The markets and restaurants here will amaze you. First we can tackle showing/telling you about the restaurants. There are the most per capita of any place in the world.There have to be at least 3-4 on every street. Some are big, some very small and all of them with menus you can not read. Occasionally the menus are on the wall and you can point. Other times the english menus get pulled out and you try to figure out what they mean. Last night Dirk ordered squid and got cold rubber bands in a pickley kind of sauce. I had wonton soup. Great except the menu said fried noodles on top and they were not. We have had great cheap food though at the night market. Anyone who comes here will be treated to the night market. That will be a blog post in the future. The food in general I would say is quite bland. It is difficult to find tasty treats that are not simple spice hot. Hot does not mean taste in my books but we are new at this and do not know yet how to order or what to look for.
The market has lots of food at cheap prices and lots of people buying it. We have a market around the corner that we get veggies for salad- something that is never on a chinese menu- and fruits which are in abundance. There are ducks with their heads on fully cooked, of course, and live fish and frogs for the killing on the spot. There are weird fruit that you have never seen or at least I haven't and they taste like nothing. Please let the pictures speak the thousand words you will say after you see them.
Big Wave Bay
Not just another beach!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
No Need for TV
We have no TV. We rely on the computer for talking to family and for entertainment. When that gets boring there is one activity that is sure to please. It happens all over China and never seems to get old. Just walk outside and begin to read. T-shirts are popular especially if they have English on them, and the billboards often have chinese and English titles. The t-shirts often just have grouped letters that say absolutely nothing or some words that are words that do not belong together. Other times it is obvious they are copying english words and don't get the letters right. Here is a list of some doozers:
T-shirts: (on middle aged woman walking with husband) Keep pumpin' Good Lovin'
(") F__ __ K School
Some days it's not worth chewing through the restraints (Rochelle's personal favorite)
I Love Ou, baby
Keep Play
Yellow is the new black
I only sleep with the best
Sign on Dirk's Office Door (this is an English School): PHYSICAI EDUCATION ( I naturally fixed the "I" to make an "L"! Not sure why no one cared enough to fix it before I came along. It's an old sign!
Newspaper head-line: Gome Shares hit as battle for control hots up
Store Billboards: Sportful Garden Restaurant
Gamen On
Funful Kindergarten
Pamphlet advertising our building complex: "Skycraping (sic) Achievement Above Ascendency"
Sign: No illegal parking vehicles will be prosecuted without advance notice.
The fun just never ends. See t-shirt at bottom of page. -Rochelle
Chinese People
Hong Kong is a very international place. There are people from all over the world who work and live here. Yet there are sections of Kowloon, where we live, which is 99% Chinese. So far we have not encountered even a whiff of racism, the people here acknowledge us with shy smiles, a greeting, usually in English, or a polite head nod. In general the Chinese we have met so far are very kind and gracious. Yesterday Rochelle and I inadvertently became part of a scavenger hunt for a University group doing their first week of orientation. They had to take a picture of a foreigner and so we were it. That was fun being surrounded by 25 Chinese kids in their uniforms. Here are some of our insights about the Chinese:
Kids learn English at a very young age. We met little Bianca, couldn't be more than 3, with her mom on the Sky Tower elevator. Bianca said hello in English and said her name was Bianca. Then she asked my name. She had a little trouble with Dirk but got it on the third try. Very cute. Most Chinese adopt an English name that is kind of similar to their Chinese name. Fu yun becomes Fanny for example. Some of the English names are kind of weird though: Bosco, Winkie, and Garfield(a girl's name) just wouldn't go over very well in Canada.
Chinese are loud. When they get together they are very boisterous and LOUD. Not really emotional like the Italians but loud nevertheless. It is probably because there are so many of them.
There are lots of Chinese. The streets are packed with them. We went to a district in Kowloon called Mon Kok which has a night market. Kinda like the Red Deer Farmer's market, but way bigger and its every day at night. Hence the name. Apparentely Mon Kok is the most crowded spot on earth. Wall to wall people. Yet, people are calm and gracious and even though we were slightly jostling each other people didn't get upset.
Umbrellas! When it rains it pours here. We got caught in the rain once and were drenched in a second. Felt good though like a luke warm shower. Umbrellas are also used when its hot as a shield against the sun. I don't have an umbrella yet, my baseball cap will do, but I saw a cool army umbrella the other day. Maybe.
