So maybe I shouldn't completely give up this whole blogging thing anyway. Like they say, if the 'blagosphere' is filled with people yammering on, maybe I can yammer too. Of course I've said this before.
Its just I was going through my bookcases to get rid of books and I found a bunch of unfinished journals chronicling days I had figured had pretty much passed, there was all kinds of stuff I thought I had forgotten, names of friends whose faces I had no recollection, events that played out in real, day by day time rather than as the muddled, sudden memory I have now. So maybe the work that goes into keeping track of your own life is worth it, especially now that I'm old enough to forget things now. There's also the issue of it being online. Could my kids read it? Will blogger stay online forever? Doubtful. Do I want to have everyone else read it? Should I care? Maybe it’s just because I'm in anthropology and museums and the like, but I sometimes feel a conscious effort to preserve the present for when it becomes the past. How awesome is it to read exact accounts of how people lived 300 years ago, much less know how they felt? If there's any generation that will go down in history as self aware of its public image, its this one. But how much of it can actually be preserved? Am I really that important anyway? I suppose in a "look at the average girl of the early 2000's" way, unless I get famous. Which I might! possibly...maybe...you don't know.
Either way I never reflected on the end of the trip. I'm not sure hw I feel about the whole thing. I kept telling myself that if they gave me another eight months I might begin to scratch the surface. I spent last day starting out in Stanley, which was a bright sunny, beachy tourist trap on the Southside of the island. Like Aberdeen, their local economy seems to be based on the fact that they're a commuting distance from Hong Kong Central and have been written about enough in guidebooks. After a fairly uneventful morning I headed out to a residential area waaaay out in New Territories called Fairview lake, which had an amazing number of examples in just the small sampling of houses I passed on my way. The trick is now I have to write these people letters out of the blue and hope they contact me. Which they might, but its a strange feeling to know your project sort of hangs on people feeling generous one afternoon.
Heading back I genuinely felt regret leaving, Hong Kong is definitely one of those places where I could spend ages, maybe not my entire life, but years and years. There's eternally something new to discover, there's layers of culture and history that only slowly get peeled away. The entire experience was overwhelming and positive the whole time. Now I'm completely inundated with information, I met with my advisor Prof Sharman to discuss how to approach this whole thing, and even he seemed a little daunted. I'm sure it'll work out.
Honestly though, there are mornings where I miss the nearby smell of fish stands, the taste of the bakery snacks, the noise, the commuting on such modern machinery. I genuinely loved living there, only next time it would be a little easier if I had some kind of social connection too, either work or school or something. I told someone that I wasn't sure if part of the appeal was that I was getting a whiff of the imperialist traditions and secretly (or unconsciously) enjoy a very racist society that leaned in my favor. Maybe that plays a part. But there's something about the rhythm, the heart of the city that I just really enjoy and connect with.
Everyone who has been to Hong Kong seems to find this bizarre. I guess I can't fault them too much. I'd say I want to go back, but I really want to make sure I can see as much of the world as I can, South America, south Asia, Africa even (but that might be down the line. Definitely UAE and Egypt, Israel.
It seems that the more time you spend in one place, there more you realize how little you know about it, and the more time you spend in the world, the smaller you really start to feel.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Last chance!
For a change of pace, first, some pictures:
Oh hey look a lionOH DEAR GOD WHAT IS THAT?!?
Overlooking over a restaurant in midlevels
"I like you, do you like me?"
Parrot!
Today is my open studio tour in Diamond Hill, courtesy of the Fringe Arts Festival that my arrival ever so luckily happened to coincide with. Look forward to seeing what contemporary artists are working on, hopefully it won't be 67 copies of Mao. I get it, you're being meta, Chinese artists. Stop it. I told Sebastian earlier in my trip that I can't tell if Hong Kongers have completely mastered the art of "urban irony" (not actual literary irony, but the kind that wearing bad clothes fromt he 80's is "ironic") or if they are genuinely making an effort and swinging so hard they go completely around into irony. For example, does that young woman actually want to wear a sweatshirt with kittens on it, or is she ironically wearing a t-shirt with kittens on it? This is why New Yorkers have a hard time abroad, we're so exposed to cynicism that we forget what to expect from other people.
