Monday, August 24, 2009

Honkers, PART DEUX!















Not my best and brightest write up, but it gives you the highlights:


After a quick coffee on Sunday morning the group was off with maps in tow. We first headed towards the convention centre. Deb found a great place to go for Dim Sum in travel book and it was just blocks from the hotel. Honkers was hot and humid, even warmer than in Cebu. We trekked around the bay and found an entrance to my first Hong Kong dim sum experience.

Upon entering we were all surprised to be the only ones in the restaurant. It was already eleven o clock and I thought that on a Sunday the place would be hopping. Nonetheless, we sat at a large circular table and waited for the carts to start appearing. To my surprise, this particular restaurant did not utilize the familiar a la cart technique which I was used to back home. Instead we had to rely on menus; a Dim Sum practice which was not completely foreign to me. I was, however, surprised that a fair number of my group were Dim Sum virgins. This meant I was responsible for a majority of the ordering; the group was in good hands.

The food was good but the waves of food were rather sparse. I certainly was not disappointed with the quality, but I could easily compare it to some of my favorite haunts in Edmonton. BBQ port buns, dumpling, chicken feet, etc…the usual suspects were all accounted for. One special find was a mini soup dumpling. It was fun and tasty but I completely burnt the top of my mouth.

Afterwards, we did a bit of shopping on the waterfront and decided we would attempt to walk to a rail tram which would take us to “the peak”. The walk looked easy enough. I mean, it was only a few inches on the tourist map.

WRONG! I lost about 10 pounds on that walk alone. Combine the muggy heat, me wearing a black shirt, no water, an aching neck, with hot pavement and you get one crabby SOB. After about an hour of walking I gave up completely. I did not quite throw a hissy fit but I’m still not proud of my reaction to my present circumstance. I simply told the group that I would meet them back at the hotel. I was tired, delirious from the heat, in pain, and thought, “isn’t this my vacation”? I was just looking for the next available cab and I was out.

Typically, at this time I was only about 50 feet from our destination. Slightly embarrassed I told the group that I would continue, but I would NEVER admit to enjoying the view. ;)

We went up the tram which was on quite and angle and reached the peak. It housed a building with about 6-8 flights of escalators with loads of shops and restaurants. The view was stunning, albeit a bit hazy. Char asked me if I was glad that I kept going. Me being stubborn, I merely advised that it was very nice but I would still never admit to having a good time. By this time air conditioning and about 2 litres of water assisted in bringing back from the edges of sanity, but it also dried me off into a big salty mess. Far from a shower or change of clothes there was no other course of action open to me. BEER TIME!

After a few beers I did feel better, although still salty. The team convinced me that instead of heading to the hotel for a shower we might as well make our way to Kowloon. I agreed and the group split in half to get into taxis. One group arrived at the destination; my group. The other group…well…we waited for about 20 minutes and decided to hop on a fairy (I think some are still a little bitter about this).

Unbeknownst to us there was an anime festival in town. We quickly figured this out as we entered the boat and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by people wearing hats or carrying fake samurai swords. We even saw a few people in cosplay (a preview for Japan, I guess). While we were on the boat, I noticed that the second group pulled up to the ferry port. They were too late; we were on the way but we made sure to wait for them on the other side.

We had a few hours to kill before it got dark so we headed over to the bay mall; a large shopping centre with many international stores. Tyler and I lasted about 10 minutes in the crowd before heading up to the patio for a beverage. Afterwards, all of the rest of them joined us for a drink as the sun went down.

Just before 8pm we headed to the waterfront of Kowloon to watch the light show. All of the large skyscrapers on Hong Kong island had elaborate lights which were turned on at 8pm. The city worked with the owners of these buildings to sync the lights into a 20 minute show every night. It was like neon Christmas 3099. I loved the entire package…the cheesy synth music, the brightly lit buildings, the patterns of light, the vacant expression on the crowd’s faces as everyone frantically took pictures.

After the show, we all went to Temple Street Night Market. This was my kind of place. A narrow street packed with people, stalls and venders. The constant shouting by the patrons in Cantonese, the shop keeps beckoning in broken English, the washing hanging out of windows like flags. As you walked down the congested road your senses were accosted by the bright colors and the smell of roasted animal bits in the air.

