Didn't get to go to India

Well part of my team at work is in India today to meet with the client. I did not get to go. My visa got screwed up and didn't arrive in time. I am really bummed. I am supposed to go in early October now, but it really would have been great to have gotten to introduce myself to our client along side my boss who was on this trip. Well maybe next time! Damn it.

But I did get my Hong Kong work visa on monday, which is nice!

....Shek O

.... then after a train 3 busses and a cab we got to Shek O. Which again was really nice but totally different. This beach was packed, and very European feeling, lots of beach chair and umbrella rentals, swimming platforms and the like. I only took one picture and it was from the bus on the way in and really doesn't due it justice.

Relaxed on the beach the rest of the day, and ended up meeting a bunch of french dudes renting an awesome house right on the beach. Drank some wine on their roof deck and barbequed which was awesome and headed home.

All in all a very adventurous and tireing weekend.

Labor Day Weekend in HK

Well they don't give us labor day off over here obviously! But I figured, if I was back in LA I would likely have either been up at the lake with the Fam, or off on the boat camping trip with the gang, so I decided to get out of the city and go backpacking! Cristina (one of the other people who is here from LA) and I bummed some camping gear off other people in the office and took off for Tai Long Wan.

My Journey Begins

 A remote beach that is supposed to be one of the most beautiful spots in Hong Kong. Originally we had talked a big group of people into going with us, but everyone got scared off by the treat of rain. It was trains, taxis and busses to get to what the little old chinese guy we got directions from kept calling (in a stereotypical asian accent) "the begining of our journey!" I kept thinking of "Search for the Animal Chin" if you get that reference, you will know what I mean. We had little or no idea where we were going let alone what we were getting our selves into and as we left the little man added "weather no look so good for going to Tai Long Wan!" but we went anyway. We walked for a few kilometers using a photo of a map on an Iphone to navigate, and after a while thought this is BS, we are walking on a road! and taxis keep flying past us. So despite our fears of being thought of as lazy americans we hoped in a cab.

Best decision of the weekend! We ended up taking two cabs before we finally ended up at real trail head where vehicles were not permited anymore. That hike was a fairly quick one over a ridge and down into a beautiful remote beach called Sui Mo, and we were already thinking man we really cheated our selves out of a good hike. Sui Mo had no amenities though and since we did no preparation and brought no food we decided to keep hiking to the village we were told would have the best sea food and noodles ever.

Sui Mo Beach

Leaving Sui Mo, we started up hill on a trail that continuously deteriorated, and after over an hour of continuous accent into clouds that looked a lot like they would be raining on us soon. Which was going to be no good on the muddy incline we were already on. But alas we pushed on, climbing over the peak and down into the next village Sai Wan. All in all it was around 14 kilometers, straight up and straight down. By the time we got to the bottom we decided those cabs were well worth the cash! At a fork in the road headed down into the beach we ran into a guy and a chick in a bikini with no shoes on, both of us imediately knew, "there is an easier way to get here!, cause no way that chick is about to do what we just did, in that get-up!"

Cristina waited until it was time to set up camp to tell me she had never been camping before! Nice! Set up on the beach, took a swim and headed to the one restraunt in town for dinner. We ate with the family that ran the place cause there was no one else there. We ate what they were having for dinner, since the cook did not want to cook anything else! It was delicious, beef noodles, and fried squid (which by the way we saw the local ladies wading out into the water with flash lights and nets to catch as we went to dinner). A few big San Miguels with the family and we were ready to turn in.

Home for a night

Slept right on the beach, it was awesome. At breakfast in the morning our host told us, sure enough, there is a paved trail that leads out another way, a 30 minute walk to a bus stop that takes you right into town! Damn it!

We left there around 9:30 and were home by 12:00. As we left the subway station just meters from home, we ran into another friend who said that he and some others were headed to a beach on the opposite side of the island, so of course we just turned around and followed him to the next beach....

Sunrise on Sai Wan Beach

Quick update on my last two weekends..

