HK Day 9 (Fri Jul 6)

so are people getting tired of reading my blog? i'm getting kind of tired of writing it. maybe i'm just lazy, but also 'cause i think my days aren't exactly all that varied.

yesterday i went out earlier than usual since Sifu David was leaving in the afternoon. we had dim sum and then hung around the IWTA office (chatting, training, etc.). all too soon it was time to say goodbye. it's funny how something you had no expectations of could become something very meaningful (in this case, knowing i would meet someone i had heard of and wanted to meet, but didn't truly know anything about). i'm sure our paths will cross again. just hope it's sooner than later. :)


Sifu Robin was still very busy so I spent the afternoon online and being a bum. One of Sifu Robin's si-dais was kind and took me to a place to apply for another Chinese visa so I could possibly make a trip to China with my si-gung (before heading back to Beijing). The lady said I wouldn't be able to apply for another one until I had "used up" my current one. Annoying. Did I mention it was ridiculously hot outside and not a short walk? (okay, it wasn't really that far, but it felt like it 'cause of the heat/humidity.)

Had Japanese for dinner with Sifu Robin before heading to Shek Tong Tsui to meet Anna to check out Sifu Leung Kwok Wah's class. After class, got some milk tea and then pretty much called it a night. :)

HK Day 8 (Thu July 5)

So i've officially been in Hong Kong over a week! my sense of time is a bit skewed, but a week does seem about right.

i arrived at the IWTA office around 12:30. i was pleasantly surprised to see Sifu Leung Kwok Wah there, in addition to Sifu David, Sifu Robin, and si-tai. i spoke with Sifu Leung for a while, catching up a bit since we last saw each other back in March. i also chatted with Sifu David a bit, while Sifu Robin was busy as usual with the many things he takes care of in the office.


a little while later, we left for a dim sum restaurant, where Grandmaster Leung Ting would be joining us. no matter how many times i've met my si-gung, it still is always a little surreal to see him and talk to him. after dim sum we walked down the street and parted ways with Sifu Leung Kwok Wah and GM Leung Ting. Robin, David, and I returned to the office briefly before David and I went to get some coffee.

Sifu David got a latte, but i ended up getting a mango smoothie. :P we chatted a bit (about all things WingTsun, of course) before ordering a hot milk tea for Sifu Robin and getting the check. It was pouring out when we wanted to leave, but fortunately the cafe was a couple doors down from the school and the path was covered.

After giving Sifu Robin his milk tea, Sifu David and I trained a little bit; a most helpful session for me! It is too bad he has to leave HK so soon. :(

Around 6 PM Sifu David had to leave to meet a friend for dinner. Sifu Robin had much to do so he and i ordered some food and ate in the office. Afterwards, he had to head to teach at Baptist University while I went to attend GM Cheng Chuen Fun's class at the main gym.

It was good to see si-sok-gung again, and i was happy that he hadn't forgotten me. :D we chatted a bit and i was thankful for the corrections he gave me in what i was doing. the 2 hour class was also the best workout i've had since getting to Hong Kong. Sifu David stopped by to say hi to si-sok-gung toward the end of class. After class ended, Sifu David and I were supposed to hang out and wait for Sifu Robin, but he has been under a lot of pressure and not sleeping enough so he needed to get some rest. Since it was late, Sifu David and I decided to get something to drink and chat and leave training for tomorrow.

We went to Hui Lau Shan and i got, surprisingly, a mango drink! Despite having had a lot of mango stuff already, i still enjoyed it very much, especially having worked out. Had some more good conversation, and reflected on how happy i was to have met such a good friend and si-hing in Sifu David.

calling it a night, i made my way to the mini buses once again, and can happily say i now am very comfortable getting back to Anna's apartment late at night from Mong Kok. :D

HK Day 7 (Wed Jul 4) - American Independence Day!

happy 4th of july!

if you've been reading my blog, you'll realize that i'm not joking when i say i'm bumming around Hong Kong. that being said, onto talking about my day!

had lunch with Sifu Robin at an Italian restaurant then hung out a bit in the office. Sifu David joined us a little later on, and we hung out and talked. After the office hours ended, Sifu Robin and Sifu David started doing some chi sau when a question on bong-sau reaction was raised. As this was being discussed, I was already late for my dinner plans, so had to depart. (I still need to process it some more)

Went with Anna and Rob to the American Club in Stanley for a 4th of July celebration. Also met some cool people that Rob invited. The American Club in Stanley has a beautiful view of the ocean (?) and some of HK's islands. It was very picturesque, and our table had a perfect view of it all. Unfortunately that benefit was lost as the sky darkened.

