Pinch Pot

Today was my first ceramics class, and I made a pinch pot! A pinch tea pot even. My masterpiece is about three inches tall, and very poorly made. The bowl of the pot has a cracked rim, the spout isn’t high enough, the handle is too small to place your finger inside and the lid doesn’t fit right. But for working with clay for three hours, it’s not too bad, right? What did I expect? To be an expert potter as soon as I walked in the door? Yes, actually. I did.

The Pottery Workshop

I made the mistake of telling my teacher that I had taken a ceramics class before. Then when he told me to grab a bucket with some water, clay and some tools and get started, I looked around dumbfounded thinking, “um, what tools? where is the clay? how much water?”. Oh, right, clay is normally in the trash bin labeled ‘CLAY’, and tools are those weird looking wire and wood contraptions next to the sink. Then he casually showed me how to make a pinch pot, and I immediately sucked. I was doing the exact same thing as him, but mine looked way different. How did he make the pot smaller at the top? Why isn’t his cracking? How come his lid fits? What am I doing wrong????

After a few tries and a lot of questions, I finally made something that vaguely resembeled a bowl and decided that I needed to go with it. I made a lid. Then made another one. Then made another one. Nothing looked good and time was running out. I told myself that the next one was it and I couldn’t make another, and so I did. It turned out really bad, but I had to run with it. Then I made a couple handles, four or five bases and one spout. I actually made the spout on the first try! It’s not perfect, but I think it might work. I put the pot on the firing shelf, cleaned up my table and told everyone that I’d see them on Thursday.

The class is weekly, and there are open studio hours every Thursday. I want to get as much out of it as possible and I WILL be an expert potter by the time I leave Shanghai. Therefor, I will attend the class to learn the basics and then spend the open studio hours redoing everything. So on Thursday, I will be making a new pinch pot!!

Ikea Shanghai

Before class, I had to find an apron, so I went to the most logical place. Ikea. Honestly, I probably could have found an apron at a million other places in Shanghai, but I’ve been wanting to go to Ikea ever since I found out it was here. There’s something about the store that I’m drawn to even though I rarely purchase more than a pot holder or apron. I am fascinated by the way they draw you through and the vaguely Scandinavian design aesthetic. I also love watching people go crazy in the store. Today, there were five Chinese women huddled around a bin of sifters. Sifters, you know the ones that sift flour? Well, they didn’t. They didn’t seem to have a clue as to what you might use this contraption for. I guess they didn’t grow up baking cookies and cakes!

Bicycle sun protection

Overpacked Tricycle

Belt Vendor

Watermelon Truck

The ubiquitous blue city worker uniform

On the way back from Ikea, I stopped to take a few photos of things I see every day. Literally every day I leave the apartment, I see watermelon trucks, vendors, over packed tricycles, ladies with sun sleeves, blue suited workers and so much more. I am going to make a pact to myself to actually document all of these every day things that I will forget otherwise. So here is my first installment!

Granny Squares

I have also started making Granny Squares that will one day be a large blanket. I bought this yarn over two years ago and I’m excited to finally have an idea for what to do with it. I really want to buy more yarn while I’m here in China, but I won’t let myself till this is used. 9 squares down, 500 to go!

Post 100!!!! It has been almost one full year since I started blogging. Crazy. Okay….back to Hong Kong.

Walking in a cloud

Friday evening after my elite tour I came back to the hotel satisfied with my trip to Hong Kong. I had come to see the hustle and bustle of the city, and I had seen it. My day of independence and solo travel was great because I did exactly what I wanted when I wanted and had gone for an entire day barely speaking five sentences. Now that it was done, I was ready to tell my companion all about it and to go back to him. Twenty-four hours in the city alone was enough. After a good night’s sleep, I would wake up early and check out of the hotel so that I could make it to the Shenzhen train station in time to purchase another upper berth ticket on the overnight train home to arrive in Shanghai by Sunday morning. I could surprise Nik by knocking on the door a day early and we could spend the daylight hours of Sunday together before another week of work. My mind was set.