By now I had sharpened my bartering skills and was ready to put them to the test. Again, the group took two cabs and again, we got separated. Apparently both groups got dropped off at either sides of the market so we conveniently met back up in the middle. After some shopping a few of us sat down for, yet again, a bit of beer before taking the last ferry back to Hong Kong.

After an entire day and evening walking and gawking we finally arrived back at the hotel. Although we were tired, we were all determined to go out even on Sunday night. I stopped into a 7/11 and picked up a random energy drink which came in a small vial and promised to enrich me with Amino Acids. I don’t know what was in it but it kept me buzzing for the rest of the night. We went down the main strip of bars in Wan Chai and went into The Dog House. It was pretty quiet but we didn’t mind. It gets kind of blurry from there.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Fun in Hong Kong Part 1...




I've had a few weeks to collect my thoughts so here we go.


Honkers was absolutely fantastic. A bunch of us needed a bit of a vacay from work and the August long weekend (the first long weekend we've had) was the perfect opportunity. I did a bit of organizing to get the trip booked and then I stepped back. I told the rest of them I was fine with anything as long as I got my Dim Sum.

The party started right on the plane heading out of Cebu. We all worked our night shifts and then headed to the airport. The security was unsurprisingly lax in the local airport. We all quickly shifted through the usual metal detectors and x-ray machines before settling into a smokey airport bar for a few more bottles of Red Horse for the road. Once our brains were provided a bit more lubrication we were all ready to fly.

A few hours, a few comp drinks, the chicken (not the fish), and a lot of immature giggling and joking later we all arrived safely in HK. No issues as our accommodation also supplied us with free transit to our hotel. We never really got a great view of the actual city when we spent the night a few months ago. I wasn't prepare for the amazing sights as the bus drove through Kowloon and onto Wan Chai. Rolling lush green hills, bridges that seemed to expand on forever, the sharp angled architecture, streets upon streets of people, shops, and shenanigans. And people were WALKING; something that seems like a foreign concept for the foreigners in Cebu. We arrived at the hotel and planned our next move.

For those who don't know, Wan Chai used to be the red light district back in the 60's. Although some (but not all) of the sleaze has disappeared the neon signs have remained. The view from my hotel room was a perfect preview and pump up for the night again. No time for napping; my plan was obvious: beer, walk, eat, gawk.The group rallied in the lobby and a few maps were looked at but it didn't really matter. We all spilled outside and I said, "hey, let's go that way and look for food". For some reason, I suspect people thought I had an idea where I was going. At the very least I think that some thought I would take charge of this Motley Crew but this was not the case. Like i said before, my only expectation was to get Dim Sum later in the weekend. I was only in the mind set to walk (I cannot stress enough how much I have missed this activity in Cebu) and take in everything laid before me.

Neon signs were everywhere. Even at dusk, all of the shops were buzzing with activity. I could see that the group was hungry, but I wasn't up to making decisions. Most of us has been up for over 24 hours and with empty stomachs grumbling we were all getting a little crabby. We continued to walk past restaurants with Chinese only menus until we inadvertently stumbled into Causeway Bay.

Causeway Bay is a large shopping area, both indoor and outdoor. Words cannot really do it justice but try and think of outdoor advertisements which stretch up stories high to a group of flood lights. I think Karla said it best when she mentioned that it felt like she was inside.

We all quickly turned a corner and Deborah led the way past the giant television display and into a nearby mall. The mall seemed like organized chaos; a mess of twinkling lights and escalators which seemed to go in every direction. Somehow we made it to a noodle house, took a number and made it in. I'm not sure if the restaurant knew what they were getting themselves into when they took in seven tired, silly, non-Cantonese speaking gwai-lo but they sure got their money's worth!

They quickly moved us into a private room with a large table and lazy-susan, probably to separate the insanity from the rest of the establishment. The place looked pretty good:

filled with locals and not a lot of white people...CHECK!
menus with some English and pictures...CHECK!
dude kneading fresh noodles in plain view...CHECK!
old waitresses who spoke about as much English as I do Cantonese...CHECK!


We must have been perceived as the typical ignorant "Americans" but I don't think any of us cared. We had at least one waitress lose patience with us enough to turn her head away in disgust (nothing we did, just a language barrier and a few of us acting a little silly). The manager then quickly came in and took our orders patiently and with courtesy. What can I say; the beers were cold, my soup broth was spicy, the noodles were fresh and firm, the brisket was tender. This is known as Evan's "happy place".

