Life in Hong Kong

Life in Hong Kong can be quite interesting at a glance. Sure, I'm not a big fan of the crowds or the pollution but, as far a cities go, Hong Kong does have some perks. Day to day expenses are certainly not too bad if you leave out the cost of accommodation: a meal is about $3-5 USD, same for laundry services; transportation to anywhere in the city ranges from fifty cents to two bucks, etc. Hong Kong also has plenty of things to see and do for all types of people. Believe it or not, aside from the massive number of street markets and such, Hong Kong also has a great outdoors scene. Hiking in the New Territories is quite popular as they have dozens of places that actually get you out of the city, crowds and pollution! I was also rather chuffed to learn that the city actually has people who get together to play water polo - and not just in the pool, but at the beach!

Using floating goals and anchors, the beach polo team has regular sessions just a short bus ride away from my place in Kennedy Town.

Most people in Hong Kong spend the majority of their free time eating out with friends or playing sports if they're athletically motivated enough. My friend Chu Sum and I like to go to the pool a lot and sometimes we go hiking, traveling or surfing. Otherwise, the main thing people do in Hong Kong is work... a lot.

On Saturday the 28th of February, I went to work at 9:30am for one of the school's primary PR days where we show off our school's vast resources in order to encourage primary students to apply at our school (yes, students have to apply for high school here!). Seeing as people aren't paid for showing up on Saturday in Hong Kong, as it is simply expected here, we weren't super pleased about waiting around till 11am to start the presentation. We were even less pleased when the principal decided it would be a bright idea to send us in a bit early, without preparation, to have a nice chat with the students. Of course, working with a bunch kids who are terrified of the English language is hard enough with preparation, but what's worse is when the parents are standing there judging you and thinking (in Chinese), "I don't get it - he never shuts up at home!"

I can't complain too much though. At least I have other NET teachers to share my pain - most NETs in Hong Kong have to do it all alone! In fact, as a first time teacher, I couldn't be luckier. Having two experienced teachers at your side means that, when things get tricky (and they certainly do in a band three school where the weaker students all go), I've got someone to turn to for help. In general, things at my school are actually not all that bad. My daily routine generally goes something like:

- Up at 6:20am, throw some hot water on some oats and get dressed
- Grab some banana, blueberries, flax, etc. and inhale the oatmeal
- Off at 6:50am and arrive at 7:40am on the MTR
- School assembly at 8am and some quick prep before my first classes
- Walk down to the basketball court to fill my water bottle and snack on crackers, muesli, etc. in my office between classes
- Lunch around noon (duck, meatballs or sushi)
- Buddy reading practice for students who read with primary school students
- Leave at 5:15pm and arrive home at around 6pm
- Chuck a bunch of veggies and fish in my rice cooker and eat a half hour later
- Church meeting or relax until 9:30pm
- Sleep

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Perhentian Islands

On Thursday, the 19th of February Kevin, May and I went hiking up to the peak of Perhentian Kecil. At the top we found some wind turbines and solar panels as well as a fantastic view out over the ocean.

After returning down the mountain, we went to Long Beach and made a really great sandcastle... Kevin thought it was ugly, but who asked him anyways. That night we had a big seafood feast to celebrate the first day of the Chinese New Year. We had crab, freshly caught fish, potatoes and other great stuff. Even the octopus, which I usually don't eat, was really good.

The next day was my last day so we hired a kayak and did some beach hopping. One of the beaches had some really cool huts on it which were apparently part of some sort of environmental initiative.

Before we knew it the day was over. I had my last burger from our friend Jeffrey at the Sunset Cafe, slept my last night in Kevin's tent and had one last delicious breakfast the next day at Dinnie's Cafe. After that I caught my boat out at noon and took the budget bus to Kota Bharu for 6 ringit (about $2 USD). The driver was either on a very loose schedule or no schedule at all. He kept stopping to get off and walk somewhere and, judging by the fact that he had a no smoking sign but smoked anyways, I'm guessing he didn't have much of a standard to keep... After over two hours of a supposedly one hour trip, I grabbed a taxi to the airport for 30 ringit and barely caught my flight back to Kuala Lumpur as it was boarding. I found out that I didn't even have to check my bag because nobody cares! That saves time. Back in Kuala Lumpur I found that I hadn't left enough time for my connecting flight yet again. Considering that it's technically an international flight I probably should have given myself more than an hour and a half before checking in, let alone boarding! No matter, seems they make allowances for this kind of thing, or maybe just don't really care here. I just had to check my bag at a last minute luggage check in station and then I was able to board my flight as usual - no worries!