The contrast between the old Chinese and the young is jarring. The old gather in parks at 6:00 am to do Tai Chi. Some do it with fans or swords. The young meanwhile show up @ 7 to play basketball or soccer. They are the big two sports @ here. The old have no use for computers or anything electronic, the young are glued to their Blackberries, even while they are walking on the street.
This contrast is also evident in the buildings. We live in a very modern building but right next to it is a run down street with an open air market just like from 100 years ago. We enjoy a lovely swimming pool, but overlooking it is a run down apartment block. Yet, despite the obvious socio economic differences here there doesn't seem to be any tension. People go about their business either making big bucks in an ultra modern first world sky scraper or just a block away eking out a living repairing shoes or selling fish in an open air market. Of course most are somewhere in between, but it makes the city very interesting and vibrant.
Uniforms. The Chinese love their uniforms. It starts early. From Kindergarten to grade 12 everyone has to wear a uniform. And if you are a business man or woman only a formal dark suit will do. I think its ok. It keeps envy and the petty, "keep up with the Jonses" nonsense that is evident back home to a minimum.
The Chinese are short. Duh. Upon our arrival in Hong Kong we were ushered onto a shuttle bus. The seats, according to North American standards, would have been comfortable for grade fivers. My seat barely had room for one cheek and as for leg room? Well my knees were basically @ my ears when I sat down. The subways barely have clearance for my crewcut. One Chinese kid couldn't stop staring and smiling as he saw me standing there like a giraffe amongst gophers. Even stairs are narrow and small so it feels like you are tap dancing uphill when you use them.
The Chinese do look different! That sounds kind of racist, but one teacher told us of a Chinese kid who said all white people look the same. Well they are starting to. They all look big, cumbersome, and pale. With a low fat diet; constant heat and humidity that melts any access fat away; and the constant Tai Chi plus basketball keeps most Chinese pretty slim. Sure a lot of the Chinese are slender due to genetics, but we're eating less here, probably because we don't need the extra calories to ward off any cold.
Most Chinese walk or take the public transport to get around. This also keeps them fit. There are a lot of cars here but we have noticed that they are all very new, very nice, and mainly German. So that gives you an indication who can afford to drive. We've yet to see a rust bucket or a pick up. Our cars back home would not have passed Hong Kong standards.
Finally one last interesting thing. When the Chinese give you something, like a card, money, or object they give it to you with both hands. It is impolite to give something with one hand. This is taking some getting used to but when we remember the Chinese are always very grateful that you are respecting their traditions.
Enjoy the pictures. Till next time!
Dirk and Rochelle
Kids learn English at a very young age. We met little Bianca, couldn't be more than 3, with her mom on the Sky Tower elevator. Bianca said hello in English and said her name was Bianca. Then she asked my name. She had a little trouble with Dirk but got it on the third try. Very cute. Most Chinese adopt an English name that is kind of similar to their Chinese name. Fu yun becomes Fanny for example. Some of the English names are kind of weird though: Bosco, Winkie, and Garfield(a girl's name) just wouldn't go over very well in Canada.
Chinese are loud. When they get together they are very boisterous and LOUD. Not really emotional like the Italians but loud nevertheless. It is probably because there are so many of them.
There are lots of Chinese. The streets are packed with them. We went to a district in Kowloon called Mon Kok which has a night market. Kinda like the Red Deer Farmer's market, but way bigger and its every day at night. Hence the name. Apparentely Mon Kok is the most crowded spot on earth. Wall to wall people. Yet, people are calm and gracious and even though we were slightly jostling each other people didn't get upset.
Umbrellas! When it rains it pours here. We got caught in the rain once and were drenched in a second. Felt good though like a luke warm shower. Umbrellas are also used when its hot as a shield against the sun. I don't have an umbrella yet, my baseball cap will do, but I saw a cool army umbrella the other day. Maybe.
The contrast between the old Chinese and the young is jarring. The old gather in parks at 6:00 am to do Tai Chi. Some do it with fans or swords. The young meanwhile show up @ 7 to play basketball or soccer. They are the big two sports @ here. The old have no use for computers or anything electronic, the young are glued to their Blackberries, even while they are walking on the street.
