite surreally with a wake up time that I haven’t done in over a month.  I got up at 8:30 to see my friend Aurelia good-bye.  After a night of drinks, we all woke up early for some coffee that I feel we did as protocol rather than necessity.  I’m starting to feel quite sad to be leaving Hong Kong (a feeling I honestly believed wasn’t going to happen), but is probably happening because of the people I’ve met.  For the girls I’ve befriended, all of us will still be in Asia for at least another month; however, not all in the same places at the same times.  And I can’t even begin to start about all the dudes from HKfixed that I’m going to miss, it’s going to be tough as some return from abroad while some of us leave.  But I guess that’s how travels go.  We pass each other spatially but stay connected experientially.  As in any traveller story, Celia handed me her travel guide that has already passed through at least 2 other hands and will continue to keep passing to others.

I’m going to miss the friends I’ve made in Hong Kong.  However, I’ll hold back for now as we’ve still officially got 5 days over the next month.

Read Full Post »

The Art of Selling

A few days ago, Christy and I were making our way back home after some shopping at the Golden Computer Arcade in Sham Shui Po. The Arcade is a one block wide, two-story shopping mall known as a one-stop-shop for computer and video game related gadgetry. In reality, like much of the shopping in Hong Kong, I think it’s a bit overrated. But with its narrow cramped hallways and overflowing bins of electro-junk, it’s certainly part of the Hong Kong experience.

On our way to the subway, we stopped in front of a street vender with a microphone. A small crowd was formed, observing his demonstrations. This particular vendor was offering shiny high quality looking “German made” kitchenware, specifically a butcher knife and scissors. Soon after we had stopped to watch, a woman makes her way thru the crowd. With a weird mix of hesitance and determination, she stands in front of the salesman’s both, and intently watches. After handing her a knife to feel, she seems impressed, and soon forks over the HK$100 (US$15) for the knife and scissors set. Not to miss an opportunity for a deal, another lady soon steps up and is ready to also walk away with the knife scissors combo.

I’m not sure what it was, but something was a bit fishy about the first ladies purchase. But it was nothing obvious, or quite frankly anything that anyone else seemed to be paynig attention to. But without knowing we were both thinking the same thing, Christy and I began keeping one eye on the demonstration and another on this lady. Instead of walking off, like a satisfied consumer with a new tool/toy, she seemed to indifferently sit back down, only a few meters from the salesmen.

We started thinking she was in on the whole sale. After only a few minutes, we see her, without her knew knives, beginning to once again inch her way thru the crowd. After a few minutes in the crowd, she steps up again, hands over a crisp $100 note, and is handed another knife set!

At this point, we’re not even trying to be discreet, and on more than one occasion, we caught her eyes watching us as well, perhaps wondering if we’d bring attention to their little game. As we were leaving, there was a nice little vantage point in the subway station entrance, in which we were standing behind our knife-aholic, and saw her scope the scene, and then slip the bag of knifes into a covered box. As we chuckled and walked away, she was making her way back into the crowd, presumably for yet another knife set.

So we thought this was all fun and dandy. We got to watch someone’s little sales hustle unfold, yet we didn’t have to suffer from sucker’s remorse. While this sales technique certainly isn’t of a high moral fiber, some might say, in a culture were fitting in tends to be more important than standing out in a crowd, she’s simply giving a helping push to those who already want to own a new shiney kitchen knife.

But fast forward to earlier today, Christy and I were in Tsim Sha Tsui, where I was looking for video cameras. Now TST is a bit of a weird place, if people in Central are hustling stockmarkets, the businesspeople of TST are hustling on the streets. South Asia men congregate and try to hand you flier, sell you hash, or get you to try one of their suits. Africans are walking up and down the streets, seemingly looking for products and deals which they can ship home for a profit. And your Westerners are looking as touristy as usual. On Kowloon main drag, Nathan Rd, there are lined a wide variety of electronics shops. Unlike their Golden Computer Arcade brethren, these stores are mostly street front, with the epyleptic neon signs, and fancy gadget filled windows. Young Chinese men congregate at the fronts of these stores, waiting for their next victim customer.

