Hong Kong wishes

There is a certain beauty and a romantic feel to Hong Kong, especially in the relative cool of winter. I can't be sure I'd ever want to live there, but a visit can be simply sublime. Tonight and every night Let's go walking down this empty street Let's walk in the cool evening night Wrong or right, be at my side The downtown lights...

I need a good walk after dinner; this is from an uncrowded Avenue of the Stars (星光大道) around 10:45pm. I was very lucky indeed; I had just seconds to compose this as one of the few (fake) junks still in existence came into view and made a brief stop.

(Handheld pictures at night can be tough to nail. You need a fast lens (here, wide-open at f/1.7) and as slow a shutter speed as you dare: a potentially blurry 1/30s was used here. Fortunately, the Olympus E-P1 has in-body sensor stabilization. Still, this exposure required a speed of 3200 ISO! No EV compensation. My EP-1 is truly marginal at high ISO. Hmm, a good excuse to get that new world-class Olympus OM-D.)

Not being much of a tourist, my ideal day in Hong Kong would revolve around guilt-free food and exercise. The idea being to pay one's dues before taking in a calorifically significant repetition, for example, of this:

Add in some shark fin soup beforehand, and ahem, you see the need to walk it off a bit before I can fit in that relaxing drink, maybe at the nearby and classy Intercontinental Hotel Lobby Lounge (Link: here)?

Or for a view from on high and a different ambiance, maybe the inside/outside Cocky Bar up on the 18th floor at The One? (Link: here.)

Of course, to ensure that one should be feeling absolutely guilt-free about the after-dinner Mojito, I'd suggest sweating a bit for a few hours before dinner: for example, I'm partial to exercise of the kind shown here. Your mileage may vary.

Win a few, lose a few, don't play too hard and make some friends. And, before that, if I manage to catch up on a few hours of work on the laptop in the early afternoon, then Life with a capital L is good (at least for today).

Unfortunately, there is a different kind of price to be paid for those sublime evenings.

The problem with travel across time zones is jet lag. I wake up early. There's nothing I can do about that.

Since I'm up early, I might as well take out the iPod and running shoes that I've brought along.

Hit the hotel gym for a light 30 minute workout before first light, as the city is still sleeping. If I time this right, by the time I finish, dawn's light has transformed my view of the cityscape from 45 floors up.

It's 7:30am and I'm 450 kcal to the good already.

A cooldown swim in the deliciously deserted 20m long roof-top heated pool. I can concentrate on my technique as I swim slow lazy laps:

I skip the whirlpool for the (Japanese-style serious) 43C water temperature of the indoor spa:

It's not onsen (温泉) water with mineral content, but as my leg muscles warm back up, I feel them slowly unwind. I may also use the steam room. In the USA, they may use peppermint in a plastic spray bottle, in Hong Kong it's Cassia bark bundles on the heater in the steam room. (Therapeudic effects are claimed. Balances ying and yang. Restores energy, improves the digestive system and eyesight. Or so it says. I'm sold. It feels good.)

(Nearly perfection, much classier than what I'm used to normally, I do wish they had laundry service for my running gear while I swam and unwound in the spa.)

By the time I shower, it has been an indulgent two hours since I got up. But hey, the silver lining with jet lag is that time is on my side in the mornings. With additional good timing, I'm ready for dim sum breakfast as soon as a decent restaurant opens.

I love to be first in a nearly empty restaurant. You see, near emptiness and tranquility is at a premium in Hong Kong. Congee (粥) accompanied by deep-fried, and slightly salted breadstick (油條), aka colloquially as 油炸鬼 (oil-fried devil), really hits the spot after the run.

Plus my favorite char-siu steamed rice flour rolls (豬腸粉) beautifully presented, and I'm good to go (back to sleep).

It's okay. It's only 9am, even if I nap, I've accomplished something today even if I'm feeling deliciously decadent.

