Hong Kong trip recap: Day 2

For my second day in Hong Kong, my main plans were to meet up with my two local friends.(Among my major motivations to get to Hong Kong for the conference, aside from the conference itself and the reputed amazingness of Hong Kong, was the rare opportunity to get to see these friends, one who I hadn’t seen for 9 years, and the other who I’d never technically seen.) Seeing as my friends don’t know each other, I was meeting up with them separately: lunch with one, and dinner with the other. As such, my day was a bit fragmented, so I couldn’t stray too far. Also, and it may not surprise you to learn this, I was a bit tired after my rather long and busy (read “insane”) first day. Here’s a summary of my major activities:

Day 2: Tuesday, August 16

  • woke up early to say goodnight to my kids by 7:30 a.m./p.m. (the 12-hour time difference was remarkably handy for this)
  • puttered about hotel room, trying to decide whether I had time to do much before my 12:30 lunch date
  • wandered about near hotel a bit
  • walked to Admiralty to meet the friend I knew from high school for lunch
  • After my friend had to go, took MTR to Central with goal of going up the Mid-Level escalators and checking out Hollywood Road
  • went up big escalator as far as Hollywood Road
  • wandered down Hollywood Road, browsing among antique shops
  • headed back down the stairs along the big escalator and back to MTR
  • met my other friend, YTSL, for a delicious dinner at Din Tai Fung, then over to a pub to continue conversation over a pint of ale
  • headed back to hotel to attempt a decent night’s sleep before the onset of the conference

(Not included in the list are several walks back to my hotel room to do things like collect forgotten MTR card, and pick up and/or drop off purchases and/or gifts, and also to change clothes and shower. It was hot as hell out and twice as steamy. And also like day 1, I walked so much that I got new blisters on my feet.)

And here are some photos:

This was near my hotel. Many people use umbrellas for shade in Hong Kong. This was about 10:30 in the morning, and already quite hot.


One of many alleys near my hotel. I enjoyed getting fresh juice in the morning from a little hole-in-the-wall place in one of these alleys.


You see a lot more color on Hong Kong buildings than on typical US urban buildings.


This was the dessert from my lunch with my high school friend. I can’t remember what it was called, but it involved apple, caramel, custard and pastry, four food-things of which I am quite fond. It didn’t look nearly as pretty once I started eating it, but I’m happy to say it didn’t suffer long.


A fruit stand, as seen from a raised walkway along the big escalator as I headed up. (The shot’s not totally in focus, but I still like it. We can pretend that the fuzziness was artistic choice.)


Game & Fun!


Another view from above. I like the patchwork pattern of the road surface.


The skyline is definitely dominated by ultra-modern skyscrapers, but more traditional Chinese architecture can be found here and there. Hong Kong is also quite hilly, and alleys that lead to stairways, such as the one in this photo, seem to be pretty common. (This was along Hollywood Road.)


Lions outside, and a goofy looking horse and what looks to be a Great Dane inside, at an antique store along Hollywood Road. Many of the shops had signs in the windows saying “no photos.” This one didn’t.


Going back down the stiars along the Mid-Levels escalator. The escalator part is actually one-way. Apparently it runs down during morning commute hours, and then up the rest of the day. It was afternoon when I was there, so it was going up. This section has more of an upward-angled moving sidewalk. I wish that I’d found time to go up further. (I have a thing for stairs, escalators included.) To see what the whole thing looks like, here’s a youtube video that someone made while ascending.


There are lots of shops around Hong Kong that sell various (and often mysterious-looking) types of dry goods. I don’t know what these things are, but I suspect they are food-related.


Dinner was fantastic, except maybe for the bitter gourd, which is the rectangular thing on my plate. Having never tried it before, I was curious. You may not be surprised to learn that it was bitter. Also shown (going clockwise from the left): a glass of fresh soymilk, some sort of salad with turnip and jellyfish, some sort of salad with strips of bean curd and vegetables (but I can’t remember which), vegetable dumplings, spicy cucumber, more bitter gourd, and sauteed water spinach.

You can find quite a few more photos from my second day up on Flickr, but I haven’t yet added captions.

waiting

It’s been ages since I’ve participated in PhotoHunt, but once again I’m inspired. (I continue to enjoy seeing weekly or near-weekly entries from YTSL and azahar, and every once in a while, the theme sparks something in my brain.¹) This time the theme is “waiting.” Here was a photo I took in Hong Kong on my trip there in August.

