Grumble. This morning's conference call moved back, and still having Amex problems. Yesterday,

got up, got in to work a little later than 8a. They were still setting up the video conference

so no problem. Checked mail, etc. The vidconf got going, and I brought in my laptop to provide

extra assistance. Annoyingly, my Remedy access seems to have been removed so I couldn't actually

help there, nor do I have a login for netcool to work. Still.. The conf went on for an hour or

two. Today we will go into Cascade which I can be more of a help with. Still didn't do any

training yesterday. Franco was onsite most of the day with a customer and Eric manning the

phones. So I checked mail, did a smidge of work. At 4, Paul and I were supposed to go to see

the local Fore rep, and at 5:30, we were to go meet his tailor :) At some point, around 2 or so, I

decided I was hungry and was going to find a bite to eat. What ended up happening is Paul and I

talking for long time and then headed over to Cisco (next building over) to get some spares for a

POSIP problem we continue to be having. It was kind of neat to network again :) Haven't in so long.

Got a cisco watch and an umbrella. How am I going to transport the umbrella, I don't know! We were

going to grab a bite to eat after dropping the spares back at the office, but of course, network

problems caused this not to happen.

Finally, after much dallying, around 6p or so we head out to the tailor's (having blown off Fore).

We took the Wanchai ferry over to Kowloon, and walked for about 5 minutes. The tailor was in the

second floor of a small building. We walked in, was greeted by his specific tailor, Andy. We

sat in the waiting room, and after being served beers while we waited, I started looking through

fabrics. Andy came in and I told him what I was looking for. He suggested blue or dark grey, I

decided to go with dark blue. He got some swatches out of various patterns; herringbone, pinhead,

and some more plain patterns. I thought the one pinhead pattern he picked was nice; an interweave

of black and blue threads. Amuaingly, the same style Paul had gotten awhile ago. So finally I

had about 10 swatches to look through. I nixed a couple because they were too bright, a couple

because they were too thin, one because I decided I liked the pinhead style, and a couple others

because the design was too "open" for me. Finally I was down to two; a more traditional diamond

pattern and a somewhat "radical" squareish pattern. I decided on the more traditional for this,

my one and only real suit. This was only the first decision! Then I got measured by, as JB

described, a little Chinese guy (named I think, Johnny). After being measured, then I had to

pick a style! After looking at the single breasted versions, I decided on the classic double-

breasted two-button style. Next, there was the shirt decision! I felt I should probably get

some shirts made. They do at minimum three at a time, but the price, at about $30 per shirt, is

amazing! You pay more for store-bought. So a whole new set of decisions! I picked out a nice

medium blue, a herringbone white, and a plain white. For the first two, I then chose a standard

collar, no buttons. For the other shirt, a banded collar, don't remember the name of it. And

finally, a monogram style! After some deliberation, I decided upon the tBc style in script. Then

I got measured for the shirts, and all was done! I put down a deposit, have an appointment for

tomorrow morning for the first fitting. If I'm lucky, I can get this done by Monday and wear a

nicely tailored suit to the grand opening on Monday eve! Woo! Not that I hope to wear suits

often as a matter of course, but I can easily see how having a nice tailor makes a difference. I

feel like returning a bunch of the shirts I got in prep for the trip! And the bill for the

suit will be like $300. Not bad. Also, they come to the states somewhat frequntly; to Boston

twice a year in fact. Next time they come, perhaps I'll treat JB :) Of course, as expected, they

keep all measurements on file, so in case I need more, I can just place an order! In fact, on their

business card, it appears they have email and a web page! Felt weird, but also kinda nice, vaguely

even proud of myself, even though, like everything in my life, I wouldn't have done it without

someone else's intervention. Gotta go to today's vidconf call.

--

*grumble* From here on til now, the jounral dates are fucked up. I had written a bunch, and then

hit Undo due to a mistake, and it trashed everything I'd written. Fucking microsoft. There's one

piece I'll get to actually with a proper date on it, but from here til then, well, all retrospect.

So, after meeting the tailor on Wednesday, Paul and I walked to the Ferry to meet Todd and Tae for

dinner. They had dressed down, so then *I* was the one overdressed! We took the ferry back over to

Wanchai, and decided upon Thai for dinner. We walked over to Lockhart Rd, and went to a fairly

good Thai place that Paul recommended across the street from where I'd had Schezchan the day or two

before. We had a leisurely dinner, mostly the three of us listening to Paul talk about his sibling

rivalry with his brother, old UUNET war stories, and the new plans for AsPac expansion. Found out

he is only 6 months older than I. That really depressed me. Made me feel so.. Unsuccessful. Talking

with Paul this past week has been both energizing and depressing. Energizing because I have missed

talking shop with co-workers for so long. It's nice to be able to just sit back and talk about

work, and especially with someone who's been around a long time (about 6 months sooner than me there,

too). Not to mention, Paul and I seemed to hit it off really well. We talked constantly this week,

probably a total of 20 hours or so. About everything from comics, to tailors, to work, to Asian

culture, to his history of travelling. After much talk, we were finally kicked out around midnight

or so. At that point, we walked back to Central Plaza, and Todd and Tae took their leave. Paul and

I went back up to the office. I called Kimberly and chatted for awhile, and then I tried to call

Amex to address my problems with them. After being on hold for a long time, being transferred three

times, I finally got someone who said they would not approve any more charges. Whee. Lamenting

the fact and sharing with Paul my frustration over the lack of corporate card still, he suggested we

call Derek back in Fairfax to obtain the number, and then call Amex to declare it lost and pick up

a new card. Got the number, (have to remember to send Derek a postcard. Too many to send!), called

Amex, and they said it would be ready by 11a on Friday. After dealing with that, went back to the

hotel.

