Lantau

This past weekend, after my intense bout of Harry Potter reading, I and my fellow summer associates were invited to visit the home of Sam, a personal assistant at Cleary who has a home on Lantau. Few people live on Lantau, because of the 30-minute commute and the "rustic" nature of the island, but it's largely undeveloped and beautiful, and so a popular weekend destination. We were lucky enough to get the best of both worlds - a bicycle tour of the most beautiful sights and an afternoon relaxing and playing pool at Sam's wonderful home.

Sam and her husband Dave met us at the ferry, where we rushed off the ferry with hundreds of other leisure-seekers. Lantau is mainly a bike island, especially in the town of Mui Wo - in fact, we were greeted first with the sight of hundreds of bikes parked at the peer. After a couple of drinks at the China Bear to start off the afternoon, we went and rented our own. It'd been quite awhile since I'd ridden a bike, but I acquitted myself fairly well - no new scars to add to the collection!

We first had lunch at a local outdoor Chinese restaurant - dish after dish of delicious, authentic noodles and vegetables and seafood. I've been on something of an eggplant binge since I've been in Hong Kong, and order it at every restaurant possible. Fortunately, this place didn't disappoint! The restaurant was also filled with cats, who seemed clean, well-fed, and not at all destined to show up in our fried rice.

(Just to be safe, I avoided the chicken.)

Next, we biked over to Sam and Dave's place. It was a lovely 15 minute ride through a local village center, along concrete paths, and to the very end of the road. In fact, the house is only accessible by foot or bike, which is especially amazing when trying to imagine how the pool table made it up! Unlike a lot of people on Hong Kong Island, Sam and Dave have a large garden filled with beautiful flowers, grass, and papaya trees. The house was older, and had been redecorated some since Sam and Dave moved in ... however, the tiny and amazing tilework was authentic Hong Kong. Dave had made a lot of the doors and furniture himself, Sam did some painting, and altogether they created a welcoming home!

We played a few games of Killer (basically, the pool game of Horse), which I quickly and effectively lost, and spent some time smothering their poor dog, Fluffy. After relaxing a bit from the oppressive heat, however, it was time to be the tourists that we are! So we packed up some water and beer, hopped back on our bikes, and rode back through town.

Our next stop was a beautiful waterfall. Sam and Dave grumbled about its recent inclusion on tourist maps and in guidebooks, and I must admit there were more people there than I'd like, but we clambered over wet, moss-covered boulders to a waterfall in the back, where wiser people dared not tread, and were mainly left alone. Hong Kong is VERY hot, and this was the first any of us have been able to play around in the water all summer - water fights and waterfall showers ensued, of course, and we all had a great time.

Finally, though, it was time to climb out ... I managed to slip and fall on the way, but as I was already soaking wet, it was far from problematic. Next was a "silver mine," which Sam warned us wasn't much to look at (it wasn't), but first a 10 or 15 minute hike up a mountain path. By the time we reached the mine, my calves were aching, but Sam claims that some people make that walk EVERY DAY! (We did pass houses even past the silver mine, so I guess she must be telling the truth.)

The best part of the day wasn't the specific sights we saw - like I said, the silver mine wasn't all that spectacular - but the experience of getting out in nature again. Hong Kong Island is so shiny and sterile, and while I love it, I often miss the green - but Lantau is nothing BUT green! We saw animals, huge banana spiders (not my favorite, but so cool looking), and plants galore ... and it was amazing to breathe fresh air for a change, even if it was still at 85% humidity or some such nonsense.

After hiking for awhile for an awesome view of the harbor, we decided that the sun and the walking had gotten the best of us, and went back down the side of the mountain. One last bike ride, and we were back in town, for a lovely Italian dinner, some fabulous conversation, and then the fast ferry back to the Island. An exhausting, exhilarating day, and an awesome opportunity to see the other side of Hong Kong.

Macau

Best known as a smaller, seedier Las Vegas, Macau is a Special Autonomous Region (like Hong Kong) about an hour's ferry ride away from here. Even without the gambling, though - Macau casinos are notoriously high-stake, and the summer associate budget doesn't cover slot machines - Macau definitely has a day's worth of distractions to keep your average summer associates busy. Thus, every batch of summer associates is given the option of joining Robert, one of our senior counsel, on a day-trip to the island for a few hours of sight-seeing, a few hours of eating, and 20 high-adrenaline minutes of go-kart racing!