The rest of the evening included a lot more walking and staring. We even went and went past some of the bars and hostess clubs on the main strip. We all stayed pretty tame, because tomorrow was going to be a packed day. It was my day for dim sum, after all...

to be continued...

Monday, August 3, 2009

A couple Cebu stories - Reading Discretion is Advised

I'm told I don't post enough so here I go...here's a couple random stories from Cebu which I wrote on the way to to Hong Kong . Bosses and parents may not wish to read on as the following blog contains real stories featuring real people (but I know some of you will anyways). You have been warned..


Shocking Finds on Fashion Avenue

When Kat got here she said that she found an awesome place to shop at the local mall. Awesome, of course, means lots of fake clothes at silly cheap prices.

Fashion Avenue seems to be less of a store and more of a random collection of stalls. Almost like a flea market full of club clothes, sequend purses, disco balls, and discount wedding rings. To say the least, I enjoyed the cluttered mayhem.

About 90-95% of the place was women's clothing; filled to the brim with Wilter scarves and Louise Vuitton handbags. The men's section was small but silly with Afliction shirts (note the spelling) and designer LV hats with upside down logos.

As I got lost in the murky merchandise I did find a few shirts which I wanted to try on. For the price (both less than 10 Canadian) it was a snap; but I did not trust the sizes. Shirts in the Philipinnes are more fickle than in Europe and I wasn't about to buy 2 carwash rags (I don't own a car anyways). I quick jaunt to the change room was all I needed to secure my purchase of kontraband. One of the few men's fashion outlets seemed to have the necessary facilities so I tempted fate and entered.

It seemed like a normal change room. Sure, it was thrown together out of random sheets and contained numerous boxes in the corners but there was a full sized mirror to my right which ensured I made the right choice.

Then i turned to the left.

I was greeted by a full sized glass case full of rubber genetalia. You name it and they had it.

So the shirt fit, I left the room, made my purchase (the shirt, you sicko) and then promptly left the store.

I met Tyler outside of Fashion Avenue and told him all about my experience. He returned the favor (another story to match mine, sicko) with one of his own including him in the public washroom surrounded my locals who constantly stared at him as he used the facilities. I instantly felt better about my own circumstance and we headed out to the patio for beers.

Theivery at Bubbles

While staying at the local hotel we all utilize a local laundramat to get our clothes clean without paying hotel prices. Blue Bubbles is situated right down the street from our hotel and offers quick and clean service with little issue. That is, unless you are me and have to put up with the constant flirtation from one of the employees (picture a female who seems to undress you with her laugh; trust me its not as great as it sounds). But this story isn't about me, it's about Tyler.

Being the youngest of the group, a lot of the ladies here like to tease Tyler. One of his many lifestyle choices which gets a quip from time to time is his choice of socks. The man enjoys his white ankle socks. Not that I can blame him (I'm wearing a pair as I'm typing this) but the ladies like to tease him on his "un-masculine" choice in foot covers. Let's face it though; it's way to hot here to put on the warm woolies.

Teasing aside, Tyler mentioned that he had quite a rapport with the ladies at Bubbles. He would arrive every week and would offer light conversation while dropping off his usual bag full of his work and casuals. That is, until, he noticed his return bag was a little lighter.

Tyler arrived in Cebu with eight pairs of white ankle socks. Eight gloious pairs of short shoe comforters. In a few short weeks he was down to four. He was confounded by the experience at first but didn't think much of it. That is, until, he next returned to the laundramat.

Upon arrival Tyler noticed that none of the ladies provided the same level of conversation he was used to. He also took note of the general lack of eye contact. His eyes tracked down and he quickly found out why.

All the ladies were wearing white ankle socks.

What was he to do? Would he accuse them of theft under four pairs? Was such a statment worth ruining an otherwise happy business transaction? Would he take stand and put up with hotel service for the rest of his stay?

The short answer is no. He merely continued his usual routine and the criminal act remained unjudged and unavenged. For now on, though, he limits his sock intake to one pair at a time.*

*Alright, Deb and I made that last part up, but it's funny and we firmly believe this policy should be instated*

I guess the moral of this store is don't put all your socks in one load or ensure your mom labels your socks as well as your underwear.