To walk or not to walk

It only took us a week and a half, but apparently walking for hours on end in the heat of the day is not a thing in Hong Kong. During dinner tonight I met a lovely young local girl who explained that you're not supposed to walk very far or long here, that's what buses and the MTR are for. I'll blame walking everywhere on my cardio obsessed mentality.

Tom decided we'd go to another dingy looking restaurant for dinner, and once again it was a top notch meal! This is becoming less and less of a surprise now. So this place was run by female staff, both waiters and cooks. And they were vibrant, colourful women at that. They loved it when we ordered 'Dong Lai Cha' and were able to communicate to us that certain items on the menu were not longer available due to stock-on-hand shortages. I think we were just happy that they remained open long enough for us to eat there. Anyway, back to the girl who was helping us order our food...she gave us a complete history of the restaurant, how it began in Macau and now has a couple of locations around Hong Kong. She also gave us a brief description of what Wednesday was going to be like, how the public holiday is not a happy day for the locals and how we should stay below ground or indoors where possible.

I keep thinking about how much of a difference there is between Central/Sheung Wan and Mongkok/Yau Ma Tei. Some days I'm really in the mood for cultural assimilation, and other days all I want is to sit in a hipster cafe and sip on cold drip coffee (which I still haven't found, but give it time, I know it exists here somewhere..!). I wish I spent more time reading Cantonese publications and watching the local news. I'll make sure I do that on my future travels to HK. I've already decided I'm coming back.

A small timeline of my eating habits in HK :)

Two weeks is not enough!

 Aside from the fact that we never went to The Peak, and didn't visit Macau or LKF, I personally felt like I didn't have enough time to make a rational decision regarding T1. Luckily my goal is not to get an HD for this subject. I think I'll be more than content if I achieve the goals set out in my first reflection. I wish we had more days off, I wish we didn't have assessments due during the trip, but this is futile because the past is the past, and c'est la vie.

 I'm going to miss Myra taking candid photos of us, and her amazing ability to sketch. I'll miss Aaron thunder-clapping and other his other random outbursts. I'll miss Tom mimicking what everyone says, and constantly asking for Dong Lai Cha breaks. I'll miss watching Tania eat bread, and standing her ground when she didn't want to order food from expensive outlets. I'll miss Tony being fashionably late and still looking half-decent regardless of the weather. And I'll miss Aaron saving us from our language barriers and him reminding us that he finished T1 many days before it was due.

 These friends, and the one's mentioned in earlier reflections, really made all the difference, and our exodus to Hong Kong was richer because we had each other to learn from.

One of our many late nights out

Experiences: Critical Reflection

Experiences. That’s a very broad 11 letter word. I will attempt to break it down into sensory understanding.

Smell:

 Scent was the most significantly different thing about Hong Kong in comparison to Sydney. The first thing I could smell in the air was fresh meat. And the visuals soon followed. As a Sydney-sider I’d never seen so much dead fauna lining the streets. The first word that sprung to mind was ‘contamination!’, but I feel like this is a common placebo of Western society because I did not encounter any sort of food related illness during this trip.

Sight:

 As far as the eye can see, Hong Kong is crowded - with people, with architecture, with possessions, and most of all, with bamboo. I initially wanted to document bamboo for T1 simply because there was so much of it, but being a rebel I decided to photograph teapots which were harder to find. Hindsight says bamboo would’ve been just fine. The idea of crowded, claustrophobic living really hit home when we visited Canton Road for the first time. At first I hated the idea of basing T2 at this location, but I became increasingly drawn to it as the days went on. Stallholders seem to have the whole contents of their house cluttered in and around their stalls.

Touch:

 Or lack of wanting to touch anything. This year marked Hong Kong’s hottest summer ever, and there was no questioning that. Touching things or people was an unwelcome activity. However, we noticed that in the MTR it is encouraged to ‘hold’ the handrail whilst using the escalators. This was also encouraged in shopping malls. I also noticed that whilst eating you should have both arms resting on the table top, and not hidden in your lap. I think this is just a simple etiquette thing more than anything, but I was always conscious of it.

 If the weather was warm, the people were too. Throughout the trip I experienced moments where a local attempted to give me a hug or pat me on the shoulder, and I found this very comforting. I’m not a space bubble introvert so I do like when strangers break the ice! On the contrary though, there were many things that were strictly ‘Do Not Touch’, such as product displays in certain stores. I’m not talking clothing, I’m talking toys. In one of my reflections I mentioned a toy store complex, and in this environment touching products was strongly discouraged and frowned upon.

