First off, there is a new Chinese oddity on campus that I must tell you about with great vexation. Along the sidewalks between the student dorms on campus, there are grass clumps growing in the ground. Not turf lawn that we're accustomed to in the US, but what appears to be stunted bunch grass planted in neat rows all along the sidewalk. They powerwash this grass, but that didn't alarm me too much. However, when Luke and I got back last night, we noticed that all the grass had been dug up and stacked in piles along the buildings (new grass or old, I am not sure), and workers were tilling the dry soil with hoes. OK, time for new grass. But why would they stack the old grass like that? They couldn't be planning to replant it, could they? "No way," I said. Well, this morning, they proved me wrong. Right now, workers are outside and split into three groups: one tills the soil, one replants the grass, and one trims the roots of the grass before the other group replants it!!!!! This, I simply do not understand. Completely baffled. Luke thinks its new grass; I am sticking with the old grass for the story's sake. I asked my class why they are doing this and they all said, "so someone can have a job. Its a waste of money. No reason whatsoever. It doesn't make better grass." As Stuart is so fond of saying, "This wouldn't happen in America!"
5 days ago Luke and I left for Hong Kong on a dual purpose mission: leave the country to reset our visa (Hong Kong counts as international despite the fact that they are part of China) and to play in the Pan-Asian Ultimate tournament. An epic trip began in an epic way. We left Thursday afternoon amid class drama for me resulting in my class monitor (the student leader) being fired from his position (he was always late and slept through class) and went to Chengdu. First we went to a recording studio in response to an ad I saw in the Chengdu classifieds looking for foreign models and voice recordings. We went in and were handed a script detailing a company. The tech played a recording of their most popular voice and in thoroughly intimidated us- he sounded like Paul Harvey. Just the voice I would want to hire. But into a sound booth with an expensive looking microphone and off we read. It was hilarious. Here's Luke reading:
Jeffery said he’d call us if anyone was interested. Then we were off back to downtown where we met with a girl Luke had met on the train from Kunming named Wu Tong and her friend and co-worker Christina. Turned out that it was definitely a double date, a surprise, and after a very delicious dinner (the best eggplant dish in China so far) they somehow paid for it. We are learning that Chinese people are very good at sneaking the bill by you. But it was very fun and interesting talking to two people working in the international shipping industry. It takes between a month to two months for a cargo ship to get to America from China! We spent the night in a hostel for 35 RMB (remember this figure, it will be important later) and spent the night drinking beers and playing with our new smart phones. In a talk with the bartender and a guy from Switzerland, they asked me if I slept with my students. Taken aback, I said of course not. That’s not allowed and definitely a terrible idea. They were both confused and the bartender said that she just graduated from Sichuan University in Chengdu and that many of her foreign professors, who were “old and fat” dated their students regularly. It was “gross,” in her eyes. Exactly, I told her. “But you are young a good looking,” she said. “Its ok if you do.” I think we all left the conversation a little baffled. I see why foreigners get a bad rep sometimes. But fear not, I am not convinced- its still a terrible idea.
We woke up before the rest of the city and the hostel office keeper the next morning to catch our flight to HK. Success in every way and we were on the plane in no time. I did not expect any food on the flight, and was I ever surprised when the flight attendants announced that breakfast would be served shortly. Huh? And there it was: an omelet with bacon and sausage, croissant and butter, fruit, orange juice, and brewed coffee. It was absolutely delicious and I savored every bite. And a few coffee refills. Dragon Air: I am your faithful and dedicated flyer.
Off the plane and I entered my 6th country. Through customs easily, I got a new stamp on the passport:
We exchanged money at the airport, which 1USD = about 8HKD, making them slightly cheaper than RMB. Then we took a train into Hong Kong city. The light was blinding as we exited the station and I realized that 1) the sky was blue and the sun glorious and 2) there was the ocean. Is this paradise, I thought? Honk Kong is a series of islands on the coast of mainland China renown for its deep channels between islands- perfect for an international shipping port. But what struck me right away was how much green space there was in one of the world’s busiest cities. For most of the train ride we were looking at green hill/mountain sides with little or no development. There are small towns/cities besides Hong Kong, but everything is condensed into a tight city plan and at the border, the cities simply end. Only power lines and cable cars cut across the open spaces. This distinct edge was also due to the steepness of the hills, I admit, but the effect was appealing. Equally appealing was again, the ocean and the sunshine. Glorious.