Speaking of Hong Kong, photos and waiting, sorry to keep anyone waiting for my next installment of my trip recap. It’s coming soon. I have drafts for days 2 through 8 in various stages of completion. Day 2 should be ready soon. Please stand by.

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¹ Interesting that last time² inspiration struck was when I posted a photo from azahar‘s city, and this time from YTSL‘s.
² I would also like to point out that the aforementioned photo, which was for the theme “silhouette,” was one of unintentionally funniest photos I’ve ever taken. I aimed for pretty, and what I got made me burst out laughing.

teachable moments

Parenting small children can be tough. But what’s important is work with the challenges, and turn them into teachable moments.

Yesterday morning, Phoebe came to me and said: “Theo just called me ‘stupid bad Phoebe.'”

“Theo!” I scolded. “Is this true?” Theo instantly dropped to the floor and hid his face from me, an apparent admission of guilt.

“Theo, that’s a hurtful thing to say. Those things are just not true.” Theo continued to avoid looking at me.

“What’s more,” I continued, “your choice of words is both unoriginal and uninspired.” I whipped out the thesaurus. “Look here, Theo. Instead of ‘stupid,’ there are plenty of other words you could have chosen: brainless, doltish, simpleminded, half-witted, thick-headed..obtuse! Now there’s a good one.”

“Obsoot?” Theo tried, tentatively, still face down on the floor.

“And instead of ‘bad,’ you could have used…let’s see…beastly, deficient…inferior, atrocious, substandard…Putrid! There’s a nice colorful word. How about putting beastly and doltish together?”

“Beasty goldfish?” Theo turned to look at me.

“Or maybe we can learn from some famous insults…” I quickly googled famous insults. “Ah yes, here we go: “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!” Nice! But, no, no. That won’t do. Let’s not insult me! I’m your mother, too. Ooh, how about this? “You warthog-faced buffoon.” Yes, that’s the way. But better yet would be to make up your own. Think of an animal…or maybe a vegetable. Monkey…turnip…You can combine them with adjectives, like “doltish monkey” or “simpleminded turnip.” Or make compound nouns. How about calling her a substandard, simpleminded turnip-nosed monkey face? Brainless waterbuffalo? Putrid potato head? The combinations are endless! You just need to use your imagination.”

“Now, I want you to give Phoebe a hug and say you’re sorry,” I said sternly. “And next time you insult your sister, I expect to hear something more creative.”

Theo, thoroughly ashamed of his banal insult.

—
I’m going to borrow from Neil, here, and give a truth quotient. Let’s say 50%. I’ll let you guess which parts really happened.

Hong Kong trip recap: Day 1

You may have long given up on me actually posting any more about my Hong Kong trip.¹ But I really do have a lot to share, and what’s more, I want to write down at least some of my thoughts while my memory is still relatively clear.⁵ Over the past few weeks, I have spent bits of time here and there sorting through my photos, and making notes on some of my activities. I can’t tell you how many times I started to write about my trip, only to run out of time.⁶

In the interest of saving time and actually getting this ready to post (along with the many other recap posts I’d like to get to), I won’t go into much detail. But please understand that my first day was in no way moderate. I covered a lot of ground, both in walking and by subway. Along the way, I took a lot of photos, a few of which I am sharing below. I have posted quite a few more from on flickr. Before I get to the photos, here is a list of my major activities and movements that first day:

Day 1: Monday, August 15, 2011

  • wondered* around near hotel, in the Wan Chai district, in search of breakfast
  • took MTR to Kowloon
  • went to Hong Kong Museum of History
  • walked to vegetarian restaurant for lunch
  • took MTR back to Hong Kong island
  • stopped by hotel room to get telephoto lens and waffle over plans for the rest of the day
  • walked back to MTR station
  • 40-minute MTR ride to Lantau Island
  • cable car to see the Big Buddha
  • took long bus ride back to bottom of island
  • had dinner of pastries from a bakery while sitting out in the square
  • watched movie in movie theater
  • caught MTR back to Kowloon
  • swung by Temple Street night market (but didn’t buy anything)
  • took MTR back to Wan Chai
  • walked back to hotel

And now some photos:


At the History Museum. These lanterns were lowered over the audience at the end of a film about Hong Kong peoples and cultural events. (The museum had many small theaters showing short films that focussed on specific time periods or specific aspects of Hong Kong history. In addition to this one, I saw films on local geology, the Opium War, the Japanese occupation in WWII.)


