“Once there was a way to get back homeward…”

In another unexpected turn of events Amit and I are leaving for Thaliand tomorrow on account of unseasonal cold and rain in Hong Kong and year-round high prices and expat banker residents.  We got to Hong Kong, thrilled to escape the cold up North, and delighted to be in Meg’s care.  Off the coast of Hong Kong Island is a smaller, former hippie colony-turned moderate-expat colony called Lamma where Meg lives.  The island is beautiful, covered in quaint tucked away towns, tiny well-manicured farms and gardens and paved hiking trails.  The  only cars on the island are the fire trucks and the ambulances which are about as wide as a 5 year-old child is tall.  It stands as a delightful contrast to Hong Kong’s packed city streets, austere clubs and restaurants and juxtaposed poverty and extreme wealth. Today we put some battery powered speakers in a tiny backpack to make music clothes like lots of Chinese locals wear and introduced the Chinese to Reggae, Manu Chau, Cher, Jamiraqui, Kanye’s Workout plan and a little bit of Thai rap.  

In the evenings we went over to Hong Kong island, about a 30 minute ferry ride from Lamma, which only runs until 12:30am, leaving us stranded til 7:30 on nights we went out drinking, sitting in the only 24-hour diner in Hong Kong, and being reprimanded for falling asleep at the table.  Some nights we went out with Meg’s investment banker friend Niel and his investment banker friends to some of the most “exclusive” clubs in Hong Kong which was really fun until he started ordering us drinks we would never order and then giving us the bill for it.  Despite not wanting to spend a lot of money and wanting to avoid areas densely populated with witty British hedge fund managers we always seemed to end up there.

The most beautiful thing about this place has been the sightings of two other IHPers. Finally Zeno returns to the blog. THank heavens cuz this thing could really use a little spice.  He was flying through Hong Kong on his way back from New Zealand to visit his sick grandmother.  His friend Irra called us and had us meet him in a Confucian temple of all places.  Amit and I practically ran there in the rain to see him.  I couldnt believe that after not seeing him for nearly two years we finally meet again in a Confucian temple in Downtown Hong Kong. He emerged from the clouds of smoke from the incense like the second coming of the savior on his white horse..ok I’m being a little flowery in his honor.  He was actually just leaning up against an alter, dressed head to two in black with an even larger mass of necklaces hopelessly tangled around his neck.  An embrace of epic proportions.  We spent the day wandering Antique markets where he bought an enormous Ancient Chinese legionnaires’ helmet, and Amit and I bought him yet another necklace.  He told us stories of strip searches, and getting into the backs of vans with Hookers; he clumsily danced me around the floors of a busy upscale restaurant and everything was in its right place.  He barely made his flight on time and we sent him off, casually, and unabashedly cutting in line in front of all the other people at the ticket counter.
 

Then there was Clay!  What a treat.  Clay’s parents are teaching here at an international school, so while they were away on vacation we came over and stayed at their spacious apartment where meg and I could sleep without having to spoon each other to fit in the bed and for warmth, and Amit could…continue to sleep on the couch even though he had a bed available to him.  Oh and we did this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKovLjheQE0

I’m excited for the first use of multimedia in the blog as well as my frist known appearance on youtube.  We were a little weary of the pricey Hong Kong nightlife so we opted for movie marathons, home cooked meals, and drinking games that turned into dance routines.  One of my best days of the trip was the day that Clay and I went to Shenzhen together (big city on the other side of of the Chinese border) so I could milk my Chinese visa a little.  Shenzhen is basically a shopping megalopolis where people will comfortably pull you into their stalls offering copy watches and purses and dvd movies.  I will never forgive myslef for not buying that gel-filled, pig-shaped, slap bracelet watch.  We ate a lot of unusual Chinese candy that tasted like objects not usually found in food, and went to a Chinese equivalent of Luby’s for lunch since it was the only place where we could ascertain with our eyes that the food we were eating did not contain whole squids, fish bodies, or chunks of other unknown animals.  It was lovely.

Despite not wanting to leave Meg, we have decided to spend the rest of the trip in Thailand because it is a little bit easier on the wallet and the cold here lends itself only to hibernation and heavy drinking.  In reality, Hong Kong is just New York without the radical scene, the history, and the bagels.  We did really enjoy the Chinese New Year Fireworks, which we celebrated in the usual way, falafel, bottles of Franzia (who knew they sold it in bottles?) and surrounded by crowds of Chinese people watching it from behind the screens on their cellphone cameras.  Otherwise Chinese New Year isn’t that fun unless you are Chinese, which we aren’t so so long Hong Kong.  Time for something I’m a little more used to: heat, humidity, jungle, disproportionate attention for light color of skin.  I guess that is all I really know about Thailand.  I’ll let you know more when I do.

Gersh Alert