Ping Pong in Hong Kong

I've never played ping pong in Hong Kong before: basically because I don't know anyone there. Instead, I've always gone into Shenzhen next door to play and get coaching as documented elsewhere in this blog.

(I know there are private clubs and municipal gyms for those who can book tables in advance, but I'm not plugged into the Hong Kong table table community.)

Well, all that changed this winter. Through networking, I managed to visit facilities at two universities in Hong Kong. In future, I'll definitely be playing at these locations whenever I get the chance.

City University

As the name suggests, this is in the "city" so to speak. Easily reached by MTR train (East Rail line) or subway (Kwun Tong line, 觀塘綫), Kowloon Tong (九龍塘) station, I played here twice.

My contact and generous host was Prof. Leon Zhao, head of MIS at CityU (pictured here on the left). Incidentally, I have met Leon previously in a professional capacity as we served together on a Ph.D exam committee, though I never knew he was a ping pong player. It's a small, small world, isn't it?

You need a guest pass and someone affiliated with CityU (in my case, Leon) to get into their sports centre. Cost is HK$20. There is a dedicated room for ping pong and nice new-looking tables.

They have a club and CityU team. Plus a semi-professional coach, Eddie Wei, standing to the right of me below:

(From left to right: Ye Liu (Ph.D student), Yikshing Yeung (CityU TT team member), me, Eddie Wei (coach), Haibin Yang (Professor), Wansan Lee (high school student who trains there, seems like 2500 level player) and Enyu Zhuang (Ph.D student).)

I had a lot of fun playing there playing with as many people as possible. Very cool bunch of guys.

Chinese University of Hong Kong

I also had the opportunity to play at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. With a large uncrowded campus up on a hill, this is not in the city by any means. It has a MTR train (not subway) station, simply called University (大學), on the East Rail Line.

So it's not surprising they have a larger gym with very high ceilings and good lighting. 6 tables.

Very spacious by Hong Kong standards, it's a nice facility with room to back up and lob a bit.

I played a bunch of professors but this guy pictured below is the staff champion. He's a PE instructor at the university. I tried hard but he beat me 3-0 convincingly.

You need to be affiliated with the university to play here. My contact and host here was Jimmy Lee, professor of computer science.

Like me, he is a computer science professor. We both play ping pong and train to run marathons. I even own the same exact ping pong shirt he is wearing. Obviously, a great guy with the right set of hobbies! :)

Shenzhen Panorama

Shenzhen (深圳) is a major new city in mainland China adjacent to Hong Kong (香港) that has seen explosive growth (from negligible to a semi-official 14 million in a few decades) due to its special economic zone status.

[Fisheye view from my room on the 19th floor of the Southern Union (南方联合) hotel.]

Because Shenzhen is flat and doesn't have a natural center, it's perhaps difficult to get an appreciation of the extent and layout of the city unless one goes high up.

(By the way, it's also where the Century South China Table Tennis Club (深圳市世纪南华乒乓球俱乐部) I described in a previous blog entry (here) is located.)

The observation floor of the Diwang Tower (地王大厦) 300m up (slightly higher than the highest floor of the Eiffel Tower) is an ideal place to take photos the day after a typhoon has passed through to clear the air.

[Looking south and west.]

One can be easily forgiven for making the mistake that the paddy fields are in mainland China and the tall buildings are in Hong Kong, but of course, it's quite the reverse here at the border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

The Shenzhen River is the narrow ribbon here that limits Shenzhen's urban sprawl to the south. Before economic development, I would wager the land on either side of the river was quite similar-looking.

Looking directly south towards Hong Kong, if you click on the picture below to magnify, we can make out the residential flats of the village of Sheung Shui (上水) (part of Hong Kong) in the distance beyond the fields.

A detail from the picture above: the border crossing building at Luohu (罗湖) and railway station with Sheung Shui in the background:

To the west, we can see Lizhi Park (荔枝公园) through to the electronics shopping area of Huaqiang Bei (华强北) to the center of Shenzhen. In the distance, you can make out the Pearl River (珠江) and the hills on the other side.

