I Live at the Airport

At least for one night.

I'm in Hong Kong again, killing time before I fly back to Newark early tomorrow morning. Actually I'm flying back to Tokyo then Newark. Did I mention I hate being stuck on airplanes? Tomorrow is my gauntlet.

If I had to pick the most fascinating spot on this trip it would be Hong Kong. If I had to recommend one place for others to visit it would also be Hong Kong. So many layers of complexity here. It takes more than seven days to fully appreciate it. I'll definitely be back.

Hong Kong has the best food in the world, all things considered. Sounds trite, I know, but this is one foodie's strong opinion. Cantonese cooking gives one the sense that people have been perfecting comfort food for thousands of years. I also tried Peking duck at a fancy restaurant (paid for by the corporate boys). Amazing stuff, but I really do prefer the Cantonese street fare.

There's also the whole mainland transfer thing. Heavy industry, formerly a staple of Hong Kong, has moved deeper into the mainland. So has capitalism. The smog from mainland factories still puts a haze in the air here. Nevertheless, the Hong Kong transfer has changed the mainland far more than it has changed Hong Kong.

In contrast, Thailand is an insular country with the longest reigning king of all kingdoms in the world. The king's book, adorned with his image, is available for sale at the counter in every 7-11 and bookstore I encountered. Large Buddhist-looking archways are built in his honor over the highway. His country is a tourist's paradise. A fascinating, friendly jungle kingdom. But compared to Hong Kong, it's relatively simple and that seems to be the way they like it.

Japan has an infinite complexity but also has an insular quality compared to Hong Kong, both literally and figuratively. Japan is a geographic, linguistic and sometimes cultural isolate. Someone mentioned to me that it's hard to hire computer programmers in Japan. Programming, in the context given, is more of an art form. The Japanese business culture values conformity and doesn't produce this art at the rate of other places.

Phuket

Hot and humid. That's the weather forecast every day in Phuket. Patong reminds me a little bit of Cancun. Everyone is trying to sell you a suit, a massage, a frog toy, a pan pipe or some other tourist trinket. The beach is beautiful, not a rock or piece of coral to be seen. It's easy to find an front row beach chair or a jet ski. I'm not completely sun burnt yet, but I've still got tomorrow.

I went looking for local delicacies and found some. On the beach they peddle flattened dried squids that are quickly toasted on barbecues they carry around on a sling. Not much different than the type of stuff you find in convenience stores, which I'm bringing back for people to sample. I also found durian fruit, which was so pungent I had to throw the packaging away outside. Very tasty, though.

I've visited the massive bar zone, seen the lady boys in the center of the area. The only problem I've had so far is finding a dive boat that isn't flaky. Hopefully that will be solved tomorrow. I'll post the backlog of pictures on Flickr when I'm able to use my laptop again.

Lots of friendly, smiling people in Phuket. My guide book says smiling is part of Thai culture and it's certainly a welcome change.

All is well in Kowloon

It's almost time to leave the starched collar world of Hong Kong island and head for the beach in Phuket for the real "vacation" part of my trip. I figured a status update is in order.

So far the colleagues I've met in Tokyo and Hong Kong have been wonderful. I've had some random chats with people on the streets too. Who knew that Chinese mainland officials like to hang out incognito in Hong Kong wearing polo shirts? Who knew that people who learn Japanese from their Japanese wife/girlfriend are easily identifiable as such?

If you ever want to fill your passport with lots of stamps, travel back and forth from Macao to Hong Kong on the ferry. It's only a one hour trip and your passport will be full in no time.

I used http://wikitravel.org and http://tripadvisor.com reviews to figure out my travel plans and everything has been ultra smooth so far. I brought a trio of Lonely Planet phrasebooks: Japanese, Cantonese and Thai. They have been indispensable so far. It sounds cheesy, but these tiny books have improved my trip 1000%. Aside from being helpful in practical situations, they're just plain fun to read.

Mong Kok

Okay, a little bit of foodie indulgence. I'm a big fan of what people in the western hemisphere would probably call "extreme food". In the eastern hemisphere, it's called "good stuff".

I was looking forward to trying some new and exotic food and so far so good.

In Japan I had a bowl of chilled whitefish fry. Imagine hundreds of tiny whitefish eyes looking at you as you devour their tasty little selves with chopsticks. Oh, the seafood gelatin was interesting too.

In Mong Kok, pictured, I walked around and sampled the skewered offerings from the street vendors.

I tried the fish balls. Those are the green things floating in the bins of hot water. They're basically mashed fish with green curry (I think) rolled into a ball and cooked in hot water. Essentially identical to a Filipino snack I've had before.

I tried the item on the upper left, which I presumed to be sausage slices. Not true. They are rolled up intestines that are deep fried. An interesting surprise. I'm not exactly sure how they turn orange on the outside so as to look like a kielbasa.

I didn't get a chance to try the fried octopus skewers on the right. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do that tomorrow night.

Mong Kok is not all entrails and cephalopods, though. The fried red bean paste fritters are purely vegetarian and have to be one of the richest, most intensely delicious and uniquely textured things I've ever tasted.

So far so good. And before I forget, I'm posting photos at http://flickr.com/photos/lotor.

Hong Kong vs. Tokyo

My first impressions of Hong Kong were "hey, they're speaking Cantonese!" followed by "hey, I don't understand a damn word they're saying!". Not a single word. Can't read anything either, not even with a dictionary. Unlike my feeble Japanese vocabulary and half-baked command of katakana, my Cantonese is non-existent. But who cares, this is supposed to be an adventure!

So here is a short list of inane observations being a newcomer to both Tokyo and Hong Kong.

