Week 1: August 25 to August 31.
So I kept saying I wasn't gonna start feeling excited about this trip until I was actually on the plane. Yep, indeed that was the case. The little butterflies did not start flitting until I hustled my carry-on luggage (curse you luggage weight regulations!) into the overhead bin and buckled in.
Thankfully, my flight was surprisingly pleasant, and the fourteen hours, well, flew by. I had an aisle seat, and shared the three-seat row with one other passenger, a quiet lady, who, though vegetarian, and laden with several bags, was far, far more pleasant than the crazy mittened militant vegetarian lady from my Shanghai flight from last year.
Singapore Airlines is awesome...I will even forgive them the sexist “Singapore Girl” campaign...hell, it is awesome BECAUSE of the Singapore girls! Despite my feminist posturing, when you're on a long haul flight, there is something to be said of smiling, gracious female flight attendants, all clad in lovely print shift dresses, all sporting sleek, shining hair, and all emanating an elusive, floral Singapore-girl fragrance, at your beck and call...As for the male attendants, they were “stewards”, who, though also helpful and pleasant, were less aesthetically pleasing, as they were burly dudes in navy blazers.
Singapore Airlines provides a nifty “Welcome Aboard” booklet that includes the full menu, including drinks, and snacks...the menu, by the way, is written by a genius who can make rubbery chicken and watery gray broccoli sound like a Michelin-star-worthy dish. They had three flavors of dishes - Western, Chinese, and Indian, which isn't too surprising, since there is a substantial Indian population in Singapore. The snacks also ran the same ethnic gamut, with packaged chips and crackers, as well as teriyaki buns and curry buns. The highlight on the menu was the never-ending supply of Singapore Slings...indeed Singapore Airlines, in addition to serving them for free on international flights, also sells a bottled mix. I had a teensy drink (to help me sleep, you see), and settled in for nap #1. I was awakened a couple hours later for dinner service. I opted for the Chinese dish, which turned out to be pan-fried sole and fried rice. Which tasted surprisingly good, especially washed down with another Singapore Sling (to help with digestion, of course), and a side of strawberry cheesecake.
I channel surfed for a little while, caught Kung Fu Panda, tried playing an interactive computer game (but failing miserably, as my hand-eye coordination was shot to hell), then dozed off. I slept for a few more hours, and then was awakened by the scent of warm bread. Snacktime! I helped myself to a coupla filled buns and snarfed them down while watching bits of Prince Caspian, Made of Honor, and Vantage Point.
Then more sleepy-time, until it was time for breakfast. I have to say...I felt a bit like a baby, in that my primary activities aboard the plane were sleeping and eating. I chose Chinese brekkie, which was fried noodles and jook. Comfort food.
And before I knew it, we were minutes away from Hong Kong! Whee! The plan arrived 30 minutes early, so I took my time freshening up (Floss floss floss; Brush brush brush. Masochistic dentist would be so proud.) before moving on to immigration and baggage claim. By the time I had collected my bags, it was only 7am. I spied a 7-11 in the arrivals hall, and stymied by the dilemma of how to navigate my luggage cart into the store, decided to do as the other patrons were doing: parking their carts, unattended, by the entrance while they shopped inside.
You guys don't know how difficult that was for me to do...I am a paranoid control freak who HATED leaving my cart unattended for the 90 seconds it took for me to make my purchase of water, snack, and phone SIM card. And yes, I kept looking over to check on my bags every ten seconds or so...I guess this was my first culture shock, this implicit trust and faith that someone will not steal your property if you're not physically touching it. I know Hong Kong is super-safe, but common sense is common sense...I still think what I did was careless, and I know I wouldn't have done it anywhere else outside of that specific situation.
I'm still reeling in disbelief by the fact that nobody made off with all of those unattended carts! Am I really that distrusting and cynical? I know that there is a certain “traveler's goodwill” that abounds in airports and transit hubs. I mean, I certainly wouldn't have left my bags unattended if I were say, in a shady area of town. And of course, the harmonious group mentality of the Chinese culture is also an influence in Hong Kong. I think so many factors play into this – the fundamental goodness in people, the cultural influence of Chinese group harmony, the goodwill of travelers...oh, and also the harsh punishment for thieves. That too.