Then I thought about it for another second. Was it really worth spending 36 hours on a train only to spend 24 hours in Hong Kong? The last time we were here, we had so many ideas of what we could do. We wanted to live here, and yet I couldn’t come up with something to do for one day? Missing Nik had given me tunnel vision to the point that I had forgotten that Hong Kong had more to offer than the tram and a few shopping malls. I powered up my computer and went to the wikitravel site for the city. It mentions a lot of food and shopping, and then I saw a list of beaches. That’s right, Hong Kong has beaches! Why didn’t I think of that? If Nik was here, we probably would have been on the beach within 2 hours of arrival. In his absence, I made the decision to head south to Big Wave Bay first thing Saturday morning. The 18-hour train ride would have to wait another day.

My eyes opened early, and I was up and at ’em by 8am. From my research, I knew that I could catch the #9 bus towards Shek-O outside of Shau Kei Wan. Then I would keep an eye out for a car park with a trail head for the “Hong Kong Trail”. When I saw it, I would get off the bus and take a mild hike to the Big Wave Bay beach. Just to be safe, I stopped at the concierge desk on my way out to verify. After he appeared confused by my question to simply verify that I could get to Big Wave Bay via the #9 bus to Shek-O, he went on his computer and seemed to be staring at the screen for a good ten minutes. I was ready to go and contemplated leaving several times, but that would be rude. I asked him a question, so I should give him the courtesy of waiting for his reply. Eventually he looked up and handed me a post-it with “8-8E-8N-S” written at the top and “Chan Wai” written below. By implication, I assumed that I was supposed to take the #8 bus from the Chan Wai subway station, so I did. Well, at least I tried. I made it to the Chan Wai subway station and exited into a bazaar back-alley neighborhood that did have several bus stops close by. Unfortunately, none of them were for the #8, and none of the buses were headed to Shek-O. After trying to ask a few locals, I gave up and got back on the subway to go back one stop to Shau Kei Wan. (I was very lucky that these two stops were so close AND on the same line!)

I took exit A2 out of the Shau Kei Wan subway station and straight into a large outdoor bus station. Bus #9 was towards the back of the line and was indeed headed for Shek-O. I boarded the double-decker, paid my $6 HKD fare, climbed to the top level and found a seat. I was on my way to the beach!!!

The bus immediately climbed the steep slope to the top of Hong Kong island and turned onto Shek-O road. It stopped a few times to pick up or drop off passengers, but I stayed on as I kept my eye out for the car park with the “Hong Kong Trail” sign. I thought I saw it once, but still didn’t get off. Then I saw a city in the distance, consulted my map and decided that it must be Shek-O. Maybe I should just spend the day wandering around the waterside town of Shek-O. I was kind of hungry, and surely they would have food. Maybe they would even have a quaint little shopping district. No. I was going to the beach, and on a short hike. I needed to stay focused.

A couple stops later I looked out the window and saw a big sign that said “Big Wave Bay”. Well, I guess this is me! I got off and walked towards the sign looking for the trailhead. The road I walked on curved to the right and as I made the turn I saw four or five shacks selling board shorts, boogie boards, bikinis, floats and flip flops. Then I saw a family of blonds get out of a van wearing bathing suits, sun hats and flip flops. How long can this short hike be if these kids were going to make it in flip flops? I guess I wasn’t in for a strenuous day.

Big Wave Bay

I passed a few more beach shacks, and there was Big Wave Bay in all of it’s beach glory.  The website said that it was a small undiscovered surfer beach. The website was wrong. Big Wave Bay has certainly been discovered by the entire expat community of Hong Kong, and on this Saturday afternoon it was teaming with caucasian families throwing frisbees, building sand castles and playing paddle ball. There was a small restaurant to one side where the parents sat with their friends drinking coffee as the kids ran wild on the sand. It didn’t take long to decide that this was not the relaxing beach I was looking for.

The Dragon’s Backbone section of the Hong Kong Trail was not far away, so I headed in that direction. It turns out that the Hong Kong Trail terminates at Big Wave Bay on the eastern coast of the island and begins at the Peak in the middle. The total distance is 50km and the trail is marked with a small post every 500m (100 posts total). In addition, detailed maps are at every fork so that hikers know exactly where they are. The maps show the trail km by km as well as all of the secondary trails that lead to main roads. They also call out all of the bus stops which was extremely helpful for me, the unprepared hiker, so that I was confident I was in the right place and could always find a way home.

