Christmas in HK

Ok apologies first. I haven't blogged in 2 weeks, been very busy what with Christmas and all, so an extra long post today to update you on what I have been doing in that time. 

I am currently suffering from culture shock at Christmas in Hong Kong. The first thing was the rather strange decor that goes along with Christmas over here. Christmas decoration ideas appear to have arrived here from cartoon America via those twisted warped minds who design stuff like this in Japan. Here is a photo from a friend of mine that kind of sums up what I am getting at (many thanks to Lisa for snapping this)

I mean what the hell. Has a 1950s demonic, Elvis impersonating Santa decided to build himself a little fort out of poinsettias and strike a Kung Fu pose. Also why is he wearing a sleeveless top, who the hell does he think he is Chuck Norris. 

However there are some plus sides to Christmas in HK. Everything is open pretty much as normal on Christmas Day so if you had forgotten to buy something at the supermarket you could nip down and get it, if this were England you would be buggered. Also the weather is brilliant, I was sat outside at 9pm on Christmas day in Civic square at Elements shopping mall wearing a t-shirt, drinking a pint of Guinness whilst listening to my fiance and her choir sing Christmas carols. Surreal but utterly enjoyable.

I also had my company's Christmas dinner out at Po Toi O, near Clear water Bay in a small fishing village with an absolutely cracking seafood restaurant in it. 

Here is the office team. Clockwise from bottom left they are Brick (I know please don't ask), Vanessa, Minnie, Chris, Me (also Chris), Bowie, Kanas, Carol, Carmen and Ricky (our factory manager)

And here is the factory crew. I know how to pronounce this lots names but writing it out is a different matter as most of them don't have an English name.

Menu was as follows:

Seafood Soup with Corbicula, Bean Curd and Fish

Vegetable fried Razor Clams

Cuttlefish Sashimi and Deep fried Cuttlefish

Egg White Steamed Crab with Shaoxing Wine

Salted Shrimp

Boiled Spiral Shells with Spicy Wine

Whole Steamed Grouper

Deep fried Shrimp Ball

Sea Urchin fried Rice

Fried Noodles

All the food was excellent and a good time was had by all. I was glad that is all went well as this was my first meal with them all since the old manager (another Chris) had left. I felt it was a real bonding experience and I hope that this helps promote a good working relationship between everybody for the future.

A note on our transport to Po Toi O, we had a bus that the restaurant uses for large parties come and pick us up. If you have ever been out to this part of the New Territories you will know that the terrain is not what you would call flat and the roads are not straight but rather twisty. Despite this and the fact that we were driving along a cliff edge at the coast for long periods the bus driver maintained a steady 70mph, speeding up occasionally to overtake cars and trucks in his way. This was fine and quite fun on the way there, but on the way back with 5 beers and a large amount of seafood in my belly it was not so pleasant. To give you an idea of the speed we got from Tsuen Wan to Po Toi O in around 25mins, it is direct about 30km on the map.

A double dose of my music selection for you today, because... well just because I can. First up I am going to show my misspent youth by posting a classic Sublime song up. This brings back some very good memories from my days in a Ska/Punk band. We had one song where we used to switch instruments and this was the song I got to play the guitar on. There is a recording of this event floating around out there somewhere from a gig back when I would have been 16, I have no idea who has it now all I remember was that it was on a mini disc (they didn't last long did they)

I will follow this up with a song that I remember fondly as inspiring me to want to be a Bass player (along with Won't Get Fooled Again by the Who) and also started me listening to some more challenging and interesting Music in general. I therefore give you Schism by Tool. For all you music buffs out there the main verse is in alternating bars of 5/8 and 7/8 instead of straight 12/8 to give this disjointed feeling (a Schism in the music), shifting into 13/8 for the bridge and a straight 12/8 for the chorus (joining up the Schism in the beat). 

The end sequence of the song shifts into 8/4 then 9/8 and 7/4 (once again Schism in the beats) before the end riff which is in 12/8 to join the whole thing up again before closing in 4/4. Horrendously difficult to count but not something you can play just by feel as the timing of each note is crucial to this idea of having deliberate splits in the beat.

A Goodbye but a Good Weekend

Today was the first time in about 2 months where I woke up on a Monday feeling a little drowsy but ultimately refreshed and not tired. I still look tired, I have large bags under my eyes and I am a little pale but I feel... good. No other word really to describe it I feel right in my body and my head. I think I was helped by having my first Saturday off for about 5 weeks so the extra day where I could sleep in was very welcome. 

There was a touch of sadness this weekend as Chris who his Operations Manager for the company is leaving us and it was his leaving party this weekend gone. Chris has been with the company in HK since it started nearly 8 years ago. It is in many ways sad but also good because he has been training me to do his job and it has been awkward top have two people around who are doing the same jobs, although my remit and position are slightly to different to his.

It was also good for everyone in the office and the factory as we all got to spend some time together and everyone is now accepting of and used to the reality of Chris not being around anymore. All I can say is that I appreciated everything that he has helped me with and wish him and his wife and young daughter all the best.

I have decided due to some positive feedback I had from my last post to add a music section in with my blog as a regular spot. I mentioned in my last post how I enjoyed Mahler and I recently saw that the HK Philharmonic will be performing Mahler in a one off special next month. I will be trying to get down to that with my fiance. So for your pleasure I have below the 1st Movement of the Symphony No 8. Which as I have mentioned before is one of the first occasions where an Orchestra was used in a Symphony. Due to unfortunate restrictions I cannot bring you the whole of the first movement in one hit as it is 25mins long and would be three videos worth. The others are up there on youtube if your interest is piqued and you want to keep listening.

