So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Friday night, Sorina and I decided to go see a performance at the University where we are staying. There is some kind of international dance and body movement conference going on and this show was one of the highlights. The production was called "The Pearl Sea" choreographed by Robert Wood from New York. About 150 people showed up for it and he gave a little introduction to the piece and described it as a work in progress. It was two hours long without an intermission and I think it could have been half that length. Why do something once when you can do it ten times? It was an interesting combination of classical ballet (burst of exercise-like sequences) and chinese movement. There were some really memorable parts like a simulation a pole boat with the women standing on the men's backs holding long bamboo staffs, but there were other parts that I found kind of long. But overall very interesting and not bad since it was free-will donation. Afterwards, there was a champagne reception with dumplings, noodles, little sandwiches and other fun things. That was unexpected. We were there so late that we just went home afterwards. It made me miss Xing and Simon and my little dance family. I am trying to find a class here but it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
Yesterday, we did a harbour tour on a Chinese Junk boat for an hour. It was made of wood beams and tar. Very authentic. Lots of fun. The buildings of Hong Kong look even more impressive from the middle of the water. After that we took the subway line out of Diamond Hill, then a bus into one of the surrounding villages, and then a taxi through a park to a secluded beach. It was a long trip but worth it just see a place where there are much fewer people. We had the beach almost to ourselves. The water was so warm. No Ontario lake here. We had rented masks but the water had a lot of sediment so visibility was pretty bad. There are coral reefs nearby but I didn't try to swim to them because we didn't have enough protective equipment and I didn't want to get stung by a sea urchin (poor Dan got fifteen stings and had to sit for half an hour while Mischa got them out of his foot).
We were in such a remote place that none of our cell phones got signals so it actually took us quite a while to get back to the village from the beach. We were standing at the end of the road swatting away mosquitos for half an hour or so. While we were waiting I made a trip to the public toilet and can report that it was "just fine". It was sweet how the girls I was with didn't want me to go alone. Although I admit I almost screamed when I saw the lizard on the wall climb behind the paper towel dispenser.
The little village itself was BEAUTIFUL. No time to explore it because it was so late. I had a soft-serve ice cream at 9pm and that was before dinner! There is a boardwalk of sorts along the harbour with seafood restaurant after restaurant. There are massive tanks with massive fish and shellfish everywhere, and the people there will pull out a giant crab and ask you if it is okay. The restaurants there pull the fish from the ocean that day and prepare it fresh. It really was the best seafood I have ever had. My favorite was scallops served in the halfshell covered in garlic and glass noodles. And I'll also add that after the long day and the long wait and traveling, the beer tasted really, really good.
It took us a little over an hour to get back to our hotel and I slept really well last night. Today I hope to go to the Peak or to the Big Buddha. Depends on who I can rally to come with me. Now I don't want to come home.
Love Leslie