Clear water bay.

Well the main thing is work has been absolutely crazy so I have had to be in the office at least one day a weekend for the last two, so my weekend adventures have been fairly limited. A week ago I did get to go on a junk boat cruise though. It was just what I needed. You get on one of these old junks like you have seen in the movies, pack it with like 50 people and bunch of booze and drive off for some remote island or secluded beach. Unfotunately it was pretty rough outside of the harbor. Cory you would have been proud of me, I was egging the driver on trying to hold for the remote island while the girls were puking and we were taking water over the bow. But instead they diverted to a closer cove, that ended up being packed because everyone had the same issue we did. It is called clearwater bay. We got to do some wakeboarding over here and I met a chinese guy from canada who has his own wakeboarding boat over here, he's going to take me out again, or at least that's what he said while we were drinking and floating around. Anyhow, lots of floating swimming, jumping off of boats and I finally got a bit of a tan going. Oh yeah.. and on the way home I was pretty tipsy and I had been bugging the boat driver all day to let me see maps of where we were going and trying to comunicate even though he didn't speak a lick of english and he finally let me drive the boat on the way in! So Cory I have officially piloted a vessel in chinese waters!!

This weekend was another filled mostly with work. My big highlight was a trip to a part of the island called Aberdeen, to go to this restraunt called the JUMBO. It is a giant boat some rich guy built back in the 70's that is a huge dim sum restraunt. You have to take a ferry to get to it, and Aberdeen is where all the really rich people live. My tour guide was Michelle (an old friend from LA's sister, she has been taking me to all the off the beaten path spots, and making sure I don't get sick from the food!).

 It was an awesome early dinner then we sat up on the upper deck and had a few drinks, and got to watch all of these multi million dollar yachts pull in from a weekend out. These boats are insane! The Aberdeen yacht club is right across the marina from the restraunt so it was like a red carpet show for huge yachts. They light the whole thing up at night and it's pretty cool. Any how I have a big deadline this week, and then I am supposed to go camping with some people from the planning group upstairs so hopefully more pictures and cooler adventures next week.

what saved my weekend!

Dude Check out these Vessels! Dude Cory my Skiff would be
the best boat in this town!

I decided to go down to this small fishing village on the far end of Lantau called Tai O to try and get the bad taste out of my mouth from the Buddha. And man did it work. This place was awesome! the whole town is built on stilts over the mud flats! with canals running everywhere it is called the Venice of Asia! It looks nothing like venice. It looks like a scene out of Slum Dog Millionare. Anyway we hung out at this restraunt on stilts. I was trying to get the guys to take me out on one of their little boats. This place was way cool! I could totally hang out in one of these little houses for a while! I tryed these dryed out and flattened squids that the street vendors cook. They were actually delicious. I had a bit of reservation to try them as I had just recently gotten over my second bout of the Asian version of Montezumas! But I was glad I did. Tryed a few other things. Crysanthamum juice! Not good. Looked great! all pink and frosty and cold! Tasted like sweat!

Mom, said I had to put up a picture with me in it!

Anyhow after a couple hours at this place we needed to head home and had worked our selves out far enough into the rural parts of Hong Kong that we litterally need to take a bus a ferry and a train to get home! But Tai O saved my sight seeing weekend. I'm not going to anything in the tour book again for a while. Stay off the beaten path right Cory??

More Mixed sight seeing results

This sunday I went to do some sight seeing. First on the list was the largest outdoor, seated, bronze buddha. Interesting that so much pride is taken in something that has to be so qualified. This isn't the largest buddha, it isn't the largest outdoor buddha, it isn't even the largest outdoor bronze buddha, its the largest outdoor, bronze seated buddha. I took the gondola up to the top and the only thing that made this worth the 1 1/2 hour wait. Was the view of the airport, desgined by Sir Norman Foster. If anyone has ever wondered why I like working on airports, search youtube for a 5 part discovery channel piece on the Hong Kong Airport seen here and you'll know why I think it's cool.

