sushi, frustration

US$7 buys you this much sushi in hong kong.  small consolation, as things are not looking good for next week's trip to thailand.  i've never had a trip cancelled because of political unrest before...

preserved egg

i ate this local specialty, the "preserved egg," a few days ago.  that is an actual egg.  wikipedia has a detailed article that explains how they're made.  i think the photo is disgusting enough.  and, for the record, it wasn't that bad!

"he's gone to sell preserved eggs" is the equivalent of "he's sold the farm"

only in hong kong

i've been trying to get a picture of this for months now.

in hong kong, even the delivery trucks sport gawdy, unpainted front fascias.  riced.  out.

polytechnic

it's high time i posted some pictures of my school.

hong kong polytechnic is a school about the size of the university of michigan, around 25,000 students.  the space it occupies is, of course, far, far smaller.  furthermore, if i had only one word to describe hkpu, it would be brick.  unrelenting, oversaturated brick.

brick, everywhere.  architect zaha hadid has designed a new building for hkpu --- for the design department, no less --- slated to be finished 2011.  it is not brick, mercifully.  it is, however, unfortunately, zaha hadid. 

here's the front.

the polytechnic logo.  how darling.

and finally, the most recently built building on campus, the tower.

lantau, part ii

i did not hesitate to return to conquer lantau island.  it was an excellent, outdoors day.  after getting an earlier start on the day (umm, 11am), ryan and i took the train, then a bus, to the base of the tallest hill/mountain/summit/peak on lantau, lantau peak, appropriately enough.  time to do my best sir edmund hillary.

this was the view when we started on what was an innocent enough nature trail.  my camera doesn't really capture the size of these ridges, or my perspective.  what we saw was a ridge, with a taller ridge behind it, with a taller ridge behind it, lantau peak.  we were in for a hike.

this is how we hiked up --- massive stone steps.  at many points during the ascent, we were climbing up at 45 degrees.  looking forward, all i saw was mountain.  each step took a giant, leg bent at 90 degree lift.  and i'll be damned if i can figure out just how they built this trail, other than forcing laborers to carry really heavy stones, really far, far up.

the views were incredible, especially near the top of the peak.  i could see the whole island, especially, many dramatic cliffs and mountains.

finally, after about two hours of climbing, we made it to the summit.  looking back... and out.  it was a hazy day, so our views from the peak were limited mostly to silhouettes.

there's my proof.  934 meters.  and we started from only a few hundred feet above sea level.  climbed with the best shoes i have here --- my sandals.  i was disappointed that we did not encounter a kung fu master at the peak.

the hike down the other face of the peak was even more dramatic --- a constant drop without any breaks, practically jumping down from rock to rock, steep drops on each side.  

yes, virginia, all the way up there.

at the end of the trail we ran across two great sights.  the first was this stonehenge-like monument to the heart sutra.  the posts as 40-foot tall halved logs with chinese characters engraved in the side.  very cool stuff.

then, finally, we finished with a trip to the tian tan buddha, the tallest seated outdoor bhudda in all of asia, almost 100 feet tall and 250 tonnes in weight.  badass.  if only it were 1000 years old, not 15... after destroying our legs climbing, ryan and i took the fabled lantau cable car back down to the train to return home, which also offered some great views.  

a very solid trip.  and as soon as we got back, we finally bought our tickets for thailand and japan.  so.  so.  excited.

lantau, part i

at long last, i finally made it to lantau island, along with a couple goofball german friends of ours, which is to say, some great friends.  we went too late and got a little lost, which is all the more reason to go back.  

for instance, next time, i'll climb this hill/mountain

the beach we visited was a little... dirty.  maybe it's pollution, maybe it's sediment. 

here i used my sunglasses as a photo filter.  i'm awesome.

hong kong colors

i might miss the colors at night, most of all. 

trip to stanley

visited the southern side of hong kong island this weekend --- stanley village.  within 45 minutes, i went from the middle of downtown hong kong to a quiet little (tourist) village by way of one public bus.  pretty incredible.  it was nice to get out of the city, get some fresh air, see some beautiful views!  and then, after a couple hours, back on the bus and to hong kong, once again.

one huge city, right behind them thar hills.  unbelievable.

my apartment, part iv

finally, the master bedroom.  i've posted the lovely view in an earlier post.  this, this is my magnificent, rock-hard, too-short matress.  either i sleep diagonally, fetally, or, well... you get the picture.

i do, at least, have a... shelf?  and one drawer?  also a decent closet which i haven't pictured.  and, in all honestly, it's plenty of apartment for me, and ryan.  we haven't gone completely off the reservation --- well, not completely, and not yet.  and it is in hong kong.  

i will, however, probably shed a tear when i sleep in a real bed on christmas eve.  

my apartment, part iii

mercifully, the bathroom is larger than the kitchen.  a little, anyway.

again, a very small sink.  no counter space.  the landlord saw fit to fix a crack with scotch tape.  and because i couldn't get a good angle on the bathroom to show this --- the sink is inside the shower.  there's no room for it anywhere else.

if you look closely, you can see my reflection in the tile --- that's where my eye level is.  you can see that the mirror doesn't quite --- doesn't at all --- show my face when i stand at full height.  i am at least a foot taller than most hong kongers.

this little thing, which an american might mistake for a garbage can, is actually a washing machine.  you can fit a pair of jeans and maybe a few shirts, if you're lucky, before overloading it.  and again --- yes, the opening is the size of my not-oversized palms.

my apartment, part ii

the kitchen is at best a six foot square.  honestly.  

there's our lovely propane tank powered cookers, just like back porch barbeque!  call a number and a kind mainland chinese man brings you a new on, only HK$100.  no stove.  no microwave.  if i want to make something, it better have noodles.

everything --- everything --- in the apartment is 75% scale.  it's like visiting willy wonka's factory.  this sink isn't a camera trick, it really is that small.

that's our fridge.  look at how much he's grown!  soon he'll hit puberty and turn into a real full-grown fridge.  i hope, anyway.

my apartment, part i

this is a very long-overdue post.  but now that i am essentially done with school, i expect to start whitling down my hong kong to do list. 

we'll start with the living room.  it's hard to capture how small my apartment is, no good camera angles, way too much fisheye on my camera's lens.  this is our nicest room.  there's ryan, on the couch.  say hi, ryan!

over here we have our healthy, american-sized tv.  it's the only appopriately sized element of our apartment.  those doorframes aren't more than 6.5 feet, at best.

this is our couch.  i hate our couch.  

it's really a loveseat, for one.  for two, well, look at it --- this thing wasn't designed for the rigors of supporting to american elephants.  apparently six foot tall and over 160 lbs is just well, well beyond the stress test levels for chinese furniture.

you can see here, too, what ryan and i refer to as the "ass-breaker" feature of the couch.  the seat supports, maybe, half our thighs, which means we ultimately have to lean back in the couch like we were riding around in a hooptie.  after three hours, the curve in the small of my back has been entirely eliminated. 

next: the incredible shrinking apartment.