This brings us to Thursday morning. I actually don't remember much about Thursday. I managed to

get some training done, realizing just how slow some of the applications were. We broke for lunch,

it was myself, Eric, Franco, and a woman from the office. Spent the rest of the afternoon working

on a training example. The Sydney office had called me with an urgent customer need. Perfect

opportunity! After bringing the connection up, Paul had invited me to go see Tito's potentially

new abode with he and his wife, Kathy. So I took a cab to their apartment complex.

This started an evening of awe for me. I just can't contemplate being worthy enough to a company

for it to treat me as well as Paul and Tito. First off, the place the taxi dropped me off is

halfway up Victoria Peak. Very posh neighborhood. While I was waiting for Paul and Kathy to come

down and meet me, I saw about 5 Mercedes pull up to the door. Including the one we got into when

the rental agent showed up! So we got in this Mercedes, and proceeded to drive East to Chai Wan, and

then south to an inlet east of Stanley. This complex was definitive of posh. Mercedes or Rolls in

nearly every driveway. The house we saw was just elegant. I've been in houses with a bay window

before, but never one that had *4* bay windows, *all* looking out over a bay. The house was kind

of built upside down. The top floor had a huge livingroom/diningroom combo, and an oddly shaped but

functional kitchen. Did I mention this place had 5 bathrooms? So that floor had two bay windows,

one of which had a small parapet. You go downstairs to something like 5 rooms. The two bay-facing

rooms had, of course, bay windows, and wall storage up the ying yang. There was an office, and

another bedroom, and an entry out onto a outside play area. Then downstairs had just one huge

bedroom. About as big as our livingroom/diningroom at home, and a private bath with jacuzzi tub.

There was an outside back patio, blocked on the sides, open to the bay. This thing is going for

something like $85000HK per *month*. And UUNET is paying for it. So afterwards, we got dropped

off back at their place in Central. Went upstairs with them to get the tour. Small, but

very functional. More or less a two-bedroom, one of which nwas turned into Paul's office. A small

bedroom (smaller than JB's?) but a nice view over the buildings and onto the bay (towards Kowloon).

We chatted about media, I told them about Dave :) In the ever-present debate over DVD vs. LD, he

brought out a couple DVD's to play select bits from; Blade and Austin Powers. Nice extra bits.

Finally, I decided it was time to take my leave. I bid farewell, and intended to walk home, finding

a bite to eat on the way.

--

The most beautiful woman I've met in Hong Kong isn't even Chinese.. "Judy Luo", business development

for Esso Taiwan. Odd how fate sorta does its thing from time to time. There I was, walking down

Central Hill from Paul and Kathy's place, intending to head home, when I cam across the Tram I'd

read about. With nothing else to do, I decided to take it towards Kennedy Town and back. Of

course, I got on the wrong Tram, and had to get off at Western Market and get on another one

towards Kennedy. Once at the end of the line, I decided to hop on a tram back to Causeway Bay

or North Point. However, after waiting waht seemed like 15 minutes, with tram after tram to other

destinations, I gave up and took one to Shaukeiwan. Almost to Central, a woman came up and asked

me if I had change for the tram ($2HK, exact change). I gave her a 50 cent piece and said that

it was a gift. She thanked me and went down to the lower level. She was strikingly beautiful. I

dallied about going down to talk to her, perhaps invite her to a drink or something. Finally, I

got the gumption to head down to the lower level, and she was still there. She said thanks again,

and I said it was no problem. I asked her if she was a tourist, and mentioned she had very good

English. She said thanks, and said she was in town for a class. She asked about me, and I gave

her a business card, to which she returned hers. We chatted for probably 5 minutes, I did indeed

invite her out to a drink, to which she declined due to her having class at 8:30a. She got off, and

then I got off to walk back towards the hotel, and ran into her again, and wished her well. Had I

not gotten on the tram, had I gotten back on the other direction at Western Market, had I given up

sooner at Kennedy Town.. Fate is odd..

After parting, I walked back from the Tram to the hotel, and managed to get to the coffee shop for

last call. Ordered some soup and food, and went to bed.

Ya know. I'm going to assassinate Bill Gates. I just lost another paragraph. The upshot of all

this is that every time this happens, I feel like just putting the whole thing down and not

doing any more. And it also adds up to not wanting to start, too. Sigh. But I'm two days behind

now, so I better, or this whole journal thing is going to go to shit.