On the second shop I happened into, they had an above average selection of video cameras. My approach usually is to ignore the salesman, and look at the merchandise. If I see something I’m actually interested in, then I ask about the product next to it. After wasting a few moments, I become disinterested, and beginning ignoring the salesman again, instead looking back at the case. I then inquire about the camera I actually want to see.

At this particular shop, they almost immediately sat me down, forcing me out of the comfort of the browsing mode, and already into negotiating. Now someone’s not gonna make me buy something I don’t want. But it just happens they have the two camera’s I’m most interested in, one of which is a bit older and not so easy to find. I try not to ask prices, because that implies you’re trying to buy the damn thing, and I tend to like window shopping a fair bit, try things out, ask questions, think about it, before I commit.

But I knew this item wasn’t going to be the easiest to find, and I want to get a camera soon, so I can do as much filming before I’m back in the States (especially in the Philippines). When price does come up, he mentions some numbers that are pretty good to work with, better than I was expecting to hear honestly (HK$3000 for the older camera, and HK$5000 for the newer one).

After a few moments of playing with the cameras, I’m thinking I want to think it over, and ask for his card. Now the whole deal with these types of sales, is they want to sell to you know. As they guy said, 90% of people that say they’ll come back, never do. But in this case, I wasn’t bullshitting, I just couldnt decide which camera to go with, since they both seemed well priced for what they were.

But realizing he might lose me, he began dropping the prices. I already had begun leaning toward the less expensive camera, just to spend less, and because I was liking it’s overall feel. At $2600, it wasn’t enough to get me to change my mind, but it was a good start. I still was saying that I wasn’t interested, I even let him know I didn’t have cash on me. But he said credit card was fine, and he came down to $2400. At some point during all this process, I had decided that if I could get the camera for $2000, but not a penny more, I would do it. So at $2400, $2000 was easily in range, especially for such an older camera which surely they’d want to move. So I offered $2000. He came back at me with $2200, which I simply rejected and held with $2000. Perhaps he read that I was shooting more for a price than an overriding desire for that specific camera, he gave me $2000.

To be honest, I was a bit surprised, not that I got him to come down so easily, just that I was actually going to be buying a camera. Very quickly he began asking for my credit card. First, I clarified it would be new, and with the basics such as battery included. He gave me the Asian “Yes, yes” which should usually be translated into “I’m just telling you what you want to hear”.

He runs the credit card, and then tells his guy to call over to the “warehouse” and get the camera. But almost immediately after, he begin’s showing me a “better” camera, the one he likes and uses. The whole thing started innocently enough, and my naive American ass, just thought the guy was making some convo while my camera showed up.

But pretty soon, it becomes clear he wants me to upgrade to this more expensive model, which happens to be exactly the camera I DON’T want. At first, my California get along with everyone style just plays along and I just keep on reverting that I think the camera I paid for is good for me. Soon I began asking about the warehouse, and when it will get here. Each time, he tells his guy to call. Finally, I flat out say “No” I don’t want the camera he’s selling me, I want the one I paid for. He probably was getting tired at this point, and realized I wasn’t budging. So he has his guy call again. This time when he “calls” it just rings a different phone in the shop. Another guy answers briefly, and hangs up.

At this point it was pretty obvious what was up. They never had the camera I wanted, or if they did, they weren’t going to sell it to me for $2000. Whatever the deal was, they told me they had no more. A bit pissed, I ask for the credit card receipt back. He stamps cancel on them, rips it in half, and gives them back to me*. Taking the receipt, I say “OK, so how much for the floor model.” The floor model definitely wasn’t in mint condition, and at this point if they’re walking away with some of my money, I’m walking away with a steal. So he says “Oh, my manager will let me sell, same price.” I look at him, then the manager, and offer $500. I figure I wasn’t gonna pay more than $1000 for the floor model. The manager tell’s me he’d rather throw the money away than sell it at the price. At this point, I’m pissed, and they seem rather annoyed too. While the haggling might have been able to go on, I didn’t really want to give these guys my money, and if they weren’t going to be reasonable, then I’d just walk.