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Malaysia

On Tuesday, the 17th of February I made my way to the airport via MTR and bus. Nothing was running at 4am when I woke up so I actually had to wait around for about two hours. After arriving at the check-in desk I was greeted with uncertainty as the nervous staff weren't sure if I would be able to catch my connecting flight. Well, they were right. My flight was delayed and thus I had no chance of catching my flight which was in an entirely different terminal. I actually had to catch a train to get to my next flight which was in the domestic terminal. Thinking I might still make it, I ran right past immigration and almost got arrested. In all fairness, they didn't actually have any signage or even gates so, as far as I could tell, they were just information kiosks!

Anyway, I had to re-book my ticket and it didn't cost a whole lot so no big deal. I got to Kota Bharu and went out to catch the bus. As I was waiting, the taxi drivers told me that the bus would still be another hour. This time they were telling the truth but, in any case, I managed to catch a ride with a new friend who was waiting for his buddy to pick him up. After arriving at the bus station, I found that there were no more buses to Kuala Besut (the town where I would catch my boat to the islands) so I ended up paying for a taxi driver in the end. This guy loved to drive fast and, as we were nearing our destination almost an hour into the trip, we got in an accident. Some cars ahead of us had stopped for some cows and we smashed into a big SUV. Luckily, it didn't cause a whole lot of damage to either vehicle as we had squished right up under it. The drivers shook hands and we were on our way again. That night I made a new Russian friend at the hostel and we made plans to meet up on the island.

The next day I got up early to go buy some stuff, since I knew it would be more expensive on the island, but all the shops were still closed and I had a boat to catch. A while later I arrived on the island and met up with my friends Kevin and his wife, May for snorkeling. I saw my new Russian friend as well, but she wasn't feeling up to it so we went on our way.

The first stop was an area with lots of coral and cool fish - we even saw Nemo. After that we went to swim with the sharks.

 The guide was swimming around with a chewed up fish so I'm pretty sure these were a friendly variety of shark... or maybe he's just crazy. In any case, our next stop was to swim with the turtles.

We looked around for a while and soon found one, then another and eventually we were swimming with three turtles, big ones. Much bigger than the one I saw at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. In fact, everything during this trip was better than the GBR. Someone once told me the coral and fish life here were better than in Australia, and now I can confirm it.

After having lunch at a nearby restaurant, we set out again - this time to a light house.

Of course, I jumped off it. After that, we headed back to the island and that night we celebrated Chinese New Year by watching a special TV program. The show had a little Chinese guy driving a taller Chinese lady around and it was funny because he couldn't see over the dash. Also, the lady told a police officer that the little guy was a professional basketball player. I didn't get much more than that because it was all in Chinese.

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Lantau Peak

On Friday, February 6th Joseph and I went to Andi's in Lantau and stayed the night. The next morning we took a hike up to the peak and came back down the other side for lunch.

Over the next couple weeks I mostly worked but I did meet up with friends a couple of times and even some of my students one evening. A bunch of our mainland students wanted to get hot pot with me and Joe so we went to a hot pot buffet place where you can just grab as much stuff as you want!

A week later I went swimming with Chu Sum and met some of his funny friends, and the next night we went to the Lunar Market - a Chinese New Year venue.

We ate a lot of interesting traditional stuff, including the stinky 1000 year old fried tofu! After that, it was time for me to hit the sack - just a few hours away from my holiday in Malaysia!

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Monks and Monkeys

On Sunday, the 11th of January Chu Sum and I met Stuart in Sha Tin to hike to the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery. On the way up we found that there were in fact a lot of Buddhist statues. Though, what I was really there to see were the monkeys. After arriving at the top we were not greeted by monkeys but rather by a restaurant and, of course, a monastery with a path leading down the other side. Not sure what we would find we went down the other trail and started to wonder, "where are these monkeys I've been hearing about?"

Well, we found the monkeys and they were lively ones! Of course, this might be partly because I ignored the rules and fed them a bit...