Friday morning, I worked with the boys to show them OTS. At around 10:40 or so, I headed out to

the Ferry to go to the tailors. Once at the tailors, Andy wasn't there yet. So I sat down,

was offered a beer, and I read. I noticed what looked like my suit on the rack in front of me,

but wasn't sure. A little after 11:30, Andy arrived. Yes, it was my suit :) What existed at that

point was pants that were cut, but not finsihed, and a jacket with one arm. So after a few

minutes, Johnny ushered me into the dressing room. I walked back out, and stood there while

Johnny took more measurements, made markings, stuck pins various places, and asked Andy for

his opinion. About 10 minutes of them talking and commenting later, they were done. Did y'all

know that most men's right arms are longer than their left, and that the right shoulder tends to

slump more than the left? Andy mentioned it as they were fitting me, and when I was back in the

dressing room, I looked, and lo and behold, he was right :) So once I had changed back and

handed the clothes back to Johnny, Andy said that it wasn't likely it would be done for the

reception Monday night. I really hope they do, though. I wasn't expecting it when I walked in

the first time, but I've come to hope that it is. So I call them on Monday morning to find out

the final status (apparently, only two fittings not three. They got me mostly right the first

time :) As I left their office, walking down the street, I actually noticed that my jeans felt

"wrong". And I'd only had the suit on for 10 minutes! All of a sudden, the jeans just didn't

seem to fit right. Oi!

So I took the other ferry to Central and went to the Amex office. After standing in line for

15 minutes, I got up to the counter, and signed for the card. Being the smart person I'm

hoping to continue being, I opened up the card right there rather than walking out without

looking at it. I'm glad I did, because the card read "EDWAARD B" as the name. I told them

this was unacceptable and asked that they deliver a replacement card to my hotel. By 9p

they said. Disgruntled even more, I took the T back to Wanchai and went back to work.

The boys weren't back from lunch yet, so I caught up on mail. Once they did come back, we

had a little time before Eric went off to his customer's site at 2:30. Tried PCI, though

I couldn't get it to work. Once Eric left and came back, we tried to run through one of

their new orders from the beginning. I instantly saw a problem; everything they do with

an order up to the point of actually configuring the hubside equipment, is all done with

Excel and Word. *No* database entries at UUNET. So after updating as much as possible

for that order, I wrote up a workflow for their orders and sent it back to Fairfax asking

for advice on how to continue. Of course, I haven't gotten much useful back.

After the day was done, Bill Chan and I went out to dinner. He had mentioned it earlier

in the week. So we took a cab to Central and went to a pretty good restaurant there,

though I don't remember the name. We had duck, pidgeon, shrimp and asparagus, and fried

rice. We talked about the Asian market, how it differs from the states, and various other

small talk while we ate. Encountered again the asian drinking protocol. Bill would

constantly refill my tea cup, even when full! Also serving me food, making sure I was

eating, much like a Jewish grandmother! (Or so I've heard) After dinner, we walked over

to Lan Kwai Fong; a primarily expat hangout area that reminded me a lot of Landsdown St

in Boston, although the street was smaller, there were bars on both sides of the street,

and there were more people in *and* out of the bars. We made it to this one bar, where

Bill had been to before. We lucked out and got a table fairly near the stage. There

was a pretty good cover band playing. There was a keyboardist (barely noticible back

left), guitarist, lead male vocal (tall black guy), lead femal vocal (medium tall, I

think Phillipino), a bassist (that looked like he could be Stacy's brother), and

a drummer. We had a couple beers, and talked mostly about Bill's history in the computer

industry, and the fact that the web pages for the HK office were not likely to be done

before the launch. We also talked about Canada and more about the asian market

mentality. After two beers each, we headed out and down to the metro station. Bill went

one way, I went back to the hotel.

Having successfully gotten the borrowed PCMCIA modem working earlier in the day (Yay!),

I went back to the hotel and logged in, read mail, talked to Kimberly online, and then

made a few calls back to Fairfax since the timing was right. Talked to Doug and

Katherine Daab about the lack of HK data incorporation into Sybase. No answers. At

a really late hour, I went to bed. Which I'm going to go do now, as it's not too

late yet. Today was fun, though. More tomorrow.

BTW, have I mentioned yet the cellphone scoop? Someone said before I came here you

could set your watch by the cellphones ringing here; about every 5 minutes. They

weren't kidding! They are *everywhere*. And they are often called "handphones". They

all have different ringtypes set, too. But you'll be walking down the street, and

you'll just hear them! Everywhere! In the movie theatres even, as part of the opening

announcements, there are a couple screen shots that say to please turn off phones and

pagers (which seemingly goes ignored since at least a half dozen phones went off in

the movie I saw tonight.) Anyway, off to bed.

Wow, many days behind! Gotta catch up before it gets to be too many to count. I can see

how having a journal is a lot of work! I've wished I've had a Palmtop a bunch of times

while here. Mostly for jotting down thoughts I didn't want to lose, or to write down

prices for things I've seen. Anyway..