As I left the store, I was feeling pretty shitty. For one, I thought I was getting a sweet deal on a sweat camera. And when the visions of my big movie premiere night vanished, they were replaced with the reality I was getting hustled. And while it seems I didn’t wind up in the hole on this one, I did lose some time, and I let myself get played into their little game. And now I’m back to square one, but now I have a bad taste in my mouth, and don’t really want to deal with buying from those types of businesses. I think in Hong Kong people tend to appreciate making and saving a buck no matter how or why. There’s no value on the service and the experience. As an American, I like a slightly less pressued sales experience. I’m not willing to pay a lot for this, but I am willing to have a certain premium on some items.

*While I got the credit card receipts back, I’m still concerned there might be some way they are going to try running my numbers.

Read Full Post »

Reflections on a semester in HK

I posted this in my other blog, but I find it appropriate here too.  Enjoy

Today marked the last day of classes for me in Hong Kong — I turned in the last of my final papers. I’m pretty stoked on the topics I wrote about. They are:

1. A case-study of CSR and mining in the Philippines. (this one was a joint paper with Yussef)

2. China’s move up the value-chain and how this affects other south east Asian countries.

3. How Hong Kong is not an effective democracy.

4. Ecofeminism in the context of e-waste and women in China.

I’ve got to say that I’m quite impressed on the breadth of topics I was able to cover. The semester was quite discouraging for me considering the way classes were conducted. To sum it up, there was little participation from my peers, very few of the locals seemed to actually be interested in the things we were talking about, and most of my professors didn’t seem to mind.

But studying in Asia has definitely been a learning experience. For one, I guess I never really knew how different it is from Western culture. Just going back to the CSR paper: I feel that the things companies get away with out here would never fly in America, but this is certainly changing. In the Philippines, where this mining company is setting up to do major damage, community groups (other than the militia) are very well-organized in getting their concerns out there. Certainly, there still are the typical obstacles that they must overcome (corruption in government, greed), but they’re working hard to achieve what they want. By taking the CSR course at CityU, I learned that companies are becoming aware of this issue in Asia, and that Asia isn’t just going to be the world’s sweat factory of products, raw materials, and other exploitative means.

By the resources made available to me in this CSR course, I also found out that China is working to move up the value chain. They’re shutting down factories and banning the processing trade in their country. This ultimately means that these factories are looking to other places such as Africa and south east Asia to remain in business. I think in being an environmental studies student, my initial reaction to this was quite cynical — that the businesses are just moving their filth across the border. But I was pretty surprised to find that countries, especially Vietnam, are aware of the potential harms that factories bring, and they’re taking steps to prevent this through committees on green business. I’m going to be keeping my eye on this topic.

The next paper had to do with something completely out of my realm, but I developed some keen insights on democracy. HK is working towards universal suffrage and democracy, a major no-no in their one-country-two-systems establishment with the PRC. But a timetable has been set and the Hong Kong people and politicians are taking notice and really working to make it happen. They need some changes first (i.e. voter turnout), but just yesterday I read in The Standard that some members of the Pan-Democrats are stepping down to make room for fresh faces. Such a great move to keep the momentum going, I think. All of this, however, made me question the importance of democracy. Without sounding too much like a traitor to the good ol’ U.S. of A., I don’t see what’s so important for them to do this. Democracy isn’t all that it’s cut out to be unless it’s an effective democracy (something HK, nor the U.S. is might I add). But HK is young and ever-evolving. I say do what the people want! Go socialist! (just kidding about the socialist part)

My last piece had to do with women of course. Newsflash: women are being oppressed in China! I don’t think that the PRC is outright doing this on purpose because they certainly have many laws that protect women to make sure they don’t end up working in the slums of e-waste. But as in many patriarchal societies, money comes before the ladies. Bribes and corruption are still prevalent in China and government officials find many more benefits in cash than making sure little Xu isn’t burning old parts of computers. I couldn’t come up with tangible solutions to this problem, but personally I feel that it will definitely need to incorporate elements of development, technology, and women to fix this.