This contrast is also evident in the buildings. We live in a very modern building but right next to it is a run down street with an open air market just like from 100 years ago. We enjoy a lovely swimming pool, but overlooking it is a run down apartment block. Yet, despite the obvious socio economic differences here there doesn't seem to be any tension. People go about their business either making big bucks in an ultra modern first world sky scraper or just a block away eking out a living repairing shoes or selling fish in an open air market. Of course most are somewhere in between, but it makes the city very interesting and vibrant.
Uniforms. The Chinese love their uniforms. It starts early. From Kindergarten to grade 12 everyone has to wear a uniform. And if you are a business man or woman only a formal dark suit will do. I think its ok. It keeps envy and the petty, "keep up with the Jonses" nonsense that is evident back home to a minimum.
The Chinese are short. Duh. Upon our arrival in Hong Kong we were ushered onto a shuttle bus. The seats, according to North American standards, would have been comfortable for grade fivers. My seat barely had room for one cheek and as for leg room? Well my knees were basically @ my ears when I sat down. The subways barely have clearance for my crewcut. One Chinese kid couldn't stop staring and smiling as he saw me standing there like a giraffe amongst gophers. Even stairs are narrow and small so it feels like you are tap dancing uphill when you use them.
The Chinese do look different! That sounds kind of racist, but one teacher told us of a Chinese kid who said all white people look the same. Well they are starting to. They all look big, cumbersome, and pale. With a low fat diet; constant heat and humidity that melts any access fat away; and the constant Tai Chi plus basketball keeps most Chinese pretty slim. Sure a lot of the Chinese are slender due to genetics, but we're eating less here, probably because we don't need the extra calories to ward off any cold.
Most Chinese walk or take the public transport to get around. This also keeps them fit. There are a lot of cars here but we have noticed that they are all very new, very nice, and mainly German. So that gives you an indication who can afford to drive. We've yet to see a rust bucket or a pick up. Our cars back home would not have passed Hong Kong standards.
Finally one last interesting thing. When the Chinese give you something, like a card, money, or object they give it to you with both hands. It is impolite to give something with one hand. This is taking some getting used to but when we remember the Chinese are always very grateful that you are respecting their traditions.
Enjoy the pictures. Till next time!
Dirk and Rochelle
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Beaches
One of the most surprising things about Hong Kong are the beaches. I had been under the false impression that Hong Kong was just a concrete jungle. Well there is plenty of concrete, steel, and glass here, but by using the excellent public transit system one can alight on a lovely, quiet, tropical beach within 45 minutes. We have explored three beaches out of the 150 that are around Hong Kong. All are very well maintained, clean with nice shady trees nearby, changing areas, and plenty of life guards perched high on watch towers. The water is clean, salty, and warm but great to swim in. A large shark net protects us from the wolves of the sea. Hong Kong has also lots of hiking trails through thick jungle. Once the humidity fades away in October and it cools down to plus 25, ewww frigid, we'll start exploring some of the hundreds of km of trails that, again, are relatively close by.
The peak is a must for anyone who comes to Hong Kong. Once you get past the five floors of tourist traps and pay a small fee $4.00 Canadian you come onto an observation deck with an incredible view of Hong Kong and Kowloon. We certainly were impressed, but we liked the back view the best. The South China sea and some of the islands that make up this archipelago can be seen. We also liked the public bus ride up to the peak. Great views, a harrowing scary trip on narrow roads made it very interesting. Finally we walked down from the peak through an interesting jungle. Very cool
The peak is a must for anyone who comes to Hong Kong. Once you get past the five floors of tourist traps and pay a small fee $4.00 Canadian you come onto an observation deck with an incredible view of Hong Kong and Kowloon. We certainly were impressed, but we liked the back view the best. The South China sea and some of the islands that make up this archipelago can be seen. We also liked the public bus ride up to the peak. Great views, a harrowing scary trip on narrow roads made it very interesting. Finally we walked down from the peak through an interesting jungle. Very cool
Sunday, August 22, 2010
55th floor is really only the 47th floor
We live on the 55th floor but technically we only live on the 47th floor because of the number 4. At home we have apartment buildings that do not include a 13th floor due to superstition. Here people are superstitious about the number 4. So most buildings exclude the 4th, 14th, 24th, 34th etc floor. The reason for this is because the number 4 in cantonese and mandarin sounds like the word death. In fact the difference is so subtle that I could not hear a difference. It is similar to us saying the words teeth and the word for when a baby is getting teeth we say they teeth. Or like us saying funnel and fennel but even more subtle.