Taste:

 Hong Kong has a distinct flavour to all of its edible products. It’s called MSG and it comes in large doses. For me, every meal in Hong Kong was followed by a bottle of water, and to be super pedantic, even bottled water tastes different in Hong Kong. But you get used to the MSG/water combination after a few days. Then things like Wonton soup, Dim Sum and Dong Lai Cha begin to taste wonderful. I put this down to a process of eliminating Western tastebuds one dumpling at a time.

Hearing:

 Sounds educate us the most when visiting a foreign place. In Sheung Wan, particularly on Possession St, there was the constant sound of construction, which continued throughout the day and night without ceasing. On Canton Road, especially in the fresh produce area, the sound of butchers advertising daily specials could be heard from a mile away. And in the temples we visited, the sound of a humming chorus, accompanied by the sizzling sound (and smell!) of incense burning away. The most intriguing sound I heard was on Cheung Chau island, where we came across a tent full of locals dressed in white robes, chanting a happy tune and playing cheerful music. Little we knew at the time, but this was a funeral. I became very curious as to why certain cultures play celebratory music to send off the dead, and why any funeral I have attended doesn’t sound like that.

To conclude, my experiences in the Hong Kong Global Studio were constantly thought provoking and definitely kept me on my toes. I learnt to ‘go with the flow’ as far as group work and group decision making was concerned, and I also became fascinated with the idea of repurposing common objects. I feel like I want to spend the next 6 months focusing on how I can minimise waste and up-cycle everything I buy. More so for my own content than for my carbon footprint, but I guess thats part and parcel.

Spotlight On: Vinny

 Vinny is a bit younger than the rest of us, and we all immediately think of him as a little brother. At home, you'll find Vinny listening to mixtapes with a huge Bose headset and eating all the packets of crisps the world has to offer.

 The most important thing to know about Vinny is that he is a cat person. Majorly. I think Myra and I spent a lot of our photography time taking photos of cats to show to him. His reactions to anything cat related are priceless and worth the procrastination.

 Vinny confused the crap out of the locals. When on a group outing, the first person they'd try to talk to in Cantonese was him, and we'd all have a good laugh because, well, it's not his fault he looks so Chinese! The theme of being 'lost in translation' came up very often on this trip. The easy trap of saying one phrase in Cantonese, hoping that it would help locals understand us, only backfired because they would suddenly break out into lengthy conversation, to which we would all look around thinking 'now what?!'.

Some things I'll never forget, which Vinny taught me all about are photography and typeface. Avi also had a lot to say about these things. Except I could never completely understand over all the Canon vs Nikon arguments. But thanks to these two I now have a greater understanding of why Comic Sans is a death wish for any designer and why instant/lomography is a good place to start experimenting and leads to quicker learning.

If you want to see every single expensive car found in Sheung Wan, as well as a selection of humorous idols from Wah Fu Estate, by all means you should follow Vincent on Instagram. You won't be disappointed with his documentation.

It Begins, Don't Cry...

It's Monday and we've overslept thanks to the adrenaline subsiding. We all met for the first time as a class today at Teakha, which is a cute little hipster tea cafe. I was instantly in love with it, like hello - Matcha Chiffon Cake? Say no more! It was great to finally start our actual uni work (seeing as though my brain thought it was on holiday!).

Come to think of it, Teakha is a really interesting place. They have a variety of seating arrangements - the main cafe, the outdoor patio, the extra room downstairs and the upper floor - all of which are decorated in a distinctly unique yet somewhat cohesive way. Pictured below is a sign that hangs in the patio area. It speaks volumes of how locals feel about space in Hong Kong, how they use it, how much they value it, etc. Thinking about how unappreciative we are of space in Sydney, it was really refreshing to be in a place where place itself is of huge importance.

We did a lot of exploring today too. When I say exploring, I mean walking for hours on end trying to find somewhere to eat that everyone is happy with. I feel an overwhelming sense of content that I'm an only child. The weather changed about a billion times today too. I think we might end up getting sick if we're not careful! But the most fun we had today was on the escalator from central to sheung wan. This was a rather strange experience, it felt like being guided through the city centre by a glass train, and every building had something funny about it. We glided past some barber shops, some interesting restaurants, some tailors, pretty much anything and everything. Initially my group (Group B) thought we might focus our whole attention on this one aspect of Hong Kong, the escalator, but since this was only our first idea we decided to put it on the back-burner. I do believe it would have been fun though!

Tom also showed us around 'his' area which is called Jordan. After a surprisingly cheap feed we discovered a building completely dedicated to toys, namely lego and video game characters. We all found something there that we liked. The structure of the building was very similar to a shopping mall I had been to in Causeway Bay a few days prior. It is literally level upon level of miniature boutiques, all selling similar items to their neighbour. This seems to be a successful designed concept for consumerismin Hong Kong, as it is never quiet in these buildings.

