An Odd Sense of Home

I wasn't expecting to connect to home today other than through my thoughts and through an online chat and phone call with my parents. I wasn't expecting it. But I can't stop thinking about it. Today they caught the BTK killer, a serial murderer who has been on the loose in Wichita, Kansas - not far from my home town of Topeka, and it was front page news here in Hong Kong. I was shocked. I know it's big news. I know its weird and disturbing to read about and thus an appealing headline, but this is Hong Kong. It's half a world away from the communities that have been horrified by the 20 years over which this BTK story has dragged on.

Yesterday I heard from my parents that the killer had been caught and to our surprise, one of their best friends had grown up with the guy and seen him for dinner several times over the last 20 years. The killer was a husband, a father, a civil servant, and from the sounds of it, about the last person you would suspect. While I am very glad that they caught him today and hope that this is actually an end to this crazy case, I am not sure that I want to read about my home again. Not in this way, as only a place like Kansas can make it onto the front page of an international newspaper. Because of something shocking. I wonder if the same mixed emotions run through the hearts of all those living away from places that they cherish. Excitement upon recognizing a name, a place, a situation, and then hurt and concern upon coming to the realization that the news cannot be good.

I don't want to read about Kansas tomorrow in the morning paper. Not unless I am reading a Kansas paper through a website. Then I will be prepared for what I see. When I wake up in the morning, I want to keep the illusion, at least for a few minutes, that there is nothing bad going on back at home. Nothing for which I should be concerned. This morning, BTK robbed me of that even as he was being arrested.

Our Beacon

I have finally found the ultimate in entrepreneurial inventions. Yes, Eric's Shrek Chia pet has made a home in our family in only the way that a terracotta recreation of a fictional cartoon character can. Since our arrival I have seen great care given to Shrek. He has been soaked, smeared, poked, and resoaked again. And while it's no Buddha, it is my firm belief that passers by will soon begin to point towards our apartment in exclamation and amazement. I never realized the gaping whole that existed in our life; the need that we had as of yet had unmet for the Chia.

It's Marco Polo

What's that? A ship I see in the distance?



I am glad we were able to create a false sense of history in these couple of shots of Stanley. Doesn't it look like what you'd expect to see in Hong Kong? Well, in reality, boats like these and small temples are not very common in modern Hong Kong by any means. Thus far we have seen many more huge tankers or small sailing ships than more traditional vessels.

The temple which we were able to visit in Stanley was very quaint but moving. I've got some more information on that which I will try to add in a later post.


We visited Stanley on the Saturday of Chinese New Year week. All the children in Hong Kong and China were on vacation around Chinese New Year much like US children get a spring break. On this particular Saturday, a large group of children spent their day entertaining a crowd of probably 500 with what I can only assume were traditional folk activities. Seeing as we understand absolutely no Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese), I say this based upon the images I have seen before of Chinese dragons and dragon dancing. One of my friends here was telling me that their apartment complex went so far as to schedule dragon dances for each flat so that the occupants would be brought good luck.



Ship in the Harbor - big

"I'll have the cheese, lettuce, no onions, oh, and a little bit of PROSPERITY if I could."

Why is it that McDonald's always seems "homey" when you are traveling? The thin, flavorless patties, finely chopped onions, and special sauce. Oh, McDonald's. You are a worthy opponent. One that I have lost to too often. It was even at McDonald's where my two years as a vegetarian came screeching to a halt. But I digress...

In Hong Kong, I am proud to say that McDonald's has yet to be the object of my homesick desires, like when I was staying in London and had to sneak away and have a Big Mac by myself once a week. I think the menu is just different enough to lose some of its culinary appeal, but McDonald's does still engender in me a real cultural fascination. Here, and I think in most of Asia from my limited travels thus far, McDonald's really stretches the limit of what it is and who it is serving. This is true all the way from its products, iced coffee drinks at the McCafe, to the way it uses cultural icons and messages for capitalistic pursuits. While I realize US companies are well known for their commercialization of different cultures, the creation of a Prosperity Chicken Meal would seem to me like one step too far.

Oh, and I almost forgot the companion pieces to the Prosperity Meal for the kids - Prosperity Pals. Yes, you too can own a mini stuffed version of your Chinese zodiac animal for just HK$8.





I won't be investing in any Prosperity Pals, but if anyone sees one that they'd like, please let me know. They are cute and perhaps a little less of an exploitation than the chicken-headed manikins (see earlier post) at Calvin Clein.

What is "12" Worth to You?