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Jinhua

On Tuesday, the 30th of December Anita and I had breakfast at Ocean's then went to the train station and boarded our train to Jinhua. During the trip I got a real local experience... anyone who is easily grossed out should skip to the end of this paragraph. While on the train I was sitting across from some locals and, in China, many of the locals have pretty much never seen a foreigner. So, you get a lot of stares and sometimes this is the result of them being kind of suspicious of you. In any case, this one guy was really trying to stare me down and I just stared right back... until he spit. Not on me, but on the floor in front of me. Now I knew this was a local custom beforehand so it didn't really put me off that much at first, but then... he dragged his foot through it and smeared it all over the floor!

Anyway, back to the story. We arrived in Jinhua and Kevin, my friend and former colleague, picked us up to go get lunch. After some pizza we went for a drive around town to see some of Kevin's favourite spots. First we went to an old traditional Chinese house which had a really nice view over the lake.

It also had a really dirty fish pond out front. Next we went to neighborhood full of houses which were built using refurbished remnants from old traditional buildings.

Many of them open their doors to visitors so that you can see the inside as well. A few even have museums with collections of cool artifacts and otherwise interesting stuff.

That night we went back to Kevin's and caught up a bit over a dinner of delicious hot pot. The next day we had a huge breakfast of French toast, potatoes, eggs, sausage, etc. Afterward, Kevin had to go to a gathering so he let me and Anita borrow is electric bike so we could take it up to Pointy Peak for a hike.

Later that day, Kevin and his wife, May weren't back yet so we had to leave without saying goodbye. We took a taxi to the train station and began our 15 hour journey back to Hong Kong. That night turned out to be quite uncomfortable because, even though we had nice beds on the train, the smoking area (yes, they actually allow people to smoke on the train!) was just a couple meters away from us... Did I mention that smoking is endemic in China? I'm lucky I didn't die from smoke inhalation.

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West Lake

On Sunday, the 28th of December Anita and I said goodbye to Waji and got on a train to Hangzhou. After arriving we hopped on the subway and then a bus to get to West Lake where we checked into our hostel (about $5 USD/night!). That night we watched a musical fountain show on the lake.

The next day we hired some bicycles and went for a ride around West Lake. We had breakfast and then, while we were riding, we saw many picturesque scenes, including the Leifeng Pagoda (tower) and many people relaxing and boating on the lake.

After Anita and I got separated, I went to the Chinese Tea Museum and, even though it was closed, I saw a lot of cool traditional buildings as well as the expansive tea fields which radiate out from the main museum area.

That night we had dinner at our friend Ocean's for the second time. Ocean is originally from up North where he started work at the ripe old age of 12. Before he even reached adulthood, he and his brothers had saved up and opened their first restaurant. Now about 22 years old he has opened up several restaurants with his brothers and, even though he's obviously doing quite well, he still spends all day, every day, cooking at his restaurant in West Lake. Many his age might let this kind of success go to their heads but Ocean is still a supremely humble and friendly guy. He continues to send me WeChat messages with the intention of teaching me Chinese and assures me that he has had success with this method before. So, who knows, I may end up learning Chinese through an instant messenger!

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Gulangyu

On Saturday, the 27th of December we headed out to Gulangyu Island. For 36 yuen the taxi took us to the terminal and from their we took the ferry over to the island. After eating and walking around a bit, we ate some more at a place where we got everything we wanted for about 15 yuen each (much cheaper than the first shops you see). Next, we went to a museum which had a lot of stuff from the history of Xiamen and Gulangyu - primarily artifacts from the early interactions between East and West.

Finally, before leaving I had to get some of the famous Gulangyu dried meats which really are quite good. Back on Xiamen, we all took a nap and then went for dinner at the markets. We had more kebabs and Taiwanese food found there as well as some really nice french toast with ice cream.

For the rest of the evening we went to the beach and sat on a big boulder looking out at the water.

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Tulou

On Friday, the 26th of December Anita, Waji and I went on our trip to Tulou - the local way. We took a taxi, bus and train to a bus depot. At the bus depot we had our first experience of local pushers trying to get us to pay their marked-up rates. They told us that the bus wouldn't come for over an hour but, of course, we knew this wasn't true. So, we waited for a few minutes and, instead of paying 50 yuen each for private car, we paid 2 yuen for the bus to the next depot in town. At that depot we paid another 15 yuen and finally got a bus to Tulou! So far we had spent about 50 yuen to arrive in just a couple hours and the tour, at over 150, would have still had us waiting at our hostel to be picked up! At this point we paid 15 yuen for the bus to take us from the visitor centre to all of the sites. At the first site we took some shots from above (picture above) then went down into the community to see it all from the inside.