Saturday, woke up marginally late, went down to see the travel office of the hotel. Missed

all the tours for the day, so decided to trek out on my own after looking through the

books yet again. Decided to go to Lamma Island. So I took a taxi over to Central, and

waited for the boat to the island. Unfortunately, it was a typical cloudy misty day. The

ride was still nice though, taking about 50 minutes or so. We pulled into Yung Shue Wan, and

the first few minutes was almost scary! The town is *packed*. The houses extremely close

together, fairly dirty, and just not very nice. I'm just a spoiled westerner. I wander

through town, grabbing a quick pastry and something to drink. Then I headed out across

the island. I kept being amazed at the second-world look of the island. And from what

I read, it's a popular expat place to live; must be for the not so well-to-do, or more

likely not for the work-funded living. Anyway, so I finally get out of the main town and onto

the path leading towards the first beach. Fairly small, but an interesting view. You look

to your left and you see mountains and green hills. You look to your right and you see a

*huge* power plant.

I walked farther on, coming to the second bigger beach. I noticed along this walk, the

sheer tropicalness of the area. Palm trees, moss, very primitive-seeming. The second

beach was larger. I was amused by one of the signs reading something like, "Outside of

swimming season, the shark prevention net will be taken in for service." I walked the beach

to the other side to pick up the trail again. From here, the walk turned into a climb as I

winded my way up the mountain. Not sure which one. The view just kept getting better! I

was passed by a woman running with her golden retriever. I kept seeing in the distance a

little hut. Finally, I was approaching it. There were a fair amount of people milling

about in it, and below it. I was still a ways below the top of the mountain. The trail at

this point levelled off, and started down and through the gap between mountains. I, of

course, felt the need to climb the rest of the way up the mountain! So climb I did. I

finally reached the crest, and all of a sudden was buffeted by wind. The other side of the

mountain, the air looked dark and dreary. I looked overhead and could see dark clouds overhead.

I took a few pictures (believe it or not) and headed back down. Halfway down I passed a little

boy, excited with glee at conquering a new frontier. He of course beckoned to his friends to

join him, and they all tramped up the mountain after me. I got to the trail again, and mentioned

that it looked like it might be a storm coming, and they called the kids from their hike. *I*

didn't want to be the one telling them to come down and ruin their excitement! Halfway up the

mountain I got paged by Kimberly. She was just going to bed at around 3a surrounded by two

feet of snow while I was hiking up a mountain wishing I'd brought shorts with me! I was glad

by the end of the day though, that I hadn't! I continued on the path towards So Kwu Wan. The

clouds kept looming, and it continued, for hours, to look on the verge of a big tropical storm,

but there was none. Finally at sea level, I had to walk around an inlet to get to the town. I

came across some sort of a cave! A well-known one, as there was a sign pointing to it, but a

cave nonetheless. Had I known the storm wasn't going to arrive, I'd have explored it, but I

didn't know and wanted to get to town beforehand! So I walked around and got to the town. I

stayed for awile at one of the restaurants to watch a Mah Jongg game. Wow. Unlike us, they

don't even bother to line up the tiles, and they are so fast! And it seemed customary to slam

the tile on the table. Very different, very fast paced. We pale by comparison!. It

looked much like the other town, but there seemed to be one main street, all restaurants with

patios open to the sea. (As a side note, the Chinese, or at least the Renaissance Harbourview,

does *not* know how to make chocolate mousse). Being only about 5:30p or so when I arrived at

town, I decided not to take the various offers by hosts to dine. I walked onward toward the next

town, but decided to turn back, still thinking a storm was brewing. I didn't want to be too far

from the ferry back to the mainland! So after slowly walking back, and talking to a friendly

dog, I settled upon the Rainbow restaurant. (This mousse is *gummy*!) I dined on lobster, fried

squid, corn soup, and pea wa stems. Yum! As I finished my meal, the proprietor came by and asked

where I was headed, I told him back to Central, and he gave me a pass to their private boat leaving

in 10 minutes! Bonus! So I paid the check, ran to the boat, and was joined by a couple and their

daughter. This ride took much less time! Maybe 25 minutes. Got off at Central, took the MTR back

to Causeway Bay, deciding that it was too early to call it a night. So I went to Times Square and

took in a movie; the new Chow Yun Fat action flick, The Corruptor. Movie houses are very

different here! First of all, assigned seating. (wouldn't *that* be useful at the Uptown!) Next,

there are trailers stating to turn off pagers and phones (not that anyone does, cells rang at least

5 times during the movie). All in all, though, it was a good movie. English with Chinese subtitles.

Finally I walked back to the hotel, walking through Times Square and much of Lockhart Rd.

Anyway, going to pay my dinner check and go back to work. I think I shall pull a late night! Doing

a bunch of work in Fairfax, calling home, etc.

