It can always be worse

Last night, I met Mike, a friend of a friend who has worked for various NGOs involved with human rights issues. The worst thing he ever encountered, Mike said, was during a conference regarding Congo. A Pygmy, the real, upper-case kind, no more than 4 and a half feet tall, was asking said NGO rep for advice.
His problem? The Pygmy's tribe was caught between two other warring tribes, and both warring factions believed that eating the Pygmies would give them magical powers and protect them in battle. What can we do to keep from getting eaten, the Pygmy asked, as his short legs dangled from the chair, unable to reach the ground.
And how do you answer the question, "How do we keep our neighbors from looking at us as a supersized Happy Meal." Mike was stumped; he listened to him, offered him some solace, but really, there's no real answer to this. (Though we both thought that if the tribe ate nothing but durian, they might become too nasty tasting to be eaten.
While living overseas has its challenges, I must say the random people I meet are far more interesting than people I ever met in Chicago. And remember, that no matter how bad your troubles are, you never have to worry about your neighbors trying to eat you.
Unless you live in Wisconsin. Because we've got a pretty good history of eating our own.

Foodstuff stuff

1: Food is always enjoyed best with friends and family, and so is knowledge about food. And here's a lesson passed along from a friend: In a Hong Kong, you can order the mixed grill, but never, ever, order the assorted meats, be it with noodles or rice or anything. It's about the equivalent of ordering a hot dog (good) and ordering a dog, hot (bad, when taken literally).
2: The pizza hut here has a new offering: stuffed-crust pizza. And the crust is stuffed with a creamy fish sauce. Pardon me while I go vomit.
3: I just read a videogame review in Wired is about a journalist who's trapped in a mall full of zombies, and who uses whatever is handy in whatever store to fight the living dead, such as a baguette or a salmon. So apparently, I'm not the only thing that can be killed with a salmon; the undead can, too.
4: To add to the list of random American food chains here in Hong Kong: there's a Mrs. Field's cookie store in the Wan Chai exit of the subway here. As a coworker says, nummy!

Oh no! They say he's got to go! Go go......

A potpourri of recent moments.
1) Pollution here has been brutal lately. Apparently, it always is during typhoon season, especially when one is nearby. A few tropical disurbances or typhoons have swung by in the past few days, and on Wednesday and Thursday at work, we couldn't see more than 300 meters away, let alone the other side of the harbor. As I said, Godzilla could be rampaging through Kowloon and we would have no idea, outside of his screams. (Sadly, Godzilla did not take out the north side of the territory.)
2) It's rare a day goes by that I don't see someone and just burst out laughing. There are just a lot of funny looking people in this city. Men in their 30s who hike their pants up to their nipples, literally, so their belt obscures part of the big "GAP" on the front of the T-shirt they're wearing that's tucked into pants. I want to make my own T-shirt that says, "You look funny." Especially when you realize about 20% of teenagers here havve really poofed out hair, exactly like the hair metal bands of the 80s, or mullets. They would fit in right with Warrant's "Cherry Pie" video.
3) The first of two Krispy Kremes has opened, friends confirmed tonight. The line goes down the sidewalk, and it's all locals, not gweilos waiting in line. Go figger.
4) I spent a fun Saturday first running/walking down the western side of the island to Cyberport, a town on the western side of the island built as HK's own version of Silicon Valley. Running uphill in this weather: not easy. But I think I finally found a path I can run, outdoors, without having to dodge people, and the roads are good for biking, too, I think. In the evening, I met a few friends and we went to an arcade. I really miss my old-school games. Now, it's mostly driving, fighting and shooting games. Though they did have air hockey, which I loved playing growin up, and a wide variety of weird games, including one where you pound drums, one where you pedal a fake mountain bike, and the weirdest one, a dog walking game. You hold on to a leash that acts as a controller, and walk on a treadmill. That's the game. I don't think it involved picking up any dog shit. And at the end, we went to an Outback Steakhouse for bar food. Yes, it is the first time I ever went to one, and for bar food, it's pretty good. But this just confirms my statement I said to someone the other day that most restaurants here have a suburban feel to them: many are good, few, if any are great, and most have a feeling like they're approximating something, instead of being genuine. They're certainly worth going to, but you won't find any cheap, funky, original restaurants like you will in big cities in Europe or the states.
5) I just had to order some replacement good, hiking sandals from REI back in the states. I bought a pair before I left Chicago in May and loved them. I was wearing them on a boat trip a few weeks ago when I got caught up in a gale as soon as I got off the boat. When I got home, soaking wet, I set them outside the door to dry off, right where I usually set my garbage. I never leave shoes outside my apartment, unlike some other people. I came back later in the evening and the sandals were gone, and I think the person who pick up our garbage took them, thinking I wanted to throw them away because they were sitting where my garbage usually is. You live, you learn.
6) This city is all about trends, and whatever's latest. Sometimes that's good, especially with electronics. Sometimes it's bad. And sometimes, the trends here linger, even long after they've died off elsewhere. For example, there still are a good amount of people who wear the foam trucker caps, especially this Von Dutch brand, that were so annoying a few years ago. And the really, really cool ones wear them cocked at a 45 or so degree angle. As friends here can attest, there's few things I'd rather do that reach out and just send their oh-so-hip cap flying. Feel the love!
7) And last, one of the joys of working over here is I get to see a lot of photos on the news wires that I never would back in that states. Every week, there's a variety of panda photos that move, and I now have built a wall of weird panda photos on my desk at work. I'll try to post some soon, but letme tell you, nothing inherently is funnier than a panda. Except maybe a fatal brawl between mimes and clowns, but that's only because I really, really dislike both. But who dislikes pandas? No one you can trust, that's who.

Notes from the C & C taxi company, or cab moments that make you .....

1) On the cab ride back tonight, "He's not heavy, he's my brother" is playing on the radio, which I have never heard before but have used as a phrase in many conversations and jokes, including a in a few headlines (badly, I probably guess) in my younger days. After xx years on this planet, I finally hear it while 13 time zones away from where I spent 99.4% my life, and where it probably played all the time on stations I would never listen to.
And while the song may refer to a relationship with said sibling, let me say that taken literally, the two points of the song title are not mutually exclusive. Look at my family, in either direction of the sibling relationship.
2) One fringe benefit of essentially not speaking the language is quiet cab rides home, because the cabby can't chat with you. And while a cabbie conversation is nice every once in a while, like escargot or vanilla gelato, it is much better appreciated only once in a full moon, at most.
3) Because cars here have the driver side on the right here, the wipers start on the left and go to the right, the opposite of the states, where they go to the left, toward the driver. Whodathunk?