We first traveled to the hostel to drop off our bags and check in before we headed out to explore downtown. Our bus ride zig-zagged through downtown, Luke and I craning our necks out the window the entire time, looking up at all the odd and tall buildings. Hong Kong is simply crazy. Instead of sidewalks, almost all of pedestrian traffic is on elevated walkways (“tubes”) that have exit signs in them for which street or shop you can get off at. Walking through them makes you feel like you are in the Death Star. But from the road, it makes the city feel devoid of pedestrians as you drive through. From the beginning, Hong Kong feels very modern.
What happened next is not worth the space to write or your eyes to read. In short, we spent our entire afternoon arguing with the hostel manager over our rooms and how damn expensive they were. Friday night was to be 200 HKD a bed (about 180 RMB) and Saturday 700 HKD. In short, all of my money. So, we ended up with a tiny room-in-an-apartment-on-the-12th-floor with two mattresses for 150 HKD each (whew) from someone else and Luke and I camped for free on the beach with teammates on an island away from downtown. For that, our souls and wallets were grateful. However, this took 6 hours to decide and we fasted for the whole ordeal. And missed wandering Hong Kong. But we celebrated with waffles, which turns out are popular HK street food drenched in butter and peanut butter (you don’t understand how heavenly delicious this is until you’ve been in Pengshan for 2 months), cheddar cheese, and a baguette. All eaten in the park as the sun set. That was nice.
The odd thing about Hong Kong is that its famous as a shopping city. Low taxes for goods make it THE destination for shoppers of high end brands because they are cheaper than anywhere else. But that’s just material products. And that’s all HK is famous commercially for. Its too small and mountainous to grow any food, and this key fact escaped me until I got to HK and went food shopping. All food is wicked expensive, because it is all imported. The waffles were the cheapest thing we could find to eat on the street and they were 10 HKD. A cheap meal averaged 60 HKD, which pales to the 6 RMB noodles we have been spoiled with in Sichuan. With that in mind, we ate mostly tournament food.
And finally, to the tournament. Friday night was the captain’s meeting and tournament introductions night at the bar. It was great being around Frisbee people again; despite the fact I knew absolutely no one but Luke, I felt surrounded by friends and had a great time meeting many people. Luke was excited to note that no one was taller than him. I immediately remembered why I loved this sport so much, and we hadn’t even played yet. The evening digressed to drinking cheap beers on the sidewalk by the bar bought from either 7-11 (!!!!), which were equidistant at 75 yards away to either side- who needs that many 7-11’s? What was hilarious was that one guy in the group named Derek, was constantly approached by Asian women who demanded, not asked, pictures with him. And this was a constant stream of women all night. What’s with this guy? Luke and I wondered. Turns out he is the biggest movie star in the Philippines, and he plays Frisbee. The guy is chiseled out of marble by the way. I was impressed with his humility and grace- I would have lost it early into the night. But he smiled all night long. A taxi ride and an elevator ride to the 12th floor later, Luke and I were sleeping with 3 other guys in a 2 person hostel room and dreaming of Frisbee.
Saturday was game day. The fields were on the other side of the island, but fear not, they drilled a tunnel through the mountain so you can drive there quickly. It was a hot day and we played four games, winning the first 11-1, the second 11-7, losing the third 9-10, and winning the last at 10-9. We lost to the Philippine team, the movie star team, and Derek was a really fun guy to guard. The last game was one of my favorites. We were down 8-9 and on offense. I was on the point, we scored, and then were on defense. Game point (soft cap had been called at 8-9) and I played again. We got the D and then scored for the win. It was awesome. I saw Luke, we chest bumped, and my calf cramped in mid-air. Nothing left on the field! Both days of the tournament though, you could not drink enough water. It was hot, but being back in the Ultimate community made me smile from ear to ear all day. I can’t say I played great, especially after I got dazed by a kick to the head, but I had fun. It was really fun to play with the Shanghai team- some great players and some great individuals all around. The tournament was a plush one by American standards- chicken and vegetables with rice lunch (actual lunch food!!!) seemingly endless beer that was way better than Snow and Tsing Tao, a disc and a jersey. After our fourth game we rushed off to catch the ferry to our camping island for swimming in the ocean before the tournament party.