Sunday. I got up, and decided to try going about the New Territories. I hopped on the MTR and went

to Kowloon Tong and onto the KCR headed North. I got off first at Sha Tin. Not sure what I was expecting,

but it wasn't much more than an extension of Kowloon. I did, however, walk over to the Thousand

Buddhas Monastary. That was definately a sight to see. Right in the middle of this town, this

complex sprawls up the side of a hill. Walked past a basketball court, and past the parking lot at

the base of the hill. Then started walking up the steps. For the first half, the steps were switchbacks

with steps on both sides, linked by walkways, usually with sitting pavilions on each level. After walking

up several levels, I reached the first level of the main monastery. Here was the pain praying room. A

fairly large and very tall room with three large buddhas in the back, and then the walls were lined

with small niches, each with a buddha. I felt weird taking pictures, but I made sure to ask someone

who worked there, and she said it was ok. So up farther I went. The next level started an interesting

and continuing trend. There was room upon room of memorials, near as I can tell. Carved stone tablets

set into safe deposit boxes. The lower levels were all open. The farther up the hill you went, the

greener (more jade?) the tablets were, and the rooms were nicer, and there were wooded doors able to

be closed over the tablets. I finally got to the top tier, and looked out over the countryside. A

nice vantage point! Now, of course, walking back down. There were, of course, lots of incense burning

here, as well. Upon coming back down by the praying room, there were 5 monks inside at a table,

chanting. Instead of walking back down the switchbacks, I took the little hillside elevator that

was available.

I walked back to the KCR station, and past it, hoping to find Tiger and Amah rock. However, the map

I had nor the local map was all that useful. I did walk across a nice footbridge and back over. So I

got back on the KCR, and took it to Tai Po to see the famed Market and the Man Mo temple. I got out

of the station, and got turned around a bit. It ended up being a nice walk, however. There was a small

stream, and some footbridges across. Interestingly, right underneath one of the bridges, the stream

was funneled into a very small (1 meter or so) channel. So a picture taken from the bridge in one direction

showed a wide stream, and the opposite a very small channel. Anyway, walked along said stream until I

found the Market. What an experience! Mostly foodstuffs being sold, but also some sundries. Fairly

straight away I saw a fish seller. A man and his wife, I forget what the man was doing, but the wife

was standing there wearing rubber boots. A customer would walk up, ask for a fish. She would reach her

hand into a tank and pull out a very live fish. She hit it in head with a club, and then put it on

a cutting board. Then, with the classic Chinese cleaver that I saw many of that day, in about three

swift movements, she would slice it down the middle, remove the guts, and bag it and hand it to the

customer. All this in under two minutes. Morbid fascination, I tell you. I grabbed a bag of grapes

and continued on. Came across a poultry stand. Now this was also just kinda shocking in its efficiency.

They would take a chicken out of a cage, grab hold of its wings in one hand. Then, with the other hand,

pull the neck back and into the thumb and forefinger of the hand holding the wings. Then grab a knife,

slit the chickens throat, and put it into a large plastic drum. I watched them do this to about 6 birds

in the course of about 5 minutes. All the birds went into the same drum. I didn't stay long enough to

see the rest of the "process". A little farther on, I came to another fish shop; this time specializing

in shellfish, namely lobsters. Again, a customer would ask for a lobster. The preparer would pull a

lobster out of a tank, chop the antennae off, turn it on its back, and the cleave the lobster's tail

in half. And then he would cleave the upper body. Of course, being simpleminded, the lobster halves

continued to twitch for a few seconds after being severed. Then, using the corne of the cleaver, would

pull apart the shell, scoop out the guts, and then chop into bite-size pieces and into a bag. While

wandering through the market, I did find the Man Mo temple. Somewhat of a letdown. Fairly dirty,

run-down, and small. Still, took pictures. Here there were these incense coils I had never seen

before. There were probably about 50 of them! So after walking back around the backside of the market,

decided to walk back to the KCR to try to find my way over to Kam Tin to see the famous walled city.

I was directed to a bus station, and despite my promise to myself to avoid american food at all costs,

I needed exact change for the bus, so I went to McDonald's and got some fries. At least they were

piping hot fresh! I got on the bus, and it was a fairly nice ride. I think it was the 64k bus. The

ride went past the wishing tree, I think I got a picture of it. We drove over many hills, and

finally arrived at Kam Tin. I tried to find the walled city, but could not find any signs. I actually

came across it quite by accident and was dismayed. It was run-down, the moat was filled with smelly

sewage, and the town just looked unpleasant. So I decided to hop on a bus for the Tsuen Wan ferry.

This bus ride was *much* more pleasant! We went up and over Tai Mo shan, the talled mountain south of

the mainland. *Beautiful* views. And it was just about sunset, too. Had I been a bit more on top

of things, as it were, I would have gotten off the bus at the top of the mountain and stayed there

to watch the sunset. Alas, I did not. Instead I got off at Tsuen Wan MTR station. I briefly tried

to take a bus back up the mountain, but decided to just bag it and do it another day, not that I

have yet. So I took the MTR to Mong Kok, and walked down the entire length of Nathan Road to the

ferry. The golden mile it's called! They say that Hong Kong is a shopper's paradise. I'm not so

sure! Perhaps a shopper's hell! There's just *so* much! There is no way to conceivably comparison

shop. I also wandered into Yue Hwa, which is basically a one-stop department store for all things

Chinese. I figure what I don't find in the markets, I can go back there. They have everything from

ivory Mah Jongg sets to silk fabric to furniture. Down and down I walked, until I got to the ferry.

