Camping at the Cliffs!

On Sunday, May 14th, Chu Sum and I started making our way over to Sai Kung to go camping. Chu Sum actually went home first to get his stuff while I stopped off to have a quick lunch with Jo over in Quarry Bay. We caught up a bit then I continued heading over to Sai Kung where Chu Sum was having a panic attack - somehow he had left his wallet at home. This is strange because he somehow remembered his Octopus card which would have usually been in his wallet. It didn't take long though before we realized that he really didn't need it... or it may have been that he found it - I don't actually remember. In any case, we caught the bus to Sai Wan Pavilion and did the usual hike to the cliffs. Once we arrived we did a few cliff jumps then set up camp on the rocks.



We had planned on camping up higher in the grass but Chu Sum didn't feel comfortable scaling the wall with the gear. Later that night this proved to be more interesting than we could have imagined. Not only are rocks a bit hard to sleep on but the weather soon became a major concern. The next morning we woke up to rushing water... this had me fearing the worst. As I opened the door I found that the water level had risen almost all the way up to our tent! The rains had caused the river to flood so we were lucky to be just high enough that it didn't get us. Nevertheless, the loud waterfalls were enough. Unable to sleep anymore, we packed up our gear. The hike back was a bit different with the higher waters, slippery paths, etc. but nothing crazy... except for the giant snake hanging out on the path!



Seems heavy rains cause more than just high water. We were soon back at the pavilion where we waited about a half hour for one of the first buses to arrive. We then continued back to Chu Sum's where I started preparing my bags for Vietnam. I spent the next few hours getting to the airport and trying to check in for my flight... unfortunately, that didn't quite work out. Turns out Americans need a visa to go to Vietnam. I tried doing a VOA (visa on arrival) but, even with the paid services, that process wasn't going to be fast enough for me to use my ticket. So I missed my flight.

This left me with one option. I applied for an electronic visa (E-visa) through the Vietnamese government website and re-booked my plane ticket for two days later. Thankfully, Chu Sum and his family were happy to have me for a couple more days while I sorted everything out. It's also good that this happened in Hong Kong where the cost of my mistake was easily absorbed as a miscellaneous travel cost rather than the travel nightmare that it could have been.

ALL PHOTOS

Stream Trekking

On Saturday, May 13th, Chu Sum and I met up with Jurgen to go stream trekking. Chu Sum has been meeting up with local trekking groups for walks up and down Hong Kong rivers for about a year now. He really likes it a lot so he took us to a spot that he had been looking into.



After visiting with more of Hong Kong's wild cows, we took a dip in a rock pool and began the trek. Pretty much right from the start we realized that we couldn't take two steps without running face-first into spider webs. The air was thick with them. Nevertheless, we continued until we found some good rocks to jump off of. The best part wasn't until the end though where we found a really nice pool and a tree to jump off of. The water was also much warmer by this point.



As we left, we said goodbye to the cows, monkeys and other wildlife as well as some cosplay people dressed as anime characters. Cosplay is a pretty big deal in Hong Kong from what I have seen and heard.

As it started to rain I felt really happy to be in Hong Kong where that's actually a good feeling (due to the warm, humid climate). That evening we went out for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day with Chu Sum's mom.


Then, while Chu Sum worked on a project back at the house, I went to see my old colleague Jo. We spent some time hanging out with some of his friends talking about all our experiences teaching in Hong Kong. He had finally had some success with getting registered after so many years of being rejected because of his three-year degree. This was hard to believe because, while he had studied education, I was qualified on the basis of having done four years in a field that was irrelevant! Anyway, during our conversation I found out about a little job lead of my own - teaching online through a local company. Seems I'll be able to continue working in Hong Kong after all!

ALL PHOTOS

Wandering in HK

On Sunday, May 7th, Chu Sum and I went to a park in West Kowloon with his family for a picnic. it was a special day out in celebration of Chu Sum's mum's birthday. We played Frisbee, taught a girl how to ride a street surfboard and ate some classic Cantonese food.




That night we went out again to continue celebrating Chu Sum's mum's birthday at a traditional Cantonese restaurant.

The next day I wandered around with my friend Ayden who, later that month, had invited me to be a guest at his wedding in Vietnam. We visited Ayden's old high school where he used to teach English; an experience which, quite surprisingly, had turned out to be one of several that we had in common. In fact, up till about two years before, we had been living parallel lives. We both had traveled Australia and New Zealand over the same 2.5 years and then made the transition to teaching in Hong Kong. It was there that we met through mutual friends and found out that we both had, not only the same job, but the same history. After our nostalgic visit to his old school, we had lunch and went on an exciting hunt for wedding tablecloth fabric.


