There is a light that never goes out....

This week, I have been struggling with how to best put into words what one friend has meant to me. I know that no matter what I write, it won't be worthy.

I met Eric in early March on my second night on the town while I was in Hong Kong. We were introduced to each other by another mutual friend, and proceeded to have a fun time during the Hong Kong Sevens rugby matches -- at least we tried to find a place where we could watch on TV. We hit it off, especially since we had both relocated to Hong Kong during the same week and we were both from New York.  He had met a friend of my friend's and we all easily formed a group to explore and enjoy Hong Kong together during the months that followed.

The next day, we went to Macau for the first time. It was during the ferry ride back that I had my first insightful conversation with Eric. We shared stories about our pasts, our families, our loves and our hopes for the future. 

He helped me with my nephew's Flat Stanley project -- cheerfully posing for pictures and identifying cool Hong Kong spots to showcase.

I never saw Eric without a smile on his face. He was the most upbeat, confident and happy individual I have ever met - I know that this may sound cliched, but it is so very true. His love for his dog, Guinness, clearly extended to his love for life, his friends, and his family.

I'm probably not even making any sense here, but nothing this week has made any sense to me. I was informed by my friend earlier this week that a tragic accident happened in Hong Kong last Sunday. I will not get into the details here, but if you want to read about it, you can check out this site (to get a sense of how loved and special he was, read the comments after the article). All I will say is that the world has truly lost one of its greatest individuals.  My heart goes out to his family and friends back in New York, as well as to all of the friends that he made during his short time in Hong Kong.

Eric -- I was so fortunate to have met you. I love you and hope that our paths cross again someday.

Wouldn't it be cool...

...to be a busman/woman at a seafood restaurant owned by your family on a remote island somewhere in the middle of the sea for a day?

I Did It!

It took a little more than six and a half hours, but I finally made it through the finish line of the toughest run I have ever done in my life -- and, I got that darned medal! Thanks to Cindy, here's some proof of me crossing the finish line.

See that huge mountain behind me? I climbed up that thing after running 22 miles!

More stories to come. Thanks again for all of your well wishes and positive energy -- it really carried me through!

It's a Small World!

My good friend and total inspiration, Ironwoman Carolyn, is in Hong Kong this week. She was also in Shanghai during the time I was there (small world!), but we didn't have a chance to get together then. I finally caught up with her on Saturday. I just had to hear all about her Ironman -- she completed Ironman Arizona just a few weeks back and I am so proud and in awe of her. She actually almost has me convinced that I can finish one (yeah, I just need to stop procrastinating and get myself into a pool)!

We met up, had some Starbucks and headed out to the Park. Both of us wanted to check out the "It's a Small World" attraction that just opened.

The attraction was awesome!  Best "Small World" that I have seen. It is a bigger and brighter ride than at WDW or Disneyland and the incorporation of famous Disney characters into the storyline makes it totally unique. We had fun identifying and pointing out the characters. Below are some of the pics that I took (these were actually the ones that did not come out too blurry).

Pinocchio!

Woody and Jessie!

Lilo and Stitch!

Jill and Carolyn!

We rode Space Mountain and then competed against each other on Buzz Lightyear a few times (Carolyn kept winning -- darn! -- but I am getting better!), and then had some lunch at one of the resorts.  It was fun to catch up with her and share stories.  Makes me look forward to going back home and beginning my triathlon training with the team!

Some Creatures Great and Small

With the typhoon out of the way and the sun drying things up, a group of us went out to the New Territories to hike about 11 kilometers on Stage 2 of the MacLehose Trail on Sunday.

This hike was nowhere near the level of difficulty of Violet Hill and the Twins, but it was longer and the scenery was magnificent.

This little guy picked us up near the start of the trail and led the way for quite a few miles before we lost him

Here's one of the many inclines along the trail 

Each time we reach the top of an incline, we were treated to a spectacular view

And then it was back down

Here I am making a new friend

And then, I saw dead people! Ancient burial ground complete with urns!

Here you can get an idea of one of our descents (of course there was an ascent preceding it). And yes, those people were part of my hiking group - I was that far ahead!