For dinner we had a diverse buffet but i picked only American foods! (and bratwurst :P.) After dinner and hanging out for a bit, we decided to head to Lan Kwai Fong. In the taxi, we wanted to listen to some music but none of the radio stations worked. Rob asked if Anna had brought a CD and the driver said there was a CD we could listen to but it was in Chinese. we figured it was better than nothing so popped it in. at first it was some folksy Cantonese music, but then subsequent tracks reminded us all of Beijing opera. it wasn't the most pleasant sound for us since we hadn't acquired an appreciation of such arts. finally, after a solid 15-20 minutes, we decided to stop it and listen to music off Anna's multi-talented PDA-phone gadget. The driver was laughing when we stopped it and Anna asked the driver if he liked the music and he said no, that the CD wasn't even his. :P

In LKF we popped our heads into California Bar where not much was going on (besides the Gasquet match) so headed to a pool place that i believe was simply called "Rack." shot some pool, had some drinks, and sang along to some American songs. since all but yours truly have work the next day, we called it an "early" night at around 12:30 am.

HK Day 6 (Tue Jul 3)

i've decided i need to sleep in more. it is my vacation, right? i didn't sleep in yesterday and felt blah so had to take a nap to feel better. i guess alternatively i could try to sleep earlier... but what fun would that be? :) anyway, i think yesterday was by far my laziest day so far of the summer. had no motivation whatsoever to do anything. but that can be good, 'cause i think most people feel that way every now and then, and after it passes, they're extra motivated for a bit to make up for lost time...

anyway, so i finally got off my lazy arse and went to Yau Ma Tei (note to self: takes about 45 min without any traffic delays) to meet up with Sifu Robin. He showed me some more cool WT vid clips. :D Also met his si-dai, Jerry. Sifu David Tvilling (from Korea) was to arrive that afternoon, so we were anticipating his arrival.

we got a quick dinner at Yoshinoya (yum and cheap!), then had to jet off to Baptist University for Sifu Robin's class. along the way, Sifu Robin got a call from Sifu David. Sifu Robin asked Sifu David to meet us at the Baptist University. met some nice students at the class who pretty much all spoke English. had a fun time watching Sifu Robin teach and suggesting some corrections to the students, as well as working with a couple of them. Sifu David finally found us, after asking around for where the class might be or where a payphone might be (he doesn't speak Cantonese either). it was great to get to meet him, since i had seen pictures and videos of him and heard much of him over the years. He was very friendly and we chatted for a while. Then we trained for a bit. ;D

It was very inspiring to have the three of us (me, Sifu Robin, Sifu David) together, who all have learned WingTsun in different countries and environments, from multiple teachers, and with various training partners. We all share a like passion for the art, and the same fundamental understanding, yet there is a different flavor and "accent" (as in languages) to each of our movements that strike one another as familiar yet not completely. It's quite a beautiful thing. :) Through new stimulus comes growth and better self-understanding.

After class we went to Mong Kok to get some food. Went to a Shanghainese place. Got to chat some more, but it seemed all of us were a bit tired. We soon called it a night.

I was happy to discover that the last stop on the Sai Wan minibus is the stop i need to get off of. Or at least it was last night (hopefully they're consistent). Even if not, i think i can finally recognize about where i need to get off (things look different at night).

HK Day 5 (Mon Jul 2)

so today, for the first time since i got to HK, i slept in!

i woke up around 7 or 8 but refused to get up, so went back to bed. i finally got up around noon.

spent time with the laptop and with Mel (via GoogleTalk) (kind of like life back at home!) for a bit, then finally took my lazy ass outside and got a mango dessert thing (a sweet mango, pomelo, soupy thing) for a late breakfast/lunch, then went to a bakery (Saint Lowlands) and got a couple of breads (for breakfast tomorrow). Returned to the apartment and started working on the script and then a song. Got hungry so ate a hotdog bun i got from the bakery :P.

went out to get Korean BBQ in Causeway Bay with Anna, Colin, two of Colin's friends, and Leslie. Hadn't seen Les in a while, so it was good to see him again. Afterward Les had to go "price something" (for work) so Colin, Anna, and I went to get foot massages and see if Les would be done to meet up to do something else. An hour later, with more relaxed feet, Les wasn't done yet. We went to Hui Lau Shan (Mel's fave) and got these sweet mango (and i think pomelo, again) drinks. Since it was getting kind of late, we decided to get the drinks to go and call it a night.