The day started off too early - not only were we to meet in the Macau ferry terminal before 9:00 AM on Saturday (most of us having gotten back from Harry Potter rather late the night before), but I arrived just too late to stop at the Starbucks for some much-needed caffeine. By the time we hit Macau, however, excitement had set in, and I was set for energy - for a few hours, at least.

The last trip Robert had organized, he'd hired a bus and driver ahead of time, but with such a small group, he figured we could just pick up one of the drivers/vans that hang around the ferry terminal for groups just like our own. We found a driver quickly enough, and piled into a poorly air-conditioned van to visit the Macau Tower. The tower was awesome - one of the tallest buildings in the world, at least according to its own propaganda materials - and the viewing deck on the 58th floor had glass panels inset into the floor so excited tourists could get their pictures taken, seemingly floating in midair. Of course, years of scuffing have made the effect less miraculous, but it was still novel enough to set entire tour groups (including seemingly dignified 60-year-old Japanese men) squealing with excitement and pounding on the glass. Why anyone would want to be known as the person who fell to their death after knocking out a glass panel is beyond me, but whatever makes them happy, I guess ...

After the Tower, we stopped by a lovely church (Macau was a Portuguese colony until the handover in the late 1990's, so there's amazing European architecture everywhere), where one of Robert's daughters was baptized, and then trekked down the road to visit an old government building. It was formerly a barrack for visiting Portuguese troops, and while it doesn't seemed to be used for much these days, it's still quite heavily guarded.

Next was a great Chinese temple (sort of a non-denominational church, both Buddhists and Confucionists worship there), and then a maritime museum, set up where the Portuguese first landed on Macau. I'm not a huge museum fan, or a huge maritime enthusiast, but I do enjoy air-conditioning, so it was a welcome break indeed!

Then it was time for lunch, at a well-known Portuguese restaurant. We left to Robert the job of ordering, and wound up with a delicious spread of chorizo, clams, a rice and chicken dish, fish, and some pork neck concoction I refused to touch. Closing the meal out with a nice glass of iced coffee, for energy, and a glass of port, because we could, we prepared for the next branch of our trek.

The afternoon sights included this old Catholic church, that is now a perfectly beautiful facade and nothing else (kind of like the standard Wild West Hollywood set), a great fortress with a view over the city, the Macau museum (highlight: an exhibit about the now-dead sport of fighting crickets), and then a walk down a winding cobblestone roadway through a shopping district (or, as one associate described it, "the snack road") into a beautiful, European-designed square.

Then it was out to a lovely little village on one of the smaller Macau islands, where we had famous Lord Stowe's egg tarts as an afternoon snack, and then the go-kart track. I had no idea that go-karts were traditional Macau - in fact, they very likely aren't - but it was a popular place. There was even another law firm summer associate event happening there! Most of us enjoyed ourselves immensely, and I managed to spin out twice (once was fairly harmless, but the second time I wound up facing backwards on the side of the track, buried in tires used to stop crazy drivers like myself - it was pretty awesome), so a good time was had by all.

At that point, sweaty and sticky, we were kind of tourist-ed out - luckily, it was time for dinner! We checked out another Portuguese restaurant that Robert had heard good things about. The food again was delicious, but most of us had lost the energy even to eat, and the table was still piled high with food when we threw in the towel, hopped back in our van, and returned to the ferry terminal for the ride back to Hong Kong.

Despite the oppressive heat and humidity, the crappy van that couldn't drive up hills without us getting out and walking (seriously), and one associate who seemed less than enthusiastic about being there, it was an awesome day. And if I ever feel the need to drop thousands of dollars in a casino, I know where I'm going!

The Office

Since work is what brings me to Hong Kong in the first place, it only seems fair to devote a bit of time talking about the office, the people, and maybe even the job itself.

The best way to describe Cleary HK right now is "quiet." This is for a few different reasons. First, our Beijing office has only been open for a couple of years - prior to that, Cleary HK had big China and Korea practices. (We can't practice Hong Kong law, as regulations require 40% of our lawyers to be Hong Kong qualified to do so, and since most of our associates are here on 2-3 year rotations, they're all UK or US qualified instead.) But now, much of the China work is done in Beijing, and so many of the China associates have transferred to that office, or at minimum alternate between the two (office maps of Beijing and Hong Kong have many of the same names). Second, Hong Kong in the summer is kind of miserable, so for those people who live here year-round, this is the time to take some of the generous vacation time Cleary provides. Third, because we don't do Hong Kong work, there are always a handful of people out on business trips to Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, wherever. (In fact, there are associates who travel to some destinations so often they store suits at their hotels!) And finally, because of the nature of the work we do here (a lot of corporate stuff), the quantity of work tends to ebb and flow with the fiscal year, which means there were some pretty pressing deadlines at the end of June, and things have just started easing off.