Walking around after the museum, trying to find a specific restaurant. (I had my camera strap around my head, with my camera hanging near my waist, and was taking photos without looking at the viewer.)


One of the few photos I have of myself in Hong Kong.


A fountain at the square outside the Tung Chung MTR stop on Lantau island.


The cable car ride was really quite dramatic and impressive. The building that the cables are leading to (and from) is not the start of the ride, but a point part way through at which the ride makes a more-or-less 90 degree turn. It’s hard to see in the photo at this resolution, but you can see a couple of cars dangling over the water in the upper right corner of the photo, between the two bridges. You can click here to see a crop of that region.)


At one point, I passed over a beach that was spotted with people. Most of them were digging clams.


I’m not sure whether this pair was involved in the clam-digging, but I did appreciate their shadows. (The glass-bottomed cable car let me take a lot of shots straight down.)


The views of cityscapes (and cloudscapes) were quite impressive.


The cable cars went up into forested mountainous areas. Again, my glass-bottomed car led to some dramatic views. I felt like I was floating above the treetops.


It was very impressive when the Big Buddha came into view. As you can see from the way he towers above the tree tops, he is indeed Quite Big.


I arrived just too late go up the stairs to get a closer view of the Buddha (and to see the building he’s sitting on). The views from below were still beautiful. (I was going to say “impressive” again, but I don’t want to overuse it. But it was impressive.)


When I finally returned to the square outside the MTR station, I saw that there was a movie theater there. I checked the listings, and was happy to see that Wu Xia was playing, a Hong Kong action movie (and one suggested to me by YTSL, Hong Kong film buff extraordinaire, as an option to fulfill the trip goal of seeing a Hong Kong action movie while in Hong Kong.) The movie theater was large and modern, and I was surprised by two things: 1) I had to select my seat when buying my ticket, much like for an airplane and 2) the popcorn choices were buttered or chocolate. (As I am one who is drawn to novel things, I opted for the chocolate.)

So there, in a rather large nutshell, was Day 1. Here are a few things I left out of the nutshell:

  • It was super hot and steamy (probably low 90s and 90%+ humidity), even after dark.
  • In spite of the ginormous time difference (12-hours!) and the very long travel day of the day(s) before (~28 hours door-to-door), I only felt tired when I was in my hotel room. When I was out and about, I was so excited to be in Hong Kong that I only felt excited to be in Hong Kong
  • I did get some blisters on my feet, which I also felt (in additioning to feeling excited to be in Hong Kong).

I really hope I’ll get to post more about my trip soon. (I still really, truly, absolutely owe YTSL at least one post on our excursion and hike together.) Please nag me if I go too long before posting on this again.

—

¹ You may have long given up on me actually posting.²
² You may have long given up on me.³
³ You may have long given up.⁴
⁴ You may have long ___. [I’ll let you fill in the blank]
⁵ Um…too late, alejna.
⁶ Well, I can tell you the number of times. It was 5.
* And by “wondered,” I meant “wandered.” But apparently both words fit, so I left my typo. (See comments, below.)

salut de Montréal

Did I mention that I was going to be going to Montreal? Maybe not. Anyhow, I’ve just arrived for a conference. Yes, another conference. (Didn’t I just get home?)

I tried to type up a post earlier today on my iPad, but failed to finish it in time to send it before heading out of my 3G plan territory. So it will have to wait. Or more likely, will just not happen, as I can just summarize here: My passport isn’t feeling neglected. Off to Montreal for a conference. Driving up with the 3 professors I work with. Like a 7-hour lab meeting on wheels. Happily, this is a good thing, seeing as I enjoy our lab meetings. Except it was on my iPad, so at one point, I may have said it was a good thong. The end.

So, tomorrow is the conference. I do hope to get to see a bit of Montreal, but I fear I won’t have much time for much beyond the conference. It runs all day tomorrow, all day Saturday, and then it lets up mid-day Sunday, at which point we plan to get back on the road. I do hope I can squeeze at least a couple hours to see a sight or two, and may lobby for delaying our departure on Sunday an hour or so.