Here is an abandoned village that reminded me of Imber Village in England

When we finished our hike, we were to take a ferry boat back to the village where we started; however, we had just missed the last ferry for the day.  We were faced with hiking an additional 2-3 kilometers to God knows where, when one of the guys in our group called out to a small fishing boat. The woman on the boat said she could bring us back. It was a speed boat, but it was small and I was scared!  The eight of us piled in and we were off.

View from the boat

We crashed hard into the dock, but I did survive. From there, we took a bus to Sai Kung, which is famous for seafood and had a huge meal in one of the restaurants on the water. Unfortunately, we had to pick our meal -- I just couldn't do it (and neither could some other girls in the group), so we let the guys pick our meal. It was very good, but I felt guilty and am now contemplating giving up seafood for good!

Hmmm, how many of these wound up on my plate?

Typhoon Schmyphoon

I survived my first ever typhoon!  

Typhoon Neoguri, in case you hadn't heard, was the earliest typhoon to hit China in almost six decades -- and I know that the sole reason was so I could experience a typhoon before going home! Typhoon season doesn't typically begin until June.

When I left work on Friday, there was a level 1 warning in effect, which basically means that there's some nasty weather on the way.  By the time I finished dinner, the warning was up to level 3 (strong winds and expected to become stronger).  It was all very exciting! 

On Saturday, it was pouring with rain and very windy -- pretty much like a mild hurricane; basically, a tropical storm. It sucked that I couldn't really do anything outside though and I was bummed because it looked like my hike that was planned for Sunday was going to be canceled.

By 10:30 Saturday night, the rain and wind had stopped completely and everything miraculously dried up overnight.

Anybody have a flashlight?

The mother so subtly mentioned the other day that she never sees her name in this blog. My latest adventure had me thinking about her, so I am dedicating this post to the best mother ever!

Wednesday morning email exchange (edited - a lot):

Jo to Jill: Fancy a hike after work? There's a good, hilly, intense hike on Hong Kong island (The Twins and Violet Hill). I'll walk it and you can run it and we'll meet at the other end. It ends at Stanley. We can meet at 6:00 and finish by the time it gets dark.
Jill to Lailany: Hike tonight with Jo?
Lailany to Jill: Sure - we can get a good dinner in Stanley afterwards.
Jill to Jo: Lailany and I are in -- we will meet you downstairs at 6:00.

6:00 p.m.:  Meet up with Jo and take cab to start of hike. Begin hike, up a lot of steps and continued upward to the top of Violet Hill. I make a comment to Jo ("Were you freakin' kidding me when you said I could run this?" --- She was serious!)

6:something p.m. (okay, totally lost track of time):  We proceed down Violet Hill and get a glimpse of one of the Twins (yes, "Twins" means two, which translates to TWO MORE mountains to get up and down). At this point, I am just ecstatic to see the moon, as it is the first time I've seen the moon in Hong Kong.

We finished descending a few hundred steps on Violet Hill and then proceeded to climb up one of the Twins. Oh My God -- I could not believe how high up we were supposed to go and it was all steps . . . and it was getting dark! I kept thinking that my mother would be out of her mind if she knew where I was at that very moment. We were at a point where there really was no turning back -- either way, we were going to be stuck in the dark. Not only that, we kept walking into spider webs and spiders! So, here I was on a Wednesday night, stuck on the second of three mountains facing two of my fears:  spiders and falling down and breaking or spraining something that would keep me from running forever!

 

If you want to check out some pictures of what this hike looks like in the daytime, click here. If you look closely at some of the mountain photos, you can actually see the trail going up ONE of the mountains -- yes, we did that in the dark!

In all, we did probably close to 3,000 steps, hiked over rough and rocky terrain, disturbed about 1,000 spiders and prayed we wouldn't fall, have a heart attack or both! The entire time I kept saying to Jo, "You really thought I was going to run this?!"

We got to Stanley, finally (with no casualties), and got on a bus to the town center. As soon as we got on the bus, the driver took off like a bat out of hell before we were seated (which is normal around these parts) and I fell down hard in my seat. I said: "Wouldn't it be ironic if we had survived that entire hike only to break a bone on the bus?" That caused all of us to laugh our asses off.

Had a great seafood dinner and then took the bus back to Causeway Bay.