Fortunately, that doesn't mean I'm lacking for cool people! My mentor is pretty awesome, and always up for a slightly childish adventure (Harry Potter, fireworks, etc.). Some of the other associates are likewise always eager for dinner or drinks, and even the partners seem very friendly and open (although obviously rarely raring for a night out on the town with us). In fact, one of the Cleary HK counsel is taking us on a day trip to Macau tomorrow, which promises to be a load of fun.

In terms of the work I'm doing, I have to admit it's pretty slow. However, that doesn't mean I have NOTHING to do. Currently, I'm assisting on two matters, one of which looks like it will develop into a business trip to Singapore! The trip will be awesome, although the work I'll be doing there won't be as much fun (mainly reviewing a bunch of documents) - but I'd never turn down a chance to travel! And, although we're having some coordination difficulties at the moment, it looks like I'll be able to spend a week in the Beijing office as well! That'll give me a chance to see a couple of the big China sights, like the Great Wall and the Forbidden Palace, and to try out my Mandarin skills (granted, they currently encompass nothing more impressive than "What is your name?", "I am from America", and "I would very much like some coffee", but at least I'm trying).*

All in all, Cleary HK is a decent place to work - maybe it's not as exciting as Cleary DC was, but the lack of work-related excitement can be more than made up for by the exotic locale, and the view out of my office window alone keeps reminding me that I'm in a pretty exciting place.

*The local language in Hong Kong is actually Cantonese, not Mandarin, but Cleary offers Mandarin and Korean lessons, as those are the major business languages. Since most people in Hong Kong speak English, it makes a fair amount of sense to do it that way.

I'm so excited!!!

I'm headed to Harry Potter TONIGHT, and everyone should be amazed that I waited as long as I did! Even managed to make a Cleary event out of it (I guess my enthusiasm is infectious ... or scary).

Hong Kong skyline - more to come, I promise.

Oh, right, I'm in CHINA (sort of)!

Hong Kong is an easy city to live in. Whatever the reason - it's something of a "chicken and the egg" question (does the convenience bring ex-pats, or do ex-pats breed convenience?), combined with the obvious fact of long-time British rule - the city is just Western enough, just clean enough, just safe enough that people like myself have no problem getting around.

Of course, that sterilization can make you forget sometimes that you are in fact in China (sort of). Fortunately, not all of Hong Kong is as new and shiny as Central, where I live and work. In fact, some of it is actually, well, Chinese.

I'd been longing for a new digital camera, and despite the fact that electronics really aren't much cheaper here any longer, I finally broke down and decided to buy a new one (the catalyst was the fact that my flash bulb had burned out on the old one while in Nepal, and I had little time, energy, or motivation to get it replaced). I had asked Paul, a co-worker, where to go, and he'd suggested that I have his boyfriend take me shopping. Paul and Derek have been around for over a year, and Derek is actually a photographer himself, meaning he knows where to go and how to bargain, not to mention substantially more than I do about cameras generally speaking.

Paul and Derek live in Wan Chai (read: not Central), and Derek had me meet him there for lunch at his favorite Thai restaurant to provide much-needed energy for shopping. Wan Chai is a much more middle class, residential area than Central, a fact that struck me as soon as I got out of my cab, and that was driven home by the round-about route we took to the restaurant. Turning down a side street, Derek explained that he wanted to walk us through the Wan Chai market, a local market more akin to those I saw in Cairo than the shopping I'd been doing in Hong Kong. The next thing I knew, we were sidling through a barber shop into a back alley, then turning down an alley way filled with suspiciously fishy puddles and into a butcher's shop. We walked past vendors selling hot steamed buns (filled with meat, red bean paste, lotus, you name it), steamed pork, live chickens, fresh eggplant, incense, traditional red wedding cards, and anything else the average Hong Kong local might need on a Tuesday afternoon. Jason, another summer associate who had joined us for lunch, stared longingly at the food vendors - he spent his first nine years in China, and was craving some "local" food. However, Derek was adamant about this Thai restaurant, and it had made it into a "tip sheet" compiled by former summer associates, so we dutifully followed in his wake.