There’s many more things I was exposed to while studying in Asia, just to name a few: peak-oil, Chinese bloggers, setting land aside in Hong Kong for shipping containers, the possibility of putting patches of grass on the roofs of cars to alleviate pollution, one cargo ship in Victoria harbor gives off the equivalent of 10,000 cars of exhaust, “Hong Kong people are pragmatic,” the PRC can be referred to as ‘grandfather,’ Tai Chi and the watermelon exercise, foot-binding was eliminated in one decade, and stakeholder dialogue is key!

Read Full Post »

A short video of riding bikes in Hong Kong

Read Full Post »

Transportation in Hong Kong

The movement of people and things is one of those elements which you find in every city, and in many ways it is quite similar. But also there are there variations which make movement unique, and why so often the travel is as much a part of the adventure as the destination. While I’ve by no means become an expert or even used all of the transport available in Hong Kong, I thought it would be interesting to try considering my impressions as an uninformed end user.

My first interaction with Hong Kong transportation was at the Chek Lap Kok International Airport. This is a relatively new airport, operating since the late 90s. Upon arrive we were shuffled on automated walkways (“flat escalators”), normal escalators, and then a tram. All the normal stuff you’d expect from a modern international airport. Whats interest is when first arrive at the airport, its very desolate, but as you get closer and closer to the immigration and baggage claim areas, more and more people start feeding into the same area, tho I’ve never found it to be to busy or hectic.

Leaving the airport you immediately see a sign for the airport express. HK$120 gets you to central hong kong 40 km away in 30 minutes. This train is fast clean, comfy, room for baggage, but very expensive compared to the rest of hong kong’s train system. Taxi is always an option, but will be about twice as expensive, and as long or longer. There are many buses which go between the airport and different areas of hong kong. They have room for luggage and prices are much more reasonable. I think we paid HK$18 for a trip between school and the airport (about half the distance between the airport and school). But travel time is about 1 hour.

But going to the airport is not part of everyday transport for most. What about half of hong kong does use on any given day is the subway system known locally as MTR (approximate daily ridership 3 million; approximate HK population 7 million). Given these numbers, at almost any given moment, the stations a filled with people coming and going, and getting a seat on a train is highly unlikely. However, with a train arriving very 5 minutes or less (sometimes as quick as 1 minute apart in the busy areas during rush hour), one doesnt usually have to wait long for a train. In fact there is almost no seating available in the boarding areas, because usually there is either a train waiting, arriving, or about to arrive whenever you get to the boarding area.

But I’ve skipped over one of the more interesting and known about parts of HK’s transit system, the Octupus Card. This is a normal credit card size card. Once purchasing one of these cards (requires a HK$50 deposit), you add value to the card at ATM-like kiosks. Then when entering and exiting stations, you simply scan the card, and again when you come out of the station you can the card, and it deducts based on how far you travel (Hong Kong uses a zone based payment system). The cards usually scan through wallets and even pursues. However, it does require actively placing the card on the scanning pad. What would be really novel is simply walking through an open scanner and passively get scanned.

Usually the level of congestion when exiting the stations is there is a person immediately in front of and behind you. But there is never really a wait to get in and out of stations. Stations themselves are well marked outside, with signage throughout the vacinity. In fact, if often feels you can never get too far from an MTR stop. Stations are quite large, so there exit points will leave you at least several blocks away from each other, at the furthest points. Each exit uses a lettering system, with a list of streets and landmarks near that exit. Thus it is usually easy to find where you are going, even if you havent been there before. And there are sometimes maps to be found. Additoinally, stations offer many services. The most common are 7-11 and bakeries, ATMs (probably the best place to go when you need to get funds), pay phones (while most everyone has a cellphone in HK, stations are the place to go if you’re out of minutes). Depending on the station, many other things may be find, including tourist shoping, clothing, electronics, shoe repair, etc. What you won’t usually find is a bathroom. In addition, most major stations are attached to a mall, which you are often invariably forced to maze thru in order to find your way outside. The statoins themselves are quite clean and well lit.