So, I have decided that I am going to do this hike out and back (probably 5-6 thousand steps in all for a round-trip) every weekend until the marathon -- in the daytime, of course!

Here I Go Again

Since hearing about my hike up to the Big Buddha a few weeks ago, Lailany and Eric really wanted to check it out. We had planned to do the hike and met on Sunday morning. They even convinced Theresa to join us (after a full night of partying for her).


We climbed and climbed -- sweating up a storm the entire way. Poor Theresa was falling behind -- the look on her face was priceless! Try as I might, I could not convince that crew to ditch the Buddha and proceed up to Lantau Peak (2nd highest mountain in Hong Kong).

Lantau Peak -- I may have to attempt it by myself

After about an hour and a half of nothing but climbing, we reached our destination. Then it was time to run up those 268 steps again! Eric flew up them -- I was following him, but fell a little behind. Lailany was just behind me, followed by Theresa.

Yeah, I know -- it is great marathon training

Here we are at the bottom of the Buddha -- you may notice how tired and sweaty we are (especially me)!

We took the bus back down the mountain, and as soon as Theresa saw the outlet malls, she got her second wind and spent the next few hours shopping -- the rest of us got on the train to go home.

My Little Pony

Before I left for Hong Kong, most of my friends gave me advice over where to go and what to do. I have really taken that advice to heart and am sometimes pleasantly surprised by what I encounter.

Barbara suggested that I check out the horse races. She's been to Hong Kong before (Barbara has been everywhere!) and told me that a huge part of the Hong Kong culture is the horse racing. She is right. And with the Olympics around the corner, Hong Kong is extremely proud to be hosting the equestrian events. Typically, I would not be caught dead at a horse track. Yes, I feel bad for the horses. However, I decided to just put my feelings aside and experience the culture. Besides, the Happy Valley Racecourse is an extremely short walk from both work and my apartment.

Wednesday night is race night. There are a heck of a lot of people who go to the races after work on Wednesday -- the serious gamblers have their own box seats, while the less serious and expats usually hang out on the ground in what is known as the Beer Garden. Hey -- if it says "beer" and "garden," how bad can it be? We got in to the track, purchased some really cheap (and good) draft beer, and waited for the race to begin. We had no idea how to even place a bet, so Lailany just shouted, "I'm for #7" and I said "I'm for #8" -- and they were off!

You can't see it here, but #8 is in the lead!

So, #8 came in 1st and #7 came in 2nd -- darn! We could have won some cash!

#8 making a victory lap

Part of the Beer Garden

We stayed for two races, about an hour or so, and then left -- I believe there are 5 or 6 races every Wednesday night. In all, I experienced some culture, had some fun, and still felt bad for the horses - but I am glad that Barbara had suggested it!

Scrubba dubba dubba

Sometimes I wonder if I have Chinese blood running through my veins. This is most apparent whenever I see the great people of Hong Kong in their daily and weekly routines of cleaning. I love cleaning - it is probably one of the most relaxing things for me and I feel soooooo good after when cleaning for hours, I can sit down, enjoy a glass of wine and just be surrounded by cleanliness.

I know it is Saturday when I am taking a walk and I see laundry hanging everywhere. Saturday is laundry day! I love laundry -- love washing it, hanging it, drying it and folding it. When I see laundry hanging high above, I think two things . . . 1) yeah, laundry! and 2) aren't these people worried that their laundry might fall down and get dirty?!

For me, I will continue to hang my clothes inside my apartment -- it's windy here and the pollution outside makes Los Angeles look pristine.

At exactly 5:00 every single day, someone comes into my office at work to remove the trash -- exactly 5:00 (it is eerie). Then at 5:30, they are back with the vacuum. Once a month, there is an entire weekend set aside for office cleaning. Gee -- I fit right in!

On another note, the Chinese people are so clean, that they even have a holiday where they clean the cemeteries! Two of my favorite things -- cleaning and cemeteries. The Ching Ming Festival is held in early April. This is when Chinese families go to the cemeteries and tidy up the graves of their ancestors. Now, they don't do the type of deep cleaning that I would do; however, they fill up bottles of water and then pour the water over the headstone. Some even pull up weeds. They also put flowers and plants on the grave.