In Kowloon where we live, the buildings did not get much higher than 20 floors because of the airport. Now that the airport has moved they are developing high buildings like ours. The developers would not normally include any floors with the #4 in them but now have decided it is not fair if some buildings include the 40s floors and some do not, so they are incuding them. However, the builders have drawn a line at the 40s and will not include 44. The floors deathy 0, deathy 1, deathy 2, deathy 3 are bad enough but deathy-death is out of the question. Who would live on a floor called deathy-death? So if you add 'em all up, our 55th floor is actually the deathy-7th floor!
In Kowloon where we live, the buildings did not get much higher than 20 floors because of the airport. Now that the airport has moved they are developing high buildings like ours. The developers would not normally include any floors with the #4 in them but now have decided it is not fair if some buildings include the 40s floors and some do not, so they are incuding them. However, the builders have drawn a line at the 40s and will not include 44. The floors deathy 0, deathy 1, deathy 2, deathy 3 are bad enough but deathy-death is out of the question. Who would live on a floor called deathy-death? So if you add 'em all up, our 55th floor is actually the deathy-7th floor!
Swimming at Sky Towers
The swimming pool at our apartment is amazing. It is a 24X20 meter pool.There is one lane roped off called the "circulate lane" where the obvious intention is that people do laps, but the Asians don't get the concept. At home in Canada there is a definite culture at the pool. Lane swimming is to be done in the lane roped off for that purpose. One swims to the other end on the right side then turns around and swims on the right side on the way back so you are swimming essentially in a circle. Not here! Swim up the middle and run into people on the way there then swim up the middle on the way back and run into the same people till you get disgusted because they are so stupid and then you get out of the lane. Or actually "you" means they because I persist being the lane is labelled properly and I am bound and determined to circulate if it kills me! One lady who we will call perimeter lady chooses to swim the perimeter of the pool. She swims around the pool many times and is in the "circulate lane" 1/4 of her round. This would not be permitted in Canada but the life guards here say nothing.
In fact, they also do nothing. They read the paper until the first person walks by, on their way to the pool. Then they scurry to the pool's edge and resume reading their paper and books. There are 3 of them and they do not look up from their activities they are participating in as they cluster under the life guard chair. They do not walk around the pool nor are they alerted when someone is coughing. They have a great job...when they do it which brings up the other obstacle to swimming.
There are weather men here too who like to predict the weather. Here they call a thunderstorm alert, and when they do there is a sign to announce it at the entrance to our building. It is a big deal obviously. When a thunderstorm is announced immediately the pool is closed-for hours at a time- and our poor lifeguards have nothing to do but wait on call till the pool opens again. As long as the thunderstorm warning is in effect, the pool is closed regardless if the sun is shining or not. There could be a complete lack of rain let alone thunder but the pool remains faithfully closed. My life is once again governed by the weathermen. Gaaah!
In fact, they also do nothing. They read the paper until the first person walks by, on their way to the pool. Then they scurry to the pool's edge and resume reading their paper and books. There are 3 of them and they do not look up from their activities they are participating in as they cluster under the life guard chair. They do not walk around the pool nor are they alerted when someone is coughing. They have a great job...when they do it which brings up the other obstacle to swimming.
There are weather men here too who like to predict the weather. Here they call a thunderstorm alert, and when they do there is a sign to announce it at the entrance to our building. It is a big deal obviously. When a thunderstorm is announced immediately the pool is closed-for hours at a time- and our poor lifeguards have nothing to do but wait on call till the pool opens again. As long as the thunderstorm warning is in effect, the pool is closed regardless if the sun is shining or not. There could be a complete lack of rain let alone thunder but the pool remains faithfully closed. My life is once again governed by the weathermen. Gaaah!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Flat F 55/Floor Sky Tower Sung Wong Toi Road, Kowloon City, Kowloon Hong Kong
Living on the 55th floor is freaky at first because it is like living on the calgary tower, but what a view. The landscape stretches to the mountains beyond Victoria Bay. Hong Kong is a densely populated city with equally dense forest surrounding the populated areas. In our apartment complex there are 6 towers #12356&7. The Chinese word for 4 is so close to the word for death that they do not include building 4 or floors that have 4 in them except they draw the line at the 40th - 49th floor. The developers are deciding that excluding all of the 4 floors is crazy however they do exclude floor death/death ie: 44. They do exclude 14, 24, 34 ,44,54. So all that to say this: We actually live on the 47th floor. But there are only 3 floors above us and it is a very amazing view.