But I digress. I had an hour to kill before I needed to hop on the bus that would take me to school. I had my snack, installed my SIM card, unlocked my phone, tested the phone, and pushed my cart back and forth along the length of the arrival hall just for the heck of it, (Actually, I was looking for the shuttle bus stop, and true to form, chose the long (or wrong) way!)
I waited until the last possible minute to leave the comfort of the air-conditioned arrivals hall, bracing myself for the harsh climate change. I didn't brace myself well enough, because the intense heat and humidity melted me into a sweaty mess in two minutes flat.
“Why did you leave the cool, cool, cool Bay Area for this sauna-like hell?!” The snippy part of me sniped. “You idiot! You could be lounging languidly on Mr. Sofa, Tivo Peanut in hand, happily watching “I Love Money” while snarfing down bacon bits. Instead, you are thousands miles away, on the verge of melting into an Old Navy clad pile of bacon-idolizing goo....” Then the shuttle arrived, and upon entering the air-conditioned cavern, Snippy Mable shut the hell up.
I hustled my bags onto the shuttle, obnoxiously blocked the entrance while I fished for busfare, then threw the bags into the luggage storage area near the front of the bus. Then I noticed another person going through what I had just gone through, only she was trying to speak English to the non-English-speaking bus driver. He started to panic, then remembered me, who he had correctly pegged as being a non-local who probably spoke English, and asked me to translate. Turns out the girl was heading for my school as well, and she just wanted to confirm she was on the right bus. I played grand facilitator, and all was resolved. The girl was from Germany, and spoke English with a very heavy accent. I wish I could say we had a lovely conversation, but instead, we both were preoccupied with not tossing our cookies as the shuttle driver whipped through his route with an admirable abandon and recklessness. On the plus side, we arrived at the Student Residence in 20 minutes. The bus stop was a 5 minute walk from the Residence check-in office, so it wasn't too bad...even with my 75 pounds worth of luggage.
The check-in process for me was surprisingly smooth...it helped that there was a much shorter line for post-graduates. I said goodbye to my German bus buddy, who was an undergraduate exchange student, and thus, was in the loooong undergraduate line.
But the joke was on me when I realized the post-graduate residence hall was up two flights of outdoor stairs, with no escalator or elevator in sight. Snippy Mable had just started in on me again as I slowly began to make my pitiful way up the stairs...then the Serendipity and Goodwill Gods smiled down at me, and this super nice security guard helped me carry by big bag up the stairs! I thanked the gods, and Mr. Nice Security Guard profusely.
Speaking of security, the residence halls are pretty well guarded. There is a guard's desk at every entrance, you need to swipe your ID card in order to get into the building, and security cameras abound on every floor's public areas. I finally made my way up to my room on the second floor (thankfully there are elevators) and promptly found that my key card did not work on the front door of my assigned flat. Bloody hell. I was sweaty from lugging my bags around (there was no air conditioning in the corridor or elevator) and now I had to lug my crap downstairs to hassle the guard about my stupid key not working?! Yeppers, the Gods of Serendipity and Goodwill have a sense of humor. No worries. Down in the lobby, after I had explained my situation (in Cantonese, of course...always best to speak to locals in their native language), the guard called for backup, and another guard accompanied me to my flat, used his master key card to open the main flat door, and stayed to make sure my key worked in my room door. It did, so we determined the main flat door was faulty. He promised to have that fixed by the end of the day, and hurried off to deal with another key-related emergency that was coming through on his walky-talky.
I had an hour before I was due on campus for enrollment, which gave me time to inspect my surroundings, and take a shower. It didn't look like the other rooms were occupied yet, though there were some toiletries in the shower. There was a small kitchen area with a fridge, microwave (thank the Lord), rice cooker, and sink. The corridor that ran parallel to the four single rooms housed an open double sink vanity, and off to the side, was the toilet room, and then a separate room for the shower. The toilet room was surprisingly roomy. The shower, on the other hand....not so much. It was tiny, slightly larger than a cruise ship's shower. By the way, there is no air conditioning in any of these shared areas. Great...