The highlight of the day is a tie between mango pancakes and seeing a real-life temple. I have never been inside a temple of this kind before. There is curled incense hanging from the ceiling, and idols propped up on every surface. The man in the foyer taps on his holy book and only stops if I walk right up to him and say hello. He says nothing in return but the pause in the tapping means something I guess. I'm also very curious about the location of this temple. It appears as a haven or 'zen place' to escape to even in the heart of a busy city. I imagine one could sit in the park outside the temple and meditate for an hour before going back to work. I think that's what I'd do if I lived in Jordan.

This is a rather long post already so that'll do for today.

"Lazy days, calling to you..." at PMQ

Yep, I just quoted Robbie Williams circa '99. Saturday, being our one and only day off, was a beauty. Once again, the sun made itself known and the people of Sheung Wan came out to play. I accidentally walked in the way of a photoshoot on Aberdeen St where the models were vogue-ing with about 4 fluffy caramel dogs (what would I know of canine breeds).

I think we all slumped out of bed at around 11 this morning and took a good hour to decide what we wanted for brunch. Tea was the liquid of choice today, and I squealed internally when I saw that there was Matcha cake on offer. Being a connoisseur of all things green, I concur that this 3 tiered delight was everything I wanted it to be and more. In Sydney, the Matcha craze has not quite caught fire like it has in Asia, partly because in Asia it has been an eternal flame (I could just be boring and say traditional ingredient, but I like using elaborate prose).

The buzzword in our apartment seems to be 'gee-oh-dee', which I now realise is short for Goods Of Desire or 'G.O.D.'. Taking a mindful glance at the shop front, I feel this is an apt description, and I also see why we needed to use up our day-off coupons here. Now to me, G.O.D. is not necessarily the most exciting store to spend hours in, but I was intrigued nonetheless. Everything had a slight up-cycled vibe in this store, some things looked like true vintage, others like they had been made to look sustainable. The prices were steep even for me. Ask the boys, they can already conclude that I have a serious problem.

There were some other really interesting things to see in the PMQ headquarters, such as an exhbition by Sori Yanagi. I don't like taking photos of art exhibitions, mainly because I'm never sure if its appropriate or not. However I found the written component of this exhibition very interesting! See for yourself:

I like point #2, a big red flag to all plastic surgeons and patients alike. Hahaha.....On a more serious note though, point #6 is extremely poignant to us as fledgling designers, especially us fashion design students who mistakenly think commercial and couture are one and the same.

Spotlight On: JD Rhys Mirabelle + Lock Cha Teahouse

 JD could be mistaken for an old Canadian geezer, and you'd be right, he is one. He speaks with a tone of voice beyond his years and always has something relatively intelligent to say. Don't tell him I said that. Of the many things I've learned from JD, I rate walking at a ridiculously fast pace the most valuable. Some might go as far as to say that JD does not walk, he flies. They're not entirely wrong.

 JD taught me this skill on the way to Lock Cha Teahouse in Hong Kong Park. Now we live in the Soho part of Sheung Wan, so walking to the station takes about 10 minutes. Today it took 4. And if you think JD and I are the kind of people who waste time standing in front of a map to make sure we're headed in the right direction, sadly you're wrong. On a giant side note, JD is never wrong and you will get cut if you try to tell him otherwise. Don't risk it.

 Anyway, if you can do the math, we left home at 10:45am that day and arrived at the door of the Teahouse in Hong Kong Park a few minutes short of 11am. Timeliness is always on the agenda with JD. My legs on the other hand have never worked so hard in their entire existence!

 Lock Cha Teahouse is the most exquisite place we went to on our whole trip. I don't know if this is obvious yet but I have a bias towards tea rooms and anything tea related. Hong Kong Park is quite tranquil and I could definitely see myself spending the day there had we not had group work and Flickr albums to complete.

 My favourite part of the day was watching the infamous 'Tania vs. Chinese Tea Lady' scene unfold. Tania will have her own feature on my blog where I will digress, but my takeaway from this scene was that you don't mess with Chinese Tea Ladies, especially where there are weapons of mass destruction such as boiling water involved.

Lock Cha also won me over with their completely vegan menu! I can't tell whether this is supposed to come across as 'muchos hipster' or just a reflection of traditional Cantonese food rituals, but in any case I am impressed! Pictured below is my Osmanthus Oolong Tea and a serve of vegan Dim Sum.

 #yumyumdimsuminmytum

Spotlight On: Avi (or housemate #1)

For the purpose of memories and general blogging cliche, I'm going to document my perception of the other 9 students doing this global studio. I begin with Avi, since I met him first.