Lining up for cleaning water

Even the Gardner plot was spruced up for Ching Ming!

The most ironic thing is that after all of this cleaning, the families burn "offerings" on the site (which most times cause fires on the mountains). The "offerings" are sort of three-dimensional paper items that represent stuff such as air conditioners, cars, furniture, clothing, and other material things that will make their loved ones happy.

Some dead guy will indeed be a sharp-dressed man with one of these shirts

I know, I know

I know I am behind on my postings -- but I have a good reason!  I'm helping my nephew with a school project and it has been keeping me busy. Besides, how can I turn down a face like this?

The culprits

So, for the past couple of weeks, I have been taking Flat Stanley everywhere. 

Here's some proof -- aren't we cute?

This weekend, I tried to cram in some educational stuff, because "Stan the Man" has been wanting to go to pubs, nightclubs, and the horse track (there may be an R-rated version of Stanley's adventures on this blog soon, but I am writing the G-version to go back to Orlando in a box full of Chinese candy, coins and pictures). Anyways, this weekend, we went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui and walked around the harbor on what is known as the Avenue of the Stars. 

Here's Stanley in TST doing his best Bruce Lee pose

Okay -- gotta get back to writing about Stanley's G-rated and educational adventures in Hong Kong!

It's a (Huge) Small World

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to visit our Theme Park in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Disneyland, for those of you who hadn't guessed). The occasion was to observe/participate in the orientation program for new employees (Cast Members, for those of you who are picky when it comes to proper nomenclature).

As I was traveling on the train to the Park, a sense of deja vu hit me and I remembered that years ago I had a dream where I had to go to Hong Kong Disneyland for one day to observe the park and orientation program and report back (for work, of course). In the dream, I flew over the Park and took a car to the entrance. This was the first time that I had remembered that dream and it was freaky (maybe a premonition?!).

Anyway after the orientation program, we had a chance to play in the Park. My first impression:  Wow!  It is soooooo clean!  My second impression:  Wow!  It is so small, yet spacious!  My third impression:  No wait for Space Mountain! Thank God it is a yucky Monday and the Park is empty!

My orientation group at the Park entrance (yes, we were freezing!)

Before going our separate ways, the orientation group watched the 3:30 parade together. Now, I haven't seen a Disney parade in a while, so I'm not sure how different this one was compared to the other Parks, but there were a few things that caught my eye...

Is this a weird-looking Mickey, or what?

Far out "Little Mermaid" themed parade costume #1

Far out "Little Mermaid" themed parade costume #2

After the parade, we walked towards the castle. I have to say that the backdrop of the mountains really made it stand out more than the castles at WDW and Disneyland.

Sleeping Beauty Castle

There are also many beautiful gardens lining the Park. We were informed that this is because the Asian people love to take pictures in gardens -- especially with Disney characters. So they built these gardens with gazebos to allow for many character photo opportunities.

One of the gardens near the castle

Finally, we walked by the "It's a Small World" attraction, which is scheduled to open on May 28 (three days before I go home to California!). All I could think was:  Wow! This attraction is going to be HUGE! How long is the actual ride going to be? Can people deal with hearing that song for more than 10 minutes? 

It's a Small World -- built on a whole lotta land (picture does not do the size justice)

While the rest of the orientation group wanted to either shop or watch the shows, Lailany and I rushed to Space Mountain. It was great! Then we proceeded to take advantage of the fact that there weren't many people in the Park and ride as many attractions as we could. While this Park does not have as many attractions as our other Parks and while it is not as big, I really enjoyed it. It definitely seemed more peaceful and intimate.

One Night in Wan Chai . . . sans Sheryl

The Hong Kong Rugby 7s were this weekend. This is a huge weekend for sports fans in Hong Kong and it is very hard to get tickets to the event. Because I love watching college football in sports bars, I figured watching the Rugby 7s in a sports bar could be just as fun.

Lailany and I set out after work on Friday to a pub very close to the stadium where the games were being played.  We parked ourselves at the bar in front of the TVs, but no rugby! Asked the bartender why they were showing soccer and not rugby and he said they were going to be broadcasting the games tomorrow instead. HUH???!! Biggest sports weekend in Hong Kong and the pub is only planning to broadcast it one day out of three? So we missed the 7s that night and decided to meet up on Saturday to try again.