We were told that the departure time was uncertain so we looked around for a while and then realized that our tour had left. After talking to a few people and trying our best to figure out our options we found that we only had one - start walking. 

It was probably about half an hour of walking, and being offered a ride by a guy on a little scooter (for a price), before we were picked up by some Hong Kongers who were also on holiday. We caught up to our bus at the second site and this time only had a short look around before going back to the bus to wait.

The second site had much bigger structures, with far less clutter, and even had another structure within the structure. The third site was more of a standard village but had a river running through it which actually made it quite picturesque.

After visiting the third site, we had to arrange some transportation because, according to the driver (who we now know was actually just making a quick buck on the side), the last train would be gone by the time we got back to town. This private car that he arranged took us all the way back to Xiamen for a total of about 100 yuen each (about $15 USD). This put us a bit over the cost of the tour but it was really worth it all things considered. The driver actually put us right at the street market that we wanted to have dinner at so the whole deal was quite convenient. 

At the market we bought some tasty goat kebabs and walked around a bit before taking the bus back to our hostel for just 2 yuen.

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Welcome to China!

On Thursday, the 25th of December I met Anita and Waji at Kowloon Tong Station and the pushing began. First, we pushed our way onto the crowded train to the border. Then we pushed our way into immigration. It was here that we got in the line for "Chinese Nationals" because there was no other option presented. As it turns out, we were supposed to go to the last line (also for "Chinese Nationals") and present our foreign passports there... So, already late for our train and having waited in line for half an hour, we got into THAT line. At this point we had no chance of catching our train so the tenth security check that they then put us through didn't make any difference nor did the unusual token system for boarding the subway. What DID leave us feeling hopeless were the endless lines at the train station for picking up and changing tickets!

What was really AWESOME was when we realized, after an HOUR of waiting in line, that we were, in fact, in the WRONG line... What's more, we had to wait in two other lines because the people who exchange tickets don't give the refunds for the old ones nor do they give you tickets which you have already ordered. Needless to say, our whole day was spent standing in lines...

After FINALLY sorting out our tickets, we went to get something to eat. Unfortunately, my bank was locked because Hong Kong banks, unlike my American bank, won't allow you to use your card outside of Hong Kong unless you tell them first. Thankfully, the place we went for food had wifi so I was able to skype my bank back in Hong Kong and have them unlock my account for use in China. The fun was not over yet though! No no, I still had to order my food and use a toilet before leaving and in China, of course, these things are not as straightforward as you would expect!...

See this food? This is sweet and sour chicken... kidneys. Of course, it couldn't just be normal chicken meat. No, not in China - in China, it has to be strange like ORGANS. In Hong Kong this happens as well, but not without you knowing it. Rather, somebody would ask you in English, "are you sure you want kidneys today, sir?"

Okay, so I tried my best to finish what tasted like, well, kidneys, and then went to use the toilet before going to catch the train. Of course, this being China, they don't put toilet paper, or even soap, in the good ol' WC (in case you're wondering, that's European for "water closet" AKA toilet). Luckily I had some tissues in my bag that I had forgotten about and was able to finish my business without incident. After that we ran to our train and continued our journey to Xiamen.

Well, if you're tired of the complaining you'll be happy to know that this is where it stops. After arriving in Xiamen we to the BRT and then a taxi to our hostel for 39 yuen (about $5 USD). At our hostel a nice Taiwanese lady helped us plan our trip to Tulou for the following day without the cumbersome and time consuming, yet rushed, tour companies. Also, our hostel was super nice and clean with all the comforts of a upscale hotel room and, at about $10 USD a night, it was a pretty good deal.

Sunset Peak

On Sunday, the 21st of December I went camping at Sunset Peak with Chu Sum and Anita. After a couple hours of pollution-free hiking, we arrived at the top - and it was windy! In fact, we couldn't even make a fire to cook our food, at least, not outside...