Hong Kong Trail Marker

I started at marker #100 and by #85 I had walked the entire length of the Dragon’s Backbone and hadn’t seen a single vista because the entire ridge of the mountain was in a cloud. Surprisingly, I didn’t mind. It just meant that I would have to come back with Nik. The cloud also made the temperature perfect and probably deterred several people from taking the hike that day. I would go for over 20 minutes at a time without seeing another sole. Really, I think I was in heaven.

The best view in town

#85 was my original stopping point, but when I reached it the day was still young and I wasn’t ready to go back to the city. I continued on and eventually made my way all the way to #70, 15km (9.32 miles). My rewards for continuing were having all 7.5km to myself, finally having a view of the ocean, watching a flock of butterflies feast on wild flowers and the sight of the aqua blue Tai Tam Reservoir. By the time I reached the bus stop, I was exhausted and extremely happy that I had seen Hong Kong’s nature instead of heading home.

Walking along the water distribution system

Tai Tam Bay

Butterfly

Tai Tam Reservoir

At 10am Friday morning, I arrived at the Cosmo Hotel after my 18-hour train journey from Shanghai to Hong Kong. I slept pretty well in my top bunk, so after settling in and taking a shower, I took to the streets to explore. My first stop was Hong Kong Park to visit the walk through aviary. Nik and I happened upon the aviary in December when we visited, so I knew it was a place I wanted to go back to. I sat for at least an hour watching and listening to the birds. There’s something extremely calming about bird song.

Two Doves

Then I wandered. I wasn’t really in the mood to take many photos, so I apologize about the lack of visuals for this trip. I wound through the neighborhoods past the corporate towers and street markets. I stopped in a few shops to browse then found a coffee shop and sat to read the local news. It was one of those afternoons where I felt like a local. I had seen most of it before and I didn’t have a destination in mind. The sun eventually started to set so I found a little pizzeria to have dinner. Once it was dark I still had energy, so I continued to wander.

Street Market

The city was bustling with activity and I was soaking it all in. The sidewalks were so full of people, that I started to go with the crowd. When I came to an intersection, I took a right if the majority was taking a right and I took a left if the majority was taking a left. I quickly found that most people were going to the subway entrances. But instead of following them on, I started going with the crowd exiting. It was an interesting way to see the city and to see what people were up to on Friday night. People were constantly shedding off to go into restaurants, but even more people were going to shop. And they are the ones that led me here.

Are you "Central"?

This photo was taken in one of the many luxury malls in the Central area. I normally avoid places like this because they kind of make me nauseous and I know that I can’t even begin to afford a pair of socks at one of these stores. But since I was going with the flow, I decided to take a gander, and boy was I rewarded. On this Friday night, the entire Central shopping district was having a cocktail party, and Hong Kong’s elite were in attendance. There were men in tuxedos serving champagne and hors d’oeuvres, string quartets and saxophone players sprinkled throughout the halls, tango dancers circling the atrium, models in stiletto heels and black evening gowns holding lanterns, fresh flower arrangements at every turn and gift bags being handed out at the entrance. However, this was not what I was interested in. I was interested in the people attending this extravagant soiree.

I found a spot on the second level balcony so that I could observe from a distance. All of the ladies were dressed to the nines in their silk dresses and fancy shoes with designer handbags flung over their shoulders.  The men wore designer jeans with untucked white button down shirts and sneakers. Of course, each had the essential accessory stuck to their ear or held out in front of them, the iPhone. All of the shops that could be seen from the atriums or the street were packed with people. The store managers and sales people looked like they were on stage. Dressed perfectly and smiling while shaking hands trying to make a good impression on their clients hoping that they will come back tomorrow and the next day.

After watching for a few minutes, I decided that this was the complete opposite of the slum tours that we have all heard about. Perhaps I can start selling tickets to watch the city’s elite. I wonder how the cocktail party attendees would feel about that?