Some in the not to distant past, the MTR corporation merged with the KCR corporation. KCR is the commuter train, connecting the further reaches of the New Territories with Hong Kong. KCR consists of two lines, known as East and West. The Eastern line connects to Mainland China, which is a 40 minute commute. But for my the best part about KCR is that you can take bikes on it, which is specifically not allowed on MTR. While the whole process to get a bike on KCR is a royal pain in the ass, in my opinion, at least it can be done. To get a bike on KCR requires purchasing an additional freight ticket (HK$20), taking the front wheel off, waiting for the station attendant to buzz you thru the turnstile, put down your bike and wheel, go back out, scan your ticket, walk thru the turnstile, grab your bike, find the lift (not the escalator). At this point, all you have to do is endure all the stares and wandering eyes. KCR prices seem to be comprable to MTR (one downside of the octupus card is you never really pay attentoin to how much individual trips are costing), and wait time seems comprable to MTR. KCR does have built in TV’s, allowing you to catch up on news and commercials.

Bicycling in Hong Kong, as with so many things, is a contradiction of sorts. Unlike many other Asian cities, cycling is a form of transportation is virtually not existent in metro Hong Kong. In the New Territories (the suburbs of HK) people do use bikes to get to transit hubs, so you will see many bikes locked outside of these points. However, on the Kowloon side you will see people riding bikes, but there are usually delivery people, either with food, or some other kind of product; and you don’t see this activity nearly as much as other parts of Asia. As I’ve been told my one HK cyclist, the general sentiment here is that cycling was the old way of doing things, when people were poorer and less sophisticated. Hong Kong has moved beyond that stage, and so people now tend to look down on the bicycle. Many people will go and rent or bring out their beater bicycle on the weekends, and ride it around a park or river. Beyond this mindset, part of the reason there is very little commuting by bike is because of the traffic and how the public space is allocated. Not only is traffic thick in many placed, but it moves at a fast pace. Taxis, buses, and utility vehicles make up the vast majority of vehicles on the road drive with a heavy foot. Drivers race from red light to red light. And the general mindset is that vehicles have the right of way. Pedestrians in no way exercise a right of way mentality. It seems that if a driver sees a person crossing the road, they simply drive faster, as a way to remind everyone who rules the road. Unlike what I’ve seen in the states, when drivers might do this, but they will get confrontation from pedestrians, walkers here seem to support the car hegemony. Thus trying to be a cyclist, especially one that tries to act like a car, this is quite hard. At times you can have drivers literally staring at you wide eyed and drop jawed, as if simply unable to comprehend your presence on the road. In addition, many places you go with a bike, you will find yourself unaccomodated and unwelcome. Often being told you can bring a bicycle or without a place to lock up. The city has clearly taken an approach to transportation which simply ignored the bicycle as a practical means of transportation. Just getting between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon is possible by only one ferry, which stops running around 11pm.

Ok, more to come, but these are the basics. As for my thoughts about HK transport. Obviously they have a very good transit system. The subway especially is top notch. However, in my few months of relying on the subway instead of biking, I’ve found some unexpected results. For one, it sucks to always be underground. You don’t get to see anything out the window. Also, theres something about just sitting/standing on public transit that seems to create a level of drowsiness. At any given time, I can look around and maybe half the people will be dozing off. Of course, there are other reasons for this, but I find myself quickly tired feeling, for no good reason, after just spending a short time riding public transit. Personally, this makes me realize cycling really needs to be an integrated part of any cities public transit option. Not merely an addition, or in the case of HK, you could even say a purposeful exclusion.