Finally, we arrived at the restaurant, which happened to be in the back of a store. As we walked in, a woman behind a desk in the back (apparently recognizing Derek, who is likely the only tall bald white guy to ever enter the building) stood up, shook her head, and said, "No, no! Closed!" in a mournful voice. The communications were sketchy at best, but it turns out the restaurant we had been hoping to dine at had just been closed down for operating without a license. The letter she handed Derek in explanation was actually a summons to court.

Now THAT is authentic.

Thus thwarted, we ended up eating at a won ton noodle joint in the neighborhood, another of Derek and Paul's favorites. We sat down on multi-colored plastic stools at a table with a bottle of hot sauce and a can of chopsticks, and Derek ordered "three, big." A few short minutes later, our table was laden with three large bowls of noodles and fat shrimp won tons (dumplings). The food was delicious, the restaurant was authentic (I would have been laughed out of the shop if I'd asked for American utensils, and the door was actually a thick sheet of plastic hanging from the frame), and together with a bowl of greens and three drinks, we paid a whopping HK$61, which comes out to under US$8. Derek reminisced fondly on the days when he and Paul first started eating there, and the large bowls were only HK$11 each (inflation has bumped them up to HK$12, but business is still booming). A far cry from the ritzy meals in air conditioned hotel restaurants that we've been consuming thus far, and a nice change of pace. Of course, I couldn't eat like that every day - my lack of chopstick expertise would be an incredibly efficient weight-loss system!

After lunch, Jason went back to work and Derek and I trekked across Wan Chai to the Computer Centre, a two story "mall" filled with nothing but electronics shops - cameras, computers, cell phones and the like. But there wasn't a Best Buy or Circuit City in sight. Rather, these stores were tiny, each the size of a small bedroom, with one or two men standing behind a counter and the walls covered with glass display cases. Bargaining was minimal, as most items have marked prices (and if they don't, red flags should be raised), but in the end I got a nice Canon digital camera (the Japanese version, which means if it breaks, I have to mail it to Tokyo to get a warrantied repair), a huge memory stick and a back-up battery for a pretty decent price. And what the store lacked in super-store guarantees and selection, it more than made up in sheer local charm - unlike every shopping center I've been to in Central, this place didn't have a white person in sight. (Well, other than us.)

Before sending me back to the office, Derek insisted we stop to get dessert at a local chain. We had to order by pointing to the sign and signaling "two", but in the end we wound up with delicious mango drinks with sago and coconut, and excellent mango mochi, which I'd always thought only came in ice cream form (you learn something new every day!).

Afterwards, Derek refused to let me flag a cab, instead insisting that I take the trolley, which runs directly in front of the Bank of China Tower. Thus, another local experience - we went and bought an Octopus card, which is a rechargeable card good for all public transportation, and usable at a lot of local shops and restaurants (including Starbucks!) as well, and then he told me how to get on the trolley and off I went. I must admit, it was kind of an adventure, and HK$2 for a ride back to work beats the HK$15 minimum cab fare any day! Of course, nervous I'd miss my stop, I got off two stops early, but I have few complaints - even though I'm comfortable and happy in my ex-pat neighborhoods, it's good to know that I am in fact in Asia, and there's still a place for me to buy smoked fatty pork off the street, if I so desire.

First Impressions

I was struck with a bout of nervousness when I found my driver in the airport. He was standing there with a sign that said "CGSH/Miss Teale" and didn't speak a lick of English. Taking one of my bags, we headed outside, where I was struck with a wave of heat and humidity, and then he left me by the curb to bring around the car. Suddenly, I was struck with flashbacks of Egypt, and a similar airport pick-up - my hopes for this summer adventure mainly revolve around things that happened in Egypt that I would like NOT to happen again, including the nasty housing situation that awaited me at the end of the ride from the airport.

My fears were totally unfounded. After a short wait, the driver came around the corner - in an air conditioned Mercedes, unlike the Cairo 1960's taxi for hire - and loaded my bags into the trunk, rather than attaching them to the roof with bungee cords. Definitely off to a better start! And once we were on the road, only one thought was running through my mind - "This is as unlike Cairo as it could possibly be."

The best description I can think of for Hong Kong is that it's kind of like a jungle, with a slightly futuristic city coincidentally stuck in the middle of it. It's lush and green - thanks to the ridiculous rainfall and humidity - and the buildings are tall, shiny, and often impossibly designed. (In fact, my own office building - the Bank of China tower - is one of these controversial architectural experiments.) The islands, including Hong Kong Island, are insanely hilly, so nature and civilization are impossibly mixed, the roads are narrow and steep, and there are stairway alley shortcuts and overhead pedestrian walkways everywhere you look.