Took the ferry across, and went to Wan Chai and walked around some. I actually looked for one of the

saunas that were recommended in my book. Got lost finding one of them, but finally came to the

Hong Kong sauna. Decided to walk around the block to check the price against the other one, I

think called Sunny or Lucky or something like that. So I decided to go back to HK. I was welcomed

in, and led to a changing room. I donned a robe and slippers and was escorted down to the showers.

Took a shower, washed myself, and then got into the hot tub to warm up and relax. This hot tib

was big enough to swim in! Bigger, I think, than the one at the Ranch! (I wonder if they got it

fixed yet.. I remember them hoping to by mid-February). After taking a few laps, and relaxing for

about 10-15 minutes, I then dried off, and was led up to a sitting room with lounge chairs. I was

given a glass of ice water, and there were cigarettes beside the chair for use. I decided to

partake. I was sitting there on the lounge thinking "now this is the life". Relaxed, breathing

deeply and clearly, warm, and enjoying icewater and a cigarette. When I was ready for the

massage, I was led to a small room with two massage tables, dimly lit. I lay down on the table

and began to enjoy the nicest massage of my life. For two full hours, I was given a massage from

head to toe. I felt *so* good. I found out her name was Jennifer, I think. When the two hours

were up, the lights came on. Ow! Much too bright! Then led down to the shower again, too

bright too wet! Aiee! I did ask them to call me a cab, though. I was so comfortable I couldn't

bear to walk the 6 blocks back to the hotel. So I paid, about $100US, and left. Expensive, and

definately self-serving, but *well* worth it. I came back to the hotel and crashed.

Monday. Big day! No wonder I've fallen behind in these. Each day takes up an hour to write!

I called Andy Maxwell first thing in the morning, but he wasn't in yet. Probably around 11:30

or so. So I did more work, read mail. Finally, around 11:30 or so, Andy called. The suit would

be ready by 5p! yay! At some point, went out to lunch with Dan Ho from Fairfax and Bill. Coming

back from lunch, I decided to go up and see the space where the party would be. My gods, the view!

The 76th floor of the tallest building in Hong Kong. I wanted to bring my camera up later and

take pictures! I don't remember much of the day up to the point that I left for the

tailor's. Mostly reading mail, I think helping Eric and Franco with a customer. So around

4:45p or so, I left. Took the ferry over, and walked to the tailor's. As usual, I was greeted

and offered a beer. After a few minutes of idle chat, the suit was brought in and I tried it

on. On Andy's suggestion, I tried on the dark blue shirt he had originally pointed out. Wow.

Alone, the shirt just seemed dark blue, but with the jacket it became an electric blue. And

the suit, it just felt *good*. It fit right in all the places that it should. And I looked

*good*! A very nice pick. I changed out of the suit, trying on the Mandarin style shirt.

I think the blue one would be the choice that evening. I tried on the green pair of pants,

needing them re-tailored. After changing back fully, Andy had gotten out some tie choices. His

first pick and mine were the same. A nice blue, matching the shirt nicely, but having that

dual-tone thing that changes color with the angle you view it, changing to a deep red. He

tossed in that tie and another like it with a different pattern for free. At this point it was just

before 6p. I wanted to hurry up and get back before sunset. So I nearly ran back to the Plaza

carrying my suit. I just missed it *and* people had already started to arrive. Sigh. So I walked

back to the hotel to shower and get dressed. I tore off my clothes and hoped in the shower. Took

a lightning quick shower, dried off, and got dressed. Boy did I look sharp. Stupidly, didn't

grab extra business cards. Went back to the Plaza, and just felt like a million dollars going

up the elevators. I finally arrived at the 76th floor, and there were many people (estimate of about

200, I heard!) milling about. I got many comments, all good, from my cow orkers about the suit :)

After wandering around for a bit, everyone was gathered to hear the dignitaries speak. Simon opened up

the party welcoming everyone and introducing Mark. Mark then talked for a few and introduced John. John

spoke a little (the most uninspiring speech I've heard from him, sadly). Finally, Simon said something

to the effect of "And in true Chinese style, an opening ceremony." and in came dragons! Two dragons,

each with two people. They sauntered up to the stage, where Mark and John drew the eyes, and they

proceeded to do a very nice (and very loud!) dance. Previously, John had also showed a new UUNET video.

This one much nice of production, basically being an MTV-esque "What can the Net do for you" sort of

thing. The host of the commercial was Sam Neill. He's one of the folks that I hope I look as good as

when I grow older. After the dance, milled about for awhile. Talking to people, eating fairly

mediocre food. Collected business cards :) Halfway through I ran out and went back to the hotel to

get more (my last!). Stupid me, I didn't pick up the camera this time, either. The party began to

wind down, and towards the end I was introduced/met up with the PR guy who ran the show; a brit named

Alex.

