Let's Have a Safe Lunar Year

Only one week left in the Year of the Rat. My only regret is that I didn't know it was the Rat year until a few days ago--and I was born in a Rat year. Now I have to wait until 2020 for another Rat. I also saw a rat on the street the other day. It was likely an omen.

I'm fascinated by the lion and dragon dancing and can't wait to see the real thing next week. At the ridiculously huge mall near my flat, they've been hosting lion and dragon costume maker people.

It starts with bamboo strands, bent and tied in the desired shape:

A finished dragon tail:

And finished hand-painted/decorated dragon head:

We went to the good old JUMBO Floating Restaurant in Aberdeen.

This Indonesian guy wanted to take pictures with us gweilos. I tried the only Indonesian phrase I know on him (slahmat mahlahn), but he didn't seem too impressed. Probably because it means 'good morning' and this was after 8:00 at night.



Through the magic and power of the interwebs, I discovered that an old classmate of mine from the Salem Elementary years was going to be in Hong Kong. I hadn't seen Kara Engebrecht in 12 years--and we met up twice during her time in HK.

She's teaching English in Shijiazhuang, a small town of 9 million people about a 2 hour train ride from Beijing. I'd like to try to make it up there sometime before she goes back to the US.

Here we are at the Happy Valley horse race, a fortnightly event, drawing thousands of people, mostly disgruntled gamblers:

I preferred posing with the face of the horse. James preferred the other end. notice the sly nose-pick (of the horse)

More to come later on...it's nice having someone here to "show around" even though I'm not a good tour-guide. Keeps HK fresh...there's more to it than dumplings, Mao propaganda, and being a penguin.

Hot Tea

I have posted a massive amount of pictures because I haven't much time to write anything of substance, wit, insight, or value. A friend from the old days, James, is with me in Hong Kong right now, during his break from teaching chemistry in India. We went to the Hong Kong Science Museum. James may look a bit different:

We went on a hike with a couple of my friends from here and 4 university students from Nanjing. It was my first time to talk to people from mainland China. It was also my first monkey experience:

The hike was to a place with trenches and bunkers used by British troops in WWII:



We refuse to live by the rules:

The group, minus 3:

We went to Macau, the former Portuguese colony. They cut a jerky-type meat from the larger slabs. You are then encouraged to purchase the meat:

This lady makes cookie-ish, waffle-ish delights:

The Macau Tower. 10th tallest free-standing structure IN THE WORLD! :

You can also bungee jump off the tower. It is the longest jump IN THE WORLD! : The group above, sitting on the lips in front of the Chinese New Year decorations (Year of the Ox is coming up): Angel, Vera, James, back: Kara, Joan, me.

I guess they had some sort of Italian festival. Both towers are completely covered in gold/silver pasta:

Everyone is really excited about the New Year (Jan 26-28, this year):

This is Bruce Lee:

And this is James and I at the top of the Peak:

Feats of Strength

Contrary to wide-spread rumors, promoted primarily by my grandma, I have not been on such a bed of affliction that I could not even write a blog entry. I am humbled that people would assume it would take an abject illness to keep me from this, but in reality, I have just been exceptionally apathetic about it of late.

Fortunately for my devoted public, I am currently attempting to beat jet lag by staying up all night before my flight in the morning. I have nothing better to do.

This weblog is illustrated...

Some of us from Dramatic English went out for a "Christmas Buffet". It's apparently a popular thing to do. Here's my chromatic meal:

People were there, too:

l-r is Raymond (former DE employee and the most British person I've ever met in HK), Cloris, Joan, Kazumi, Vera, Logan, Angel. Tim's on the floor and I'm in the back with the new guy. When I asked Vera how to spell the new guy's English name, she said "h-e-m-a-n" and I said something about Castle Grayskull. As it turns out, his name is actually Henman. And he was almost epic.

This is typical to celebrate a birthday:

That's a giant lotus bun with fairly sophisticated pyrotechnics jabbed into it. I took this as the flames were dying out. Only in China.

Here's a shot from a show we did a few days ago. Those smiles...it's why I love my job.

Just to alleviate any confusion, that's Tim in the picture, not me.

I'll be in the US between Dec 20 and Jan 1. I won't have a phone and will rarely have Internet access--so good luck finding me!