The gondola lead to some cool views of this Buddha, and lots of the surrounding island. I have to come back and check out more of this island (Lantau). This is where most of the good hiking is. This is where all the beaches are, and some are really remote, and you have to hike to them. Which will be nice because all of the others I have seen have really been polluted by the thousands of people that go to them every weekend.

So more of the Buddha, well it's pretty cool looking but it is very comercialized. I guess there has been a Buddist monestary here for a long time but this thing is baisically Buddist Disney land, there are charactures of Monkey (a famous Chinese folk hero) walking around. There is a Subway and a 7-11 up there. I felt like it was kind of shame that this buddha was being so commercialized. There were a lot of people praying all around the site which was kind of humbling. But the last straw for me was at the very end of walking around I was reading some info about the tale of this specific Buddha what his story was, and I read that the statue was built in 1993! I don't know why but this fact ruined the whole thing for me.

I also toured the monestary, it was nice. I bought some incense and lit it for my family as is traditional. I have some pics of that but I have to get them from the girls from work I went with. I bought some for them to burn and thought I was doing a good deed. But as I was taking a picture for the girls of them lighting the incense I bought for them I backed into some other incense burning and melted a hole in my boardies and burnt my leg I think Buddha bite me for my negative thoughts.

Asians love Malls

They really do, check out this one it has a 12 story atrium. This where they hang out, and they totally take local pride in them. They are massive and filled with all high end stores, that are way more expensive because they are american or itallian brands. Any way this was a pretty gnarly one.

Pak Tai Temple

Like I said I did a few very touristy things this weekend and one of them was going to the temple on sunday. It was pretty cool, this Temple is just in the middle of neighborhood, it's not even in a park or anything.

 These are the only two pictures I got inside before getting told there was no picture taking inside, it was pretty cool though, the guy was nice, he told me everyone had just left, that it was packed earlier with people lighting incense and praying.

Apparently it is, dead spirits month over here right now, and the gates of hell are open so the temples are even buisier! Anyway it was pretty cool.

The Wet Market!!

This is probably one of my favorite things about Hong Kong. They have these wet markets everyday. I only really get to check them out on the weekends cause they don't open until like 11 AM and they close pretty early in the evening. But man they sell everything! It's pretty crazy but I have gotten to be a regular with one little old lady who saves me a couple bannanas an apple and a pear, for 10HKD (about a buck and a half!) every saturday on my way home from the gym.

You can see why they call it the wet market, I was told apparently that the chinese think fish and animals taste better if they die long deaths, so they have these styrofoam tanks filled with live fish and they take them out and just let them suffocate then gut them and sell them right there! It was a bit shocking at first, but not as bad as the first time I saw the guy in this butcher shop dispatch a chicken then dice it up for the little old lady that apparently wanted hers real fresh!

The number one sales strategy for the fish is to throw the halibut out on the table when there are a lot of people around because it flaps around the most and slap its tail against the metal tray and makes a sound like a fire cracker

One interesting thing is that all the cash here is paper except the $10 bills, which are plastic, apparently this is because the fish mongers only deal in $10 bills and to keep them from getting all nasty with fish guts they made them out of plastic so they can be washed off!

One for Dad!

Here you go Dad! This is what passes for an automotive repair shop in Hong Kong, one guy on a busy street with a tool box and a jack on the curb!!

Some Quick Toorist Traps!

I went and saw the Golden Bauhinia Statue out on the waterfront and the chinese flag raising ceremony! Eh I guess I need to do some of these touristy type things eventually so I tried to get a few out of the way! This was actually the only one I got done today! Barber Shop took a long time! I hoping to go to a few old temples tomorrow! Enjoy

Barber Shop Adventure!!

