Week of October 19

This week at work was capped off by a fire drill on Friday afternoon. We're on the 47th floor! Needless to say, by Saturday I was not in the best shape for a couple of days walking.

Took Hershie Schachter's advice and took the #6 bus to Stanley on Saturday. Nice long ride through town. Beautiful views of Repulse Bay as we descended from the mountain to Stanley. I spent the morning walking through the area and visited the Maritime Museum, one of the local shrines and the old Police Headquarters (oldest building in town - now a supermarket [see this week's Observations]). Nice hot day, but the pollution level has been very high, so the sky was hazy all day. Also visited a jeweller in Stanley, recommended by Jessica Smith, and bought Dale a birthday/welcome-to-HK present. (SHH, don't tell her - it's a surprise.) I did not go into the market - not my thing.

The museum is in the Murray House, an old building that was preserved and moved to this location. Except, after dismantling the building and painstakingly wrapping, numbering and storing the pieces, the City lost track of them, because they had nowhere to put the building. When some local heritage activists asked about it (20 years later), they had to search the city to find them. In the meantime, over the years, the plastic wrappers had gotten wet and the numbers all washed away. They had to figure out this gigantic, 3-D jigsaw puzzle from old photos. Well, they did a pretty good job, but at the end they were left with six extra columns. So they stuck them across the street in a row. (Reminds me of when the Perlus brothers and I took our bikes apart.)

Went back to town on the #6X, the short route, through Repulse Bay and the Aberdeen Tunnel. Passed the HK Golf Club - the caddies are all fitted out in blue shirts and coolie hats - very colonial. Just north of Repulse bay is Deep Water Bay - absolutely beautiful.

Sign at the entrance to the Tunnel asks drivers to drive safely and notes that there were 17,800 accidents last year and 13,400 (electronic counter) so far this year - I think that's in the Tunnel alone. Makes me even happier we don't plan to drive while here.

Spent the next 3 hours wandering around two neighborhoods of interior design stores, looking for a bed for our guests. After realizing there were no furniture stores stores and pricing the custom-made pieces, I decided to stick with Ikea. Sorry folks, when you come to visit, we'll make up to you in other ways.

On the way home I saw a transit ad for Claritin, except they spell it Clarityne here. Wonder if that's the British spelling. I guess winter is coming no matter how close you are to the equator.

So, Sunday I went to Ikea and bought the bed - single bed with pull-out bed underneath. Just the thing for a small HK guest bedroom. Bought the top-of-the-line mattresses, though, so quit your complaining. I'll test them out by sleeping in them until Dale and our bed arrive in January.

After lunch, I headed for the Star Ferry and Kowloon. Short ride (10 minutes) and a nice view of the skyline of HK. Strolled along the harbor walk, past the concert hall and art museum - beautiful new buildings - and through the Walk of Stars - like Toronto's, filled with names only locals would know - which celebrates the HK film/entertainment industry. Smelled like a waterfront.

Walked up Nathan Road from the harbor. Looks like old-time New York, with large neon and painted signs hanging over the street. Yesterday, Dale told me about her friend commenting on the little old ladies manning the porn kiosks in the Temple Street Market. On (and off) Nathan Road, the LOLs are in front of the strip joints, welcoming passers-by. Keeps them out of trouble, I guess. Sign off the times - armed guards with rifles outside some jewellery stores. I wonder if they are loaded. I also wonder why rifles - they look formidable, but wouldn't pistols be more practical? That's what got me wondering whether they were loaded.

North of Haiphong Road the street turns more modern and corporate, but the largest mosque in HK is also there. Looks nice, but out of place, until you read that there are 200,000 Muslims in HK.

Strolled through Kowloon Park. There was a kung fu exhibition going on, complete with drums, dragon dancers and lots of kicking and shouting. The crowd loved it. Beautiful park, including an aviary, maze, Chinese garden, sculpture walk, rose garden. The aviary had some gorgeous macaws, parrot ts and cockatoos, including Banacek's white one (for those youngsters among you, go ask your mother). For the market watchers among you, they had a lamentation of swans (you could look it up), but no black ones. They did have some black-necked swans,looked like they were emerging from the financial crisis.

For those of you who know me well, it may come as a surprise, but so far, my favorite places in the city have been those where I can walk, listen to my music and convene with nature - HK Park, the Botanical Garden & Zoo, the trans-Peak walk. I've put my hedonistic, shopaholic self on vacation.

The streets off Nathan are interesting. The shops are probably like what the rest of HK looked like 20 years ago. Filled with stores selling all kinds of stuff, including all the tailors. One restaurant tried to make non-Chinese feel at home. Over their menu signs they had the words "Travellers are welcome". Unfortunately, you were only welcome if you could read Chinese, because nothing else was written in any other language.

A drug store caught my eye. It was called the Health First Pharmacy. However, the "P" and the second "A" had fallen off the sign. For a few minutes I wondered what "CY" stood for and why anyone would call their place the Health First Harm. They also had another sign with a cute play on words - Medecent. I trust their non-medical products are also decent.

This weekend must have been an auspicious one for weddings. There were wedding parties everywhere in Stanley, Hong Kong Park, and other landmarks taking pictures or traipsing through the streets, with someone trying desperately to hold up the bride's train (or their own long gowns).

One magnificent building by the harbor bears the sign Heritage 1881. It now houses another group of designer labels - just what this city needs.

By the time I got home, my feet, calves and quads were crying out. Climbing stairs was a pain. Today is a holiday, so I determined to stay home and take it easy. I didn't come to the office until after the Yankees game.

This Week's Observations:

• Hong Kong makes Montreal look like heritage preservation central. No matter how nice, old or historic the building, it's in danger of being torn down or turned into a store.
• I wonder if all the watch stores are owned by rich guys who treat their inventory as an investment. There are enough expensive watches on sale here to fit every wrist in the city - on both hands. There's never anyone inside, and the staff don't look like they mind it.
• The advantage of wearing my earbuds and listening to music - easier to avoid the hawkers. I don't even know what the hundreds of guys around Nathan Road were selling - tailors and watches, I think.
• I know they work like slaves all week and only have Sunday off, but the "helpers" camped out in all the parks do take away from the beauty.
• You can tell the mainland tourists here - they're the ones lined up in front of the currency exchange booths.
• Torontonians must be at a disadvantage when they come here - they'll never cross a street. Montrealers have a definite advantage - we know how to dodge cars and take advantage of a temporary jam to get across streets with no lights or stop signs. Also, Torontonians are too nice to cross at lights. When the throngs cross at the light, it's every man for himself to get across before the light changes, especially if you're bucking the prevailing pedestrian traffic.
• The sports channels keep showing the same events over and over. Every Champions Cup soccer game is rebroadcast 3 or 4 times. Sunday morning, I turned on the Saturday night Yankees game and only while I was talking to Dale did I learn that it was postponed and I was actually watching Thursday's game.

That's it for this week. Stay tuned for the next instalment.