Music or lack of

I am what you might call a failed Musician. I "play" five different instruments: Piano, Clarinet, Saxophone, Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar. That is also the order in which I learnt them and is also the order of my ability on them although I am divided about the last two.

Despite this however I struggle to read Music (this is one of the ways my Dyslexia manifests itself) and the best way I have found of improving my playing has been to watch somebody else play and I play essentially from memory a lot of the time. I am therefore an avid concert and gig attender, everything from Opera down to Punk is fair game to me as I don't limit myself by style. I do like to go and watch musicians who are at their peak or who are doing something new and challenging.

For example I loved going to watch a performance of Mahler's 8th Symphony, as it was one his more innovative works along with the 5th which was the first Symphony to use a choir. My favorite gig to date has been going to see Dream Theater at the Manchester Apollo. These guys are on the cutting edge of what it is possible to do with the basic setup of Guitar, Bass, Keyboard, Drums and Vocals. If you haven't heard anything by them I would heartily recommend you to go look at the video below. The main part of the song kicks in about 2 minutes in after the heavy intro.

The real rub with living in HK is that I hardly ever get to see any decent musicians or hear any decent music. I cannot see what is good about Canto Pop, J Pop, K Pop or Cheesy Dance music that I hear everywhere. I can get the occasional decent Jazz or maybe some more inventive dance or Drum n Bass at a couple of places, Gekko in mid-levels is fast turning into a favorite. 

There is also one "rock" club in HK called The Underground which tends to play middle of the road Indie pop bands. It is a shame as a lot of the time it makes me think twice about going out for the night. The company is important yes, but as I am not the sort of person who goes out and gets drunk for the sake of it I like to have something decent to listen to or watch being played.

As a result of this I am contemplating forming a band just for the sole purpose of trying to shake up the music scene here and introduce some variety into the system. Maybe two will be required one decent rock/punk band and one fusion tripped out weird Jazz band. The grand plan is to try and make HK more like Japan, a must stop place for all decent or well know artists. Anyone interested? 

Pizza

I had a good time out last night saying farewell to Michael who is going away for Christmas and with a bit of luck should be back in the New Year. 

Lots of people about good load of Beer consumed in the pub before we went off to Pizza Express (apparently Michael goes to one in every city he visits). I am not usually a fan of Pizza chain restaurants, I find them a little tacky and a bit generic. However this time I was mightily impressed and have to declare that the pizzas were some of the best I have had outside of Italy. I was especially impressed by the base which was nice and thin and tasted distinctly fresh, also it was not overcooked so it became dry which was excellent.

The real treat of the night for me though was the Peking duck pizza. Hoi sin sauce instead of a tomato base, some very nice pieces of duck topped off with fresh crunchy spring onion. Served on an ultra thin pizza base it was a perfect blend of two classic styles and two iconic dishes. I would heartily recommend you try it. Also had a very nice bottle of a Chianti with the Pizza, which was simple very smooth and went down far too easily.

It was a shame I had to leave before the real party started but I was glad to be able to say goodbye to Michael and still manage to get up in time for work!

Business

No not the sitcom everyone knows that real life is far more depressing than working for David Brent.

I am coming to the inescapable conclusion that everyone in business over here automatically assumes you are trying to screw them. My customer thinks that we are trying to screw them over the price of our goods, the exchange rate went from HK$15 to the pound to HK11.5 in 3 months!! We are not trying to screw you the exchange rate screwed you!

You give someone a price over here and they come and ask for half that amount. I am not trying to screw you that price is correct, you order lots of it maybe I will give you a small discount but never half price!

Which brings me on to my second point, why do the suppliers think I am stupid and offer me really inflated prices every single bloody time! We have been using some suppliers for 5 years and they still do this! I know your bottom price is a least 30% less than that because we work in the same industry! You know I know this I know you know that I know this, then why do I have to ask every single time for your best price?

I think I just answered my own question about why people think I am trying to screw them. It's because everybody else is.

...we came in?

Where to start? 

Age - 21 

Height - 6"3' 

Location - Hong Kong

Nah thats not working for me, it makes it look like a dating site post. 

I suppose an explanation of the title of the first blog would be a good place to start giving you an idea about myself.  Okay seems good, here we go.

This refrain can be heard in the background of the Pink Floyd album The Wall. Except that the part in the title is placed at the very begining of the album and the start of the quote at the very end. I like this as it gives a feeling of life and time in general being circular, a view point that I hold very strongly to.

This thought was again in my head as I walked to work the other day, a walk I have done for the past 4 months or so in a repeating pattern. I see patterns and repeats in everything from the way projects at work develop to how my football team (West Ham) are playing to the general conflicts and struggles that I see on the news.

This is not to say that I believe this is deliberately set out and some force is at work controlling this. I am think this is just how stuff works, planets, atoms and the London Underground all try to work in a circular way, and the point of balance for all these things appears to revolve around moving back to where you started at regular intervals. 

This pattern and order exists because it has to, without it life thought and even the mere existance of anything would be impossible and I wouldn't be able to look up from my desk occasionally and think...

Isn't this where...