Read Full Post »

Disney, Democracy and Dreams

The time’s passing quickly these days, and I can’t determine if it’s because I’m just having so much fun or if it’s that I’ve settled in to the joint.  Either way, I feel overdue for a reflection of the life in HK.

Topics in my classes have gotten rather intense lately.  First there was today and the topic of Disneyland.  We were going over some negative press that the corp has received since opening, and I just couldn’t believe my orejas.  Upon hiring their ‘cast members,’ Disney flew a bunch of HK trainees to Anaheim so that they could get learn the disney stylo, and once they were there, they were offered their contracts.  Basically, it said that they sign or face getting flown back to HK and billed for their training session.  WHAT?  No way.  My immediate thought was that this had to be illegal, but then…right, illegal in the states (not to mention, initiated by disney-bad bad corporation).  I had to keep in mind though that work is much different out here.  The security guard downstairs (a lovely middle-aged woman named Yee) works 12-hour shifts EVERYDAY, worked during Chinese New Year, and was still as graceful and pleasant as she always is.  Working conditions in Asia are just too demanding for my chillee-cali lifestyle, but merely considered commonplace here.  So now I’m thinking all sorts of bad things about myself and all my products and supply-chains and cheap labor and exploitation and materialism and on and on….

I’ve known for a while now of the uneven labor standards around the world, but by living in Asia, I witness it firsthand.  This has definitely made an impression on my relationship with products and services.  I feel like this goes beyond fair-trade.  Things are so cheap here, yet soo expensive in the States.  We’ve not only got to make sure the things we buy are sustainable, but also not be suckers for price tags.  I think one thing I really respect out here is the haggling.  It’s an interaction between the buyer and seller on a price they both agree on.  Sometimes you walk away with a deal and the merchant takes one, but in the end, you both come out even.  Unlike store price tags, haggling gives the buyer dignity.

HK is also struggling to become a democracy.  The Pan-Democratic Camp has been pushing for universal suffrage since 2005, and last year, Beijing told them that they may get it by 2017.  Some people are stoked, but the majority of the PD camp want it by 2012.  From what I’ve gathered, it seems that HK is not ready for universal suffrage in 2012.  They’ve yet to agree on whether or not to keep functional constituencies and took 2 years to finally agree that a timetable for universal suffrage was necessary.  Personally I think 2017’s good, I just hope Beijing keeps their word for the sake of people wanting democracy.  That’s another subject I’ve been struggling with:  is a democracy really the best solution for Hong Kong if they want to remain the freest economy in the world?  There’s been some talk about China slowly transitioning Shanghai into the next major hub for trade, which would leave Hong Kong as second to Shanghai. In this case, democracy could be good in that the focus of the nation-state is diverted back to the people.  But then again, what if the current elitist system is what keeps Hong Kong so successful in terms of trade?  Would a democratic society shift the country away from being the connection between east and west?

I come up with a lot of questions in my classes and turn to my classmates for guidance, and the response I get is certainly different from American style.  Rather than doing the usual frown and groan about our flawed system, HK students turn to you with a smile and say, “HK people feel they can’t do anything about it,” or something like, “that’s just the way it is.”  At first I was taken aback by this response (why aren’t you doing anything about it then?  eff the system!), but I’ve come to realize that it’s a miscommunication.  It may sound like people can’t do anything, but it certainly doesn’t mean that people aren’t doing anything.  Check out these kids on fixed-gears, storming the streets of Central where people let alone cars have a tough time navigating the streets.  I think they just need something big to happen first.  These kids are seeing that the labor and political system in HK are changing, and I think that they’ve got it in them to change it to what they want.  One kid in my class said it pretty clear to me, “I’ve got a dream.”  Sounds cheesy I know, but when he said that, I realized that I have one too and with each other’s help, those dreams could come true.  And not in the Disney way where the dreams are quickly shattered when you realized that you just spent two weeks wages in one day, but in the ‘global’ way where we share ideas and help make Hong Kong be the embodiment of the best things democracy offers along with the best things things a traditional marketplace offers.