My room was quite spartan, with a twin bed, wardrobe, computer desk with wall shelving over it, and a window, Thankfully there is an air conditioner in the room, but is controlled by a smart meter that requires money to work. I had stupidly bypassed the air conditioning add-value booth at the check-in hall, so let's just say the clean fresh feeling from my shower evaporated very quickly.
I left the cool lobby of my residence hall to brave the heat and humidity once more...The sun was out, the sky was blue, and there were fluffy clouds dancing merrily. My only complaints? The heat and the humidity...the humidity is oppressive...It feels like it's choking your skin. I swiftly follow the signage directing me to the campus. There's a pleasant hillside trail from the student residence to the campus, skirting along a basketball court, a park, and a BBQ area. Quite nice, and the walk is roughly 10 minutes. I did it in five, fueled by the motto of “The faster you walk, the faster you'll get there, and the faster you'll get air conditioning.” Indeed. One note about the area where the student residence is located: it's pretty posh, located on a hill, surrounded by hiking trails and parks, and my residence hall is right across from a pricey yuppie condo estate called Mount Beacon.
Back to the campus: The campus is quite large, with several interconnected buildings. It is quite pleasantly laid out, and all the interiors are air conditioned. I made my way to the enrollment office, got my sweaty mug photographed for an ID card, and then hightailed it to the shopping center adjacent to campus, called Festival Walk, in search of provisions.
My friends, Hong Kong shopping centers put our malls to shame! Festival Walk is huuuuuge, impeccably pristine, and well-guarded with security personnel and mall ambassadors on every floor. It is a western-style mall, with primarily high-end, western-brand stores. It has an ice rink, movie theater, and an impressive food court. Most importantly, it is air conditioned, and boasts a large supermarket called Taste in its basement. I headed straight for that, and stocked up on some essentials like TP, water, detergent, snacks. Pricing was comparable or slightly (10-20%) cheaper than US prices, and the selection was a nice mix of local and imported brands. Taste sells a wide range of supermarket products, and also boasts a bakery and prepared foods counter. Taste is nice, but certainly doesn't hold a candle to my beloved Shanghai Carrefoure, which truly sold everything. And had the most awesome prepared foods counter I have ever seen. I miss you Carrefoure!
I reluctantly slogged my way back to the student residence. By the way, that pleasant hillside trail connecting the residence with the main campus? Not so pleasant when it's uphill, and you're schlepping a couple of shopping bags. It took me about 15 minutes to get back...I made a bee-line for the air conditioning add-value booth, and soon, I was in my room, AC cranked up full tilt as I made up my bed (I had brought a flat sheet and fleece blankie, but no pillow), then unceremoniously collapsed on it, using a woolly sweater as a pillow, promising to myself I would only sleep for a couple of hours.
Sixteen hours later...I woke up the next morning ravenous. I had a brief memory of meeting one of my flatmates when I got up for a bathroom visit...her name is Max, and she's a local student studying sociology.
I showered and popped out to scavenge for food. Thankfully there is a canteen, named, get this, Homey Kitchen, right across from my residence hall, and they were just opening up. So I got my first intro into student canteens: 1) You order and pay at one station, they give you two printed tickets of your order and order number; 2) You present one of the tickets to a kitchen staff member at another counter, then 3) You sit down and wait for your order to be called. I learned step #2 the hard way...I skipped it and waited at my table for a good 10 minutes, watching as other orders got called, before realizing I needed to give my ticket order to the kitchen staff...my bad.
The food at the canteen is your standard “tea cafe” fare...cheap rice and noodle dishes, sandwiches, coffee, milk tea. I adore tea cafe fare (even wrote a paper about it for my Culture and Society course at USF), so I was a happy camper...and even happier with the prices. For less than $3 US, you get a large rice plate or noodle plate, plus coffee, milk tea, or a mix of both, called a Mandarin Duck (yuern-yeurng). Breakfast is even cheaper: for about $1.25 US, you can get coffee/tea and an egg sammie, or swap out the sammie for jook or brekkie noodles. It's not high cuisine, but it's fast, filling, fresh, and cheap. I expect to eat here often during school days on my starving student budget, or until I get bored with the menu!