Off to bed with me now.

p.s. I have still been trying to get my photos and thoughts together to post some recaps from my Hong Kong trip. I’m getting closer. Though currently further away.

k, fine

Today was Phoebe’s first day of kindergarten. (Yes, this is quite late for school to start. Our school district’s start dates got bumped forward a week due to the massive power outages in the town and schools.) Last Thursday, the schedule first day of kindergarten, was a beautiful, pleasantly warm, sunny day with blue skies and fluffy white clouds.

Today, on the other hand, was rainy. And I don’t mean drizzly. When we stepped outside to go wait for the school bus at around 8:30 this morning, it was raining buckets and as dark as dusk.

Phoebe, however, was very excited for her big day.

Phoebe is ready to go. Mr. Potato Head looks on.
My camera didn't want to focus in the dim light and pouring rain.
Phoebe and John reach the top of our driveway to wait at the edge of the stream running down our road.

The bus approaching. The only shot of the bus I managed due to being unable to get my camera to focus fast enough in the dim light while holding an umbrella.

—
I have way too much to write about again, but need to get to bed. Things have continued to be crazy, but largely in a good way. My mother just left today after a really wonderful visit. (They always go way too fast.) I’m hoping to catch my breath for a bit tomorrow, at least after I get Theo off to daycare and Phoebe onto the bus and before I drive in to Boston for a lab meeting and a grad program meeting. I have not yet managed to upload my Hong Kong photos, as our regular internet connection is still down after the storm. (John got us a “mifi,” since he can’t do his work without an internet connection, but the service is very spotty, and we are still dealing with data limits.)

Disconnected

Life has been more than ordinarily crazy the past few days, so I haven’t managed to get online too much. Specifically, Irene came by (luckily for us, downgraded from a hurricane to a “tropical storm” by the time she got here) and threw us for a loop. (My mother has also come for a visit, but, at least so far, her visit has been far less destructive.) While we have gotten off easy compared to many, as far as the storm that is, our town is not yet back to normal. We are among the lucky 50% in our town to have had our electricity restored. (We had over two days without power and, since our town has no public water and we all have wells, running water.) Our phone and internet may be out for a while, but this seems pretty trivial compared to the damage and flooding that so many are dealing with. (And even compared to the many thousands of people still without electricity in the region.) We are safe, sheltered, and have ready access to food and clean water, not to mention plenty of other conveniences and even luxuries. We have been very, very lucky.

If I have a chance in the next few days, I’ll try to get my laptop out to some place with an internet connection, so I can say more, and even share some photos (both of my neighborhood and of Hong Kong). In the meantime, though, I am rapidly chewing through my 3G data plan for my iPad, so I probably won’t manage to post much, respond much, or visit other blogs. (I also am really slow and clumsy at typing on my iPad, and fear what autocorrect may bring. I very nearly just emailed someone I met at the conference that I looked forward to reading his recently published paprika.)

self-portrait, as drawn on a paper diner placemat on the occasion of the artist’s third birthday

I think it’s a pretty good portrait. Here is a photographic portrait of the artist by the artist’s mother, taken under poor quality diner light.

(As you can see, he’s grown quite a bit since his first appearance.)

And here’s a short video to document the excitement Theo had about the day:

(Hong Kong recaps will hopefully be coming soon. I owe YTSL at least one quality photo essay from our hike together! But for now I am too wiped out, and haven’t had a lot of time to do much of anything since my return other than catch up with the kids (yesterday), and commute for a work meeting (today) followed by taking the kids to Phoebe’s karate class, then Phoebe to an extra violin lesson, and then dinner out for Theo’s birthday.)

night and day

I’ve now been in Hong Kong a whole week, and I have so much to write about that I don’t see how I can share it all while I’m still here. Instead, I will just offer a little teaser: This has been a trip of contrasts.

Central and Admiralty districts, Hong Kong Island, as seen from a godawful touristy harbour cruise by night.

Sai Kung district, New Territories, Hong Kong, as seen from the tail end of a breathtaking hiking trail by day.

I have two days left, one of which (today) will almost entirely be taken up by the conference. The “almost” part is only because I have decided that I’ll probably need to ditch the conference for a couple of hours to fit in a last coffee date with one of my local friends. Tomorrow I have reserved for going to Macau.