Met at Lailany's place on Saturday and walked over to one of the many British pubs on Lockhart Road in Wan Chai. Now, Lockhart Road is an attraction in itself -- pubs and restaurants all interspersed between strip clubs.

The Old China Hand is the name of the British pub where we started, and the games were playing on the TVs! We got there just in time to see England beat some other country (yeah, that's how into it we were!) and to also see USA get stomped badly by New Zealand (I think that was who they were against). I had forgotten how nice it was that bars in the U.S. banned smoking. Everyone was smoking inside the pub - ugh! Eric met up with us and we moved on to some Mexican restaurant for dinner (yes, even though I am not a big fan of Mexican food, I sucked it up and the burrito was pretty good -- maybe because I hadn't eaten all day, or maybe because I was missing Julie).

After dinner is when the fun really started and this is where I was wishing Sheryl had joined us -- she would've had a blast, and I was missing her. We wound up in another British pub (I have no idea what the name of it was) and spent the rest of the evening there. The DJ was spinning some good 80s music (mixed in with some Elvis and other oldies - which we thought was strange) and he was also taking requests.  We wanted to hear Madonna, so I asked the DJ to play "Like a Virgin" -- here is our DJ friend posing with us (and Flat Stanley - who was sent to me for a visit by my nephew, Zachary).

And here is a pic of me, Eric and Lailany -- once we remembered I had a camera, we were taking tons of pics (fortunately for you, my dear readers, I'll only be posting a few here)!


Pretty soon, we were partying and dancing with a bunch of people in the pub. These two guys were crazy drunk and a lot of fun (Sheryl, you would've died!).

I think they were dancing to "Down Under" here

We had stopped dancing long enough to pose with Minnie Mouse and this guy (who had a crush on Lailany)

Ummm, what was Minnie doing in a pub?!

A couple of hours later, we were greeted by the Hong Kong Police! I guess they were there to arrest someone or raid the place or something, but we asked them if they would pose for a picture with us and Flat Stanley (and they did!).

Eric, me and Flat Stanley with Hong Kong's finest

After the DJ played "Like a Virgin" -- yes, hours after I had requested it (even after a 2nd and 3rd request), we decided to head out and "home" -- me with a camera full of approximately 60 pictures!

We're In!!!

After a crazy, crazy week of furiously working with a "local" travel agent who understood a little English, it has finally been confirmed that Cindy is officially registered to run the Great Wall 10K and I am officially registered to run the Great Wall Marathon!

Our "Official Entry" forms!

Poor Cindy -- because of the time difference and the urgency of getting the registrations completed by the end of the day on March 17 (Hong Kong time), she was up all hours of the night filling out paperwork. Because our travel agent couldn't understand what we were trying to explain (that I am living in Hong Kong for three months, Cindy lives in California, and we wanted to register together to ensure we had the same hotel room), Cindy wound up filling out, scanning and emailing THREE registration forms -- all with different addresses! At practically the last minute before the registration deadline, we were told the registration forms were completed correctly and our credit cards were then promptly charged.

Let me tell you now that this is going to be the most expensive run I will probably ever do in my life, however, how many people get the opportunity to run the Great Wall (I'll actually be running it twice on the marathon course). And the best part is that I will be experiencing it with one of my best friends (I have to say "one of" because there are quite a few peeps in the world that claim Cindy IS their best friend and I don't want to piss them off).

Oh, this is going to be a piece of cake!

My plan from this point on is to climb as many steps as I can. I began my training this week in the gym (run, stair-climb, run, weights) and will gradually increase the time and distance in the coming weeks. I also discovered an awesome running trail nearby which has lots of steps and inclines, so I'll be out there on the weekends.

I don't have a time goal for this marathon, but I am estimating it to take close to 7 hours (after reading about the level of difficulty and average run times). If I can pull off a 6.5 hour run, I will be thrilled.  If not, and I can finish within the 8-hour timeframe for getting the medal, I will be satisfied. I am also planning on running with my camera and taking lots of pics along the way.

To quote Cindy:  "OMG, I can't wait!"