Shortly thereafter, the 5 of us decided to climb up to the top of the building. So climb we did! Taking

off the jacket, of course! Up some steep steps to a dirty area, and then up a couple ladders. Finally,

the ladder going all the way up. So there we were, 5 people climbing up this ladder. Outside. Hong

Kong sprawled out beneath us. JB would have just lost it! About halfway up I realized that the neon

bars I was seeing were the clocks! My goodness! Even I had a few moments of panic during the climb.

Seeing a city beneath you, nothing holding you save yourself, is a definately mind over mind experience.

Now, every time I see a postcard of the Wan Chai skyline, I look at the spire atop the clocks and say

to myself, "Yep, I was there." Finally we reached the top. Above the clock. Annoyingly,

right next to the huge floodlights illuminating the spire. Held in by a quarter-inch thick steel rope. The

view was amazing. We were higher than the Peak terminus. We were higher than everything except the

building over in Central. The view was staggaring. We could have even climbed up the spire, as well, but

I know I was already feeling my balls at that point. And the spire was even more out in the open than

the ladder up through the clocks. After about 20 minutes we decided to climb down. Down was actually

easier than up. We got down and traded high fives all around. I kicked myself for not taking a camera.

Alex invited us all to Lan Kwai Fong for drinks. So we went to this nice little expat bar.

After the one brit friend of Alex's left (Phil?), conversation broke into Alex and his friend talking, with

myself and Brenda talking. Mostly about places she'd been. After awhile, Alex got it in his head that

I needed to see what Hong Kong karaoke was like, and how it differed from Tokyo. What the hell, I said.

So we took a cab over to Causeway Bay and to a place, I think, called California Red. Whereas in Tokyo

the karaoke was in an open bar, here there are little rooms, not much bigger than a standard office

cubicle, with a couch, a table, a tv, and a remote control. The four of us traded turns singing. My

main problem was there wasn't anything I wanted to sing to. Amusingly, if not surprisingly, the more

Alex drank the worse his singing became! At some point, the woman who's name I don't remember left.

Finally around 2a we decide to call it quits. I take a cab back to the Plaza, I think I may have called

home, and then went to the hotel and crashed. What a day!

Barely keeping behind here.. Though, luckily, much of the week after Monday was the same. Tuesday and

Wednesday were both a blur. I stayed at work late; until at least 4a. I decided that the only way to

actually get things done was to not rely on email and actually call people. Lunch was done, I think,

and I had dinner at the hotel restaurant. I don't remember much about the days, except a general work,

reading mail, occasionally helping out Franco and Eric. Tuesday there was a big meeting of the folks

in the office with Pat Chapman-Pincher, our VP? of International. She talked about our AsPac expansion,

and plans for the rest of the world. I had seen her on a podium before, but got a chance to talk to

her briefly, as well. Nice woman; somewhat quiet, but I hear very driven. John had curtailed it out

that morning. I actually made a few comments during the meeting that I don't *think* were out of line,

and added to the general mood. For example, after both Pat and Mark had voiced their good hopes for

the future, I added that working at UUNET the last 3.5 years was the best job of my life, and I hoped

that UUNET treated each of the people in the room as well as it has treated me. I think notice was

taken, because after the meeting, Mark came up to me and just talked. That was really nice, actually.

he's a very amiable guy; reminds me, in looks, of Matt Frewer. We talked for quite awhile, about

the job, the Asian business model, and dealing with the home office. The next few times I ran into him

at work the rest of the week, there was a sense of at least some congeniality. It's my hope that the

sentiment is in earnest and sincere. Having good relations here is something I'd like to have.

Working late this week, I also came to know Jie and Mabel much better. Jie I talked to a lot during the

day as well. She's the one who goes out and does market analysis to find out where we should go next

and how much money we are likely to make. Very interesting work! She's also a very amiable person,

somewhat refreshingly silly among the folks in the Asian office. She herself, I believe, is Mandarin,

married I think to an American lawyer. Mabel, on the other hand, is the sole accountant for the Tokyo,

Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney offices. She is *way* overworked. We jokingly developed a friendship

over the fact that we were both at work late. I would walk by her cube and tell her to go home (when it

was like 2a). She's quite funny, and occasionally when she talked about all the work, looks like she's

about to explode in a fit of maniacal laughter. I hope she gets some interns or something soon. She

says that she hasn't left work before 11p since the beginning of January. And she gets in at around 9a.

Much too long a work day.

Franco and Eric were mostly absent last week, as they had customer responsibilities beginning of the week,

and then setup and attendance at the technical conference in town Wed through Friday. Still, I seem to

be getting along with Franco pretty well, and Eric somewhat. Eric is much more reserved. Both of them

good people, and will be good engineers.

Tuesday morning, I bit the bullet and sent out some of my clothes to be cleaned at the hotel. $24HK each

for underwear. Hellacious. Tuesday night, I packed, mostly. I wanted a change of pace, so I decided to

try the Mandarin Oriental hotel. I've heard much about it. I must say, it's quite a nice hotel. I think

I even like it better than the Renaissance. Wednesday night, after working late again (Did I go out to

dinner with Jie that night?) I took a cab to the Mandarin and checked in. My goodness! Every room has

a balcony, and the room itself looks like it was furbished by the Bombay Company! *very* nice. Slippers,

binoculars to watch the neighbors, an ice bucket refilled every evening (this one really impresses me),

a bar behind a neat little door, a closet with room-matching sliding doors and a *huge* safe, easily

three times bigger than the one at the Renaissance. I remember calling Kimberly and complaining that

my sheets seemed wet. I tried to deal for awhile, but in the end, gave up and called housekeeping.

