Congestion

The Rugby Sevens are in town again. As a citizen of HK, I should be grateful for all the revenue the event brings in but realistically, it's just a huge pain in the ass. The traffic has been a total nightmare. Last night I had to wait 25 minutes just for my bus to pull into the stop. That might not sound like much, but you have to realize I'm only talking about a distance of less than 150m. I was standing there looking at my bus slowly inch it's way to the stop.

Had to head in to work today. Here's what the traffic was like at 11:30 in the morning (on a Saturday, mind you):

Ah hell, I'm probably just cranky for having to work full hours on a Saturday...

More eatin'

Tried McDonald's new Big N' Tasty. Had to try it 'coz I'm a burger freak. Of course, I didn't have any big expectations (we're talking about McDonald's after all...)



All I can say is: eh. It's basically just a normal McD hamburger but with a different sauce and thicker meat. Now normally a thicker patty is something to be happy about, but in this case it's just a thicker version of their dry, bland patty. Double sized blandness is not a good thing.

Next, went to Pizza Hut to try their new stuffed crust pizza. This badboy has 3 cheeses packed into it. Good stuff. Still not as good as California's Pizza Kitchen, Jack's Terraza or La Spezia but good enough for a chain store.

Quick aside: saw this cool wall ad for DHL in the TST MTR station. Pretty neat idea. Plus, I haven't seen one of those old school payphones in a long time.

Chopstick Art

After seeing a report on the news, I went to see the Chopstick Arts Aquarium exhibit at the China Hong Kong City mall. Very impressive. The artist, Mr. Koike Masataka uses discarded wood chopsticks to craft beautiful marine sculptures. What impressed me the most is how he uses his work to promote marine conservation and a strong environmental message (i.e. even discarded materials can be made into works of art) .





Look at the detail of this octopus

Zero Appeal

Finally gave Coke Zero a try today.

Well...at least the can looks pretty.

It's not that it tastes bad (it's definitely better than the atrocity that is Diet Coke) but it's just so flat. Coke Zero may have 0 sugar and 0 calories and 0 fat, but it also has almost 0 taste. To me, the appeal of Coke is that punch that it packs when it first hits your mouth. Take that away and you're just left with a boring black liquid.

You know, whenever I hear anyone order a diet-whatever I can't help but think "what's the point?" Either drink something healthy like juice or water or bite the bullet and order a regular soda. I'm reminded of that line Brad Pitt did in an episode of Friends: "It's no fat, no sugar, no dairy... It's no good, throw it out.'

Carnival!

Finally went to the AIA Carnival yesterday. I was worried at first 'coz it was raining in the morning but Mother Nature was kind to this birthday boy and the sun came shining by the time me and my friends got there in the afternoon.

We wanted to ease our way into things so we started nice and slow with a safe ride on the ferris wheel. That's us in the uppermost car (the building reflection shot...so "Infernal Affairs")

The view from above:

Next challenge: the bumber cars. Too bad there were too many cars in the lot; didn't have enough space to work up a good killer speed. But on the plus side, the cars were surprisingly maneuverable.

Then a quaint little roller coaster ride. Man, I miss the coaster rides at Canada's Wonderland.



Ah...the Free Fall. Good stuff; I could literally feel my brain and skull move at different speeds...

I'm the idiot with his legs up. I can tell you, I severely regretted that position when the ride came to a sudden, jolting halt.

Oooh, the pretty colors of the night!

Lastly, I wanna give a big THANK YOU to A & M for making yesterday such a fantastic fun day. It wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable without the 2 of you screaming in stereo surround sound all night!

Once a year

Went on a huge food binge last night. It was my BD so I took my mom to dinner at the Park Lane Cafe on the 1st (hey it's the least I can do, the woman was in labor for 38+ hours!)

Too busy eating to shoot photos of the sashimi, lobsters, alaskan king crabs, duck l'orange, steak, rack of lamb, grilled pheasant, roast duck, poached sting ray...you can imagine how hyper-bulged my stomach was at the end of the night. But, took some time to shoot my favorite part: The Dessert!

Round 1: Vanilla pastry, belgian waffle, fruit flaky, whipped egg-whites, almondine and raspberry mousse.




Round 2: Chocolate dipped marshmallows, glazed cream puffs, orange creme brule and a mini-neopolitan.

Round 3: Coffee flavored souffle.

Hey, I need to gain back all the weight I lost during my marathon training and this is as good a way as any!

More photos

Some pics taken by the official event photographers:

Never too tired to mess around:

Too bad the photographer couldn't focus fast enough; this photo would have been nice to keep:

Damn, I look like a starving refugee...

Finally crossing the finish line (with enough juice left to keep both feet off the ground!)

5:09:25

Ha, ran 30 minutes slower than last year but hey, I'm just happy that I was able to finish. My left knee is hurting a more than last year but it'll probably get better in a few days.

Lots of interesting people this year. Saw a married couple dressed up like sharks to protest the eating of shark fin soup. The real kicker is that despite their oven-hot costumes, they were running much faster than most people. Amazing. And there was another guy who ran the whole thing barefoot. 42 kilometers! BAREFOOT!!! Plus there was that old guy who runs every year. I can only hope I'm in as good as shape as him when I reach 80.

It was also nice to see several pairs of Blind & Guide runners. I guess they were inspired by Henry Wanyoike, the blind runner from Kenya who started running here a couple years ago. Just goes to show what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it. Respect.

What wasn't so great were all those newbies who were in the race just to screw around. People stopping all over the place to shoot photos, other with babies/baby carts. I mean, come on! You want to mess around, do it somewhere else on your own time. Don't muck around when others are taking the race seriously and doing their best to finish. Plus, I'm no expert, but bumping up and down in a baby buggy (or worse, on daddie's back) for 2 hours in hot, humid weather probably isn't the best way to treat a baby. Plus, these people were basically breaking the rules. Marathon bylaws stipulate that only registered runners, with racing chips and number tags are allowed to participate in the race. I'm pretty damn sure that none of those babies met these requirements.

On a sad note, I saw a young man lying unconscious and deathly white near the turning point between the Tsing Ma Bridge and the Ting Kau bridge. Ironically, this was practically the same spot were the man who died last year had collapsed. As of 18:00, of the 43,000+ people who ran the 10K, Half and Full marathon, there were some 6200+ people who felt sick, 35 hospitalized with 1 in critical condition. I hope that history doesn't repeat itself.

Anyways, here are some pics.

Right before baggage check-in. How naievely sweet, I still had the silly hope of finishing in 4 hours:

New arrangement this year: no public allowed at the finish line. There were lots of people bitching about this saying they wanted to shoot their friends/family crossing the line. Oh well, guess everyone will have to look for their photos at http://www.marathon-photos.com/index.html.

Oooh, a bag full of bananas and other goodies:

Afterwards, went to have a gut busting burger at a nearby restaurant (it's a bit of a tradition for me). Then stopped off at a dessert shop at home to have some sweet dumplings (literally translated as "soup balls"). Today is the 15th day of the Lunar New Year (aka the First Full Moon, aka Lantern Day) and it's tradition to eat dumplings.

It might look kind of gross to anyone who's never tried it, but trust me, it's super tasty. This is a bowl of Sea Coconut, Aloe and Black Glutinous Rice soup with seseme filled soup balls. Yummy.