Coupla Posts

Oh yeah, forgot to update that there have been a coupla’ posts on Gadling since I’ve been back too… check ’em out.

The road (+rail +ferry) to Ko Pha Ngan @ Gadling

Ko Phan Ngan @ Gadling

Full Moon Party @ Gadling

August

A quick update from the road – I’m in Addis Ababa, enjoying free WiFi again and getting to catch up a little bit with the digital world from the past 3 weeks.

I had an amazing time in Madagascar with ToughStuff – I spent about 6 days in Antananarivo, and another 6 days on a road trip to Toliara (Tulear), Madagascar on the southern coast of the island. Alot of people there have limited access to electricity – and rely on kerosene or candles for light at night. The villagers were really excited for the possibilities of ToughStuff, especially for the entrepreneurs that were able to borrow or afford several lamps to rent out to others that can’t afford to buy them yet.

Antananarivo

Ok, so if anyone out there is actually still reading this, quick update. I’m in Antananarivo, Madagascar – shooting a few videos for a brilliant social enterprise called ToughStuff. Please check out their website to find out more about them.

Antananarivo is a weird mix of things. Take Paris, France – turn the clock back 70 years or so – replace all the picturesque trees with dusty, wilted ones – and imagine that the population is a heart mix of African & Indonesian people, and that’s kind of what Antananarivo feels like.

Nonetheless, I’m loving getting to explore a new place and talk to new people. PS new Gadling article up ( Dim Sum Dialogues: Family Business )

Daily Life

Now that most of my serious stuff is going up on Gadling, a curious friend asked if I would start putting more of my day-to-day stuff on this space. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Living. I’ve lived in Hong Kong for almost exactly 4 months. I’ve been fortunate enough to live in a very quiet & peaceful neighborhood that’s about a 20 minute MTR ride from the city center. The picture above is the main street that leads to the street I’m on – the mountains in the distance signify the end of Kowloon, separating Kowloon from Sha Tin (if you google map it, you’ll get a better understanding for it)

Lately I’ve been trying to wake up early and go for neighborhood runs. This has proved to be an ongoing battle, but it’s slowly winning me over. The summer months have been an unpredictable mixture of wet, rainy days and incredible heat / humidity. I’ve never lived in humidity like this… and I literally can’t walk anywhere for more than 10 minutes without sweating enough to soak my shirt. If I’m ever going somewhere that might require me to look presentable or dressed up – walking isn’t even an option. Thankfully taxis are cheap. On a side note – I think I drink more water here than I’ve consumed in the past 23 years of my life combined. It’s incredible how much water I consume, but it makes me feel healthy at the same time. Kind of.

The picture above is the view from the roof of the house that I’m living in. The tallest tower that you see is the Langham Center…a giant shopping center and business plaza – and the center of an area called Mong Kok. Beyond that, you can barely make out some mountains (the dark shapes behind the tower) – which is the famous Victoria Peak that looms over Victoria Harbor and the city skyline. I can go up on my roof every night at 8pm and catch pieces of the daily light show that takes place on the harbor…but I rarely take that opportunity.

Top 10 Facts About Hong Kong

Here are a few things you might not know about the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong:

Top 10 Facts About Hong Kong, via Gadling.com

Dim Sum Dialogues

My series at Gadling started today, and you can check out the introduction here.

廣東菜

In the first two weeks of my stay here, locals that I met would ask me “So, what have you done since you’ve been here?”. I would often respond, “Well… I’ve eaten alot of good food..” To some extent, I was joking – but when I reflect on my time here so far I realize that there’s a lot of truth in it.

On entering a local Chinese restaurant, a cup of hot tea will usually make it to the table before I do. Before the chopsticks or menus. A cup of steaming tea in a plastic cup (or stylish teacup depending on the price range of the restaurant) It’s something that I’ve found to be consistent and now welcoming.

Hong Kong

I’ve been in Hong Kong for less than 48 hours, and so far I’ve:

Played 3v3 basketball (W:1 L:1 D:1)
Had lunch with a well known HK Director & former HK Rock Star
Shot video for a jazz quartet at an exclusive club in Lan Kwai Fong
Finished labeling our tapes and are beginning to capture today

I really haven’t seen that much of the city, but from what I’ve explored so far, I’m so happy to be here. It seems that people stay up pretty late – everyone is out eating, getting haircuts, shopping at 11pm or later. The metro and bus system is very familiar – it reminds me a lot of London’s underground and double decker bus lines.

The neighborhood that I’m staying in is very peaceful and detached from the bustle of the major districts, but it’s a close walk to most places that I’ll need to go. I have so much more to go see, but for now we’re going to be working 12 hour days on the first edit, so that we can get off on the right foot. Much more to come…

Travelers vs. Tourists

What’s the difference between travelers and tourists?

21 bloggers share their thoughts.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

I’ve booked my ticket for Hong Kong.

I will be leaving the US on March 16th, to stay with Joe. We will then begin the long process of editing our footage from Tanzania.

I’m toying with the idea of posting weekly short videos that try to capture my experience in Hong Kong…something that would give me a playful outlet from our real editing. If you have any other suggestions that you might like to see from this blog during the trip, I’m open to suggestions.

It would be great to have people vote every week on what attraction I should see in the city, and then to follow up on that vote, but I don’t think I have the audience participation to do it. What are your thoughts?