Over the next couple days I continued wandering around primarily on foot until I made some new friends on Hong Kong (HK) island. After they told me about their time living in HK as students at HKU we walked around the island a bit. We eventually ended up at Happy Valley where we watched the horses a bit and watched some new age musical performance by a band of local hipsters. Finally, we took the street car across the island. It was getting late by this point but I lucked out with a minibus that happened to be going directly back to Chu Sum's place.

The next day I met up with another teaching friend, Debbie. We went to Ning Po Secondary School where she teaches and I joined a couple classes as a guest teacher. After I finished reliving my days of teaching English in Hong Kong, we went out for Yum Cha then returned for the students' talent show. As with most student events in Hong Kong, it was quite long but this one was reasonably entertaining. They did lots of singing, dancing, plays with the typical "work hard or fail" moral, etc. You could tell that most of them had spent several months preparing, if not years. After the show we navigated the trusty HK public transportation system on our way to a home meeting for dinner.

Getting around Hong Kong really does make you appreciate how well a well-designed public transport system can work. Still, Hong Kong being the exception, I could never really see myself depending on public transport in the long term. Most of these systems just don't even come close to providing the sense of mobility that one gets from having their own vehicle - this includes bicycles.

ALL PHOTOS

Kayaking Tap Mun

On Saturday, 6th of May, Chu Sum and I went to Hoi Ha for a kayaking trip to Tap Mun (Grass Island) - an island we had previously camped on. The buses from Sai Kung would have been the best deal but they were few and far between so we took a taxi. I think we spent about double the bus price (only about $5-10 USD anyway) but got there in half the time which actually ended up being the difference between going and not going. At the kayak rental office we decided to hire two kayaks... so that nobody got stuck doing all the work.



Soon after we began our voyage we made a stop in the rocks. Chu Sum was wearing a special hatbrella that I got for him - a very functional and envy inducing accessory that I would have liked to have had on such a hot day. There we disembarked to take some photos, at which point Chu Sum's kayak began to float away. We quickly recovered his kayak and continued on toward the island.



Upon arriving at the island we quickly pulled out lunch before taking a quick swim with the sea urchins - there were dozens of them! At this point we really didn't have any time left so we paddled back as quickly as we could.



It was getting late as we arrived back and we were tired but I managed to get a pretty good shot of some of Hong Kong's ubiquitous wild cows grazing up on a hill. After returning our equipment we rushed to rinse off as the mosquitoes came in full force. The kayak company had a barrel of water with ladles for scooping out cold water and pouring it over yourself... pretty sure they added insect attractant. Finally, we caught the last bus back to Sai Kung and had dinner before making our way back to Mong Kok. There Chu Sum and I had some rather interesting fermented coffee...

ALL PHOTOS

Back in Hong Kong!

On Wednesday, May 3rd, I went to the airport to catch a 15 hour direct flight to Hong Kong. It had been a couple years since my last visit but, aside from that, my return was largely for the purpose of attending a friend's wedding in Vietnam. Of course, Hong Kong is a friendly port for two reasons: it's cheaper to fly there and I have a good friend there who only just recently visited me in the states.



After a day of travel (factoring in time zones) I arrived. As I wandered the streets the next morning I found some familiar experiences. Egg tarts at the wet market bakery for about 2.5 HKD (30 cents), ice cream at McDonald's for 4 HKD (about 50 cents) and a cheeky Circle K lady with a fake smile calling me a mean name in Cantonese while assuming that I don't know what it means. Of course, it's always possible that I misunderstood but, considering how much swearing one hears while living in Hong Kong, I think I can tell the difference. I also stopped by the Ladies' Market (famous street market with stuff for everyone... not just ladies) on the way to my old high school where I used to teach - Lok Sin Tong Yu Kan Hing Secondary School.



As one of the most financially well endowed schools in Hong Kong, YKH had some new toys. Even when I was there before they had $10k talking/dancing robots and cutting edge studio equipment for campus TV. This time I found myself drinking a cup of coffee with a picture of my face printed on it while looking at one of two private aquariums as well as a set of 3D printers. Why 3D printers? Well, for printing pancakes of course!

Later that evening Chu Sum and I went to a home meeting then took off early so we could use his Groupon for a Korean BBQ buffet (above).