So I'm writhing in my seat on the way to Hong Kong, because, well, does anyone ever sit still on a plane? Didn't think so. Anyway, I notice some guy stand up in front of me and he looks a lot like an Avi Bamra who I am friends with on facebook but not yet in real life. I think I spent about 25 minutes asking myself "Do I go and introduce myself? But what if it's not him?!". In the end I decided I was 90% sure it was THE Avi, and 10% sure I was going to startle him. I was 100% right. I got up and walked over to aisle 62 and in my best 'friendly stranger' voice asked, "Are you Avi?". And the poor chap looks up in fright as though I had said something like "you're under arrest". I've never been mistaken for a policewoman before and to this day I do not understand his reaction.

Avi and I get along very well, I think the way people usually describe it is 'cheese and crackers'. However, I can say that Avi is very opinionated and...so am I, so occasionally we get into a bit of a loggerheads situation. This happens on very rare occasions so it's 'no biggie' as they also say.

Take 5 with Avi:

 (Avi's own Self Portrait, all rights reserved haha)

Favourite lyric = "Niggas aint robots" - Drake.

Favourite drink = Coconut water.

When I get the midnight munchies = I open up a packet of coconut Oreos.

Best font (or is it Typeface...hmm) = Futura (Avi says Louis Vuitton is in Futura)

Best meal in Hong Kong = the sizzling Pepper Lunch dish Vincent and I got at Food Republic

*DISCLAIMER: I didn't actually interview Avi, I sort of filled in the blanks myself but I know all the answers are on point ;)

Friyay?

Day 5 of our global studio was ablaze with sunbeams. We woke from a deep sleep (many thanks to a Bloody Mary or two), dazed and confused because we knew we'd be late for class. Finally arriving at our destination, I looked around and felt content - this Yum Cha house looked a neat 8/10, which is 5 points higher than my personal rating of the Yum Cha house we went to on Wednesday. Sorry 'bout it.

We lost two of our troops somewhere between breakfast and beginning our research. But I was excited to be working with my two lady friends Tania and Myra! Sometimes women do things better together and this was one of those times. With our femme fatale creativity in tow, we scoured the streets looking for traditional crafts and trades. Surprisingly this was quite difficult, it seemed things have changed and the markets are no longer a place to find handmade artistry. Alas, we found a small stall that stocked some rather intricate looking decor, and away we went! Snapping this, sketching that, we began to dissect the stall until there was nothing left to learn. Being growing girls and all, we decided now was a good time to make a pit stop at a bakery and load up on some well deserved carbs. We also took this rare opportunity to begin our PDF, and whadya know, we had the damn thing done in an hour! Take note, this is how women get shit done.

At about 3pm Myra and I met up with the remaining counterparts of our 'Honkey' group. Us Honkeys have been cooking up a series of maps, diagrams and photographs to depict and dissect Canton Street, a mecca of market stalls which serves the local community in MongKok. I won't go into minor details but by about 4pm we were done with group tasks and were willing to indulge in some 'down time' which consisted of a food court lunch, followed closley by a starbucks treat and about half an hour of what I like to call 'Speed Spending'. To give you an idea, today's Speed Spending session resulted in a highly sought after Nars 'Audacious' lipstick, a Monki dress (which I just had to have because of the super kawaii print!) and a packet of extra large hair clips (I believe the point-of-sale product placement technique is still very much a thing).

I foresee another 3 hours of reflecting and uploading photos to Flickr. Go me.

Wanderlust Wishlist

Mulling over why I decided to travel to Hong Kong for our Interdisciplinary Studio, I thought I may as well start by listing what I want to gain/achieve by the end of the experience.

Here are my goals:

1. Independence - I really feel like becoming a proper adult, and fast. Traveling alone for the first time just had to happen sooner rather than any later. I hope I become more aware of my body language when around others, my use of language, my ability to read others, and of course the most obvious things like learning how the be savvy with money and time management. Actually I'd go as far as to say that savvy is my buzzword for the next two weeks and I have to become savvy in every which way I can. Haha.

2. Empathy - I feel like I can't improve as a human until I've come to understand how others less fortunate than me live, and I want to know what I can do to make better decisions in life that reflect my recent enlightenment of how blessed I am. This is super important, mainly for my conscience.

3. Absorb information like a sponge - to explain this concept in lay man's terms, I want to learn as much as I can from everyone else who embarked on this journey with me. I want to open my mind to their perception of design, their discipline and how I can use this information to inform my practice as a fashion designer. I find sponging creativity from interdisciplinary labs has been the most rewarding and mind-expanding experience for me, so this trip should be no different.

I think 3 umbrella goals is quite enough, for now at least. Now I just have to work towards ticking them off step by step ;)

AlphAna (alpha Ana, or first time travelling alone Ana, or alpha-female Ana because I'm sharing an apartment with 4 males...take your pick)

 (cheesy decor = weakness)