Only two days left, GAH!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Porn, Fruit and Tiny Portions
I know that the majority of people reading this are my family who are all greatly concerned about their little Leah alone in the big wide world, so let me preface this by saying, its ok, Hong Kong is not the den of sin as portrayed by Hollywood (and, well, Hong Kong).
That said, I found porn in my room the other day. Penthouse, specifically, on my nightstand. How odd, I wondered. Was this some kind of hotel special for long term residents? 'We know you're lonely and at this point too cheap to pay for the TV porn, so here's some free stuff'?
I called the front desk, who contacted the assistant manager, who didn't seem particularly worried about the fact there's a nudie magazine in my room. Apparently this has happened before. Expedia never mentioned this is the magical porn hotel. The last time it happened, the case was somebody's buddy left it under his door as a gift/joke/whatever, not realizing his buddy had checked out. Which would be a perfectly reasonable explanation if I hadn't been here for two and a half weeks already. The AM told me he'd check the tapes of the hallway and get back to me. I went out to dinner and when I got back the hotel had dropped off a complementary fruit "basket." I use the word loosely because there were only four pieces of fruit, but I suppose I'd have to have kids in the room with the porn to get the deluxe basket. Later that night I get a message from the AM, apparently the cleaning people moved my bed more than usual or something and found the magazine under the bed. Not wanting to destroy guest's secret pornography stash, they left it on the nightstand. Mystery solved.
I'm trying not to think about the implications of the person before me having porn in the first place, much less apparently so much porn that he left some if it behind. Eww. Too late now though, I've only got four nights left.
Today I wandered around collecting data that I was too lazy/shy/overwhelmed to collect the first time around. Since I knew where everything was this time, things went very quickly and reasonably well. I even got to talk to a few antiques dealers on Hollywood Road. Very interesting. I stopped toward the end of my travels in a restaurant in SoHo (SOuth of HOllywood road...clever!) which is, probably unsurprisingly, the art gallery district/trendy place to be. This little restaurant was having a nice little three course special for 108HK (roughly 15-17 bucks, not bad for Central). I go in, everyone's very nice, speaks wonderful English, very friendly, etc etc. I'm offered a bottle of water, which I take, assuming its the cheapest thing to drink without threat of dysentery and order off the special menu and get a coffee with my dessert.
Now I'd like to think I'm a fairly urbane person and while I'm not some LES hipster, I've eaten at a couple of swanky downtown "concept" restaurants. So it means something when I say that I was shocked, SHOCKED by the portions I was given. The bread was about the size of a Manila Cookie, the one that Pepridge farm sells that's a little chocolate sandwich. My prawn salad with avocado and mango came with TWO prawns and a table spoon of mango and a tablespoon of avocado. My entree was decently sized and very good. Then came dessert, a fudge thing with ice cream. I'm not entirely sure of what it might have been because the sample I got wasn't big enough to be identified. The dimensions were literally 1 inch across by about 3.5 inches long and two inches tall, with a tea spoon of vanilla ice cream. I actually laughed when it was bought out to me. I laughed out loud. This wasn't some kind of tourist scam either, the restaurant was filled with local business men/women/ art dealer types lunching on a Friday. And no one seemed surprised by the portions, not even the table of American businessmen yucking it up over red wine (in a seafood restaurant). People, this is Hong Kong, land of the seven course banquet killed and dressed an hour before you came. You're supposed to eat like a king! Not a lady-who-lunches.
