It occurred to me the other day as I walked around and actually
didn't feel completely overwhelmed that I might be actually settling in here! At first, I thought it might be a good idea to lie on my blog and act like I was some moving-abroad master. But the truth is, the first week of being here was crazy. Crazy awesome, but also crazy overwhelming. I'm so glad for this experience, but it has certainly been a whole new world for me living here. At every turn, I would get lost, I'd feel inadequate because my Cantonese is, well, non-existent, I wouldn't know where to eat, where to shop, or where to stand. And, y'all, it is HOT here. I mean, pervasively, overwhelmingly hot. Thank goodness I had a great chat with my boss's wife and one of the parents in our ministry, and they assured me that these feelings are totally normal. That was a definite turning point in my week, to be sure.
In any case, with no plans on Saturday, I forced myself out of the house on a little excursion. I love going to the beach, so I decided to check out some of the options here in HK. I opted for what I read was the best beach, both in terms of water quality (because who wants to swim in dirty shipping channel water? This isn't Galveston, people), and a beach that was fairly easy to get to (read: I didn't have to hike alone through the jungle to get there). It also occurred to me that my blogging audience might like to see a little more of my day-to-day routine. So, I did a little documenting as I went.
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| Ominous weather on beach day |
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| Front door of the flat I'm staying in! On the 23rd floor! |
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| The street outside my building. Note: left side driving! |
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So, each day when I leave the apartment, I am fortunate enough to be able to take a shuttle from the building into town for free. The part of Hong Kong I live in is actually high above the city, as you can see in my ominous weather picture, so it is great to have free transportation into Central. On this day, I took a shuttle, the MTR (subway) and a double decker bus to get to the beach. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
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| Protest in HK |
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| MTR (metro) |
I had to stop off in the city and walk to the drugstore to pick up some sunscreen on my way to the beach, and on my way back, I got caught up in a protest. I've seen probably 10 protests since I've been here (apparently Hong Kongers love to protest!) This one was something about HSBC bank, though I couldn't understand the very loud, microphone amplified chanting as it was in Cantonese. I would also like to point out one of the cultural curiosities I have discovered in the left picture. Look at the lady in the white pants, then look up to her face. See that visor/sunshade combo? I've seen lots of people wearing these, almost completely covering their faces. Some people go to great lengths to keep the sun off of them, ensuring a nice light complexion. Not this girl. I was ready to sun it up.
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| Trolleys are also a legit transportation option |
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| Road to Shek O |
I got off the metro at almost the end of the line, and boarded the bus, bound for Shek O. It was my first experience riding the bus, and it was awesome! You can see a lot of things from the top of a double decker, and it's cheaper than a touristy bus tour! I took a few pictures on the gorgeous windy way toward the beach, and knew immediately that the day was going to be great. Hong Kong Island is actually predominantly forest, so this is pretty typical. I felt a world away from the busy-ness of the city, which was awesome. I'll definitely be making this journey again.
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| Getting closer! |
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| Shek O from above |
When we finally arrived in Shek O, I was totally charmed by the little town. It's totally quaint, and local. No chains or anything. I really felt like this is how a lot of Southeast Asia must be. (Who knows, though, I suppose I'll find out as I travel!) I disembarked, and walked out to a gorgeous beach. I found a place on the beach behind this mysterious yellow tape on the beach (which I later figured out is just for umbrellas), and soaked up some sun. This place is seriously gorgeous and the weather was perfect. It was awesome to have some time to read, decompress and just relax for a bit.
Eventually, though, the weather took a turn for the worse. I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me when I saw these dark clouds building that some serious rain was coming, but one moment, I was gazing idyllically into the ocean, and next minute, it was POURING. I mean, serious, monsoon, pouring. Me (and the 3 other idiot westerners around me) hastily grabbed our stuff and made for the nearest covering, which happened to be a toilet and shower area. Whilst there, I thought, hey, I've had enough of the beach today and decided to change and head home. So into the bathroom I went.
And I was greeted with this:
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| Squatty-Potty |
Hello, everyone and welcome to the squat toilet. I used one once in Bulgaria, but let me just say that it wasn't a great experience! The kicker here is that the little silver placard in the upper right corner of the picture implores the user to flush the toilet. But, if you look closely, you can see that the area where I presume the flusher used to be is strangely devoid of anything but concrete covering a hole in the wall! This was all a little too much for me, so I decided to head into the changing room and delay my, well, my business, until later.
On my way back from the beach, I passed through the Shau Kei Wan area where there was a market right adjacent to the bus/MTR area. Since I had some time, I decided to peruse through the market. I had heard about the "wet markets" but wasn't quite sure what to expect. This is just a small sampling of the things I saw, but mostly, the idea is that a lot of people here like to get their food fresh. And by fresh, I mean still alive. All these fish in these various bowls (and the squid on the white square styrofoam in the right picture) are absolutely still alive. They have these air bubble things that they periodically switch between each bowl to make sure they are oxygenated, I assume. I saw someone stuff two crabs into a bag, and a fish get its head cut right off, right there on the sidewalk! All of this is outside and in an alley area between two buildings. Definitely a different cultural experience, but interesting as well. There were probably 50 different kinds of fish and lots of meat to choose from. I refrained and visited the neighboring bakery to get a sweet bun, which was DELICIOUS (and thankfully, not alive).
Anyway, that was just a taste, no pun intended, of my weekend trip. I also did some visiting of IKEA in the rain and discovered that Hong Kong sizes are absolutely not equivalent to US ones. I will not be buying any clothes here, I think. Haha. Oh well.
Oh, and for a new tradition: The Funny Chinglish Sign-O-The-Day is:
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| Moral of the story: Don't foul with feces!! |
Til Next Time,
The Adventurer!
When we finally arrived in Shek O, I was totally charmed by the little town. It's totally quaint, and local. No chains or anything. I really felt like this is how a lot of Southeast Asia must be. (Who knows, though, I suppose I'll find out as I travel!) I disembarked, and walked out to a gorgeous beach. I found a place on the beach behind this mysterious yellow tape on the beach (which I later figured out is just for umbrellas), and soaked up some sun. This place is seriously gorgeous and the weather was perfect. It was awesome to have some time to read, decompress and just relax for a bit. 
Eventually, though, the weather took a turn for the worse. I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me when I saw these dark clouds building that some serious rain was coming, but one moment, I was gazing idyllically into the ocean, and next minute, it was POURING. I mean, serious, monsoon, pouring. Me (and the 3 other idiot westerners around me) hastily grabbed our stuff and made for the nearest covering, which happened to be a toilet and shower area. Whilst there, I thought, hey, I've had enough of the beach today and decided to change and head home. So into the bathroom I went. 
On my way back from the beach, I passed through the Shau Kei Wan area where there was a market right adjacent to the bus/MTR area. Since I had some time, I decided to peruse through the market. I had heard about the "wet markets" but wasn't quite sure what to expect. This is just a small sampling of the things I saw, but mostly, the idea is that a lot of people here like to get their food fresh. And by fresh, I mean still alive. All these fish in these various bowls (and the squid on the white square styrofoam in the right picture) are absolutely still alive. They have these air bubble things that they periodically switch between each bowl to make sure they are oxygenated, I assume. I saw someone stuff two crabs into a bag, and a fish get its head cut right off, right there on the sidewalk! All of this is outside and in an alley area between two buildings. Definitely a different cultural experience, but interesting as well. There were probably 50 different kinds of fish and lots of meat to choose from. I refrained and visited the neighboring bakery to get a sweet bun, which was DELICIOUS (and thankfully, not alive). 
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