This became quite the adventure. We ran onto the ferry that we thought was the right one. We cheered as it took off as soon as we jumped on, drank beers on the deck as the sun set and we motored through Hong Kong and enjoyed the views. An hour later, Alia, our guide, said, “huh, this isn’t our island,” just as the boat was nearing the dock. A nearby local informed her that was the case. We were two islands away from our island. And no ferries for awhile to the right one. And a private charter was going to be 300 HK to get us there. So, we ran across the island to the beach, swam in the ocean for 7 minutes with the stars above (hadn’t seen them in a long time) and the lights of Honk Kong on the horizon. It was beautiful. Then we ran back to the ferry and took it back to Hong Kong proper. Ha ha.
The tournament party was on the 29th floor of a hotel in downtown HK in a fancy bar. We did not fit in, but the place was booked just for us. Again, the tourney was plush with an all-you-can-stuff-yourself spread of Calamari, French fries, mushroom risotto, shrimp, salad, pizza, and chocolate deserts. I ate until I was uncomfortable and I loved it. And happily drank some free GT’s. The view of downtown and the ocean front was unreal, as was the bar show the bartender put on at 10:30, but that wasn’t appropriate. You’ll have to ask me for that story. We all passed out on the ferry ride back and crawled into our tents for sleep.
We started Sunday the best way possible- with a swim in the ocean. Just awesome and beautiful. More sleep on the ferry and we had 3 more games to play at the Aberdeen Sports Complex on Hong Kong Island. Sunday was a struggle- the team didn’t play like we could have played, due either to lingering dehydration or lack of sleep from the last two nights. We lost both the first and second game and won the fun, beer drinking last game. I definitely didn’t play as well as I wanted, but still had a blast. More delicious lunch food and lots of beer provided by the tournament, as well as fun sideline games. My favorite was “fantasy Frisbee,” in which each point you pick a player as your fantasy team mate. If they score or throw the score or D, you get a point. If they mess up, minus a point. This carried into the finals and was really fun. As soon as Taiwan won the tournament, we packed up, said goodbye to our new friends, and headed back to the beach. That was enough of the big city, time for more ocean. We had burgers on the way and I was thankful I’m not a vegetarian in China. Meat is just too good after Frisbee.
Our friend and fan Jessica from Shanghai training came to both days of games and came back for the beach party Sunday night. We swam in the ocean filled with phosphorescence, under the stars with ship’s lights out on the horizon. Little slivers of silver flashed through the night as tiny fish jumped around us. It was a really magical place. The contrast of Hong Kong really struck me; how you can go from downtown in this Death Star feeling bustling metropolis and 30 minutes later on a ferry, you are at a sparsely inhabited island with a beautiful beach all to yourself. I’m surprised to say that I like Hong Kong! After swimming, I tried to make friends with the grazing water buffalo by our tents with no success, so we just watched them for awhile, thinking about how awesome that place was. Jess took the ferry back to HK and we slept away our last night in HK.
Monday morning was started the same way as Sunday- a swim in the ocean. Back in Pengshan now, I miss everything about the ocean. The sound of the surf, the saltiness of the water, the scenic view, and the freedom of swimming. I don’t dare swim in the river here. We soaked up the last rays of the sun and went back to the tents to pack up. Walking up the beach, head down, I suddenly heard, “MATT CAMERON??!!??” And lo and behold, there is Julia Nelson from Whitman in a camp worker’s polo shirt. Wow. Excited hugs, amazed looks, and many laughs. You see Whitties everywhere. We couldn’t linger, so after goodbyes, we walked up the road to a restaurant to order breakfast. The waitress was speaking Cantonese and everyone was confused, but Luke asked if she spoke Mandarin and when she replied “yes” in Mandarin, I was surprised with how relieved I was. In 3 months, this baffling language has actually become familiar and I was so happy to hear it. Ha! We had baotzi and rice wrapped in a leaf- both delicious. And from there we took a taxi to HK airport, which was built up out of the ocean because there is no ground flat enough in the area for an airport (crazy, huh?), and whizzed through customs back to China. We were both wiped out after the taxi ride, airplane ride (China Air this time, which sucks compared to Dragon Air), and two bus rides back to school, and fell asleep early Monday night. Walking back to school, we both shook our heads, amazed that this had all happened in only four days. Many new friends made and we hope to see them at more tournaments in Asia to come. We sure have enough invitations to keep us busy for the rest of the year, but the most appealing is to visit Derek in the Phillipeans. Wikipedia says he collects cars…… And he did invite us to play and stay with him…..
Thanks for reading! Miss you all back in the states
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