The kicker? When I got the bill the coffee had cost me 30HK (a little more than normal, but not insane) and the water costs 40HK. WHAT?!? Six Dollars?!? What was it, angel pee? With the automatic service charge the total was not only the most expensive meal I've eaten since I've gotten here, it was the smallest. Go ex-pat Euro/Amer trash.
Long story short, I'm hungry and annoyed, but at least I have free porn and fruit.
No photos for today. I took a couple, but it was mostly an info-gathering trip rather than a photo-gathering trip. We'll see if tomorrow has any new prospects.
That said, I found porn in my room the other day. Penthouse, specifically, on my nightstand. How odd, I wondered. Was this some kind of hotel special for long term residents? 'We know you're lonely and at this point too cheap to pay for the TV porn, so here's some free stuff'?
I called the front desk, who contacted the assistant manager, who didn't seem particularly worried about the fact there's a nudie magazine in my room. Apparently this has happened before. Expedia never mentioned this is the magical porn hotel. The last time it happened, the case was somebody's buddy left it under his door as a gift/joke/whatever, not realizing his buddy had checked out. Which would be a perfectly reasonable explanation if I hadn't been here for two and a half weeks already. The AM told me he'd check the tapes of the hallway and get back to me. I went out to dinner and when I got back the hotel had dropped off a complementary fruit "basket." I use the word loosely because there were only four pieces of fruit, but I suppose I'd have to have kids in the room with the porn to get the deluxe basket. Later that night I get a message from the AM, apparently the cleaning people moved my bed more than usual or something and found the magazine under the bed. Not wanting to destroy guest's secret pornography stash, they left it on the nightstand. Mystery solved.
I'm trying not to think about the implications of the person before me having porn in the first place, much less apparently so much porn that he left some if it behind. Eww. Too late now though, I've only got four nights left.
Today I wandered around collecting data that I was too lazy/shy/overwhelmed to collect the first time around. Since I knew where everything was this time, things went very quickly and reasonably well. I even got to talk to a few antiques dealers on Hollywood Road. Very interesting. I stopped toward the end of my travels in a restaurant in SoHo (SOuth of HOllywood road...clever!) which is, probably unsurprisingly, the art gallery district/trendy place to be. This little restaurant was having a nice little three course special for 108HK (roughly 15-17 bucks, not bad for Central). I go in, everyone's very nice, speaks wonderful English, very friendly, etc etc. I'm offered a bottle of water, which I take, assuming its the cheapest thing to drink without threat of dysentery and order off the special menu and get a coffee with my dessert.
Now I'd like to think I'm a fairly urbane person and while I'm not some LES hipster, I've eaten at a couple of swanky downtown "concept" restaurants. So it means something when I say that I was shocked, SHOCKED by the portions I was given. The bread was about the size of a Manila Cookie, the one that Pepridge farm sells that's a little chocolate sandwich. My prawn salad with avocado and mango came with TWO prawns and a table spoon of mango and a tablespoon of avocado. My entree was decently sized and very good. Then came dessert, a fudge thing with ice cream. I'm not entirely sure of what it might have been because the sample I got wasn't big enough to be identified. The dimensions were literally 1 inch across by about 3.5 inches long and two inches tall, with a tea spoon of vanilla ice cream. I actually laughed when it was bought out to me. I laughed out loud. This wasn't some kind of tourist scam either, the restaurant was filled with local business men/women/ art dealer types lunching on a Friday. And no one seemed surprised by the portions, not even the table of American businessmen yucking it up over red wine (in a seafood restaurant). People, this is Hong Kong, land of the seven course banquet killed and dressed an hour before you came. You're supposed to eat like a king! Not a lady-who-lunches.
The kicker? When I got the bill the coffee had cost me 30HK (a little more than normal, but not insane) and the water costs 40HK. WHAT?!? Six Dollars?!? What was it, angel pee? With the automatic service charge the total was not only the most expensive meal I've eaten since I've gotten here, it was the smallest. Go ex-pat Euro/Amer trash.