The Century South China Table Tennis Club is at the north end of the Lizhi Park (to the park's near right corner). Detail below:

To the north, Guangzhou ( 广州) is the provincial capital and a larger (and more crowded) city, just 91 miles (147 km) or just under an hour away by (200 km/hr) intercity train.

Looking to the east, Shennan East Rd (深南东路) runs straight and true. Hong Kong people would say Shenzhen is wide and spacious. It's all relative...

The Southern Union (南方联合) hotel - from where the first fisheye picture was taken - is located next to the gold-colored buildings in the middle background.

Now, if you revisit that fisheye picture, you'll see that the hills behind the buildings are actually in Hong Kong.

Next post, I will revisit the skyline of Hong Kong.

The cities of Guangzhou (15.3 million), Hong Kong (7 million) and Shenzhen (14 million), all about an hour or so apart by fast train, form the core of the Pearl River Delta area (珠江三角洲). The Pearl River Delta is one of the engines driving China's recent economic miracle.

Run #2: Hong Kong

[See previous Run #1] Run #2 is the climb to the Peak on Hong Kong island. (Run #1 is on the Kowloon side.) Unlike run #1, this one is very demanding. Steep. Short. Sweet. Best done in the cool hours of early morning. However, to compensate there are wonderful views of course at the top, and it's quiet, car-free and tree-lined after the initial section. And you have the satisfaction of not taking the Peak Tramway that carries 4 million tourists each year.

At a bit less than 1.5 miles, it climbs from around 200ft if you start from where I start to nearly 1400ft. Think of it like a demanding short trail run in the mountains except it's on concrete.

My GPS tracklog from the Magellan eXplorist 600 using Google Earth (with 3-D buildings turned on):

It's amusingly sparse. Compare the above with a photo I took:

Details?

1. I begin at the Botannical Gardens in front of the memorial to the Chinese who died in the two world wars. Jog through the gardens, to the Panther enclosure, and out the back. Cross the road at the light onto Old Peak Rd.
2. Road is very steep and lined with high-rise condos.
3. Switchbacks are over 20% grade.
4. The road becomes a one lane road here. Cars and motorcycles are prohibited.
   This is where the nice part begins but are you still running?
5. Toilets if you need them.
6. The grade even lets up in places to maybe 5%.
7. Near the top now. Did you last?
8. The top of the tramway is in view. Up the stairs.
9. Turning around, the view back down.

Last, I want to revisit the tracklog on Google Earth again. Here, it's plotted from above:

As you can see, the Magellan struggles here to maintain 3-D coverage. Multipath off the tall buildings? Tree cover?

run #1: Hong Kong

There are some runs that simply take your breath away. For example, I think of Waikiki along the shore to Diamond Head. Nature sets a tough standard that's hard to beat. Skip to Hong Kong. There is a very special one mile walkway in Tsim Sha Tsui (Kowloon) from the old (train station) clock tower along Tsim Sha Tsui East to Hung Hom. Run there and back twice and it's a 4 mile run. What's so special about this one mile of concrete? The view as you run. One of the most celebrated harbor views in the world. When to run? Early in the morning, as the sun rises, before the tourists jam the walkway rendering it unusable for running and before the summer heat becomes oppressive.

The view? Difficult to describe exactly, but each lap offers a slightly different perspective as the rising sun slowly illuminating the skyscrapers over on Hong Kong island.

But you see a much wider field of view when running. Only a panorama can capture this. This was taken around 7am.

Turn up the music on the iPod, stare at the view and you can even forget you need wings to fly for a moment or two...

Details? I carried a GPS. Here is the route as mapped by Google Earth:

[Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble with the Magellan eXplorist 600 in Hong Kong. Never got completely clean tracklogs. Too much electronic interference? For a larger image of the route, click here.]

Start here at the clock tower partially occluded by the cultural center:

The path ends here just below the flyover at Hung Hom:

Amazing Hong Kong run #2 to follow...