So after 3 weeks in country, I was starting to look a little ragged! My electric shaver got nuked by these crazy jury rigged oulets over here, and I didn't bring my hair clippers! So on a recomendation from one of the guys in the office, I made an appointment at the mandarin barber in the Four Seasons! I got down there on Saturday, and it was a Very Classy place, then the lady told me a buzz and a shave would be 600HKD (about $100 US), needless to say I was out of there, you guys have seen my look, and it ain't worth $100 to maintain!!! So I went on my way to do the rest of my planned errands for the day (Sightseeing!) and came across a barber pole mounted on the corner to a dark alley!

And this is what I found!!! Awesome! This place is just a lean to built in an alley that is about arms distance wide! This lady cut my hair and gave me a shave for 25HKD (about $3 US) awesome! I listened to Cantonese opera! I comunicated what I wanted by just setting her clippers up the way I wanted and then showing her I wanted that ALL OVER MY HEAD! The guy next to me got the full treatment which included the barber digging around in his ear with a long skinny knife!!! I was scared shitless she was going to try that on me but luckily I got the Gweilo! (Canotnese for white guy) treatment!

Nice Now I have a barber!!!

My Hike to the Peak

This is the bottom of the trail

Here are some of the other pictures I have been meaning to post. These are of my hike to the top of the peak. They pretty much speak for themselves. This is the beging of the trail. I took the long route starting from the eastern part of the city in a district called Kennedy Town.

Some of the side trails are pretty rugged, it was fun to head down these not knowing where I was going to end up. This park is kept very clean considering what the rest of the city looks like most of the time.

The trail opens up to some pretty amazing views of the city.

This was a pretty amazing night shot I took of the city from the tourist trap at the peak. The city has a light show every night at 8. It is kind of tacky I think. All of the building have tons of lights applied to the facades so they will stand out at night, and one building has green lasers they shoot off the roof. It is a little underwhelming after all the hype, but is something different.

Well that is it for now I guess. Check back in later for more on my trip to Macau this weekend. I didn't take my camera so I am waiting to get pictures from one of the guys I went with. So long from Hong Kong!

Pui O Beach

So friday I went to my first beach in Hong Kong. And alas, not a wave to be found. The beach was called Pui O and is on a neighboring Island accessible by car. I took a bus, there is a kind of camp there run by a bunch of New Zealanders. They were selling boards there, and apparently run a surf camp there, but they said that they only get waves when there is a Typhoon, and then they are only like 3 to 4 feet. But anyhow it was good to be at a beach. Not very clean. And there was shark netting around the swimming area, I think it is just there for peace of mind but I will have to do more research.

Life at 115 Wing Lok Street.

So a quick catch up post. For the Last 2 weeks (it has only been 2 weeks!!! it feels like 2 months) I have been living in a little apartment on Wing Lok Street in a part of Hong Kong called Sheung Wan. Sheung Wan is one of the older districts in Hong Kong, it is way down at the base of the hill right next to the docks.Wing Lok street is known for it's ginseng markets and dried seafood stores. Here is a pick looking down Wing Lok near my place.

It is crazy to be surrounded by stores that I have no idea what they are selling, I can walk into one, and not recognize a single item for sale, can't read any of the labels, can't tell what any of it costs, and there is obviously a huge market for this stuff as 80% of the stores on my street all look exactly the same and are all selling the same stuff!

Here's a shot of what I am talking about. So here is home, it is a crazy place, if it's a sunny day all of these stores put this big trash can lid size trays of all of these goods out to dry right on the side walk. The only thing  have been able to recognize is sea cucumber or sea slug, they aparently love it!

Well here is a picture of home for me for a while. Good ole 115 Wing Lok. My little safe house in big ole Hong Kong. The door with the black and white tile is the front door to the building. I am on the 3rd floor. It is a pretty quiet neighbor hood most of the time. The only real problem is that it is quite a walk from here to the office, which is why I am writing this right now with a sweaty tee shirt on. Oh and the roaches!!! They take over the street at night! haven't found any in my place! But did get woken up the other night by rat the size of a small dog climbing up one of the pipes outside my window! Oh Charming Hong Kong!

Lan Kwai Fun!!