Long story short, I'm hungry and annoyed, but at least I have free porn and fruit.
No photos for today. I took a couple, but it was mostly an info-gathering trip rather than a photo-gathering trip. We'll see if tomorrow has any new prospects.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Last of New Territories
Today was my last (probably) field trip to New Territories, I checked out the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas (actually 13,000) and an ancestral hall (which as completely by accident, but happens so frequently they actually have printed catchphrases for the sales people to show you that say "This is not the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas, you ninny"). All very beautiful, of course, but honestly, I'm done with the area. It isn't as fruitful as I thought It would be and I'm really tired of tromping around on buses for 20 minuets to get anywhere. I went out to the wishing tree afterwards, not because I'd thought it's be useful but because it sounded cool. Its an old Banyan tree that people throw oranges into to have wishes come true. Supposedly. When I got there all I found was an old tree with a bunch of supports and a clump of people trying to sell me incense. Bugger. I guess I was there too far away from new years or something. Anyway, I'm getting to the nitty gritty and hopefully won't be completely lost when I start writing.
I went back to the HSBC that had the very anglo lions to see when it was built, etc. Luckily there was a plaque, but it was too far away to read. I asked one of the customer service people if I could take a picture and she said sure. Before I took the camera away from my eye, TWO guards were at my side yelling at me for taking pictures. The customer service lady explained, but oh sweet Jesus, I could have been in trouble. They still we're very happy, but I left right away and with the info I needed, so, all's well.
Some nifty photos:
Not the 10,000 Buddhas
Ancestor hall
Also, not the 10,000 but getting close. The 400 some odd steps tot he temple have life sized statues of different monks painted gold, each in a different position. One of those moments that's both tacky and wonderful at the same time.
In the Tin Mo temple by the wishing tree. Nothing exciting, except the bathroom was about 1500 times nicer than the temple.
I went back to the HSBC that had the very anglo lions to see when it was built, etc. Luckily there was a plaque, but it was too far away to read. I asked one of the customer service people if I could take a picture and she said sure. Before I took the camera away from my eye, TWO guards were at my side yelling at me for taking pictures. The customer service lady explained, but oh sweet Jesus, I could have been in trouble. They still we're very happy, but I left right away and with the info I needed, so, all's well.
Some nifty photos:
Not the 10,000 Buddhas
Ancestor hall
Also, not the 10,000 but getting close. The 400 some odd steps tot he temple have life sized statues of different monks painted gold, each in a different position. One of those moments that's both tacky and wonderful at the same time.
In the Tin Mo temple by the wishing tree. Nothing exciting, except the bathroom was about 1500 times nicer than the temple.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
And just to Continue...
Because blogger was being mean yesterday...
Purdy.
Over looking the cemetery at dusk
View of the Harbor.
Today I went much further afeild to New Territories and a town called Sheung Shui which is spitting distance from the border. I was there to check check out Liu Man Shek Tong, an ancestral temple that's been at the center of this family compound since the 1600's. Its billed as one of the very, very few to have survived the cultural revolution. I was there less officially to see if I could find any examples of lions in front of homes since this is one of the place in New Territories I was expecting to see, very old land owners claiming ancestral roots. As I was poking around, a girl approached me. Liu Weng Si, Si Si to her friends and Liu as in, no that's not a coincidence its the same name as the ancestral hall. Si si was incredibly friendly and very eager to show me around, she explained later that she likes talking to visitors because it lets her practice her English since she's out of school. a very nice girl. She took me to her church for a bit, which was a little unexpected, but then again it clears up why the ancestral hall looks conspicuously neat.
After wandering around for a bit comparing notes and exploring the older parts of town, there were sadly, few lions. But, hey I made a friend :)
And on the plus side when I got back, there was an e-mail from one of my contacts here on suggestions on where to look for home examples, so yea, things are looking up. I was going to check out this old family hall in NT later that afternoon, but I was exhausted, couldn't find the bus, and, honestly 90% convinced there wouldn't be anything to see anyway (aside from culture, blah blah blah). There's only a week to go and I'm not sure how to feel, I'm excited to go back, but there's always so much more to do!