Our complex is only a couple of years old. Our apartment was bought by its owner for 2.2 million HK$: that is about $330,000.00 CDN. There are shiny tile floors and marble counters in the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen is small but utilitarian. The main room has 2 Ikea chairs and a table with 4 chairs. There are 2 bedrooms with double beds in them. well let me explain. The rooms have window sills are 18 inches wide so we put the foot of the master bedroom bed against the sill and bought a mattress pad to extend over the sill and then Dirk's feet do not fall off the end of the bed. It extends the bed and then Dirk fits. Other apartments we looked at were cheaper and better set up but the beds ran across the 6' room and Dirk could not lay on them without hitting the wall. he is like a special needs kid- we modify the surroundings to suit his needs. Haha... anyway it is all working just grand. The other room had a single bed and we did the same thing. If you put the bed beside the window sill and extend a double mattress pad over the bed and part of the sill you make a new size- single becomes double. a set of double sheets and there you have it. All of the apartments have this window seat area- not sure why. Worked out marvelously with a little imagination.
There is a pool room, work out area, massage chairs, and common area for use for free. We pay a nominal fee $1.30-$2.00CDN for using the outdoor pool. It is apparently open May to October. It has a "Circulate Lane" which no-one circulates in. They just swim back and forth down the middle. Nice. The pool is surrounded by roman looking architecture, palm trees and spitting dolphins. It is resort like. Nice free lockers and showers.
The Sky Tower complex has door-persons/security and easy access to great shops and restaurant. The area has cheap food that tastes good and a daily outdoor market with fresh meat (will not buy) fresh fish (ditto) and live frogs for the buying (ditto). It is cheaper to eat out than to cook and so there will be minimal cooking in flat F 55.
There is air conditioning in each room with a remote control on, off and regulate function. The temperature outside is 35*C. There is much sweating that goes on here so the apartment kept cool and comfortable and clean is a sanctuary from the 8 million people around us.
Our complex is only a couple of years old. Our apartment was bought by its owner for 2.2 million HK$: that is about $330,000.00 CDN. There are shiny tile floors and marble counters in the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen is small but utilitarian. The main room has 2 Ikea chairs and a table with 4 chairs. There are 2 bedrooms with double beds in them. well let me explain. The rooms have window sills are 18 inches wide so we put the foot of the master bedroom bed against the sill and bought a mattress pad to extend over the sill and then Dirk's feet do not fall off the end of the bed. It extends the bed and then Dirk fits. Other apartments we looked at were cheaper and better set up but the beds ran across the 6' room and Dirk could not lay on them without hitting the wall. he is like a special needs kid- we modify the surroundings to suit his needs. Haha... anyway it is all working just grand. The other room had a single bed and we did the same thing. If you put the bed beside the window sill and extend a double mattress pad over the bed and part of the sill you make a new size- single becomes double. a set of double sheets and there you have it. All of the apartments have this window seat area- not sure why. Worked out marvelously with a little imagination.
There is a pool room, work out area, massage chairs, and common area for use for free. We pay a nominal fee $1.30-$2.00CDN for using the outdoor pool. It is apparently open May to October. It has a "Circulate Lane" which no-one circulates in. They just swim back and forth down the middle. Nice. The pool is surrounded by roman looking architecture, palm trees and spitting dolphins. It is resort like. Nice free lockers and showers.
The Sky Tower complex has door-persons/security and easy access to great shops and restaurant. The area has cheap food that tastes good and a daily outdoor market with fresh meat (will not buy) fresh fish (ditto) and live frogs for the buying (ditto). It is cheaper to eat out than to cook and so there will be minimal cooking in flat F 55.
There is air conditioning in each room with a remote control on, off and regulate function. The temperature outside is 35*C. There is much sweating that goes on here so the apartment kept cool and comfortable and clean is a sanctuary from the 8 million people around us.
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