The cripps in Hong Kong Hong Kong, Repulse Bay, Cripps, Crippo, Mark Cripps, Joss Cripps

Zai Jian 再見 (Hope to see you again soon)

A diary about our expedition to Hong Kong

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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Dragon Boat racing in Cheung Chau






This year was our third opportunity to see the Dragon Boat races - but only the first time we actually dragged ourselves to go and take a peek.

Hearing that Stanley would be a bunfight, with much trepidation, we headed off to the island of Cheung Chau. Trepidation? Because in our third weekend living in HK, we went on a family trip to the island - it was not a success to put it mildly! We were not then used to the heat or humidity (40 degrees/100%) - the kids went in to meltdown. We went for a swim to cool off (on what was billed as a "beautiful" beach) - only to realise we were swimming amongst plastic bags (and worse) ... we now know not to go swimming in the sea immediately following heavy rain.

So trepidation indeed.

But I guess we've got used to it more here -- it was still hot and crowded, but was totally within our (revised!) tolerance levels. So much so that we decided to go for a walk (we got lost and what was meant to be a 40 min stroll morphed into a 3 hour yomp ... a touch of meltdown there!). On the walk we ventured into the cave where the pirate Cheung Po-Tsai is meant to have holed out for a while. Well, when I say "we" I mean "Joss and the boys". I'm not particularly spooked by small places, but having to pull myself along the wet ground snake-like, underneath 300 tonnes of rock and with the loose definitions of safety the Chinese have - I decided to give it a miss. The Chinese pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is meant to be based on this guy - the cave gets thousands of visitors not just because of this, but also because is treasure trove has yet to be found!

Back to the main reason for going to Cheung Chau - the Dragon Boat racing was fun - and the kids enjoyed it. Although they got distracted by the appearance of a toad on the harbour wall - the toad ended up in a local's pocket no doubt destined for the pot that evening ("field chicken"). You would not catch me in one of those boats: a) it looks like hard work!; b) the boats come complete with little buckets so you can bail out the water as you go and c) the water in the harbour is on the wrong side of clean.

Now we live in the middle of Stanley, we may even embrace the Stanley Dragon Boat bunfight next year. Ironically, Cheung Chau is famous for its bun festival - where locals scramble up a bun pyramid in order to grab the top-most bun. Will try to get to see that too next year.

One sad aspect to this year's Dragon Boat festival was the death of a young guy who (apparently) was jumping from junk boat to junk -- he slipped, banged his head on the way, splashed in to the sea and was never seen again.

M

Alcatraz and the San Francisco Giants






You can tell I like writing headlines can't you?

I enjoy the sound of this one very much - it rolls off the tongue like a chapter heading of a fairy tale.

Anyway, on a recent business trip to the states my meeting schedules meant that I had to over-weekend it in San Francisco (poor me). And so I took the opportunity to visit the old Alacatraz prison - something I've been meaning to do for well over a decade.

I wish I'm made the pilgrimage earlier - it was a great way to spend 4 hours or so (would not want to be banged up in one of the TINY cells for a long period of time however! They do offer sleep-over tours. No thanks! Not for me). They had one of those sound-stick affairs - where each room is on a closed loop and so it relays a voice over specific to your location. This one was particularly atmospheric - it was narrated by the screws and in-mates. Fascinating. They claim that no one successfully escaped from the place - a few made it off the island but they reputedly were never seen again (although there have been sightings in South America).

I really can't imagine what it would have been like to be cooped up there on that island with San Fran teasingly on the horizon (apparently if the wind was right the in-mates could hear noises of parties etc on the mainland). SF appears tantalisingly close - but the sea remains very cold all year round and there are wicked currents. As a further deterrent, the authorities did not dispel rumours of sharks in the Bay! Reminded me to re-read Papillon - a book I read many times as a kid despite it being a bit trash and 500+ pages in length. The movie's great too (1973!) - one of the only movies where I can tolerate looking @ Dustin Hoffman (I find him immensely irritating - it's his teeth).

Alcatraz was followed up by a trip to the ballpark. A major league baseball game between San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres.

Everyone told me I'd be bored rigid. But I had a wonderful afternoon - they Yanks do this kind of thing really well - good atmosphere; beer; pizza; crowd-rallying organ music etc etc. It was a tied game at the end of the 9th innings. It was an exciting period leading up to the tie and so at the end of the ninth, I started getting up ready to go (happy I'd seen an interesting game). Everyone looked at me like I was mad! What I had not realised is that, if it's a tie, the game has an extra innings. The Giants scored a home run in this extra time - so the crowd went home delirious.

In addition to being told it was boring, I was also warned that it'd be freezing. So I wrapped myself in 4 outer layers. It was a bit cold (thanks to the wind coming off the Bay) - but I had a shock when I got back to the hotel. My face had really bad sunburn. I had to go to the office next day with a face like a radish!

m

Billy's birthday





Billy had a great birthday this year - all thanks to Joss and Sofia as I did not lift a finger (apart from buy him his bike).

Joss hired a local 'Lego workshop' - yes there are such places. Kids come to learn how to make Lego-based robots; merry-go-round rides etc. This went down a storm and it was the most organised (and quiet) kids' parties I've attended.

The star of the show was the Lego brick birthday cakes crafted by Joss and Sofia out of sponge and marshmallow biscuits (plus 3 inches of icing). Reminded me of the cakes my mother used to make for me - especially the Hansel & Gretel house-cake with a roof fashioned out of an iced-over corn flakes packet. Blue Peter would have been proud of that re-purposing.

M

The 08:26 arrival of the dustbin people

It's Sunday morning here in Hong Kong. 08:26 in fact. Like clockwork, the dustbin lorry and its dustbin people entourage are emptying the bins outside. Yes, everyday - even on Sundays (They even ventured out in the middle of the Level 8 typhoon we had on Wednesday this week - the only vehicle out on the road at that time). The work ethic in the country is amazing. Or maybe they just can't stand cockroaches (who live/breed in the dustbins and feed on the waste food unless it's removed).

I've just noticed that half of the dustbin people are women. I don't think I've ever seen a female dustbin person in the UK (I'm sure there are a few). And yesterday, I saw several women amongst the gang digging up a road - there were busy removing the dirt in big buckets and then carting it away using industrial sized wheelbarrows.

These women appear to be of the same race as the streetsweepers I blogged about a few weeks back - they work bloody hard.

M

Friday, August 01, 2008

A First Class Birthday Present

This has been the longest birthday I've ever had! It's actually lasted three days and I still have another twenty five minutes to go!

I've been straddling three time zones - Hong Kong; the UK; and West Coast USA. As a consequence, my birthday started tuesday morning and is about to end thursday evening (san francisco time). I wonder if that make me 3 years older? That aside, I can see why following the Millenium round on Concorde was an attractive proposition.

I gradually warmed up to Portland - the weather broke this morning and I woke up (initially @ 2:25 AM) to beautiful blue skies and the smell of a wonderful fresh summer's morning.

Had a good all-day meeting with the clients in Portland and now I'm making my slow way back to Hong Kong for birthday breakfast and presents in 18 hours time or so.

And one of the best bits: I just checked in @ the Cathay Pacific desk and was greeted by a smiling face wishing me happy birthday together with an invitation to sit @ the front of the Jumbo in First Class. Thank you Cathay!

M