HK Day 4 (Sun Jul 1)

Listened to more music in the morn as I slowly woke myself up.

Went to a Japanese restaurant with Anna and her friend/Cantonese Tutor, Sara. Sushi and sashimi (and wasabi)... yum!

Afterward, tried to figure out what HKSAR 10th Anniversary events there were. Apparently we had missed some already (parade), but could make a protest as well as fireworks. Anna had a friend from college who lives in Singapore in town, so we met him for afternoon drinks. Went to Staunton's Bar in SoHo and chatted a while. Afterward, went to 1 IFC (International Finance Center), a huge shopping mall, where we scoped out a place to watch the fireworks. I finally convinced Anna to eat McDonald's for dinner so we went to grab it to take to stake out a place for watching the fireworks. The McDonald's line was ridiculously long. Then we got sorta lost going back to the terrace. Made it all the more exciting.

The fireworks started off kind of lame, but got bigger and slightly better at the end. Supposedly the biggest display ever in Hong Kong, but the planners didn't seem to have a good sense of building up the show at all. It was pretty flat throughout, though they set off a ton in the end; so much so that the smoke masked much of the final fireworks set off. (EDIT: Perhaps i was too far away and it was more impressive from a closer vantage point...)

I should probably get more sleep...

(btw--not that anyone really cares, but i've noticed that the dates/times on my posts are still in NY times...)

HK Day 3 (Sat June 30)

A weekend day! Not that it really makes a difference to me, but it means my friends who lead normal lives are free. Anna had some plans saturday morn, while I stayed in, updated the blog, and talked with Mel on the phone. :) Also, it was the least gloomy (almost sunny) morning I'd seen!

After Anna got back, we (took some time and) decided to go to Havana (in SoHo) for lunch. We had cuban tapas for brunch (not lunch--lunch doesn't exist there on weekends). After a nice meal, we were ready to go when we noticed it was pouring out. Not so fun. We headed back to Anna's since someone was supposed to come fix the A/C in her living room (yes!). We made a stop at a local place that had good mango desserts! Anna had a mango, pomelo slushy type mix while i had a mango and 豆花 dish.

After getting back to Anna's apartment, she got a call saying the guy couldn't come 'cause it was raining (hrm... reminds me of luggage story at HK airport from earlier post). Since the weather was ugly out, we stayed in. We shared some music with each other (her more than me since I don't have that much with me. Anna's a big American Idol fan, so I heard the names of some former Idol-contestants many times... also heard songs from various artists, including those that have been to jail...

After the excitement of that died down, I had a stimulating time whittling down my gmail inbox to under 40 messages! It's been a very long time since the number's been that low. Anna had plans to get dinner with a couple of friends and invited me along, so we waited for them to call. And waited. And around 8:30 PM we decided we'd just find something to eat when, with impeccable timing, she gets a call. We decided to go with Staunton's Bar & Cafe in SoHo. A later phone call revealed that we'd be getting picked up in a cab and that we'd been vetoed on going to Staunton's.

In the cab I met Trudy, Phil, and Colin (today i noticed stickers on cabs that say SEATS 5--so i guess we were legal!). As we drove, Anna suddenly asked "where are we going?" when she sees a bridge. Apparently we were going to Kowloon (unexpectedly leaving Hong Kong Island, which I had earlier joked that Anna never did). We went to 798 Unit & Co., a NY style gastropub (as i was told). We had a variety of delectable foods that we all shared, making quite the awesome meal.

Afterward, as the rain kept falling, we walked to the MTR station to go back to Central. Colin and Trudy left to make a stop at Trudy's apartment while Phil brought Anna and I to Azure to meet some of his coworkers for drinks. Next was clubbing at Volar followed by clubbing at Prive. Lastly we got food at a "famous" restaurant since it was one of the few that was opened late at night ('til 4 or 5 am). Not being very hungry, I happily drank a cold (HK style) milk tea.

A not-too-long cab ride later the fun day ended.