I spent the rest of the week attending various orientation presentations and the like, taking care of odds and ends like getting Internet access, applying for a bank account, etc, while also taking a few hours here and there to shop for more essentials and get a lay of the land. Of note was my delight at finding Ikea (and another huge shopping complex) only two metro stops away at Sha Tin. I got a pillow, hangers, and a coffee mug at Ikea....and enjoyed a cheap meal of Swedish hotdog (!) and soda for US $1. I also located a local supermarket called Wellcome about 10 minutes on foot from campus in a less posh residential complex. Peeps say the place is cheaper than Taste, and I guess it is, if only slightly...but for pure comfort, I decided to make Taste my main market. Wellcome is packed to the brim with stuff, haphazardly organized, with minuscule aisles that make it so difficult to navigate, especially with my Western-size bee-hind. Taste is much more comfy and organized...with aisles to accommodate carts and said bee-hind. Plus it's 5 minutes from campus through a covered, air-conditioned mall. All hail AC.
My top three favorite orientation events were, in ascending order: 3) Safety Talk by Hong Kong Police, where a police inspector who looked like he had stepped off the pages of GQ spoke English with the most charming Scottish accent, and gave a Powerpoint presentation that could be summed up in one phrase, courtesy of Mr. Mackie from South Park: “Drugs are bad, mmmkay.”; 2) Faculty of Business Orientation, where in addition to a video skit extolling the value of being a proactive student, and a game show to show the diversity of the different business departments, there was a stirring karaoke segment where all students rose to sing the 2008 business theme song 'My Way” (note: not the awesome Sid Vicious version. Or even the Sinatra version), but a Cantopop version of some Cantopop song. But the climax of this event? The paper airplanes! Yep, the orientation packet included a paper airplane on which students were supposed to write down their goals and aspirations, fold up the plane, then send it soaring into the heavens (well, the ceiling of the gym) while the 2008 theme song rose to a crescendo. What did I write on mine? “My goal is to not jam a spork into my eye every time I come into contact with something as lame as this. Bite me.” And now...my all time favorite orientation event...to date, of course...1) Welcoming Ceremony for New Students. Oh my, where to begin? There was an inspiring video extolling the awesomeness of university life, chock full of bright and eager young faces, slo-mo shots, trite sound bites, and generic power ballad music. There was the karaoke video of the school's anthem, with similar bright young faces, slo-mo shots, and whatnot. Then there were the talky speeches, telling us what a wonderful journey we were about to embark on...then came the robes. Yes, robes. Upon each seat in the auditorium was a tote bag (oooh, schwag!), in which contained a black polyester robe, as well as a mousepad printed with a student pledge, and a copy of the school anthem lyrics. So we were directed to don these robes, stand up. read the pledge in unison...and to cap it all off, sing the school anthem! Oh bloody hell. Someone kill me now. You will be proud to hear that I did all that was asked of me...even sang, albeit off-key, with only minimal eye-rolling. After the ceremony, I clawed my way out of the auditorium, gasping for breath, as I was choking on all that earnestness...
I am being unfair. These ceremonies are an important rite of passage, and for new students entering a new path, unmarred by cynicism and the realities of the working world, this is a touching way to begin their university adventure. But for me? Fodder, baby, all the way. Viva la Snark.
I capped off my week with a visit to the famed Ladies Street Market in Mongkok (about a 15 metro ride away). Some stalls had set prices and signage clearly stating 'No Bargaining”, which I admit to being intrigued by. That would certainly take away from the shopping experience, but at least it is more efficient and offers crappy bargainers like me a bit of peace of mind. I didn't have anything I had to buy...though I liked the fake Le SportSac pop print bags, as well as the John Varvatos Converse knockoffs...I was looking for a replacement for my beloved Hello Kitty stainless steel watch, which died on me a couple of years ago...alas, could not find a comparable replacement. I also needed a new pair of shades though, so I gamely bargained for a pair of over-sized ones that didn't have any flashy detailing like rhinestones and gaudy brand logos on them. Opening price was HK $80, and final sale price was HK$45. Not the cheapest I've paid for sunglasses (who can beat my US$4 Old Navy shades?!), but the sunglasses were serviceable designer knockoffs, and at least I didn't feel too swindled!
