Habs vs. Leafs, even in the PRC!

I took this pic at the HK Museum of History. There was a small temporary exhibit on China's propaganda posters. This one jumped out:

You can't read the small description but it says:
Great Game of Ice Hockey, oil painting by Yangzu Lao. This image depicts the great game of hockey and the hopes of a great nation in its healthy youth. It shows the diversity of activities for young people in 1950's PRC, and that the Montreal Canadiens can kick Toronto Leafs ass, even in China. Go Habs Go!

It's all true, I swear!

ZA

The Future of Tomorrow, TODAY in HK!

ZA

This can't be right, can it?

Well, I figured some of you would get a kick out of this pic. Politically correct? Absolutely not. Does it really matter? Absolutely not. Going on my now 5th day in HK, I'm not quite sure what I think about this city/SAR. My relationship with this beautiful/ugly city is two-fold. At times HK takes my breath away, a la Berlin song. At other times, I just shake my head and think, that ain't right! Seriously.


For instance, yesterday, Jennie and I were ridding the tram (which has become our favourite mode of transportation, at a mere HK$2.00 per ride, or about CND$ 0.25) and enjoying the morning bustle of Central, with all the little worker bees, thousands of them, running off to their jobs. Then, the tram came to a stop, as it usually does at cross-walks. But this stop was of a different kind. And believe me, I wish I had my camera ready for this one. I check out in front from our second-level seat, only to see some dude hanging his head outside his buddy's BMW, hurling last night's party sauce. And not just the slight evacuation. We're talking projectile.


What's the point of me telling you this? Well, it was funny as hell, gross, frustrating (we seriously missed two green lights cause the buddy didn't want to drive away with his friend puking off the side of his nice BMW 5 Series, and thus dirty his cute paint job), and all out confusing. Just like my experiences in HK. For each cool moment, I've had just as many "serenity now" moments. And not over the course of several hours. We're talking in the same instance! Take my day trip to Lamma Island yesterday, a short ferry ride away from HK Island. This was to be a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. No cars. Fishing villages. Beaches. You know it!

Pretty cool. Jennie and I stop for some awesome dumplings for breakfast. This is nice!

This was what I was looking for! So we finish eating, keep walking along the village, making our way through the trail. We see some cute dogs (one looked like a cross between a Rottweiler and my dog Duncan, and Basset Hound). Then, as we cross a clearing near one of the mountains, some of the smoke stacks from the HUGE power station appear. This was my take on it. For another check out Jennie's blog: http://footprintsinasia.blogspot.com/



Happy times. I guess even sleepy fishing villages, with no cars, need their multi million mega-ton producing coal generators.


Whatever the confusion/frustration with the paradox of the beautiful Lamma Island scenery with the HUGE eye-sore, it was worth it for the awesome meal at the end of the hike! What made it even better was that is was sold to us by a very enthusiastic restaurant owner who literally jumped at us and told us all about his specials for us. He obviously knows the ABC of sales: Always Be Closing. And what a close he did. At the end of his routine, as we walked away, he gave Jennie and me a wink, and exclaimed in a rather high pitched voice: "You give me money, I give you food!"


Hehehe, I love it.



ZA

2 Days in Hong Kong: Damn you Road sign God!!!!

Hello again,

You may remember that last time you read about this trip, I was still in St-Bruno, chilling in my parents' back yard, awaiting my first of many flights on this four month epic trip I have dubbed "Monkey Time". Well today, only a couple of days later, I find myself writing this post atop Victoria Peak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Peak), one of the main summits on Hong Kong Island. I'm in the ultra touristy and cheezy summit Peak Tower, where one can enjoy, among other things: Burger King, BubbaGump shrimp restaurant (yes, from the movie) or tons of high end boutiques, etc. Very odd indeed. But it is, what it is. I've come to expect the unexpected in Hong Kong.

For instance, our first night here, after the actually really good 16 hour flight on Continental (seriously, if you have to be on a plane that long, I can't imagine it being any better than Continental's flight was...hopefully someone at Continental reads this and gives me free flights, so I can post some more about HOW AWESOME FLYING ON CONTINENTAL AIRLINES IS! FOR GOOD TIMES, MAKE IT CONTINENTAL TIMES!

Anyways, after landing, Jennie and I headed for dt HK and walked around the sea of neon lights and really fast walking/talking people all over the street. The goal: find our hostel. The challenge: no signage. Whatsoever. Luckily, some really nice shopgirls in a high end clothing store, dressed up like little school girls, and their clients, helped us find our way and even called the hostel for us. How nice!

Our first day was spent walking around, getting our bearings, and zig-zagging from side to the other of the free way system. Because in my foolishness, I thought that walking along the harbour would be scenic. WRAONG! But anyways, we made it to city hall, 2 hours later and had some awesome dim sum. Then we walked up the city a bit towards the botanical and zoological gardens. This was a really chill (and FREE) park with quite a few birds and gardens, and... MONKEYS. Oh yes, your humble scribe only needed one day to encounter the monkeys and apes he sought so dearly. Well, mission accomplished. Jennie and I had the pleasure of enjoying some macaques, lemures, samure monkeys, and the highlight, some huge Orangutans. Especially when one female decided to climb for what we thought would be some acrobatic feats, only to surprise us with a down pour of supreme urination. Thank you female orangutan, for the laughs!

We also checked out some cool aviaries and some more chilled out Hong Kong Park scenery in the middle of the hectic scene that is this crazy city.

And last night, Jennie and I also watched the latest Jackie Chan and Jet Li gōngfū (kung fu) movie called Forbidden Kingdom. A little cheezy, but cool to see a kung fu movie in the land of Bruce Lee. Speaking of which, we got our picture taken with a wax figure of the legendary martial artist.
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

Well, I have far exceeded my 15 minute time limit on this computer, so I bid you a fond farewell until my next post.

Gambei!
ZA

This time, I will try to add posts... more than thrice

Greetings Friends, Romans, Countrymen,

If you are reading this, it is because you are my friend.  Or perhaps a nemesis.  Either way, you are probably curious to see what I'm up to.  Well, hopefully this site will serve you well in this undertaking (hopefully better than my European blog, which lasted a grand total of 3 posts-- but what masterful posts those were!).  Jennie and I are leaving tomorrow morning from Montreal at 9:30 AM.  By 6:30 PM Hong Kong time...I will be in Hong Kong.  Holy crap!