Superfriends in Hong Kong

Have been thoroughly enjoying the last 3 days in Hong Kong with Superfriend Arsalan Shirazi who is in town visiting from Canada.  Arsalan is one of my classmates at Osgoode and should be back at home attending classes but instead is spending the month of September furiously flying around Asia.

Arsalan flew in on Friday night, just in time to land in the middle of the torrential downpour that turned my residence into Noah's Arc.  Not surprisingly, the grounds crew at the airport were having difficulty keeping things moving (so far this Typhoon is one of the only things to rattle Hong Kong's efficiency) so he did not make it out on Friday night.  Instead, we met up early Saturday afternoon in Central and I did my best to show him around despite the rain.  We headed to Causeway Bay a little later on and took in the sites before sitting down for rice pizza with mushrooms and miso sauce.  It was absolutely bizarre and delicious.

After lunch, we joined Jesse, Mikey and Nicole and headed over a tailor in the Sino Plaza where Arsalan was fitted for a couple suits and a handful of shirts.  We had dinner and drinks in LKF and then I hit the hay early around 2am.










On Sunday, Arsalan and I headed to Kowloon and spent the day in and out of shops in Tsim Sha Tsui.  Since no day would be complete without a little adventure, Arsalan and I decided to try our hand at negotiating for fake Rolexes just off Nathan Road.  One of the sketchier experiences I have had in town to date which is saying a lot.  Arsalan and I were approached by a man standing on the corner advertising under his breath that he had watches "like real".  The minute we showed a slight sign of interest, he began walking rapidly toward a shopping plaza and motioned us to follow.  We stepped inside and were led down a long corridor of shops smelling of fake leather and cheap plastic.  We were escorted up an elevator to the 6th floor and after walking down another corridor we found ourselves in front of an unmarked metal door with a peephole and well-worn keypad.  For the second time in less than a week, my mind filled with images of being traded to pirates for a sack of rice.  Luckily, Arsalan spoke a bit of Urdu and was able to chat with the salesman, who was Bangladeshi, and we walked out in one piece.  Despite persistent offers of watches and designer purses we walked away empty handed. Quite the experience, but I think I'll wait until I can afford the real thing before I go watch shopping again!

Kowloon Park

After shopping, we took a stroll in Kowloon Park.  The 13.3 acre park was formerly the site of the Whitfield Camp Barracks and played an important role in the defense of Victoria Harbour.  Today it's been transformed into a meticulously maintained leisure park with an aviary, swimming pool and maze.  From Kowloon, we made our way to Kennedy Town and met Jesse and Nicole for dinner at my favourite Indian Place, the Clay Oven.  

Monday was uneventful for me as I had a "full" day of classes, but I met up with Arsalan on Tuesday and we headed over to Lantau Island to see the Tian Tan Buddha, the Po Lin Monastery and the Wisdom Path.

 

All three sites are part of the Ngong Ping 360 tourism project on Lantau Island and are reached by taking the Tung Chung Cable Car from the Tung Chung MTR station.  The views from the cable car overlooking the dense vegetation of Lantau Island were quite spectacular, in fact, by the time we reached the top I had almost forgotten that the cable car was simply the transportation to the real site!

Cable Car Ride up from Tung Chung

Just as the name suggests, the Big Buddha was quite overwhelming in its stature.  It is 34 metres tall and weighs approximately 250 metric tons.  Apparently, on clear days, it can be seen all the way from Macau, but to get up close and personal of course required stairs.  Not quite as many as the 10,000 Buddhas, but still a fair climb!  From the top were spectacular views over the island and surrounding waters, all the way back toward Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.

In keeping with the proportions of the Big Buddha are the massive black and yellow spiders that also call Lantau Island home.  These were not advertised in the tour guides and made me somewhat squeamish as I ducked along the path under their giant silk webs.   After a little research on google, I learned that these Golden silk orb-weavers are venomous but that their bite, although potent, is not lethal to humans.  This is of little comfort to other insects and flying critters since females can grow to be two inches in size and have reportedly been known to take down and feast on small-sized finches in some parts of Australia.  In some Japanese folklore, spiders from the same genus (Nephila) are depicted as shapeshifters (how very True Blood) that can transform into a seductive woman.  A word to all the men out there, beware of particularly venomous women-- female Nephila are known to dine on their mates (are you starting to sense the True Blood theme?).  Thankfully, there was a wide array of non-threatening flora and fauna along the trail as well to keep me distracted from these arachnids.

After getting up close an personal with mother nature Arsalan and I sought out more civilized terrain and spent the remainder of the day in the outlet malls where we indulged in Thai food, fresh fruit juice and a heck of a lot of shoe shopping (yes, Arsalan put up with my journey through DVF, Coach, Bally and Kate Spade without tears, and yes, ladies he is single!!).  We stopped in to watch the light show from the TST pier before saying goodnight, and both returned home exhausted.