Mongkok is so crowded, just a sea of people...and it was hot and humid...not the most pleasant shopping experience, but there is this wonderful frenetic energy in the air...and that keeps you going, no matter how tired or sweaty you may be feeling.
I noticed in the sea of people, that there are two walking modes: rush rush rush, or slow sauntering while shopping. Rush rush rush is the dominant mode, of course. This translates to impatient people with the goal of getting somewhere fast. This impatience really stood out for me when I was descending a flight of stairs into the Mongkok metro station. A middle-aged lady, carrying an infant, with toddler in tow, was struggling to get a stroller down the stairs, one step at a time. People were just pushing past her, circumnavigating around her...it was a sad sight to see...and it made me so mad. I ended up helping the lady carry the stroller down the steps into the station. I don't want to make it seem like people here are heartless and uncaring...far from it. I've seen people get up on buses and trains to offer their seats to elderly and pregnant women, etc. I just think people here are so focused...so very in-tune with the fast pace of Hong Kong, that their blinders shade them from other things sometimes.
On a pedestrian street in Mongkok, I ran across a crowd of peeps in front of a music store, many holding cameras and cell phone cams in the air...and nosy celebra-whore that I am, I inquired as to what the ado was about. Evidently Ah Sa, or Charlene from the Cantopop girl group Twins, was doing a signing to promote a new solo album. I caught a glimpse of her, snapped a picture of her arm and the back of someone's head, and felt I had done my celebra-hound duty. I wasn't a fan of hers, but it was amusing and serendipitous to see Hong Kong fan girls and boys in action.
I had another reason for visiting Mongkok: I wanted to buy tickets for the Paralympic Equestrian Events, which were taking place in Hong Kong. I was bummed that I missed Olympic fever in HK (I was happily drowning in Singapore Slings on a plane during the closing ceremony.), so I figured I could get a feel for the pomp and circumstance from the Paralympic events. The tickets were sold at the Mongkok branch of the China Travel Service, which is the official travel agency for China. You could get visas, book travel to anywhere, buy tickets for attractions, book tours, etc, all in one place. I loved that idea...they were also quite organized...with automated kiosks that helped you figure out which section you needed to be in, and which then printed out a ticket with a number on it. You would wait in the designated area, and the electronic board would flash your number and which window you should report to. Tickets to the equestrian events were cheap, about US $5. I got tickets for a couple of events that didn't conflict with my class schedule.
Speaking of my class schedule, I was semi-happy to see that all of my classes were evening classes, with one Saturday afternoon class. This was due to the fact that most postgraduate programs are scheduled this way to accommodate students who also work during the day. While I'm not thrilled that my evening sightseeing and excursions will be cut short, I do like the fact that I can sleep in and do some daytime sightseeing. So I'm ok with my class schedule...for now. I'm sure I'll find something to snark about the schedule in due time.
My other highlight of the week was attending a musical based on the Jules Verne book Around the World in 80 Days, which is a favorite of mine. The performance was held at the Hong Kong Performing Arts Academy, which has many famous alumni, including Chow Yun-Fat. The theater was large, and quite lovely. The show had wonderful sets...I loved the way they manipulated the one main set piece into different things – trains, boats, building facades. There was even a hot air balloon rig that went around the stage. As for the show itself...not the greatest. I wasn't super happy with the adaptation...the music wasn't great, very generic “Broadway”-esque sounding tunes...and it was hard to hear what the performers were singing. (The show was in English, and the performers were primarily Caucasian or native English speakers). At times, I had to read the Chinese captioning to try to figure out what they were singing about! But the performers and dancers were energetic, and had great showmanship. The musical was an enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours, and a nice way to end the week.
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SF Street Food Fest 2011
13 years ago