Thursday, again, don't remember much of the day. Worked with Franco some more, talked with Jie more,

I think even talked with Mark some more. Probably went to lunch :) Stayed at work until around 8:30

or so when I left for my date with Brenda, the marketing person for, I think, the Christian Action

group for Hong Kong. I must admit, I was somewhat apprehensious, but willing to give it a go. I

took the ferry over, and was a bit late, mainly due to the fact the ferry wait was about twice as long

as normal. I did get to see the 9p light show on the building in Central. I walked over to the

Peninsula. Woo, what a grandiose hotel! Met Brenda in the lobby, and we went to the escalator to go

up to Felix, the restaurant at the top of the hotel. From the elevator ride onwards, it was certainly

an experience. The elevator was wood panelled, with a sort of wave panelling. Right before we got

to the right floor, the lights dimmed :) Mood lighting! Got off the elevator and we were in this

weird hallway, very a-framelike. She said she had to go to the bathroom, and remembering something

Andy Maxwell had mentioned, I decided to go, too. What a bathroom! Ok, so you walk in, and there's

this table in the middle of the room and an attendant. Then there's this frosted glass panel. You

walk behind the panel, and there are the urinals. Three of them. The wall behind them being glass.

A 26th floor view over Kowloon, and there you are, pissing on it. And since the room juts over the

edge of the building just a bit, you really feel like you're standing on top of the world and taking

a piss. That didn't end the bathroom experience, of course. You zip up, and walk back around the

frosted glass panel to the table, which upon closer inspection is a sink. You get soap on your hands,

wash your hands, and hen the attendant dries your hands for you. Oh, and the 'M' and 'F' on the doors

is done by projected light onto the frosted glass door. So then we met back out in the hallway and

walked into the restaurant. You walk into the restaurant, and you've got spire sorts of things on

your left and right. They are probably 15 feet in diameter. The one of the right is the wine cellar,

and you can actually sit in it. The one on the left is a bar. We are seated at a table with a

lovely view over Kowloon and the harbor. We proceed to have the definitive nouveaux riche dinner.

I had a small portion of salmon (which was actually quite good, if small), and she had a chicken

dish she was unimpressed with. I had a beer, she had sparkling water, and then we both had Tiramisu

and coffee. We talked about what she's done and where she's gone. Near as I can tell, the group

she works for is more of a community outreach group. She's travelled all over; Bangkok is her

favorite, though. I don't remember talking much about me, but I'm sure I did. Afterwards, we got

the check and I paid. $942HK. Woo! So we walked back out, and took a cab over to Temple St. After

getting some money (she actually gave me $400 for dinner, and I accepted.) We started walking and came

across the part of the street with fortune tellers.

We walked past many a fortune teller until we came across one with a very large crowd. I got the sense

she had either seen him before, or had heard of him. At any rate, we got in line and waited and watched.

The proceedure is as follows. You sit on a stool after the previous person leaves. Then, he does the

person who was sitting on the *other* stool, and then it's your turn. You ask him a very general

question; the ones most picked were career and love. He would shuffle a bunch (40? 50?) of envelopes

in front of a cage holding 4 birds, each in their own "room" with a seperate door. The leftmost bird

was the most interesting looking; black with a white beak. The next three were all white, the rightmost

seeming to be used the most. You could pick which bird you wanted or let him pick. He wopuld then open

the gate, the bird would jump out, walk around the cards, and pick one and drag it out by its beak.

The teller would then take the card out of the envelope, show everyone the number on the card, and then

proceed to open it and read it. On the righ half of the card was a picture with a caption at the top.

On the left were the words explaining it. He would then read and interpret it. If it was good, he was

quite vocal. If not so good, he was more quiet. After explaining it, he would put it back in the

envelope, and then shuffle the deck again. He would either let out the same bird again, or a different

bird, and the bird would pick *the same card*. No clue what the gimmick was, but it was impressive.

Brenda went first, asking about career. The fortune was she should change careers soon, and move away.

She was not going to go anywhere in her current job. Apparently, she's been at the same job for 4 some odd

years now and never been offered or moved into management. I had mine read, and it was to stay right where

I am J . This coming year I might not be the happiest at work, but the next year would make up for it. The next

year I might see myself as my own boss. We got up and left. Turns out most of Temple St was closed.

I did stop and buy some little souveniers (to which I gave Mabel one when I went *back* to work). So

we hopped on the MTR and took the train back to the Hong Kong side. I got off at Wan Chai, and she

went on to Causeway Bay. I went back to work, and again worked late. Mabel even left before me. Not

sure when I went home, but I took a cab and came back and crashed.