Hong Kong (6/1 - 6/7): Second Track Attempt

I have succumbed to the same affliction many of you have...  I wrote a super long (even for me) blog entry, bringing myself completely up to date, and after I "saved" the draft, it disappeared.  But, it was a problem that many people were having, and Stephen was hard at work fixing it, so I didn't really have much to complain about.  I can always write things again, right?  I might not be as eloquent, but you'll still get the gist of things.Amazingly, it just happened again.  I wrote this entry that you're about to read and saved it to drafts .. then when I came back all but the first sentence had disappeared.  It's a good thing I made sure to copy and paste it this time around.  I suppose I will just do that for a while until things get worked out. So, where was I?  Ah yes ...After Thursday's mess up and getting off schedule I knew that the weekend would not be much help.  Friday evening we had our poker game again. Once again I didn't win, but I didn't really expect to so I didn't feel too bad.  Actually, I'm not that great of a player.  I do a lot of common mistakes which I realize are mistakes even as I'm doing them.  But it's okay.  I play for fun, not for profit. Even though Stephen was out of town ( see his Chengdu blog) we still managed to pull together 9 people for a game.  Not too shabby.  I didn't take any pictures so you all will just have to trust me.I decided to crash on Pat's couch that night and woke up around 2 p.m. or so the next afternoon (went to bed around 5 a.m.).  I washed myself up a bit and headed down the hill to the office where I found Terence and J-To hanging out.  I did some personal work on my computer (I had to reinstall my system) while they all hung out.After a while J-To left and Bob showed up.  Then Marsha dropped by with her super cute dog.  I took some pictures ... SUPER cute dog

I guess Bob is good at petting.

After a while I grabbed the tram home and took a shower and changed.  Then I grabbed another tram back to LKF to meet up for Raffi's birthday dinner at a nice Malaysian restaurant.  Here are some pictures from that. Eating dinner

Terence and Boon

The birthday boy

Afterwards we headed over to the Fringe club to check out the Audiotraffic show.  It was pretty much an [alive not dead] featured artists party.  Eugenia and Marsha were there.  As was Jason Tobin and Terence.  Emily (a future artist) was in town and we also had appearances by members of Hardpack, as well as Conroy Chan and Josie Ho.  Oh, and of course Audiotraffic.Unfortunately I had to leave just after Audiotraffic started their gig so as to catch the last tram home.  It was nice to see folks though, even though I don't really like going to bars and clubs.

The Fringe Club

Pat and J-To

Boon

The next day I pretty much relaxed at home and took care of domestic duties.  Not much to write about.Monday I came in and had a good day of work and after I left in the evening I was planning on getting some good sleep to get myself on schedule again.  But then I got a call from Jet's folks at around 11 p.m. telling me about the earthquake in Yunnan province.  I had to high-tail it back to the office and stay up to work on the One Foundation siteas well as Jet's blog and video.  I crashed around 4 a.m. and woke up again around 10 a.m. And Tuesday I couldn't go home on time either.  We had a preplanned work dinner at a Beijing Roast Duck restaurant.  I should back up and explain how this dinner came about ...Back when Siu But Dim and I were interviewing bands for the website, we got in a discussion about our favorite types of food.  I told her that I really liked northern food.  I said that I specifically liked the Beijing Roast Duck.  She countered saying that the Beijing Roast Duck in Hong Kong was much better.  Of course I was a bit incredulous.  I mean .. it's called "Beijing Roast Duck" not "Hong Kong Roast Duck", right?Well, I found out later that she came to this conclusion because when she had eaten Roast Duck in Beijing, it was at the wrong restaurant.  Many times the most famous restaurant for a particular type of dish, isn't actually the best at serving it.  Tony Roma's might be famous for ribs, but to be honest, I've had better in other restaurants.  The same goes for Quan Ju De in Beijing.I usually go eat at Homely Roast Duck Restaurant on Chao Yang Men Nan XiaoJie in Beijing, because, to be honest, it's the best duck I've had in Beijing.  It beats Quan Ju De over the head any day of the week. So, that being the case, I could understand why she would think that the duck was better in Hong Kong.  If Quan Ju De was the only duck I had eaten in Beijing, I'd feel the same way.Anyway, she had committed to taking us all out to show us how good the Beijing Roast Duck in Hong Kong really was.  And I will be honest -- it wasn't bad.  Not bad at all.  But I'd be lying if I said it was the best I've ever eaten.  I've had plenty worse duck .. but I've also had better, and that "better" was in Beijing.But, I can't knock the place she went to.  Once again she knew the best unknown restaurants around.  A small place that you'd never know was there unless you knew it was there.  Packed the brim with people on a Tuesday night and for good reason.  The food was quite delicious.  I took some pictures so you could check it out.WARNING!  MAY INDUCE UNCONTROLABLE DROOLING!

Terence and SiuButDim

Boon and Raffi

Raffi and Pat

You can also see pictures from the dinner in Etchy's blog.So, after the dinner I cought the MTR back to Central with Pat and Stephen and then grabbed the Tram back home.It was Wednesday night when the sleep came back to haunt me.  My body needed to recouperate so I ended up oversleeping and gotto the office a few hours late. I figured my body needed it, so I didn't offer too much argument.  Sometimes you have to just raise the white flag to your body's needs.And, that brings us to the end of the week. Actually, Pat had been making good use ouf our pull-out couch (which is no permanently in the "bed" position), sleeping at the office 2 nights in a row.  By Thursday evening he was looking a little grimy, and I think Admin bear had probably had his fill of him too.

Pat gives admin bear a lap-top dance

It's like a mother bear and cub

And that brings us to the end of the week.  It's Friday night right now so I will hold off blogging about this weekend until it's actually over with.  But at leats now I'm finally up to date.  It's nice to not have that hanging over my head anymore.So .. here we are!  In the present moment!  Onward and upward we go!