ALL PHOTOS

Ocean Park

On Friday, July 17th, it was my last day of hanging out in Hong Kong so I went to Ocean Park with Chu Sum for a visit we had been planning since I first arrived. After arriving on the bus, we took the cable car up to the rides area and had a look around. We went on a few small ones to warm up but I wasn't going to let Chu Sum leave without going on some of the bigger rides - he had never been on one of them before.

Well, we soon discovered that Chu Sum is actually quite fond of the big rides and couldn't get enough! We probably would have been riding the rides all night if we didn't have somewhere else to be. Still, between the roller coasters and repeat visits to the drop tower, we managed a visit to some of the interesting animals of Ocean Park.

The next day I finished packing my bags and had dinner at Chu Sums. The following morning would be my last day in Hong Kong and my first day in South Korea.

ALL PHOTOS

Tap Mun

On Wednesday, July 15, Chu Sum, Waji and I went to Tap Mun (Grass Island) for camping. After arriving, we made our way into the jungle and soon found ourselves surrounded by giant Golden Orb spiders which are the same spiders as some in Australia that are known to eat birds.

We continued hiking around the island until we found ourselves back at the beginning of a loop. We walked a bit further before setting up camp and, after an attempt at swimming in some shallow waves in low light, starting dinner. We decided to cook up some BBQ using our custom camping stove that Chu Sum put together with toilet paper, lighter fluid and some empty cans. The toilet paper acted as a wick and the lighter fluid fueled a flame that was surprisingly effective for cooking. That night it was so hot that nobody could sleep... though I'd have to say I probably made the most effort to that end. Meanwhile, the others were out running around and playing with fire...

The next day we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and went for a swim. This time we had a bit more light and we found a place where the water was easier to access without walking on too many sharp rocks. The deeper water made it easy to swim around between the boulders and explore which was a lot of fun with the use of my goggles.

Finally, we headed back to the main village, had some breakfast at a little restaurant and took the ferry back to Ma Liu Shui Ferry Pier in Sha Tin. That night I enjoyed a big dinner at a nice restaurant with some of the water polo guys. I now only had two days left in Hong Kong before heading off to South Korea and then back to the USA.

ALL PHOTOS

Pink Dolphins

On Monday, July 13th, I went to Tai O with Anita to see the pink dolphins (Chinese white dolphin). We left from a fishing village with lots of boats and stilted buildings and it was there that we also saw some strange little temples. I suppose they're pretty common in Hong Kong but I was a bit taken aback by this one which had a warrior statue giving us the finger...

Temples are not really my thing anyway but there wasn't much else to see in the village. They also have a lot of dried fish but, again, not something I'm really interested in.

The boat took us out for about 20 HKD (about 2-3 USD) and we had a good half an hour or so to look for the dolphins. While we weren't able to get any really great shots, we did see quite a few of them. Overall, I'd say it was worth it just for the experience and I'm sure that a lot of people manage to get better photos/video than I did.

ALL PHOTOS

Final Days

Over the last couple weeks I saw some friends for the last time as I would soon be leaving Hong Kong. I had another dinner in Causeway Bay with Sarah, Peter and their family and went swimming with friends in Tuen Mun after a big feed at Grace's. On Thursday, 2nd of July, I went for traditional noodles with Anita and Chu Sum and we visited an interesting museum with displays showing the lifestyle in Hong Kong over the years.

About a week later Chu Sum and I went swimming at Shek O. This time we joined the crowds at the main beach where they have floating islands you can swim to. We body surfed, played "find the rock" and dived off the floating islands - it was a fun day.

ALL PHOTOS

Cliff Jumping

June was the month of cliff jumping. On Tuesday, the 9th of June, Ayden and I took the MTR to Choi Hung Station, the minibus to Sai Kung and another bus to Sai Wan Pavilion. From there, we hiked 40 min and arrived at our destination - Sheung Luk Stream. We jumped off the cliffs and swam for a few hours then realized that we would be too late to take the bus back. So we hiked... for three hours to another village where we could catch a bus back to Sai Kung.

About a couple weeks later, I went back with Jurgen, Chu Sum, Isaac and Juanito. We jumped all day as well but, this time, we took a taxi back from the pavilion.

ALL PHOTOS

Nipplegate

May was a strange month in Hong Kong... First, there was the ridiculously expensive student fashion show sponsored by a big fashion company in Hong Kong. Our students, and a couple of teachers, were provided thousands of dollars of clothing and trained for their performances on the catwalk. Next, there was the incident where I got in trouble for standing between two of my students who wouldn't stop talking/swearing in my class because they felt I didn't have the right to disrupt their conversation... Then I got stung by two jellyfish while playing water polo at Deep Water Bay during a lightning storm. Later, I got in trouble again because my students could see my nipples through my shirt... well, maybe in the right light they had a point, but then you have to wonder why they even care... I'm a guy. And finally, of course, there were the Chinese bagpipers at the fancy school dinner during which our eccentric hosts made jokes and called out lottery numbers.