Read Full Post »

A hub of glolbalization

Christy and I are in the midst of planning a return to Southeast Asia. This time we will be going for 18 days, we will be meeting my aunt in Thailand, and we will be bringing our bikes. We secured tickets to Bangkok (BKK) for HK$1600 (US$200) on Ethiopian Airlines.

As part of the prep I realized teh bicycle panniers I have are pretty beat up, and would have a hard time getting us thru this trip. In the spirit of Hong Kong, I thought “why not buy a new set?” But as it turns out, this type of cycling is quite uncommon around here, so the only panniers I could find were HK$2000, and they werent even what I wanted. What my heart is set on are a pair of the German Ortlieb bags (cost around US$200). Well no one Hong Kong seems to carry them, but there is a distributor in Bangkok! So we’ll fly from Hong Kong on an Ethiopian airlines to buy a German product in Thailand. And then we can embark on our adventure Thailand, Lao, Vietnam, back to Thailand, spend time with my family visiting from Iran, and then head to Cambodia before returning to Bangkok and finally back to Hong Kong.
I know people all over teh world experience this type of globalization, often on a daily basis. But I feel like Hong Kong, with its “World’s Freest Economy” and “One Country Two Systems” status, really embodies these types of globalized experiences.

Even my friends, are an ecclectic international bunch, with Britons, ‘Mer’cans, Chinese with Aussie accents, Aussies with Chinese accents, and of course those damn Germanics with their perfect English! Of course, San Francisco was similiar in this way, with many of the people I met being from exotic places like France, Spain, and Latin American.

Also, this doesn’t fit in with anything else, but we had some damn good Indian fast food at the mall. I mean HELLA good, like better than anything I had in SF. This definitely helped to offset the mediocre Mexican food we had earlier this week.

Read Full Post »

Finally a video..!

This past Sunday, a group of about a dozen fixed gear riders (comprising most of Hong Kong’s fixed gear community) meet up for a ride around Cheung Chau Island. This is another one of those “one of the biggest islands in Hong Kong” and well as “no cars are allowed” islands.

Of course it seems to be true Hong Kong style that nothing will go as planned or on schedule (maybe it’s just a reflection of myself and the people whom I get along with), but eventually everyone was together and so we began riding! Most of the island consists of narrow paths rolling up and down thru the hills. At the top of every uphill was some kind of smoke break, catch your breath, session. And then lots of anxious joking as one by one we would descend down the unknown pathway, hoping the road didnt get too treacherous.

The ride was organized as a goodbye for the loveable German Henrick, who would be departing HK for at least several weeks. It was also the first group ride since Brian’s unfortunate accident (we all met up at his family’s restaurant before the ride). So it was also a nice opportunity for the different HK fixie heads to all come together, since there have been some new people, as well as some fracturing of the community.

Henrick was overwhelmed with joy when we finally made it to the BEACH!! Only a few of actually tested the refreshing waters. But after this, the fixedology crew decided to head back. But a half dozen of us soldiered on, in search of the Mini Great Wall. Alas, we never did find it, but we did find some steep climbs, a tourist whom we attempted to get directions from. Unfortuantely, Alex also crashed on his beautiful track back, destroying his front Carbon wheel. He was a little banged up, and his bike unrideable, so we all walked in the last part.

After losing a few more troops to other events of the evening, we sat down to take in the evening glow, and then began a seafood feast.

So I wanted to upload a video, but I’ll have to host it on YouTube or something similar first. For now you can see it on my facebook page: http://sfsu.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=514318474608

Read Full Post »

Mmm

Things I’ve eaten in the Past Week:

snail, shrimp head, pigeon, & fish ball

Read Full Post »

Arriving in Hong Kong (and the first couple days)

In the last two weeks, San Francisco and San Diego have come and gone. I celebrated the end of a semester, Christmas, a New Year, my birthday. And now I’m in Hong Kong, sitting in my 6th floor dorm room, still trying to adjust to the time difference, which is 16 hours ahead of the West Coast (but they don’t do daylight savings here).

