Typhoons, Food, and one British monarch's property

Another week passed by in Hong Kong. I am getting involved more and more with my research project, but I still try to use my spare time to discover the city, the region, and the people around me.

Take last Sunday, for example. My friend Christy invited to me to have dim sum, a traditional family lunch, with her. Her family has dim sum every Sunday in the same restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui, the vibrant neighborhood of Kowloon. As a tourist, I would have never found that restaurant except by accident: the entrance is in a passageway, and one has to climb to the first floor of the building to find it. When Christy brought me there, the place was already full (seats on the order of 100 people). Most of her family was already there: her parents, brother, cousins, grandmother; her aunt and uncle, as well as one of their friends, joined us later.

There was no beginning to the meal: the waiters just started bringing plates with different dishes and put them on the turntable in the middle. I cannot describe, nor name the food that I had (I will do that for the dinner later that night). There must have been around 20 different dishes. I wanted to try all of them, but at some point I gave up and contented with tasting those that looked most delicious to me. It was a difficult choice. I remember that my favorite dish was the pineapple dough bbq pork buns, which just melted in my mouth. The food was accompanied with generous amounts of tea (another name for dim sum is "yum cha", meaning "tea drinking"). One surprising thing about the dim sum is that people read newspapers, and then discuss the news. Initially I thought that the purpose was for the family to "catch up", but in fact there is no need for that. Chinese families go through their daily lives toegther, so the Sunday meal can be just time to relax.

After the Dim Sum, Christy took me to Hong Kong Island and started acting as my tour guide. She is very good at it. We went straight to Central district, and I was told the names of all the major skyscrapers. Some of them I managed to remember. What was amazing was the number of Philippine people hanging out in the plaza's in between the buildings. I learned that most of them are domestic helpers in Hong Kong, and Sunday is their free day of the week. And, since they live with the families they work for, they spend their free time meeting their compatriots in the city.


We then took the tram to Victoria Peak, the famous lookout place on Hong Kong Island. The weather was great, and so were the views. I will let the photos speak for themselves (of course, I have more - but those you might have to suffer through once I get back).



To put a cherry (and some other fruit) on the top of the cake that was this Sunday, Christy invited me to a family dinner at her place. This time I did take a photo. Again, the sheer number of different dishes was amazing. There was mango sushi, two different kinds of fish, crab, japanese beef with japanese mushrooms, bbq pork, scallops, chicken, ribs, jelly fish, pomelo-peanut salad, and some vegetables whose names I had forgotten. Most of the dishes were accompanied by an appropriate sauce. And everything was amazing. I then had to learn the Cantonese word for "delicious", it will serve me well for weeks to come. Blinded by this feast, I almost did not realize how well I was received by the family. I really enjoyed their company, and I hope that they at least didn't mind mine. So far at least I have not made any wrong moves, since I was reinvited to their home. But more on that maybe some other time. Ah, and the cherry reference: following the meal we had fruit. Cherries, grapes, lychee, longan, mellon, grapefruit, and most importantly, the king of fruit: durian. Apparently durian you either love or hate. I lucked out.

So I have covered two out of the three items in the title. The first item has to do with the tropical storm that... well... stormed through the area on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday. It was a type 8 storm, meaning that all the restaurants on campus were closed as people were supposed to stay at home. There was a small moment of panic when I realized that I would have to live off of milk and cereal for the whole day. Luckily, the storm status was downgraded to 3 before noon, and few hours later, the canteens opened. Oh, and the storm? It was loud, windy, some branches fell off the trees. But, other than the fact that "I survived a type 8 typhoon", it was nothing to write about.

In the Busy City

It's been almost a full week that I am here at the Chinese University. I finally figured out the university's shuttle system: something of a feat considering the number of routes and the fact that I have yet to see a map showing where the bus stops actually are. I did it the old fashion way, by taking each of the different routes at least once. On one occasion, it took me almost an hour to go from my office back to the iHouse. To put this in perspective, I went from iHouse to Thim Sha Tsui in less than 45 minutes. To put this in even more perspective, a taxi would charge you $10 for the former route $10 (or not take you at all) and around $200 for the latter.

All of this was an introduction so I can say that I finally went to Hong Kong Island. But first, I met up with my friend Christy and her friends Benson and Eva in a Korean restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui (part of Kowloon just opposite of the Hong Kong Island). We had Korean grill,

 and the meal could not help but be amazing. The table had a built-in gas grill in the middle, so once given the ingredients (4 different kinds of meat), we did the rest. The meat was accompanied by various side dishes, including shrimp cake, black beans, kim chi, tofu, sweet potato, and some "specy" (not my typo) Korean vegetable and beef soup, which ended up not being so spicy after all (perhaps because I was panicking in front of the waitress while we were ordering). 