Also found another example in front of the Mong Kok HSBC, which was very British. But I think my final report is going to need to reflect more on attitudes towards reunification than just colonization. We'll see.
After wandering around for a bit comparing notes and exploring the older parts of town, there were sadly, few lions. But, hey I made a friend :)
And on the plus side when I got back, there was an e-mail from one of my contacts here on suggestions on where to look for home examples, so yea, things are looking up. I was going to check out this old family hall in NT later that afternoon, but I was exhausted, couldn't find the bus, and, honestly 90% convinced there wouldn't be anything to see anyway (aside from culture, blah blah blah). There's only a week to go and I'm not sure how to feel, I'm excited to go back, but there's always so much more to do!
Also found another example in front of the Mong Kok HSBC, which was very British. But I think my final report is going to need to reflect more on attitudes towards reunification than just colonization. We'll see.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Wan Chai Part 2
First of all, I'd just like to say I don't know what was up with my spelling yesterday. Tsim Sta Tsui and Mong Kok, not the crazy scrabble remix I gave you.
Secondly, today was my second, and hopefully last, round around Wan Chai. For its seedy reputation, its actully been very useful in getting examples. Well, except today. Not so much. I took a bog, looping tour of the harbor area, including the convention center, the yacht club, the ferry and the Hong Kong Central public library. Nothin'. This is actually the first day I didn't find anything, which I guess is pretty good considering I've been here 2 weeks. A little tired, but ok over all. The only interesting story that came out of the last 24 hours was that I discovered I'm two blocks away from a vegetarian restaurant. I asked the concierge if he knew of any vegetarian restaurant nearby and he kind of shook his head and said, "In Tsim Sta Tsui and Jordan." Then he took out one of the little tourist maps and circled two places in TST. One of them was called Bombay. So I asked, "No Chinese ones?" and he goes, "ah, well..." and circles a place literally two blocks away. Why this didn't immediately come up when I asked if there were NEARBY vegetarian restaurants, I'm not sure. The food was decent, but I think they thought I was a weirdo for coming, silly white girl.
Also, I found a kitty in Victoria park today. He kept following me :3
And just to be quick, some more photos:
Local street temple outside a youthgroup
Wet Market flapping away
Secondly, today was my second, and hopefully last, round around Wan Chai. For its seedy reputation, its actully been very useful in getting examples. Well, except today. Not so much. I took a bog, looping tour of the harbor area, including the convention center, the yacht club, the ferry and the Hong Kong Central public library. Nothin'. This is actually the first day I didn't find anything, which I guess is pretty good considering I've been here 2 weeks. A little tired, but ok over all. The only interesting story that came out of the last 24 hours was that I discovered I'm two blocks away from a vegetarian restaurant. I asked the concierge if he knew of any vegetarian restaurant nearby and he kind of shook his head and said, "In Tsim Sta Tsui and Jordan." Then he took out one of the little tourist maps and circled two places in TST. One of them was called Bombay. So I asked, "No Chinese ones?" and he goes, "ah, well..." and circles a place literally two blocks away. Why this didn't immediately come up when I asked if there were NEARBY vegetarian restaurants, I'm not sure. The food was decent, but I think they thought I was a weirdo for coming, silly white girl.
Also, I found a kitty in Victoria park today. He kept following me :3
And just to be quick, some more photos:
Local street temple outside a youthgroup
Wet Market flapping awayBlogger is being annoying and slow, but I swear I'll have more. hopefully the ethernet is back.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Almost forgot
I'll be a lot slower in posting/answering e-mails because I can't seem to get the internet to work in my room. I still have the wireless downstairs, but that's all I have until I can figure out what's wrong. The hotel isn't being much help either. Oh well.
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