Had to share a bit of the morning news today. An anonymous buyer purchased a Hong Kong license plate with the number "12" on it for HK$7.1 million (approximately US$900 thousand). While you may have heard that the Chinese can be quite superstitious, the reason for the high price of the license plate was not its traditional meaning in Chinese culture, but rather what the word "12" sounds like when pronounced. "12" comes across as sounding similar to the Cantonese terms for "certainly easy."

Although this was the most expensive recent purchase of a license plate, in 1993 and 1994 license plates with "2" and "9" sold for HK$9.5 million and HK$13 million respectively. Clearly this is more than a one time phenomena and may even be a market worth investing in;-)

Our First Coastal Adventure

Through the city and the mountain (literally and figuratively) lies Stanley, the destination of our first real adventure outside of the main city. Stanley lies near the very southern edge of Hong Kong island and is known primarily for the Stanley Market and its quaint sea front status. More recently Stanley has become one of the favorite settling areas for expat families. My friend, Donna Carrier, who recently moved to Hong Kong from KC as well lives in a newer development in Stanley.



Stanley actually has two bays as it runs between two areas of water. We spent our trip on the side of Stanley shown here. On the right of the picture is Murray House (see photo below) and towards the left is Stanley Market and St. Stephen's Beach (see photo below).

Murray House once stood in the heart of Hong Kong, on the site of a building I have shown in other posts - the Bank of China Tower by I.M. Pei. As a product of colonial construction, the building has been used at different points in time by the British government and the Japanese military, during its occupation during WWII. In 1982 the building was dismantled to make way for expansion in Central. Murray House was not reassembled until 1998 in Stanley where it now serves as a historic monument and home to six restaurants. Piece by piece I guess we all reassemble whether moved across town or across the world.

Hong Kong broke with tradition for our Stanley trip in offering us up perfect weather - about 70 degrees, sunny, and an ever so slight breeze. All of that disappeared for us temporarily as we stepped into the Stanley Market. It's winding stalls and close quarters offered up a few bargains but seemed more fruitful for those that can buy clothes in Hong Kong. And while the Market seemed never to end, it did, and in another 5 minutes, we had arrived at St. Stephen's Beach.

Stanley lies in the background above with Murray House visible on the shoreline towards the left. I shall end the pictures there for today so that we all can feel the sun shining forth and the sand under our fingers.

Isn't Anything "PUBLIC"?

Living in Hong Kong involves great amounts of walking, sweating, and thus water drinking. From my experience, pedestrians quickly determine places in the city that provide public restrooms. Most malls and other public destinations take great care to provide facilities that are clean for their patrons. I've even been to a few restrooms where I was greeted by an attendant whose full time job it was to sit in the restroom, hold the door open, and to keep everything stocked and clean. That was a little bit much.

But I've seen a few startling signs that there may be an emerging public restroom shortage in Hong Kong:

1) lack of respect for personal space at urinals, and

2) "naming right" opportunities for public restrooms.

While I have yet to fiture out a way to accurately depict item #1, just trust me. I didn't know it was possible to fit 6 urinals into a space that was roughly 6' by 6' but they've done it here. The second item I was able to capture, at great personal peril. Just imagine me, in a public restroom, covertly taking snapshots, and someone emerging from one of the stalls which I was photographing. It could have gotten ugly.

A close-up...



And the full picture...

Terrorism or Celebration?

A late night walk. Quiet. Returning home from the store. Milk. Cereal. All the necessities for the morning snack.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOOOM!

It's hard to describe the feeling one gets when the buildings around them begin to explode, but I think these pictures will help:



Our apartment lies at the heart of the city and is surrounded largely by huge office buildings. Apparently, as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations, some of the owners of these buildings have partnered to put on a breathtaking fireworks display. They do this not on Chinese New Year but in the days after. They do it every night at about 9pm for what is at least 4 days at this point. The show lasts for about 15 minutes, and is viewed well from the top of our 24-story building.





This is how to celebrate.

And the Rooster Crowed

Today was the first day of the new lunar year and the last day of a three day holiday week. Until the last few hours, the city has appeared shut down, with few businesses being open and many residents apparently on leave for the holidays. Tonight, Thursday night, the city has begun to wake from its quiet slumber in a final, jubilant celebration of the good year to come.



More than 500,000 people came out to line the Hong Kong harbor for the annual fireworks display this evening. Chicken decorations have been abundant during our time here thus far. My favorite expression of the new year's excitement was this store display:



We passed this funny, although somewhat disturbing display tonight on our way to the harbor at the International Finance Center (IFC). We were among only a few tens of thousands of people to choose the IFC as their viewing destination as is apparent from this view of the exiting crowds:



I couldn't help feel a connection to the city more tonight than any night yet. It's majestic. It's dirty. It's real.