• Tokyo is orderly. Hong Kong is slightly chaotic.
• Tokyo is wealthy. I saw a few limbless beggars on the streets of Hong Kong.
• Tokyo is polite to a fault. Some people in Hong Kong will push in front of you as if you don't exist.

Hong Kong seems more like New York City: easy to mis-stereotype and a little bit on the untamed side. There is an organic, capitalistic efficiency here that outclasses anything I've ever seen.

Coming up next, adventures in crazy Chinese food from Mong Kok!

No More Pachinko, I Promise

The last day in Tokyo was pretty hectic. After spending most of the night in Roppongi bars with colleagues from London, I woke up and strolled around Shibuya before flying to Hong Kong.

There is a big Taito arcade/slot parlor near Shibuya station and I had some time to kill so I dropped a few thousand yen there. Pachinko is pretty dull, you hold a lever down and a stream of tiny silver balls disappear through the "plinko" board as does your money. Of course there's the obligatory parallel anime story unfolding on the LCD screen in the background.

The slot machines are fairly annoying in that you can't just throw your money in and hit "max bet" over and over like American slots. You are forced to stop each reel and physically nudge a lever to get the reels moving. Actually, the parallel anime story in the background is more interesting than playing this variation on the one-armed bandit.

There were also some silly "push the pile of coins" games and some very peculiar horse race simulations which I can't fathom.

In the end, none of the games were nearly as fun as playing a round of craps in Vegas. Japanese law forbids real gambling, the parlor operators skirt the law by rewarding winners with tickets which are then exchanged for prizes like lighters and soap (!) which are then exchanged at a shop around the corner for cash.

Japanese casinos are like Chuck E. Cheese full of chain smokers.

Uni, it's not just for D&D fans any more

It's hard to order food in Japan unless you have some skills. Sometimes there are pictures and you can point. Other times they have a display case outside and you can point. They might have an English translation if you're lucky. Otherwise you better have Japanese skills, which I don't yet. My eating choices have been governed by this fact so far.

If you travel to the UK, you'll find they don't clean their shrimp. Welcome to the shrimp face.

In Japan, additionally they don't cook the shrimp. Welcome to the sweet shrimp with a face. I actually like sweet shrimp, but it's a chore to pull the meat from the shell with chopsticks.

So far I've met some great, friendly people. I've learned some Japanese and got some perspective on how difficult it is to really learn Japanese. If that's even possible.

That Damn Crane

That damn crane game. It was the third one from the back. I went into an arcade in Shibuya to check out the games. Lots of cool looking immersive Battletech/Mecha pod games. An array of Mario Kart games I haven't seen before. It was just cool to be in an arcade!

Back to the crane game. On the way out I tried my luck. About 2000 yen later I realized there is no winning. The claw that grips and the rod that holds the prize are engineered and tuned perfectly such that you can't quite grab it.

Ever.

All I needed was a tiny earthquake.

Pachinko Fever in Akihabara

The day started with a fairly authentic Japanese breakfast. I've never liked the typical American breakfast foods, it's nice to have a choice of rice and fish instead.

After that, it was short hop to Ebisu to see where I'll be working for the rest of the week. Then on to Akihabara to get some electronic gear.

Akihabara, if you don't know, is supposedly the place where the Japanese tech geeks hang out. There were some interesting sights, lots of manga and Sega and plenty of "crane games". The most notable thing in Akihabara I saw, though, wasn't the warren of cell phone and camera stands, it was the pachinko fiends. Mind you, this was a Tuesday morning and there were about a hundred hardcore pachinko freaks lines up in front of each of the parlors, chain smoking and waiting for them to open. Mostly men between 20-30 years old, I would guess.

The picture on the right appears to be some sort of tiny shrine that's stuck right in the middle of Akihabara.

Live From Shibuya

The day started off bad. In a hurry to get to the airport, I forgot the AC adapter for my laptop and had to buy a new one for $120. Oh well, at least the new one has an airplane plug.

The flight to Detroit was boring. Then came the thirteen hour flight to Tokyo. At some point I forgot how uncomfortable it was to sit in the same spot for so long and then I was fine. Humans are adaptive. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Tokyo looks like any other big city until it dawns on you that you can't read anything and can't understand what people are saying. Actually, that's not entirely true. The grasp of the Japanese language I've cobbled together in the past few weeks showed me just how far I am from being fluent. Yikes!

I managed to buy a train ticket and successfully get myself to Shibuya. Then I wandered around for about thirty minutes trying to find my hotel. By some stroke of luck I found it and now I'm dead tired and not even motivated enough to go find food. The good news is it's 9:00 pm and I'm ready to sleep the night away. Maybe the jet lag will be minimal.

Tomorrow is my "day off" in Tokyo, so I'll try to make the most of it. One thing I already need badly is a map!

The Police 10/31 Madison Square Garden

I've been waiting to see The Police since 1983. Tonight I got my chance.

Never been to MSG before, my brother Jeff said it's kinda small, which is true compared to more modern facilities. Exit down the ancient twisting stairwells, thank you, this is the same venue Led Zeppelin played in 1973 on The Song Remains The Same.

It was Halloween night, the Police were in full costume for most of the show. Sting and company pre-dropped masks and postcards on every seat in the arena for the fans to enjoy. Nice touch. Highlight points:

• Sting still sounds like he always has
• Stewart Copeland is still one of the preeminant drummers of our time

I watched Copeland most. Being primarily a drummer, I figure my commentary is most valuable in that space. Copeland is fantastic, still has that dead-on rhythm with the twitchy, random attack that boggles the mind. Well worth the highest ticket price I've ever paid, and injected thoughts about the history of the three-man band, the transition of punk to mainstream and the influence of the Police on the hard rock genre in their wake.