To be clear, I did NOT take part in the fashion show. The blond guy was a coworker who is apparently not entirely uncomfortable wearing makeup... I, on the other hand, have my dignity. Though, I did have to push a fat lady out of my way to get off the train that morning - she wanted my seat and I wanted off the train... well, in the end, we both got what we wanted.

As for "nipplegate" (as my coworkers so graciously labeled it), I've just decided not to wear my light-yellow shirt anymore as Hong Kong is way too fricken hot for an undershirt. Of course, the students were also concerned about my bellybutton because it shows sometimes when I go to tuck my shirt in... but I'm not paying for a tailor to make a shirt my size so they're just going to have to get over it. As with all Western things in Hong Kong, the prices are considerably higher than buying the local standard. Also, I don't like spending money for things I already have.

Lastly, while the fancy school dinner was a bit unusual, it was also very, very nice. They gave us some kitschy gifts, played live music and fed us some wonderful food: suckling pig, fish, tasty chicken and noodles, sweet Chinese red bean soup and some nice wine... so yeah, not bad!

ALL PHOTOS

Dragon's Back

On Saturday, the 25th of April, Erych and I hiked the Dragon's Back on Hong Kong Island. It had been a few weeks of working and the exercise and fresh air were needed. Located on the East side of Hong Kong Island, the Dragon's Back is recognized as one of the best hikes in Asia (or at least one of the best near a major city). The coastal views and characteristic rolling ridge create a unique and dynamic hiking environment - a worthwhile hike.

About a week later, we had another opportunity for some outdoors fun in Tai Mei Tuk. After a massive BBQ and ice cream, we hired some bicycles and went for a ride. Of course, while the Dragon's Back had admittedly a few people on the track, Tai Me Tuk was about as busy as you would expect a place in Hong Kong to be - packed. From the start we had to fight traffic just to find enough space to actually mount the bikes!

ALL PHOTOS

Old Summer Palace

For our last day in Beijing, Chu Sum and I made our way to the Old Summer Palace. Having seen the other Summer Palace, we had considered other ideas but it seemed a good opportunity to compare the replica with the original. After having some breakfast and stopping by the post office, we played with the cheap flapping bird toys in the park for a bit and spent a few hours walking around the ruins.

It wasn't until we saw some depictions of the palace in original condition (from before it was sacked by the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900), that we realized just how ruined the ruins really were.

Later that evening we flew back to Hong Kong and I broke into my locked apartment with the help of building security and a crowbar... seems my flatmate had latched the door from the inside before entering a state which I can only describe as comatose!

ALL PHOTOS

Summer Palace

Today Chu Sum and I went to the Summer Palace with some friends. Yet again, I was able to use my expired student card to get a discount. We wandered through various sections of the palace grounds for probably a few hours until we arrived at a bridge. At that time we decided to split up from the group and visit a small island section across from one of the main palace buildings.

After looking around a bit at we decided to head to Wangfujing snack street for some... snacks.

This is China though so the "snacks" are sometimes a bit like fear factor. We ate our typical meat kebabs and ice cream of course, but I just couldn't leave without trying the scorpions.

They actually taste a bit like a buttery chip - not bad for a deadly, scary looking insect! Next we went over to the souvenir area and gave haggling a go. Now, neither of us are without experience in this department and, in general, going from 135 RMB to 45 RMB seems like a pretty good accomplishment. We walked away thinking we had made the deal of the day... until we saw the same souvenir with a sticker price of 35 RMB. We learned an important lesson there: look around a bit before you make a purchase!

ALL PHOTOS

The Great Wall

This morning Chu Sum and I ate in a random hutong and took the MTR to a bus station. At the station we waited in line for about an hour (as you do in China), during which time I enjoyed the wonderful experience of being cut in line by a local - one of the aspects of Chinese culture, such as the spitting, of which I am not a fan. In fact, I'm not proud of this, but I may have intentionally given her one or two flat tires as we slowly moved toward the bus.

Next, after taking the bus to one of the last stops, we hired a minivan to take us to another bus (this is not the first time I've had to use several forms of transportation to get somewhere in China) and that bus took us to the Great Wall at Mutianyu! Once we arrived, we bought tickets for the chair lift up and the toboggan ride back down. Unfortunately, after walking up and down the the majority of the wall in this section, we found that we were too late for the toboggan ride... I was very, very disappointed.