The flight went rather smoothly, and after 15 hours, we touched down in Hong Kong. Moving thru immigration and customs was ridiculously easy. Christy and I were each traveling with a bicycle box and a medium duffle bag/back pack, and then one carry on bag each. Because bike boxes aren’t so easy to lug around, it makes it hard to get out of the airport. Luckily there is a airport train that helped. But when we needed to transfer onto the subway (which would have required three more trains to get to school), we were told our boxes were too big. It was suggested that we take a taxi.

Up to this point, communication hadn’t really been an issue. But when we asked the taxi driver if we could get both of the boxes in one car, all we heard back were responses in Cantonese. Luckily it was pretty clear what we needed to do, So the boxes just barely squeezed in the back seat, the bags in the trunk, and we crammed up front with the driver.
It wasnt too long before we were pulling up at CityU, and boy was I feeling electrified.

Unfortunately, things were about to get a bit more complicated. Despite having a directions written in Chinese (from the schools website), the driver brought us to the school, not the residence hall. While theyre not far, after a 15 hour flight, a 16 hour time change, and a language barrier, little things suddenly become a bit more complicated.

After much aimless wondering on my part, while Christy stayed with our bags, I figured out the general direction we need to head toward housing. Christy went ahead, find where to check in, and then came back for the arduous task of hauling the bike boxes up hill.

At this point, I could taste the sweet victory. And it was not too much longer before I was checked in, and had a room to stash my bike and belongings. But its funny how as soon as one problem is taken care of, you become suddenly more aware of the next. Christy and I realized how hungry we were, having only eaten airport/airplane food for the last day. We walked around, hoping to find some of that awesome street food, but only found a Salvation Army and a large apartment courtyard. So we trudged back, exhausted, determined to eat in the morning.

Because of the jet lag, I woke up around 5am hong kong time, the next morning. And have been waking up early every day since. Our first two full days comprised mainly of going around school and taking care of random paperwork, such as checking in, getting ID cards, trying to register for classes, getting internet access, figuring out how to order food at the school cafeteria, opening bank accounts, and just figuring out our way around campus.

Besides school errands, we’ve been spending time in the massive mall across the street from school. What is interesting is that San Francisco State had a mall next door, but nothing like what we have now. This thing is at least 5 stories of shopping, with zigzagging escalators everywhere, a train and subway station, a grocery store, and an ice rink. But best of all, there is a direct underground tunnel between our school and the mall!

Since we didn’t come to Hong Kong just to be in a mall, we’ve been catching the subway everyday, venturing progressively further out. The first day was one station east, to Lok Fu. Here we did more shopping, at a place called Jusco, that is a supermarket and department store all in one. But we found a nice little park outside this mall, in which we took in the relaxing late afternoon, and counted the number of stares in our direction. We also had a fun little adventure at a restuarant when trying to order food. Nothing too exciting really, just the satisfaction of placing an order when you’re hungry, but don’t speak the language. And luckily the food was even good!

The next day was similar, but we ventured to an area called Mong Kok, this seems to be one of the larger areas, with much bussle, liveliness, colors, and…more shopping. This time we were looking for electronics. Which we somehow didnt immediately find, even tho this area is known for such things. But we did find two bike shops. Nothing too exciting, but it was nice to see. Eventually Christy wound up buying a digital camera, and we picked up a few other odds and ends electronics. On the way back, I decided there was some shopping items I could use, so instead of getting off the subway at school, we stayed on for an extra stop at it was back to Lok Fu. Yes, more shopping! In all the day was a collection of much random “junk”, including a vegetarian cook book, calligraphy tools, magnets, soap, bed covers, more comfortable shoes for walking, a hamper, cd-r’s, clothes hangers, and a map.

With all this shopping, I can’t help but think about its relationship to the society and the impact on the environment. But it’s not a black/white topic, and at this point I’d rather observe and think than jump to conclusions.

Read Full Post »