Following the dinner, we hopped in a cab, and went to the Hong Kong Island side. 

We went straight to Lan Kwai Fong, a central district famous for its nightlife. Lan Kwai Fong is essentially 2-3 blocks of streets open only to pedestrian traffic, brimming with bars and clubs, which are in their turn overflowing with loud customers having a good time. Unlike in most of Hong Kong, there it is not difficult to spot foreigners, as the ratio of locals to Gui-Los is about a half (it's close to 1 elsewhere). After having a drink in Balalaika's famous ice room (seriously, they even have an arm chair made of ice) we gathered enough courage to go back out into the heat, and try to find a place quiet enough for a conversation. This proved no easy task but eventually we settled in California, a jazz place with a live band. There, we enjoyed chatting for a while, trying to be louder than the music, getting to know each other and comparing different cultures. It turns out that the family values are mostly universal across nations, which is a nice thing to know.  

Realizing that the rest of my experience that night (Haagen Dazs ice-cream and a taxi ride back to CU) is not that interesting, I am tempted into making something of a conclusion. Being in Hong Kong (whether it is Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, or Central) is an amazing experience. The sheer number of people, the rush, the noise, the neons is enough to make one's head spin. However, having only had two meals and a few short walks in this city, I still can't say anything specific other than: you should definitely come and see this place for yourself. I hope to wonder around the city many more times, hopefully even today. Christy invited me to the traditional Sunday Dim Sum with her family tomorrow, and I look forward to that (and so do my taste buds). And this weekend, the Gods of rain decided to take a break.

Initial impressions of the New Territories

It is now 7:17 am, Hong Kong local time. It is early by all standards, especially mine. What is making it worse is that I have been awake for more than 4 hours now. Bad case of jet lag, hot and humid climate and a paper-thin mattress are all equally to blame. Since this morning I already caught up with two of my good friends through skype and msn, and I am already in my new office. Not working yet, obviously. In my defense, I have not had my coffee yet, and the cafeterias do not open for another 10 minutes. I wanted to make some coffee in my dorm, but I ran into some technical difficulties (no mugs).

It has been around a day and a half since I arrived to SAR. So far my experience is a mix of excitement, optimism, sleep deprivation and just plain fighting for every breath. It is an understatement to say that this is an amazing place unlike anything I have ever seen. I was describing the New Territories to my flat mate last night as a collection of lego blocks that someone threw into a mixture of jungle and Oregonian vegetation, and then connected those lego blocks by roads (by some miracle, all the blocks fell upright). 

I have a feeling as if people are not welcome at this place and that the nature is only giving us a lease (which is only appropriate, given the history of the place) until it reclaims its rights. The university itself is in better shape than the residential area though. Some of the buildings could be qualified as beautiful, and there is a definite consistency in the architecture (compare this to the monstrosity that is EPFL). To be fair, in both places concrete is king, but somehow here the forest comforts you into understanding that the green prevails over the gray.

Another similarity to Lausanne is the topology of the place. The university is built on steep hillsides that should make the capital of Vaud blush in inadequacy. It's more than 20 000 students move around in buses (free, clunky, ready to break down, but somehow don't) and shuttles (not so expensive, small, modern) since the distances and the climate do not always allow for an enjoyable walk. Speaking of which, I had my first one this morning. I was

 interested to see how long it would take me to reach my office in the old Ho Sin Hang

 Engineering Building from the iHouse Block 2. 15 minutes, give or take. And not only did I do the walk, I managed to enjoy it as well. To understand why I say this, you have to understand the climate here during the summer. Imagine that someone has taken a long hot shower in a bathroom that does not air well. And you enter this bathroom soon after the other person leaves it. The ensuing sentiment (also known as the sauna effect) is what I was feeling during the first day and a half here every time I stepped foot outside. Luckily, the temperature is still not too high (hovering below 30 degrees), so I will have time to get used to the weather before it gets bad. It will get worse (hotter) in a couple of days, but at least I will also be able to see the sun, something of a rarity here during the summer.

Anyway, I look forward to the following months, hopefully with more sleep. There are so many things to say about this place, and I hope to actually keep up the blogging this time (with pictures, perhaps). Don't get your hopes up though. Oh, and another thing. I will get to see the "real thing" tonight; my friend Christy will show me around the city. Maybe we will not go to the Hong Kong island, but at least I will go around Mong Kok.

Cheers from Gui-Lo who is going to get his jet fuel now