It Goes Up (and Down)

For me, almost everything in Hong Kong is based off of it's proximity to the ESCALATOR. In a city that is built on the side of what seems like a mountain, the escalator is a savior for commuters and travelers alike. I don't know of any other city in the world that has built a public escalator right up the middle of the road.

According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board the escalator is more than 800 meters long and is the world's longest covered escalator! To take the entire escalator up or down takes about 20 minutes. With only one lane of traffic, the escalator runs down hill from 6am to 10am every morning so that the people living above the Central District can have a speedy trip down to work. At 10am everything reverses for the rest of the day. In my daily routine of grocery shopping, I try to time my trips around 9:45 so that I can take the escalator down to the good grocery store and back up once I've bought all my stuff. Can you say lazy!

And even though the escalator is free, the city tries to encourage its use over buses or other forms of transportation so much, they will actually pay you to take it. All you have to do is swipe your transit pass at a card reader near on the escalator and they will give you HK$2 (equivalent to about US$0.30). Not a great hourly rate, but if you rode the escalator enough you might just make some spending money.



Photo 1: Don't trip. Although I haven't seen it written anywhere yet, this seems like the first rule of Hong Kong life. In this picture, I am looking down from a local grocery store which sits well above our apartment towards the heart of Hong Kong's Central district.



Photo 2: This picture gives you an idea of the height of the city and how often the escalator levels out at each street it crosses.



Photo 3: As the escalator winds its way up the side of Hong Kong, it darts back and forth above the steets. Here you see one of the interchanges in the escalator as it jogs east one block at a corner near our apartment. Also visible in the picture is the Pacific Coffee shop where Eric and I often get fresh squeezed orange or guava juice.




Erie Night Skies

As Midwesterners and new people in any strange location, you can't help but avoid fixating somewhat on the weather. On average Hong Kong is much hotter than Kansas City. It never freezes. It never snows. It just never gets that cold.

In many ways, living in Hong Kong is like what I pictured living in San Francisco would be - constantly about the same temperature and constantly humid. I remember the pictures of San Francisco Bay that they would show in text books or in the movies would be either A) sunny or B) misty and foggy. I don't remember any pictures of Hong Kong from my childhood (or adulthood for that matter). It existed in a realm beyond my exposure, but it comforts me to think of Hong Kong as being like San Francisco. Hong Kong is quickly becoming a place that we know and are enjoying.

Last night I took the picture of the I. M. Pei building shown at the bottom of the page, as visible from my office window. On the web, I found weather observations from Hong Kong taken last night. What's cool about these statistics is that they show basically what I was seeing out my window. When the relative humidity is high (need a definition?) the air is almost completely full of water molecules, so we feel "sticky" and it can get foggy. If you take a look at the weather observations from last night, you will see that as the "height" of the different readings from around the city goes up, the relative humidity ("RH") seems to decrease from a humidity of 92% at 165 meters above ground to 3% at more than 16,000 meters. As straight forward as I know the science to be, I find the reality of a foggy night sky illuminated by a beautiful building to be breathtakingly captivating.

Observation time: 02082000 HKT (GMT+8)

Station         : Hong Kong

1000 hPa height :   165 m  Temp/dew pt:  17/ 16 C  RH:  92 %  Wind: 105/ 6 m/s

925  hPa height :   831 m  Temp/dew pt:  17/ 16 C  RH:  92 %  Wind: 125/10 m/s

850  hPa height :  1550 m  Temp/dew pt:  15/  5 C  RH:  51 %  Wind: 135/ 4 m/s

700  hPa height :  3180 m  Temp/dew pt:   9/-17 C  RH:  14 %  Wind: 260/ 7 m/s

500  hPa height :  5880 m  Temp/dew pt:  -7/-45 C  RH:   2 %  Wind: 255/18 m/s

400  hPa height :  7560 m  Temp/dew pt: -21/-42 C  RH:  13 %  Wind: 260/26 m/s

300  hPa height :  9650 m  Temp/dew pt: -32/-55 C  RH:   8 %  Wind: 240/37 m/s

250  hPa height : 10920 m  Temp/dew pt: -41/-62 C  RH:   8 %  Wind: 245/38 m/s

200  hPa height : 12400 m  Temp/dew pt: -52/-73 C  RH:   5 %  Wind: 240/37 m/s

150  hPa height : 14200 m  Temp/dew pt: -63/-83 C  RH:   4 %  Wind: 250/31 m/s

100  hPa height : 16610 m  Temp/dew pt: -77/-96 C  RH:   3 %  Wind: 280/25 m/s

Hong Kong seems at this stage of its weather year to be in a constant state of humidity at ground level. Yesterday Eric and I bought a dehumidifier; the best purchase we've made.



Here is the building on a bright day...