The Sharon and Jerry "High Roller" Day

My new friend, Lailany, had invited me to join her and a couple other friends on a trip to Macau on Easter Saturday.  I was planning to go to Macau anyway and was happy to have someone to go with.  Lailany and Theresa were planning to stay there overnight and Eric wasn't because he has a dog to feed.  Since I didn't have a hotel room booked, I decided to go back with Eric.  So far, so good...

We planned to get an early start and meet up at 9:00.  Lailany and I met up with Eric and got on the MTR to meet Theresa at the ferry pier.  On the way there, Theresa called Eric and mentioned something about "passports" -- we all looked at each other . . . no one brought their passport with them!  We got to the pier and Theresa was swearing that she told Eric we needed our passports. Long story short -- we got TurboJet tix for 11:46 and it was 10:00.  Got back on the train and decided to meet up at Starbucks near the pier, since we all had to go our separate ways. I sprinted through the terminal to get my passport and get back -- good exercise!  The funny thing was that Lailany, Eric and I all wound up on the same train going back to the pier. We went to Starbucks to wait for Theresa (who already had her passport, but decided to go home to get something else) - we waited and waited for her! Finally decided to get to the boat since it was 11:30.

We  had just started to board when Theresa made her appearance, joking that you could board at the very last minute in spite of all the warnings that you need to be there 15 minutes in advance.

Our boat to Macau

The boat ride was fun -- high-speed ride across the bay/harbor/ocean -- we all debated that one. And then we saw the Sands in sight.  So, Macau is "supposed" to be the Vegas of Hong Kong, which is why this excursion was named for Sharon and Jerry.  Sharon and Jerry got married in Vegas last year, and, both were in Hong Kong two years ago and have been giving me all sorts of tips and suggestions -- including going to Macau.  So, this one's for you, Shar and Jer!

Vegas? Nah, it's only Macau

By this time, it is a little after 1:00, and Eric and I had return tix back for 5:20.  We figured we would get off the boat, get a cab, get lunch, go to a casino or two, have a couple of drinks, and head back to the pier.  Well, we got off the boat and then proceeded to push our way through thousands of people (and I mean, push - no one wanted to move) to the opposite end of the station where the "visitors" entry was. Of course, there were a ton of people on line and no one was moving! They weren't letting anyone in!  After about 15 minutes, they decided to start letting people in and let me tell you, we were on the SLOWEST line of all. The New Yorker in Lailany was coming out -- she was pissed and it was funny. Theresa was saying that it would take us hours to get a cab because of all the people there. I just wanted a drink! We finally had our passports stamped and were on our way. Another 20 or so minutes later, Theresa found us a bus. Theresa can speak Chinese, which was a huge time saver! We got off the bus and walked to the first gaudy hotel/casino we could find -- Hotel Lisboa.

Hotel Lisboa - Top

Hotel Lisboa - Bottom

I was desperate at this point for an Elvis sighting -- I didn't care if he was Chinese. But nope, no Elvis. However, we did see a huge casino and a bar, so we decided to eat and hang at the Lisboa (all the other suggested restaurants were booked solid because it was Easter weekend and we didn't really plan ahead). We had a very nice Chinese meal in the hotel -- ate a ton -- and then proceeded to the gambling floor.  Theresa headed straight for the tables and Eric, Lailany and I headed straight for the bar. Sipping my beer, I caught sight of the slot machines and decided to check them out. Sure enough, I found my favorite nickel slots (only these were Hong Kong nickel slots -- which amounted to LESS THAN A PENNY a game!). After spending about $15 Hong Kong on the slots, Eric and I decided we needed to get a cab back -- it was 4:45 at this point and we had a 5:20 departure.

Group pic inside Hotel Lisboa

We went outside to get a cab, and there was a line for the cabs! Unbelievable! At around 5:05, we got into a cab and told the driver to hurry. I commented to Eric that I felt like we were on "The Amazing Race" - he agreed. We got to the pier and ran inside only to find more lines (had to get our passports stamped yet again). At 5:23, our passports were stamped and we sprinted to the boat. Just made it - Theresa was right about getting there at the last minute!

While we only saw a little bit of Macau, it was still a fun day. I will definitely make a point of getting back there before I go home -- but I plan on waiting to go with Cindy when she is here in May!