It's pretty freaking cool.

My "serviced apartment" is halfway between a dorm room and a hotel room, small but with a kitchenette and a huge window. The controversial shower - billed on the website as a "funky cubist" shower from which you can "watch satellite TV" - is actually glass-walled, so that you can see from the shower into the rest of the room (yes, including the TV), and the bathroom is painted lime green. There could be more storage space, or more space generally speaking, but considering the shortage of space in Hong Kong, I'm finding very little to complain about - again, a far cry from the apartment I was delivered to that fateful first day in Cairo. (The photos above are the view from my apartment window.)

Soon after I arrived, I met up with my Hong Kong Cleary mentor, Young, to head over to the office and view the Handover Day fireworks (Handover Day, 7/1, being the day that Hong Kong was returned to China by the British). The office building is INSANELY cool, and I got a chance to see my office and wander around. At our level, the building is a triangle, so there are crazy angles and weird hallways, but I love it, and there's some pretty spectacular artwork for me to appreciate on those not-so-busy days. The fireworks were pretty spectacular, too - first, fireworks were set off from the tops of a bunch of the skyscrapers (including ours, although we obviously couldn't see them), something that apparently takes place every couple of weeks. Then, from four boats in the harbor, the real show started. I don't have such faith in my writing abilities that I'll attempt to describe the fireworks display - it's sufficient to say that I don't feel like I'm missing out on the Fourth of July anymore.

Afterwards, Young and I came back to pick up Jason and Jonathan, the other summer associates rotating through Hong Kong right now. They'd landed just too late to come see the fireworks, but Young wanted to take us all out to dinner. We went to a Thai restaurant nearby, where I had some delicious food and unnecessary mothering - Young kept dishing up our food and making sure no one needed anything, something I'm sure my mom will feel better knowing - and then it was back to the building for some much-needed rest.

I'm unpacked - although I need to go ask for some extra hangers - and settled in, and soon I'm off to find myself some food, some money, and maybe even a phone. Today is a public holiday - the day off to go with Handover Day, which fell on a Sunday this year - so I have a day to get adjusted and spend some time relaxing. And tomorrow morning, it's into the office for us, and the holiday ends.

It's shaping up to be a pretty good six weeks.

The Misadventures of Teale

This trip did NOT get off to a good start. Considering the circumstances - I needed to pack my entire apartment, decide what to bring and what to leave behind (and where to leave it), and run all of my pre-trip errands while still working full-time and saying goodbye to all of my friends - I suppose it was pretty obvious that not EVERYTHING could go smoothly, but I can always hope, right?

Sure, but apparently, it does little to no good. I managed to get everything taken care of, and Friday night (my flight out of DC was at 10:00 AM Saturday morning), after one last dinner with friends, I headed to the ATM to get some cash to travel with, looking forward to a full night's sleep before the trip. Alas, such was not to be - instead, I got to the ATM, pulled out my wallet, and discovered there was no ATM card to be found! Anyone who travels knows that a missing ATM card is a pretty big deal - there's something slightly unsettling about the idea of leaving the country without having access to my bank account, especially considering how long I'll be out of the country.

But I calmed myself down, and figured I'd just left it at home - after all, I'd changed purses that afternoon. But once I'd made it back to my clean/packed apartment, searched my other purse, clothes I'd been wearing the previous day, and anywhere else I could think of, panic started to set in. "Okay," I thought, "I'll just have to bite the bullet and order a new card."

I won't waste your time with the agonies involved in that - three hours and tons of phone calls later, I had the promise of a card being delivered to my Hong Kong residence on Tuesday, and another replacement being shipped to my secretary in DC, who could then use our inter-office "pouch" delivery system to get it over to me. My hero Ken Moon walked like a mile and a half at 12:30 at night to loan me some cash, to tide me over until one or the other card is delivered, and all was right with the world. I was ready to start my trip!

Of course, the transit wasn't great either - a two-hour delay due to a "conflict over Russian airspace" (coolest reason for a delay I've ever gotten!), and a kicking three-year-old and his airsick mother sitting behind me on the plane - but after my return trip from Nepal, which took 47 hours and included nine hours sitting on the tarmac in New York with nothing to eat but Worcestershire-flavored pretzels, other travel agonies have definitely been put into perspective. And finally, I arrived in Hong Kong! My driver was waiting outside of customs, and my adventure was off and running.