March on

Last weekend, I took a walk/hike through some areas of HK near the boarder with China that are only recently opened to the public, Sha Tau Kok. Before last month, only villagers who lived up there could come and go. It was all for boundary protection. Anyway, I saw some old ancestral homes and the oddest part of the area was the fact that derelict abandoned homes and temples are steps away from brand new buildings going up with modern cars of commuters parked out front. Crazy.

My favorite part would have been the old WWII era bunkers from the British Army. They've just been left in the hills around the boarder. These were apparently defense against the Japanese coming in through China.



This an old ancestral home. I'm not sure how old, but it was completely abandoned.



The particular group of people I went hiking with (I was invited by some friends to join their church group that goes on these hikes regularly) went out to dinner afterward and I tried my first taste of feet. Here I am eating a duck foot. It didn't taste bad at all, but there's not enough to it. It's a lot of work for some skin and collagen...



This past weekend I did a little more celebrating. We had another night out with the airport team, expats and locals. It was a ton of fun. Then yesterday I celebrated St. Patrick's day by having lunch and few Guinnesses at an Irish Pub and then going to a friend's rooftop bbq. I briefly excused myself from the party to video check in with friends in NYC, Boston, and Israel. Guys, it was great to hear from you! We ended the night by going to watch rugby. Wales won, which I guess was what most of the British guys wanted. All in all it was a fun weekend! Just what the doctor ordered.

Here are more pics from Sha Tau Kok if you're interested. The weather was kind of gray, but I like some the shots.

I'll leave you with this image, live the dream!

First Adventure

So here I am. Day two in Hong Kong. Yesterday's adventure was one for ethernet cable. I hadn't thought about not having wifi and that I'd need to find a store before I even had the internet to e-mail my family and loved ones to tell them that I made it.

So with no store for this kind of thing nearby, I set off on foot.
I figured since it was nice and warm out, that I'd simply walk along the bay toward the city. I walked for half an hour along a walkway that probably didn't see a lot of westerners. I passed a lot of little houses and "villas" along the water. They looked like they could be very lovely places, but they were old and from what I could see, a bit run down. I reached an area that was mostly industrial/construction before I finally reached an MTR station. I thought that since I'd made it that far, I might as well hop on the train and see if I couldn't find a neighborhood that was more commercial.

I took an educated guess based on where the downtown parts of the city are supposed to be. I came up in an area that was something between Times Square and Canal Street. There a ton of people and the guys on the sidewalk were hounding me. These guys are relentless. It took all of my ability as a New Yorker to ignore them. Lots of stores with big neon signs, as I said, it looked like Times Square, but the types of stores were more like Canal Street. For the most part. There were a few bigger stores, but since I was only looking for an ethernet cable, they were of no help. After fighting through the hoards of tourists, shoppers, and relentless shills, I found a little electronics store. I bought two more power adapters and the precious cable.

Next mission was dinner. I didn't find anything in this area that I wanted to eat. I mean I'm sure the McDonald's here is great and all, but I thought I ought to save some experiences for later. I also found an "Irish pub" but again, I didn't come to Hong Kong to eat at a rip off of an Irish pub. Hotel food it would be.

Today's lesson: the shuttle from the hotel is much easier for getting to the area around the MTR station and completely free. And there's so much to explore in that area. I found some little food shops and had some pork buns and some pastries. And it was all so cheap.

Might get cell phone service set up today, and if I hit up the beach today, I'll make sure to write about it.

Thanks for reading!