A Pictoral Review

My Swedish friend doing a street show--that's a real knife in the air; and she's standing on two men from the audience:As I'm sure everyone is aware, Cantonese Opera Day was last week. The costumes and make-up are truly understated:I forced Hong Kong to celebrate Thanksgiving with me. Since ovens are rare commodities, our meal was less traditional, featuring puppy chow and a cheeseball. I'd take these people over a turkey any day:Mona from the studio got married. It was extremely different from any wedding I've ever attended. I especially enjoyed the groom's sparkly jacket. Here's a picture of some Dramatic English people with the bride and groom. Notice how I'm awkwardly holding my gift--completely unaware that people don't give gifts at weddings here. And my faux-pas sphere continues to envelope me. And now for some photos for which you have all been waiting with bated breath. You will see what I actually do for work! (It's not all juggling and weddings). First, a picture of a recent audience. We usually perform to around 1,000 students per show:

On stage as the penguin, just realizing that I am on a game show called "You Just Killed Another Penguin." Not sure why it looks like I'm shouting; the Penguin is silent:

To demonstrate the problem of over-fishing, Eric and I are sadistic fishers/canners who scour the ocean and chop up anything that they catch in their net. We catch Tim every show... :Then we lighten things up with a kickline...?...I promise the show makes sense:A few days ago, we had a photo shoot for new publicity projects. I just kept thinking, "What would Tyra Banks tell me to do?" This first one is I as Smogman. We have a smoke machine in the show. Smogman shows how bad air pollution is: Eric and I are always happy to juxtapose the disturbing blood-stained aprons:The Penguin almost always has this ridiculously happy face:
We also did shots for the Shakespeare show...this is Tim as Demetrius and I as Hermia, resisting his advances a la "Midsummer": To be or not to be...:
fter a busy last few weeks, the TIE team has a bit of a break as our next show is Dec. 16. We're working on scripting a show about Internet piracy, fixing props that the kids break, and helping make new props for the student shows. For example, I spent an entire day cutting out and stuffing monkey ears and tails for "Jungle Book." All in a day's work...

one if by land

I've had Longfellow's Paul Revere poem running through my head as of late because several US Marine Corps ships docked here in Hong Kong this weekend. I keep thinking "The Americans are coming! Hang up the lanterns--two if by sea!" My "brethren" as the Brits say, are easy to spot with their identical haircuts and assault packs. I even had the opportunity to assist 4 dashing Marines find a train. Service to my country--it's what I do.

In my 3 most recent days off, I binged and did 3 hikes. The first one was close to home on the Wilson Trail. I like to consider this my backyard:


It's a fairly winding path through these peaks, but fortunately, it is well-marked:

In China, I'm a giant:
The next day, I went to Shek O, the southeastern most part of Hong Kong Island. As per usual for a Monday by the coastline, I saw many brides:

The beach at Shek O is usually crowded, but since people think it's winter, it was nearly empty. When I went for a swim (South China Sea), there was only one other guy out there. I think he was only wearing a Speedo, so I kept a safe distance. I discovered that it's difficult to take photos at a beach without feeling a bit creepy:

In the Shek O village, I found another Tin Hau (Buddhist) Temple:

And this. Let's pause for a moment to admire its subtlety:

After I took the above photo, I walked by the monstrosity and saw many "No Photo" signs attached to it. If you don't want people to take pictures of your house, maybe you could try not painting it bright orange.

During the Shek O hike, the Hong Kong government warned me:

Indeed, I was ware of Big Wave the entire time I was in Shek O.

Finally, Hike 3. Karen heard about an abandoned Hakka fishing village in far north Hong Kong. Hakka means "guest people." Hakka were/are nomadic people. They still exist and live in many different places and countries, but speak a common dialect. For some unknown reason, a group of Hakka suddenly uprooted from a village near Tai Po and left everything behind. Here we are, mid-hike, in high spirits:

After only a few minor detours, we found the village, guarded only by a scary dog:

When Karen said "abandoned fishing village," I assumed she meant it was abandoned hundreds of years ago. Nay. These people probably left during the Reagan administration, though I doubt there is a connection. I saw the expected fishing gear, but also photo albums, cans of food in the refrigerator, clothes, cookware...even an old Playboy-ish magazine in one house. It was all absolutely and amazingly bizarre.