As promised here are some pictures of what goes on around my office on an average Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Actually these pictures don't even do it justice. Anyway you can see how people get stuck here. Everyone I talk to seems to have the same story "I was supposed to be here for a here, and it's been 6" kind of thing.

Some Pics of Tyler and I in Kowloon

Finally got the camera thing working, so here are some pictures of my day in Kowloon with Tyler. This part of Hong Kong is crazy, there are all this specialty districts with open air markets. There are whole blocks that have nothing but gold fish shops.

This is a pic of Tyler in one.

Here are a few more pics of Kowloon, you can get a knock off of almost anything, so if anyone has any requests let me know.

Haven't posted in a while..

Ok well I haven't posted in a while, but mostly that is because I haven't been able to get pics up but that is still in the works.

So in the last week I have:

Survived a Typhoon warning! It got down graded just as it hit Hong Kong and wasn't scary crazy but was still pretty interesting to be sitting in my office at like noon and it's black out with thunder and lightning that shakes the building and nobody batts an eye. Oh and with a typhoon comes something called "Black Rain" which is when it rains more than 50mm in an hour! It's crazy the streets are all on 45 degree angles and turn into rivers. I got caught in it without an umbrella and got worked.

Went out in Lang Kwai Fun on a friday and saturday night! This is F'ing crazy. The pics will explain. But imagine Sharkeez and Boogaloo exploding to take over like 6 blocks, where anything goes, drinks in the street, ladies of the night!, and filling all of that with the hugest Aussie frat party ever! and it never stops! the bars never close!

Went to the Dragon Boat races! eh not that cool! I'll post pics.

Hiked to the top of the peak!. It's pretty much wet slippery stairs straight up the mountain! its also 85 degrees here with 90% humidity so I literally start sweating the moment I step outside (walks to work are awesome by the way! my dress shirts are wet more often than dry)
It was about a 6 mile hike, so naturally I was just soaked at the top, and what's up there? The ugliest building I have ever seen and millions and millions of tourists who take the tram up? and they say Americans are lazy! I am single handedly changing that stereotype to "Americans are Sweaty"

And lastly I got sick from local food! I got taken to an "authentic" chinese restraunt by a couple guys in the office, they did all the ordering since it was all in Cantonese, and it was all pretty good. Then they said "give him the soup". I tried it, not wanted to be rude, and let me tell you! I found out where the foot smell in Hong Kong comes from! I ate one piece of the chewey meat, before they told me it was goat intestine stew!

By the time I got home my stomach was in a knot and I got intimate with my HK toilet for a good couple hours!!!!

Ok well that's it for now. I have a cable for my camera coming in the mail (thanks Mom) and then pictures galore

Tim

The view from my office

Here is the only pic I have on my work computer so far, this is the view of Hong Kong from my

So Far...

... Hong Kong is a pretty crazy place. I am moved into my apartment, which is very similar in size to the room I used to rent at Cory's place. I can cook, shave in the bathroom, and work on the computer all while sitting on the bed! My apartment is in an older part of town, so the smells are just spectacular. I am going to lose 20 lbs just cause every time I get hungry the smell of someone cooking something that smells like a foot wafts in and just about makes me hurl.

I met up with Tyler on saturday, and we went exploring, mostly based around trying to find a Luis Vouiton bag for Lauren. We saw Kowloon which is where they sell all the knock offs, and Tyler did some hard bargaining!

I haven't quite figured out how to get pictures up on the blog yet, since the internet doesn't work at my home computer, and my memory card isn't accepted by my work computer. But I will get it sorted soon and then post a bunch of pictures.

I have already made it Karaokeing as well, it is apparently the thing to do friday nights if you are chinese. They sang chinese pop songs all night.

Well that is it for now. More posts and hopefully some pics soon.

Tim

Peace I'm out!!

Well this is my very first blog. I am in the first class lounge right now, and well... it's pretty awesome. Really makes a guy feel important. Oh yeah and there's free booze! Next post will be from the Orient!!!