We took the chair lift back down and waited in line for the bus that would take us to the car to the other bus which went back to Beijing. Overall, a really cool place to visit with lots of historical significance. Despite the setbacks, I definitely couldn't recommend it enough! I mean, it is a great wall after all ;)

ALL PHOTOS

Forbidden City

On Friday, April 3rd, I went out from the hostel to explore the "hutongs" - narrow mazelike alleys which probably make up a majority of the neighborhoods in Beijing. Needless to say, you can get lost in them pretty easily. Of course, if you have a reasonable memory and/or sense of direction, you can quickly find your way back into familiar territory. After having some wantons at a local hutong restaurant, I grabbed some street food as I found my way back to the hostel.

A while later we were ready to have a look at Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. On the way, some salespeople on the street tried to get us to buy tickets for a trip to the Great Wall but, thankfully, we had done our research and knew that this particular section would be crowded and slightly less spectacular than other areas.

We walked around through many security checks (nothing new - security checks are everywhere in the mainland) and eventually made our way to Tienanmen Square which, as it turns out, is right at the entrance to the Forbidden City. All in all, it all probably took about four or five hours before we finally reached the end and decided it was time for dinner. After a decent feed, we went to the Olympic Center buildings.

The Olympic Center buildings were designed and built for the 2008 Summer Olympics and for future use in 2022. The one on the right is the Beijing National Stadium AKA the Bird's Nest and the one on the left is the National Aquatics Center AKA the Water Cube. We spent about two hours there shooting rubber band helicopter things into the air and then headed back to the hostel.

ALL PHOTOS

Beijing!

On Wednesday, April 1st, I got off work and went to Chu Sum's for dinner with his family. The next day we got up at 5am and headed off to the airport. At the check in desk we asked for an exit row but were refused. We didn't mind as we were just happy to be on our way to Beijing. We thanked the lady and headed to our gate. As we were boarding the plane the ticket guy stopped us and took our tickets. We weren't sure what was going on but then he handed us another pair of tickets and we boarded the plane. In the plane the stewardess checked our tickets and told us to go left... into first class. It was then that we realized that the nice lady at the counter had upgraded our tickets. Well, there's a first time for everything!

After a very comfortable flight with Hong Kong Airlines, we arrived in Beijing and caught a bus into the city. We wandered around looking for a couple hours and eventually found our hostel... right near where we had gotten off the bus. After checking into our super cool (yet amazingly cheap) hostel “Shindom Inn Beijing Zhushikou”, we grabbed a bite to eat and crashed at only 6pm.

ALL PHOTOS

Different Paths

On Saturday, March 7th, a bunch of us went to Lantau Island to hike Sunset peak. It was a rather foggy day but, despite the lack of visibility, it was actually perfect weather for climbing a mountain. As we reached the top we found ourselves in the middle of a river of fog flowing over the peak. We had hoped to reach a point above the fog, and we were certainly close at this point, but the experience of walking in the clouds would have to suffice.

A few days later, I had an interesting chat with another English professor. Apparently we both had different interpretations of a particular idiom. While languages are arguably nothing without their rules, it seems reasonable to suggest that we are all rather quickly moving away from the type of pedagogical society that cares - texting as an obvious example. Of course, colloquial language in general is informal and thus doesn't require much in the way of rules to function... just try telling that to an English person.

Now, maybe you would agree with my British friend, and indeed it is quite possible that I was being something of a "stick in the mud", but the phrase, "no use crying over spilled (or spilt if your of the pommie persuasion) milk" seems to be primarily related to the futility of "sweating the small stuff."

On the other hand, I fully acknowledge that the accepted interpretation is that there is, "no use being upset about something that has already happened and/or you cannot change."

Okay, I get it - you cannot change the past... you can clean up milk though. For that reason I might even suggest that my definition is contextually more practical... and appropriate. For example, I strongly feel that you would have to have something of a death wish (no pun intended) to go to a funeral and mutter such a poor choice of words... just saying.

My point here is that, while my interpretation appears to work 100% of the time, the official one clearly does not. What do you think?

Neither the Americans nor the British are doing a great job of preserving the language (just try talking to a scouser from Liverpool, a Louisiana Creole person, or reading anything written in English 500+ years ago,). Sure, we could argue all day about which culture is most... creative with the vocabulary, but the fact is that the main function of language has been, and likely always will be, communication. For this reason, I suppose you could say that the rules are important - until they're not.

ALL PHOTOS