Eventually the wind did start to die down and Chu Sum got some great shots of the night sky. The next morning we made breakfast and started back down the mountain. On the way, we met a Kiwi guy who owned one of the holiday huts at the top where we were staying.

According to our new friend, these huts were built way back in the days when missionaries were living in Hong Kong. The missionaries would come up the mountain during the Summer where the temperature is a good 5* Celsius cooler. Here they built these huts out of concrete and steel beams, beams which were pilfered by rather desperate individuals during the depression. This destroyed the roofs of the huts and gained the thieves a few dollars for a day of hiking down a mountain with heavy steel! Now our Kiwi friend, and many others, are reconstructing these huts as holiday homes. Sitting high above the city pollution and intense Summer heat, these huts are probably the most practical investment in Hong Kong. Of course, some of the stuff needed for the repairs can be a real pain to haul up and down the mountain, as we were told, so it's not always so relaxing as it may sound!

The next evening I went to have dinner with Chu Sum's family for the Winter Solstice and the following day I finally got my Chinese visa!

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Teacher Appreciation Day

On Thursday, the 18th of December everyone went to Shek O Beach for the school picnic. At first I thought it would just be a casual hour or so of eating and then the students would get bored and want to go home. As it turns out, these kids really, really love barbecue! For over three hours I watched as they all cooked and ate everything that they brought which, in some cases, meant whole chickens and about 30kgs of meat!

After the school picnic I had to get to Kwun Tong for another gathering with all the teachers who work for Headstart Group. This time the food was prepared for us and we did a secret Santa activity so everyone got something to take home.


The next day was Teacher Appreciation Day and we had a bit of a show to put on... All of us NET teachers had to take turns singing Chinese songs, that only we could hear, while our students tried to guess the songs. This was not easy but somehow we managed to pull it off... kinda.

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A New Place

On Monday, the 10th of November Anita and I cycled from Tei Wai to Tai Po. The path goes through Sha Tin and took about two hours. The next day we celebrated my birthday with dinner at Bel Cibo and then went to the laser show at Victoria Harbour.

A few days later my school had another sports day to end the week and then I spent the weekend with friends. On Saturday, I went with Anita to visit some of her friends and then we went to the Flying Pan to see if the Denny's of Hong Kong was any good... it was okay. While the atmosphere was a really cool 60s diner theme, the breakfast food was far too dry for my taste - not enough butter! We were slightly less disappointed by a flaming dessert we had later in the week.

About a week and a half later I met up with my friend Ayden and the others for a Thanksgiving feed and the next two nights I had dinner with my Italian friend Massimo, who I met in New Zealand, and my friend Joe who lived in my flat - we had surprisingly delicious frog and pigeon, a great local tip!

About another couple weeks later on Monday, the 8th of December I finally moved to my new place and the next night I had dinner with my friends Peter, Sarah, their kids and Joe from work. I actually met Peter on the plane on my way to Hong Kong and he introduced me to his wife, Sarah. Sarah and I had already met up a couple times to talk about teaching in Hong Kong among other things and it turned out that she might be able to help Joe find a local position at an international school - this is why Joe joined us for the evening. In any case, we enjoyed a big hot pot at the Temple Street night market and Joe learned a bit more about his options here in Hong Kong.

Also probably worth noting is the continuing protests that have been going on for a couple months now. About a week ago I was woken up at three in the morning by this protest march through the streets which clashed a bit with the local police:

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Teaching in Hong Kong

On Monday, the 13th of October I started teaching at Yu Kan Hing Secondary School. I quickly learned that this would be different than the other schools that I had taught at. While many of my students are very friendly and well-mannered, a great many of them are also quite difficult. My S1-S2 students are particularly unruly but I suppose this is to be expected with a young class of around 30 students being lead by a lone foreign instructor.

Over the next couple weeks I ate more strange food (intestines), hiked Victoria Peak, dressed up as the Mexican version of an anime character for Halloween and got my Hong Kong ID card.

On Friday, the 7th of November all teachers and students went to the nearby field for sports day. Students did a variety of sports activities, such as running and high jump - both of which I also participated in.

After the day finished I went and finally got a bank account - something that is really quite difficult to do in Hong Kong, especially if you're an American. I needed my Hong Kong ID card, a letter from my employer stating my address since I didn't have a utility bill, a tax ID form for reporting my income to the US, my passport and my surgically removed organs for collateral...

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